The SOS Guide To Gigging With Modular Synths

Thinking of taking your Eurorack on the road? We offer some expert advice...

As musicians, we suffer from that inescapable desire to project our music out into the world. With the rise in EMOM (Electronic Music Open Mic) gatherings and consistent interest in experimental electronic music, there’s more opportunity than ever to perform live electronically. However, if your chosen vessel of expression is the modular synthesizer, how do you transform your kitchen table experiment in patch cable origami into something performable?

In order to bring a broader range of usefulness to the table, I reached out to a number of modular artists and musicians (see the ‘Modular Contributors’ box for the full run down) to get some wider insight into how to approach the challenges of performing with modular.

Performing with modular has some unique challenges, but they are offset by how engaging the whole process is.

Portability

Modular synthesis is somewhat unique in its versatility and complexity. When you grab a guitar and head out to perform as a singer‑songwriter, you only have to decide what songs to sing and perhaps which pedal to take. With modular, you have to start by building your instrument. When playing at home, patches tend to bleed out into multiple cases, odd racks, other bits of gear, effects, mixers and anything else a patch cable can reach. So, your first consideration needs to be around the logistics of successfully getting some modular to the venue. It will probably be unrealistic to take everything, so you might need to consider getting a compact case that will travel well. Intellijel and Befaco both do 7U cases designed for this purpose. Perhaps you need two cases, but how long would you need to set up the patch between them? I’ve used a pair of Arturia RackBrute cases that work together in a clamshell configuration and has a bag designed to hold them. If you use compact patch cables, you can pack it away completely patched. However, it’s cumbersome to carry.

The trick then becomes fitting the sounds you want to make within the confines of the case or cases you can reasonably transport to the gig, and set up at the other end. There doesn’t appear to be an ideal solution to this. I’ve seen Mylar Melodies and Julia Bondar pull off amazing sets with a single case, and I’ve enjoyed Loula Yorke and Panic Girl exploring the possibilities in two cases and more. I find that the building of the instrument and the choice of modules are actually part of the modular experience and as unique to the player as the music they’re making.

Loula Yorke.Photo: Victoria Wai

Sight, Sound & Safety Nets

But what about the business of actually performing? First off, pretty much everyone I’ve spoken to can agree on a couple of universal factors.

• It will sound different. You may not be able to hear the things you thought you would; the monitoring may be mono or so muddy you can’t really distinguish sounds or match them to what you’re doing. On the one hand, this can be exciting, on the other, it can knock your confidence and leave you flailing.
• You won’t be able to see anything. The lighting will probably be terrible, and your modular will be at the wrong height. The darkness, coupled with the brightness of your racks LEDs, will make it impossible to read any labels. The height problem is less easy to solve as the table provided for your performance could be at any height. Having an adjustable desktop stand can be helpful. Gaz takes a Stay Music stand with him so that his rig is always at the right height and in the best position for him to play.

Gaz Williams.During my first live performance at an EMOM in Norwich, I blundered naïvely into these issues. I was able to push on through, but it made the experience far more stressful than it needed to be. Another lesson I learned on that first outing was to patch loosely. Just before I packed my case into a bag to take to the gig, I decided to replace any dangly long cables with nice, short and tidy ones. The case looked very neat, but when it came to the performance, I struggled to get my fingers between the tight cables to turn the knobs. And as I already couldn’t see or hear anything, it added yet another level of difficulty.

Some of the struggles our panel of experts highlighted revolve around logistics, such as having time to set up your patch, warm up your oscillators, and keep them in tune. Other thoughts were around having a big enough rig to cover a long set and being able to transition smoothly from one piece to another. Other struggles were around the nature of the performance itself. Nicola has had difficulty finding the...