In what is fast becoming my magazine equivalent of a confessional booth (I’ve never used a real one, by the way; I grew up in the 70s and they were always full), it is time to admit that I have dabbled in modular or Eurorack synthesis before. OK, I was much younger and, it has to be said, easily led. All my friends were into it and they said it was cool. And it didn’t seem too much of a problem at first: buy one module, maybe two, or even three… link them together, play a sequence. What harm could it do? But no-one really explained to me what
modular synthesis really was, and where it could take my life. Soon I was living under a bridge in Bath, selling booze for synth modules, crack for Eurorack. My life was out of control, spinning down in a spiral of modular madness, my collection now the size of a house, my music still sounding like Tangerine Dream. But I made it through, bought a cheap Mac and powered up a softsynth. Suddenly I was saved.… as were my preset sounds and songs, it has to be said. If only someone had told me all about modular synthesisers and, all about the joy they could really bring when tied into a modern desktop music production environment. If only they had started right at the beginning and led me through this potential minefield, I might still be able to restrain these urges. These sweet, sweet urges…