I decided as it was part of my goals to learn synthesis and the modular this term that it also fits in perfectly to the music asked for in this video game. I booked the synth lab and started practising and learning the machine. I began playing on the Minilogue which is very simple and has built-in presets for you to play with. I recorded long play sessions of exploring these sounds onto logic which I will further refine.
I also began watching videos on the euro rack. I wanted to record some sounds that were progressive and ambient. I decided to watch a video explaining the terminology of modular synthesis and what everything means. VCO? VCA? CV? and understanding the fundamentals of modular synthesis.
I began playing around with the Eurorack and deciding what to go and how to do it. I found modular synthesis to be very organic and progressive with the patching. I sort of understood what was happening but it was almost as if the audio was leading me down a path and not necessarily the other way around. I created a few ideas and recorded for around thirty-forty minutes to get a varied range of sounds to use for composition in Ableton for music in the video game.
Here is a photo of a patch of something I made.
Towards the end, I found this Eurorack didn’t quite offer what I wanted and felt like it was back to the drawing board. Perhaps instead of using synthesis as the main compositional tool, I can sample what I’ve recorded onto Ableton and create an actual piece of music that resembles what I’ve been asked to do.
I also discovered VCV Rack towards the end of my three-hour session in the synthesis room. A free open-source modular rack unit to play around with. I will keep using this to practice my skills and to bounce any sounds and patches I make to use in Ableton for my music submission.
After my session, I ended up with some sounds from the Minilogue and Eurorack modular synthesizer. As well as VCV Rack and further synthesis knowledge with a plan for what’s coming. I believe I must now combine what I’ve sampled from the synth bench alongside Ableton and perhaps record some ambient sound design effects? Other skills I’ve learnt from previous modules. And look deeper into sound/music for games knowledge.