Sunday Sound Thought #75 – Transcend to the Physical

As much as I hate the word: I am a millennial. I have mostly grown up in the digital age; just old enough to remember beepers, dial-up modems, and cassettes. Professionally I have grown up solely in a digital medium “in-the-box” of computers, digital audio workstations, and VST’s. Therefore: the concept of spending more money for less flexibility has always seemed a bit at odds with “progress” and “advancement” of technological capabilities.

That is why it is so interesting to me the surge in popularity of modular/euroracks in the last 5 years or so. Something that is incredibly expensive for what in many cases is done by stock DAW plugins seems insane.

So of course I got one.

As a natural progression of the 4track diversions I mentioned before; I recently dipped my toes into this world with the Lifeforms SV-1 semi-modular setup. While not “true” modular as its all-in-one it is a nice starter pack in my opinion into this expensive and warm world.

I am saying all that to ask: how are we as sound designers utilizing this technology? What is it doing for us that nothing else can? This video certainly makes me jealous of Kyle Fraser on the 343 Industries team. For me part of the process is about the experience of turning knobs and feeling like an astronaut, rather than clicking a mouse and moving .png representations of knobs and sliders.

As has come before; many of these posts will be philosophical in nature. Some will be in contradiction to previous postings. These are not intended as truths or assertions, they’re merely thoughts…ideas. Think of this as stream of consciousness over a wide span…Please bare with us as we traverse the abstract canals of audio musings.