Publications and Research
Document Type
Book Chapter or Section
Publication Date
2021
Abstract
In this essay, I will examine a couple of aspects of hardware modular synthesizers which, despite not being a “new” morphological form (most commercially sold synthesizers from the 1960s through the early 1970s were modular), experienced an extremely unlikely expansion of interest and activity in the mid-1990s. With a contemporary modular synth, users buy a powered rack that holds modules specific to one of several competing formats. For the two most widely adopted formats, Eurorack (sometimes called 3U in reference to the height of modules, or Doepfer A-100 after the first branded system to adopt this panel height) and MOTM/MU (with a significantly larger 5U panel height), hundreds of competing companies produce modules for what are, in effect, open, nonproprietary standards. A “module” is a circuit that does one or a small number of operations and is attached to a front panel containing jacks and often user-controllable interfacial elements (e.g., knobs, sliders, buttons, toggles, capacitive touch plates). In order to make an “instrument,” users purchase multiple modules and then use patch cables to route voltages—both within and between modules. All contemporary modular synthesizers I have seen in performance contexts have contained between a dozen and several hundred modules. Whereas “fixed-architecture” (or all-in-one) synthesizers under the hood contain many circuits and hardwired connections that feel like a coherent singular instrument that reliably works the moment it is turned on, a contemporary modular synthesizer does nothing when initially plugged in. Moreover, a modular synth can easily be reconfigured if the user replaces any number of the modules within their “rack.” This makes the user process of “designing” an instrument an important site of creative play, but the inherent instability and changeability adds to the complexity of analyzing modular synthesizers as instruments.
Comments
This chapter was originally published in Rethinking Music through Science and Technology Studies, edited by Antoine Hennion and Christophe Levaux.