How to design sounds and make music with a modular synthesizer. An Introduction into Modular Synth(esi)s without hardware using the free Open Source software “VCV Rack”
* What are the basic elements of electronic sounds? * What does VCO, LFO, VCF, VCA, or ADSR mean? * How do sequencers work? * How do I patch up these elements to form sounds? * How do I organize sounds into music in a modular environment? * How do the most common sound synthesis techniques – Subtractive Synthesis, FM, Additive Synthesis, Physical Modeling, Sampling or Granular Synthesis – work and what are the concepts behind them?
Using the free Open Source app “VCV Rack” we will answer these questions hands-on while creating soundscapes, music and lots of cool noises. “VCV Rack” is a modular synthesizer software that is oriented at the popular Eurorack format in which simple and not-so-simple modules can be infinitely combined to build complex sound generating systems. It is available for OSX, Windows, and Linux.
We will build an ever growing modular music system while exploring many different modules. When this is working we will learn how to control the VCV patch with MIDI Keyboards and Controllers, and how to combine it with other music software.
During the course we will collect topics and specific requirements from the participants and discuss how to realize them in VCV Rack. We will also talk about the Pros and Cons of modular hardware vs. modular software.
Der Unterricht wird, den Bedürfnissen der Teilnehmer.innen entsprechend, auf Deutsch und Englisch geführt.
The course can be held in English or German, or both, depending on the needs of the students.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – About the instructor: Peter Votava has almost 20 years of teaching experience in the fields of Electronic and Computer Music, specializing on Cycling 74’s Max and Ableton Live. As well as being an experienced instructor, he is an active producer, performer and dj of electronic music both danceable and experimental since 1991 with his projects Pure, Current 909, Ilsa Gold and many more. He has over 30 physical releases on labels like aufnahme+wiedergabe, Holotone, Monolith, Stirpe999, Editions Mego and many more. He lives in Berlin and Vienna.
www.musicwithmachines.org/
Requirements: * Your own computer with VCV Rack 1.x. (MacOS, Win or Linux). Get it for free at vcvrack.com/ * A pair of headphones * MIDI keyboard or MIDI controller if possible
When: FR 06.12.2019 19-22h SA 07.12.2019 10-17h incl. 1h break SO 08.12.2019 10-17h incl. 1h break
Where: Zentrale – Raum für Klang und Prozesskunst Neulerchenfelderstrasse 52, 1160 Wien zentrale.jetzt/
Course fee: 240 Euro
Registration: You need to register to have your place guaranteed. Please PM or mail courses@musicwithmachines.org to receive registration details. Please put the course title into the Subject line of the email.