Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
When I started playing modular synths and other electronics, my whole definition of a “musical instrument” flipped on its head.
Instead of something relatively fixed in form, (like a piano, for example)… when we play an electronic instrument we get to literally (re)design our instrument every time we play it, and even to change its fundamental behavior mid-flight…
How cool is that?!! (And *how* nerdy, I know ❤️)
This got me thinking about other instruments, and how much more might be possible with them if I approached them from the same perspective as a modular synth… I started to play games and ask questions like:
How can I use my voice (or play my instrument) in a way I’ve never played it before?
How can I hear / listen to the sounds coming from this instrument in an entirely new way?
I personally have a lot of fun going back and forth between thinking about my instruments as what they are “supposed to be”, with all of their history, and just thinking about them as just a weird collection of things that vibrate, resonate, and go boom. 😂
And similarly, whenever I’m making a new patch on my modular I always love to see how many new ways I can use a specific tool beyond its “correct” purpose or function…
I think I’ll likely always be discovering new, strange sonic corners (if I’m lucky!)
When I started playing modular synths and other electronics, my whole definition of a “musical instrument” flipped on its head.
Instead of something relatively fixed in form, (like a piano, for example)… when we play an electronic instrument we get to literally (re)design our instrument every time we play it, and even to change its fundamental behavior mid-flight…
How cool is that?!! (And *how* nerdy, I know ❤️)
This got me thinking about other instruments, and how much more might be possible with them if I approached them from the same perspective as a modular synth… I started to play games and ask questions like:
How can I use my voice (or play my instrument) in a way I’ve never played it before?
How can I hear / listen to the sounds coming from this instrument in an entirely new way?
I personally have a lot of fun going back and forth between thinking about my instruments as what they are “supposed to be”, with all of their history, and just thinking about them as just a weird collection of things that vibrate, resonate, and go boom. 😂
And similarly, whenever I’m making a new patch on my modular I always love to see how many new ways I can use a specific tool beyond its “correct” purpose or function…
I think I’ll likely always be discovering new, strange sonic corners (if I’m lucky!)
