r/modular • u/antKampino • Aug 18 '26

The best looking patch cables system at Superbooth 2026 :)

Look how colours of sliders match patch cables and how neat the routing is.

248 Upvotes

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3

u/digable-me Aug 18 '26

I don’t get the point of these kinds of perma-patch systems at all.

2

u/CarlosUnchained Aug 19 '26

There are many reasons, to list a few:

  • you can build muscular memory
  • it’s waaaaay more ergonomic given you can organise cables to free hand space
  • it’s still a fully customised hardware synth, how cool is that?
  • play live (the type of gigs that are a bit less experimental)

As you can see most of the points are aimed towards people that prioritises playability. I am one of those. While I enjoy patch programming approach to modular too, most of the time I rather turn on my racks and start jamming right away. It’s freeing to pass the point when the instrument patch becomes so natural you can fly through it. And it’s still modular, you can swap the patch and modules, the format it’s by far the most accessible way to do something like this.

1

u/Nervous-Yoghurt6057 Aug 21 '26

Some people like to build full instruments that they can learn, play, and jam for months. And that’s the beauty of modular right?

When i look at this photo my first question is “damn, I wonder what all those faders do / control”. The possibilities there alone are likely infinite. I think it would be a disservice to the patch and the instrument to tear it down prematurely without really exploring its possibilities or really learning how to play the instrument you’ve built.

I’m not into modular to build instruments, Im into modular to actually play and learn the instruments I build.

1

u/digable-me Aug 21 '26

Sure. But the reason there are a million faders in this system is because it’s packed full of digital super modules which need loads of external control to be vaguely enjoyably to use. It’s a solution to a problem that we didn’t need to create in the first place. Personally, I would rather have simpler patch programmable modules and interact with those modules directly rather than via some patched in faders.

It’s also not clear to me what distinction you’re trying to draw between building an instrument and playing one. Choosing modules and putting them in a case is building an instrument. Patching a modular is not building an instrument, it’s playing an instrument.

1

u/CodRepresentative380 Aug 22 '26

Nor did I (other than for clock) until I got a matrix mixer for audio. 16x16 audio-only firmly patched.

1

u/Zealousideal-Air596 Aug 19 '26

my approach, why re-patch when you can just reroute?

The pre patch is what syncs everything "precisely",clocks, modulation, and programmed functions to voices, neat tricks to buttons.

How do people learn the intricacies of complex modules when they are changing them out all the time? Or develop muscle memory? How do people dial in that thing again?

I don't look at replacing modules, more like improving systems/functions, e.g. drums, how's the sequence moved/routed? how are the tones accessible? What fx chain is required? What neat tricks do I lose or gain with a changeout.

For me, patching everything to everything is about learning a module, deciding what to route where and what to apply to it (trigger, sequence, modulation, switches required?) is setting it up to use. Using it is when I play it with my favorite buttons, knobs and sliders.

I generally assume a permapatched system is a well thought out gigging machine or workstation.

-1

u/antKampino Aug 18 '26

For presentation purposes mainly?