Get a kid to explain clock: Caitlin’s modular clock tutorial is must-watch

If The Mad Music Machine thought that getting young Caitlin in her Christmas crown to explain modular clock signals would grab attention … they were right.

Kids seem to have a natural affinity for synthesizers, after all – I know my love affair started early, and I didn’t have access to anything like this! And Caitlin’s video tutorial on signal is sharp, cheery, and to the point.

The idea: patching signal allows you to introduce time and rhythm to composition, here demonstrated on a Moog Mother-32 – a great place to start with modular concepts – and their Mutant Drums.

Within the modular paradigm, it’s also fun to subdivide rhythms – something musicians naturally do with beats, applied to the patch-and-plug metaphor. So they’ve also made use of the 4ms Rotating Clock Divider in the mix.

Good stuff – thanks, Caitlin!

And, of course, if you don’t have modular hardware nearby, now is a good time to mention our tutorial from last week, in which Ted Pallas shows you how to get up and running with VCV Rack. We present that tutorial without the assumption that you know how basic modules work in synthesis, so if you’re new to this, this can be a place to start:

Step one: How to start using VCV Rack, the free modular software

h/t Synthtopia