Drambo Cookbook - (idea for a beginners guide)

edited April 2020 in General app discussion

I love Drambo, but I'm also completely overwhelmed by the speed at which many of the more experienced modular users and sound designers have taken things down the rabbit hole and how quickly discussions on forums have gotten quite complicated and difficult for the average user to follow (myself included here).

Whilst working on my visual reference, I have also been thinking about how, as a community, we could try to invert the learning curve and help many of the new users who want to get involved but feel slightly shut-out by its perceived complexity.

At first, I thought about writing an Introduction to Drambo for modular newbies, but then I quickly realised even this would take at least 30 pages of text, and perhaps there was a better way?

Taking the (excellent) Drambo patches being uploaded to Patchstorage as inspiration, my latest idea is to build a Drambo cookbook, which would involve a series of increasingly complicated recipes for patches that explain how they work, and include signal diagrams and short written explanations.

The idea is to select 10-15 recipes of increasing complexity, and let the reader follow along building each one in sequence.

For example:

  • Recipe 1: My first synth - Oscillator and Amp envelope
  • Recipe 2: a basic sampler
  • Recipe 3: synth with filters and modulation
  • Recipe 4: dual-oscillator synth
  • Recipe 5: My first drum synth - pitch envelopes, noise, filter envelopes
  • Recipe 6: ...etc..
  • Recipe 7: ..,etc...
  • etc...

What do you guys think?

Please reply with you ideas, suggestions, and help devising a suitable series of recipes

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Comments

  • I like the idea and also appreciate the work you do with your „Visual Reference“ - its amazing.

    On the other side i am often baffled how unbelievably stuck people seem to want to be. I mean there are manuals and often in some threads people do not even realize that the same question they are asking is mentioned right above their own question - or even an answer to that.

    People do not seem to read these days. It’s much more easy and quicker to shout and scream than to fiddle around or read at least the last few posts in a thread they are thematically interested in.

    Just this morning i read, over on audiob.us, for a search for synthesized 909 with explicitly no interest in samples. Most of the reply’s are belonging to samples - so what is the point?

    Maybe i just need to rant a little but people do not read anymore - just a few of the people do, and mostly these people already know that stuff and just want to re-read or verify what’s written.

    Its just the internet times i guess.. Now put me back in my self-teaching cupboard and close the doors again. Rant is over.

    I don’t expect people to read or even understand unless one explicitly answeres to their question although the same question was answered before.

    So sorry for hooking this up here - but it just had to let off...now hurt me people.

  • edited April 2020

    Thanks for the reply @MrBlaschke

    I also share your laments about all the negative effects the internet has had on peoples' attention, ability to read/learn hard subjects, and concentration levels. However, I disagree with you on one important point.

    I think the messy forum threads and repeated questions are mostly a symptom of missing structure and guidance. The reason I want to build this cookbook is to silence a lot of the noise being generated on forums (especially Audiob.us) and be able to point users to a well-written learning pathway that they can follow themselves without hurdles at every step.

    As more experienced users, surely it becomes partly our responsibility to build the resources that minimise these repeated mistakes and the constant questions of amateur users.

    I'm sure this was how the first ever "Frequently Asked Questions" page came into existence.

    (OT: I wonder who invented the first ever FAQ?)

  • (OT: I wonder who invented the first ever FAQ?)

    😉

  • @tk32 very loudable, but I would not try to invert the learning curve. Another module might be more appropiate 😛

  • edited April 2020

    Thanks @denx - I think I may have confused myself with that attempt at geometric semantics gymnastics. Perhaps I won't attempt to 'invert the learning curve' after all, just assemble a cookbook guide instead. :)

    Ps. I think the correct spelling is laudable. Touché

  • "Drambo travel guide" would be a bless :). I think that something in a compact form could work, e.g. a rack screenshot + description. Its for users who already know the basics.

  • Isn’t @DaveyPoo already doing it? Bite size videos taking it step by step?

    No matter how hard you try you can change two things:

    a. Drambo is a fairly complex app that requires time and effort to learn (it ain’t Bebot)

    b. Some people’s expectations of what app will do for them are directly proportional to the amount they spent to buy it.

  • edited April 2020

    Yeah, Hitchhikers Guide to the galaxy is more up my alley. :)

    let’s do some Marvin patches.

    I’ll start with subtracting even from all harmonics in resonator.

    your move?

  • Something on each module just showing ways it can be used would be cool. I’d be up for contributing - particularly if it could be integrated with that beautiful visual guide to the modules. Recipes that kind of thing.

  • Modules don’t care if it’s audio or cv, that makes endless possibilities

  • edited April 2020

    @MrBlaschke

    an Kick

    is an 808 model

    add Impulse

    and you have the 909 click

    ...

    the Click in the 909 is basicly what makes it bang harder ;)


  • Thanks @lala - but that was not my discussion. It was just an example. I chilled - all good now :)

  • @tk32 yes this is something I think a lot of people would enjoy. Maybe a beginners guide to modular w/ Drambo? Something that would keep the attention of both someone who has not used a modular synth before as well as someone who is maybe just beyond a beginner modular user and new to Drambo. I’d be interested in contributing if you are taking assistance.

    you could link to patchstorage tutorial patches as well. Maybe a bunch of deconstructed modules that the recipe would show you how to connect.

  • Thanks for your words of encouragement @bcrichards

    You're exactly the kind of person I hoped might be on-board with this idea.

    Definitely keen to have your involvement.

  • You too @Cian :)

  • edited April 2020

    I think an introductory guide would be fine, but as someone from the modular-experienced side I would caution against thinking about things as a bunch of recipes. IMO that way of thinking is a barrier because there are infinite ways of using and combining things in a modular environment. So if you think of it as a bunch of things to remember, it's going to get out of hand fast. IMO, it's better to think of modular as a toolbox full of tools that can be combined and used in different ways.


    The most important thing for beginners, IMO, is to understand the basics of synths and modulation and the different types of signals (Pitch, Gate, CV, Audio) first and how they are both different and the same - they're all just static or changing voltages in HW, and static or changing numbers in Drambo. And then it's about learning what each tool does to a signal. And learning how to use the Oscilloscope to see what's going on should be a very early lesson too.


    Recipes for recreating traditional synths and things is fine, but I think what experienced modular users often do is to work backwards from what we are trying to achieve and what modules we have available to achieve that. IOW it's not about memorizing recipes, but creating recipes on the fly from the available ingredients.

    And of course just trying things:

    Anything with an input and output can be tried as a processor to see what happens . It might or might not do anything useful, but you can just try things. Hmm, what does Math>Exp do to an audio signal? Or to an envelope? It's helpful to know what Exp does if you have a specific need for it, but you can and should just try things too.

    And anything that can be triggered from a gate might be able to be triggered by a square wave oscillator at audio rate. Hmm, what if I set the times of an envelope really short and triggered the env from a square wave at audio rate - what would that do? I'll know someone has tried this when I see the feature request to allow Length to be modulated on the Graphic Envelope - some stuff I only learn by trying it to see what happens. :)

  • @drewfx1 I think in this way the “recipes” could be thought of as “here’s something that you might be wondering how to build” but the way it’s walked through should help introduce the user/reader to new modular concepts. It could be recipe + experiment. Now that you’ve built X, how would you make it do Y? Or now add Z. What changed? So the user gets to make some choices along the way and experiment. More of a workbook than just recipes.

  • edited April 2020

    You make a lot of very good points @drewfx1

    I guess, my thinking is that a cookbook makes your first few hours with Drambo less head scratching, and may give complete newbies the confidence to get involved and start experimenting.

    Agree with you about understanding what's going on under the hood/bonnet re: oscillators and signals, but that feels like something the individual user must research once they've got a taste for modular.

    The idea of recipes is to give a series of starting racks which new users might feel more confident to experiment with. Change the module sequence, add an LFO, etc..

    It's like a Lego pack with instructions to build a car, and then the kid realises he can turn the windows into wings and make it a spaceship instead.

  • Yeah, I'm definitely not against the idea of, "Here are some simple recipes to get started with".

    The point I was trying to make is that you want to get beyond thinking in terms of just memorizing recipes to thinking in terms of ingredients that can be combined in infinite ways. Sometimes people want to know how they can use a particular module and the difficulty is there are endless ways of using it. And that's the real power of a modular vs. a full featured synth with multiple oscillator and filter choices and a deep modulation matrix.


    So I was trying to make a point about how it's presented rather than opposing the idea of basic recipes. I think it's a hindrance for people to think it's about memorizing endless recipes rather than thinking in terms of flexible ingredients that can be combined in all sorts of ways.

  • edited April 2020

    @drewfx1

    hm, there is Little difference between audio and cv here as everything modulates at Audiorate in drambo ...

    and modules don’t care if u feed them audio or cv, they just do whatever they do.

    but people should have Or get a basic idea of what is what ...


    BTW. There is no need to understand gate in drambo if you aren’t after advanced things, as the oscillators, envelopes and lfos get autoconnected anyway.

    so I wouldn’t confuse beginners with gate here ...

  • @tk32 awesome idea. Have you seen the books by SynthDawg for TE synths?


    Could be a source of inspiration for you. I think he offers a free Deluge notebook.

  • Sorry, but I disagree about the need to understand gate 1000%.

  • @giku

    can you move the questions out of the how to?

  • edited April 2020

    I think this would make a great template.

    https://sketchucation.com/doh-book-success

    ”The D’oh! Book contains no chapters, sections or logical pattern. You can just pick it up and open a page to read about anything from tips and techniques to hidden easter eggs. Dive in wherever you want and learn something new about SketchUp.“

  • edited April 2020

    Thanks for the tip @SpartanClownTide

    I like the idea of a d'oh Drambo guide (Dramd'Oh?) but I have a feeling it may take at least a few months before we've managed to collect enough material for something like this.

  • edited April 2020

    i think a great section to this would be to grab 3 or 4 modules and show a few different things that can do. everyone knows LFO can modulate frequency cut off, but what else can it do... let’s just show off a few examples then swap the lfo out for another module that can do the same thing and maybe give different results. like mentioned above, get the mind set to think about endlesss possibilities as opposed to just modulating cut off frequency and pitch in basic ways.

    i think this is a great idea, ive successfully built patches on vcv and mirack and a couple things for drambo but i’m still very green and lost when i look at a module like- valley uGraph , bogaudio shaper and then shaper + , what are all those extra options and why would i pick one over the other. so i think showing off different uses for drambo modules will help get minds rolling and thinking about the big picture as opposed to getting all excited thinking....i want to build a self generating mega synth with all these cool looking modules, then they just end up downloading a patch from patch storage cuz it’s overwhelming.

  • That's a good idea. Maybe people can start "How can I use the ..." threads somewhere here for modules they are curious about?


    For LFO's, try adding the LFO to your signal and then running it through the graphic shaper.

  • A good forum is a mine of information. At some point there should be enough material to collate into a document, with a bit of editorial decision making/tidy up, few more pictures, etc. If that’s what is needed. The first step is post those observations. I only realised recently you can tap connections from any track upstream, including the sequencer. That information must of been out there but somehow passed me by.

  • I've been thinking a while about manuals, people who don't take the time to read them and if they do, how they use them.

    Since they'll want to apply what they've read anyway, why not have a set of tutorial patches dedicated to learning the basics and are organized in a way that invites them to go through step by step?

    We have separators and text fields, an oscilloscope that can explain a lot about signals and we have sound!

    Certainly more immediate and certainly not as "boring" as reading a manual.

    😊

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