Patch Sheet - Storage of patches

Hello surferdargile,

Storing patches has been discussed before here on the forum, especially in this thread which lists a few options: forum.aemodular.com/thread/62/ae-modular-template

Funny is that I also experimented with using spreadsheets for noting patches. Here are two that I made a while back:

Here is one of my simpler patches in spreadsheet format:
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lJnB2GC75JwIMwYafFQyS-K1fMQ4MqatQH4RiYCrx3o/

And this is a bigger patch which also includes knob values:
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gv6PWSrtzfPppl1M-kvZsSURR59cDEB34GRVnvHGoVg/

I must say though, that I'm just too lazy to do this. I rather make a video of the performance for this patch, upload it to YouTube and the get rid of all the cables and by that time I'm also quite over the sound and happy to rip it all apart and start fresh.

From a personal point-of-view, making notes was more about recording how I did something, and the more I did that, the more I understood what it was that I was doing to arrive at the desired (or more usually, lucky) sound. Certainly, in the early days of the patch challenges there were requests for diagrams and I just drew mine by hand in a notebook and then scanned them - and that was certainly fun...!!!

As the feedback loop between what I patched and how that patch sounded developed, I needed fewer diagrams as I was learning how to achieve a desired sound and I was learning how to create big chunks of a patch (e.g. sound generation, modulation, etc.). Rather like admin said, I would then play with/record that patch and then break it down, safe in the knowledge that I could probably work out how I achieved it, even if not exactly, and anyway I'd got what I wanted from it in terms of both learning and recording.

There's an interesting point: I was learning how to translate what I heard in my head into what I could hear with my ears - or I could get close, with happy accidents thrown in. Along the way, I would discover new things that added to this knowledge. Gradually, my translation ability got better with practice - it's still not perfect and I'm still training it with exposure to ever more interesting modules via other routes, and matching ever more challenging sounds in my head.

My point here is that keeping notes is perfectly good practice and we'll all find a level that works for us - and a method. For some, it can be like a lab book, with very detailed notes on the setup and outcomes, and for others it can be a few scant words as a memory jogger. I believe we all find a comfortable place on that continuum. So, wheels aren't being re-invented, never fear, it's just a case of following your own learning path and shaping the exact parameters of your personal version of that wheel (IMO, of course  ).

Ah well, the CS-30 is quite the beast   You'll be fine with the AE Modular if you can understand the routing on that Yamaha...!!!

Yes  also a good way  ... But I try not to type anything, just using a kind of predefined  virtual matrix  on  spreadsheet , like a virtual VCS3 noting system

I wrote in an older thread about my patchnotes systems. (Go check that thread out!) Whenever I create a patch, I also try to write it down. The goal is to create something in my patch notebook that is as beautiful as the music it represents.

Actually i think storing patches is counterproductive when seen in a modular perspective. I sometimes rip all the patchcables of a good patch out knowing that i will probably never be able to make exactly the same patch again. But i do know that i learned something from the patch, and that i probably can make another patch (or sound) that derives from the good patch.

So as others have mentioned the lack of patch storage, banks, programs, slots is maybe the very soul of modular synthesis.

I stopped mourning the lost patch, and instead celebrate the next patch that does inherit from  it's ancestors. Sounds a little cheesy, i know, but if we could store patches, less development would be seen.

I know people who have amazingly powerfull synths who have only ever played with the factory default sounds, because there are so many, and they sound so good.

This.