You may not enjoy this type of thing, but I find it oddly relaxing. This is a fairly simple patch in VCV Rack. Three FM-type sine oscillators are playing a convoluted pattern in a subset of 19-note equal temperament. You’ll see the patch itself near the end of the video, but I blunked out the patch cords to make it look prettier.
There are lots of ways to make microtonal music, lots of FM-type sine oscillators, and lots of ways to do LFO modulation, all of which you’ll hear in this video. There are also lots of ways to do polyrhythms — but I suspect the Mog Network module, which is the mastermind in this brief piece, is the only device that can produce what we might call embedded poly-structures. The pattern of notes is not at all random, it’s entirely determinate, but the pattern is not easy to grasp by listening. You can sense it; but what is it?
The same patch could be used to make a conventional 12-note-per-octave piece, but I claim it would be a lot less interesting. The tuning here is exotic and perhaps unsettled, and that contributes to the musical effect.
This is an example of what I call wohnzimmermusik (living-room music). It’s meant to be heard in the home. Something of the sort might work in a small experimental music venue, but it’s the absolute antithesis of concert music. Possibly that’s a reflection of a new musical culture, and that may be a good thing. I enjoy playing concerts, but making music at home is more energizing creatively.
Jim Aikin's Oblong Blob 
Nice one!
I enjoyed reading the last few posts, as I ‘discovered’ synths at the beginning of the year. And man, that rabbit hole is deep! I’m curious what your take would be on the software modular Wren — fair warning, the UI takes some getting used to, but it has some cool ideas. It’s similar to the old Nord patch editor.
I hadn’t heard of it before. The UI has a kind of ’90s Windows vibe to it. I just glanced at the web page. Do you know, is it a one-person programming job, or are there other people contributing? The reason I ask is because VCV Rack has a really robust 3rd-party community adding modules, many of which are quite exotic. It wouldn’t be possible for one programmer to come anywhere close to that.
Yep, it’s one guy. I don’t think it can compete with Rack for variety; however I see it as its own instrument with its particular feel and sound if that makes sense (and a few notable features of its own). That said it has been in development for 20 odd years so there’s something like 200+ modules, many of them quite unusual. See https://bluehell.nl/wren/modules.html
By the way, since you were talking about soft synths I meant to ask if you still have/play your Eurorack these days? I’m on the fence about whether to start a small system of my own, since soft synths can do so much these days. Is it even worth it?
I donated my large eurorack system to Mills College a couple of years ago. (Nice tax writeoff.) And now Mills is shutting down, so I have no idea what will happen to their studio gear, but it’s not my problem. I realized I wasn’t using the thing, and that VCV Rack offered big advantages in several areas. You can store your patches, for starters. The cost is dramatically lower. And even if you’re using a module you paid for, you can instantiate it multiple times in a single patch. All you’re missing, really, are the knobs.
I’m having similar thoughts, to use soft synths but with hardware controllers (that’s my basic setup now). Hard to resist the lure of CV though!