# Eurorack scoring workflow?



## BlueGreenBoy (Mar 23, 2019)

Hey all,

I'm curious how people with Eurorack setups are incorporating it into their film scoring workflow? Are you using it to generate source material for use in your DAW? Actually composing / performing to picture? I'm on the brink of going down the rabbit hole and would love to know what other people's processes are.

Thanks in advance!


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## charlieclouser (Mar 24, 2019)

I create rough wire-frame structures of cues, with tempo, key, and markers roughed in, then record against picture into those. I edit, glue, and then export any material that might be useful as loops/audiofiles/samples for use in other cues.


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## José Herring (Mar 24, 2019)

I've found it best to either create loops of material that can be further processed in a daw, or create some weird unique sound that can't be easily done, leaving plenty of high harmonics to "chisel" the sound then sample it, import into Kontakt or a program like Alchemy or any synth that can playback samples and treat the original audio from the Eurorack as a waveform. 

If you want to treat more like a standard synth you can either get a midi to CV converter or Get a CV sequencer and that can be synced to your DAW. Personally though, there are so many synths that can work like that, I try to save the Eurorack for things that no other synth can do, so ssampling some unique sound and importing it into Kontakt and treating Kontakt like a synth works fairly well for me. Also, Form the Reaktor Ensemble works well for this too.


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## BlueGreenBoy (Mar 24, 2019)

charlieclouser said:


> I create rough wire-frame structures of cues, with tempo, key, and markers roughed in, then record against picture into those. I edit, glue, and then export any material that might be useful as loops/audiofiles/samples for use in other cues.



Brilliant, was not expecting a response from the maestro! That seems like a fairly straight forward and efficient way of doing it. Thank you!


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## charlieclouser (Mar 24, 2019)

I also generally record using MIDI in the DAW as well as MIDI Beat Clock driving the Euro, sometimes by way of external stuff like the Sequentix P3 or Dave Smith Pro-2 (which is a great step sequencer and front end for the Euro stuff in general). 

I usually record audio in loop-record mode, so in Logic that stacks up takes of whatever the cycle length is - this makes it a little easier to edit and reduce all the raw material down to manageable sizes.

Whether I'm recording synths or bowing a garbage can lid, even though I might only need 30 seconds of material, I wind up recording a couple of minutes worth trying to get that 30 seconds right, and then I wind up just continuing and recording way more than I need for the cue that's on the screen, so I just keep going until I've exhausted the possibilities of whatever sound is up, and then output that stuff to folders for use in other cues / projects by way of Ableton Live or just making sampler instruments.


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## BlueGreenBoy (Mar 25, 2019)

Using loop-record mode in Logic makes so much sense.

Do you ever use something like Expert Sleepers ES-8 or FH-2 to send CV / audio from the DAW to the modular?


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## Greg (Mar 25, 2019)

I love using Eurorack but my approach is to have that tool completely separate from my daw / template so I can get my head out of the digital world and just think about pure sound. Thats the entire reason that I got so into it. 

I love taking a key or tempo from a scoring project and spending hours just messing around, creating sounds that I never would have thought of otherwise. Then try to manipulate them into a cue. It really feels more like playing with legos instead of composing and it taps into that childlike sense of wonder and awe that just playing a piano doesn't really bring out anymore.


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## givemenoughrope (Mar 25, 2019)

I have somehow resisted Eurorack (although a few things recently have given me serious and uncomfortable GAS). Everything I use has a software VST/editor also so it just gets treated like a plugin. I also use Cableguy Midishaper which can wiggle everything that has CC. Still, I try to write the part before getting lost in making a sound.


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## BlueGreenBoy (Mar 25, 2019)

Greg said:


> I love using Eurorack but my approach is to have that tool completely separate from my daw / template so I can get my head out of the digital world and just think about pure sound. Thats the entire reason that I got so into it.



That's the appeal of it for me also, but at the same time I want to balance it with scoring to picture. I'm trying to figure out how to get the best of both worlds, I guess.


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## BlueGreenBoy (Mar 25, 2019)

givemenoughrope said:


> I have somehow resisted Eurorack (although a few things recently have given me serious and uncomfortable GAS).



I thought GAS was an issue with plugins, samples libraries and hardware synths, but modular GAS is just on another level!


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## charlieclouser (Mar 25, 2019)

BlueGreenBoy said:


> Using loop-record mode in Logic makes so much sense.
> 
> Do you ever use something like Expert Sleepers ES-8 or FH-2 to send CV / audio from the DAW to the modular?



I did, but in the era before Expert Sleepers - MOTU actually invented that concept, and were first out of the gate with their Volta plugin. I bought that on day one, and had three custom panels made for my Euro rig - each put a DB-25 on the back of the rack enclosure which fanned out to a 16hp panel with 3.5mm jacks. This was expensive, and for a minute it was cool. Then Expert Sleepers came out with a slightly better plugin and all of their hardware solutions, which all cost about 1/4 what I paid for the custom work.

I use this once in a while, but in most cases I'm fine with sending MIDI to the P3, Pro-2, Kenton Pro-2000, or the various MIDI converters in my Euro rig. All of that "sample accurate" stuff doesn't really make a difference in my world, so MIDI is just fine and it's so much easier to deal with for me.


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