RANT Alert: Demo videos

Hi there. There ist one thing that keeps disturbing me - the abundance of demo videos that tell you close to nothing about the module being demonstrated.

Scenario 1: "Demo Video": A module is being demonstrated but you cannot tell what it really does because the patch is so sonically dense or complicated you have no idea what said module is contributing. The module is not being switched in/out of the patch to give you an idea either.

Scenario 2: Modules of the same type are being compared, such as filters, delays, reverbs etc. That's a great idea as such; ideally all the modules you are listening to are in exactly the same situation, being fed the exact same input, sequence of notes, CV etc. In reality this is a rare exception, rendering the comparison close to useless.

Scenario 3: Inappropriate test signals. Have you ever listened to a demo of a reverb or echo trail being added to a sustained and possibly complex signal? That tells you nothing about the quality of the reverb tail because you have no chance of listening to it by itself. A short white noise burst would do the job. Likewise, a neutral sustained white noise input would reveal the character of a filter quite easily, in one fell sweep, if I may say so. I do not remember a single demo taking advantage of that fact.

Am I a cantankerous ill-tempered humorless wannabe wiggler who is all wrong?
Quite possible. Just saying. What's your experience? Discuss.

I wouldn't have bought half the gear I have if it wasn't for Demo videos, I like the ones I watch. Maybe I only watch the good ones! ;-)

I enjoy most demo videos whether I end up buying anything or not. There is a proliferation of knobs-esque demos which I find kind of irritating, but right now what quibbles I may have with demo videos of any kind are what I would charitably term first world problems.

Nah, you're 100% spot on, 55550. I've said numerous times that I don't tend to recommend YT vids for learning about modular...and those examples you give are a huge reason why! I don't know how many "module demos" I've seen where there's no real demonstration of how the MODULE ITSELF sounds/functions, and I feel that a lot of these deceptive "demos" are leaving prospective synthesists with the wrong idea about what results they can achieve with the device(s) in question. And also, trying to demo something in ones' own huge rig just gets confusing once all of the wires and doodads are in place; if you're dedicated to BEING a modular demo Tuber, GET A PALETTE and use that for your demos. Stop burying the module(s) in the demo patches! And don't try and make some whiz-bang patch with the demo...at best, just hook the module in question into the simplest patch conceivable that'll show off what it does. For example, if demoing a VCF, just send a basic ol' square wave into it and sweep, because it would be nice to hear how it picks off the harmonics in the waveform. I can figure out what to do at that point.

My beef with all these YT celebrities who have millions of dollars of free modular gear that is gifted to them by sponsors and never admit they are paid to push product with the freebies. We know who these kids are that own thousands of modulars and have done hundreds of videos but never bother to explain how a basic patch works and assume we know it already.

My beef with all these YT celebrities who have millions of dollars of free modular gear that is gifted to them by sponsors and never admit they are paid to push product with the freebies.
-- benprusinski

Yeah, I know the set of people you're talking about. Their relationships are really suspect. Back during the Korg 2600 FS fiasco, it was interesting to see how these people had ZERO trouble getting one of these damn things, but the general public had pretty no chance to snag one. Why, if Korg liked you enough, you could even get TWO. Then there was this one interesting incident...one of the YT celebs got one, but the case (remember: the case is a big part of why this synth was "limited") had been busted up in transit. Which, when you think about it, is something WE MIGHT ALL NEED TO KNOW ABOUT, as it makes Korg's "limited edition" claim even more specious. Anyway, they shot an unboxing with this...then RAPIDLY took it down under some...odd...circumstances (involving Korg, apparently) and replaced it with a new demo vid that was very careful to NOT show the damage to the road case. I confronted them about this, and they got REAL salty about it...but also made an admission that, yes, they'd gotten their synth through "other means" and not as a retail purchase, and no, it wasn't a "loaner" for review purposes. Read that however you like.

And yes, the "LOOKATMYBIGASSSYNTHAINNITCOOL!?!?!?!" YT crowd. Pft. Yep, you're 100% spot on...these YT creators love to show off this NEWAMAZINGSHINYTHING...but do you ever see one of them giving a tutorial on how to use basic modules? Like VCAs? Y'know, the module that everyone IGNORES but that they NEED? Nah. I'd love to ask a couple specific ones about how they use LFO sync...and see if they even know how to do that!

I would like to point out that there are very good synth users on YouTube, though. Let's take loopop's reviews as an example...

OK, with loopop, you get perfect views of the device in question. No extraneous narrative; everything he's saying is germaine to what he's doing. You get scope views to see things like spectral purity of VCOs, VCF behavior, etc. There's even a "skip-to" timeline on screen! To me, THAT is what I expect in a review. The device gets a workout by a knowledgeable synthesist and we get a "fly on the wall" seat. They're not thrilling, not trendy...just purely informative, like they SHOULD BE.

Contrast that was someone telling you "YOU NEEDZ VCAZ! KAN NEVRR HAZ ENUF VCAAA!!!" and not explaining WHY you need them...OK, that's just plain sucks. Why do I need 'em, mo'fo? Hm? Buehler? Buehler? Or "demoing" a module that we can barely see behind a tangle of patchcords. OK...then, why are those patchcords there? What are you doing with this thing? What's it hooked up to? What's that knob you're turning while hiding the label behind your hand because you don't know how to stay out of the camera's way? In the end, this isn't constructive, and just confuses prospective modular users even more, which results in people getting onto MG and putting up these abortions of builds that seem like they're showcases for how much money the user in question feels like blowing...but which also won't make for anything resembling a proper synth. Great if you like to shop for deals on eBay and Reverb, I guess, but not so good for those people who bought into this under the wrongly-held mindset that they would be instantly K00L once they had that patchcord-dripper built and installed.

Basically, it's like this: YouTube, by its own design, has turned into the same sort of ugly creature as regular TV. Content gets tailored for ad revenue and max eyeballs, information suffers as a result because information in of itself doesn't sell [INSERT COMMODITY HERE]. That's not helpful.

Hi Lugia,

This is why I learned basics on the free VCV Rack and this week bought my first modular setup with the Doepfer A100 Basic system that only has the core basics like VCO, VCF, VCAs, envelopes and mixer and clock and mults to get experience hands on before I expand. Several very experienced modular friends of mine suggested this as they started with a basic set of Doepfer modules and learned. I was looking at the affordable $300 Cre8audio kit but the demos looked really bad and it was more of a toy than a real music workstation for learning long term. I did spend under 2k but figure it will supplement my other gear and let me explore hands on modular synthesis. Besides, my hands are getting tired of using mouse clicks to setup modular in VCV Rack and its not as fun. I love loopop he knows his stuff but others annoy me as they are gear whores and never explain how basic patches and what a module does by itself. Once I have the basic routing of VCAs and EGs down with the Doepfer A100, I plan to expand the empty 84HP case with a wave shaper/wave table oscillator like the 4ms offerings and a weird new filter like the Belgrad or Dual Borg Richter filter and of course more VCAs and EGs since the basic Doepfer A100 only comes with a single DVCA which won't be enough to modulate new stuff. Looking at the Erogeneous Tones Radar for EG and the Befaco Hexmix for VCAs. I see these used to save money on utilities. I figure that in a few years my modular knowledge will allow me to produce interesting soundscapes without tons of fancy modules. I do like modular sequencers but due to case space and my two Elektron machines, I can wait on those until I start another larger case. I did order the Make Noise 0-ctrl to use for a touchpad modular sequencer with the Doepfer modules and my Make Noise 0-coast as i love this stuff.