Full (modular) House at Freqs of Nature!

The Freqs of Nature Festival has been around for quite some time now but only recently expanded the musical spectrum. The festival concentrated on mostly Psy Trance music until last year. Now there is almost any genre of electronic music present leaving you spoilt for choice, wich is a very good thing. As a guest of Freqs of Nature you will always be able to find the perfect musical match for your current mood. From smooth and relaxed Ambient or Dub music to tripping and driving DnB, Breakcore, Techno and – of cause – Psy Trance. You are even able to find all kinds of experimental electronic music, numerous workshops and multiple art galleries with a huge variety of art through out the festival. From a gallery featuring mind-tickling artworks of artists from all around the globe, to street-art and live painting performances there is a lot to discover at Freqs of Nature. The audience is openminded and interested in discovering new way of expression and sounds and is willing to walk the adventurous routes.

This is the point where it gets interesting – last year there was already some modular action visible at the festival. This year this part of the festival was generously expanded by the organizers, by dedicating a special area to modular synths.

The Modular House was a … well a house, dedicated to the experimental playground – the modular synthesizer. We were very excited when we discovered this. We (=Patrick Detampel) set up different modular systems and held workshop after workshop. The flow of interested people never really stoped, there were always people around, playing an instrument they might not know existed before entering the Modular House. The interest was so big that Patrick Detampel, our product specialist and well known modular expert, decided to set up 1-hour beginner workshops, Q&A times and open jam sessions. Additionally the Bastl Instruments Crew offered a beginners soldering workshop with their DIY kits.

The synths!

We brought a lot of gear, some of it can be found in the pictures, but here is a more detailed list:

• Vermona modules in a Vermona case, mostly for drum purposes, modulation and filtering.
• A Verbos system in a Vermona Case – for that Verbos look and sound.
• Frap Tools, Touellskouarn, Audio Damage modules in a Frap Tools Case, all specialists.
• Traditional Doepfer Systems (Vintage Edition) mostly used for bass purposes.
• A modular „Groovebox“ made of Doepfer modules.
• ACL System in a case from Erica Synths, for everything you can think of.
• Endorphin.es Shuttle System, the playful synth.
• To keep the machines in sync we used the mighty E-RM Multiclock.

The sound was good!

Surprisingly there was a little Function One sound system setup in the modular house so you really were able to hear what the machines are capable of. But the sound of modular synthesizers was not only present in the modular house. More and more live acts play their shows with modulars and the artists at Freqs of Nature where no exception. The organizers took good care of the sound quality and a constant flow of music – with shows 24 hours a day the party never stopped … until Tuesday morning!

The trip to Freqs of Nature was great and we want to thank the organizers for their support of modular music and making our stay as comfortable as possible … In the end it is a music festival, it is loud, dirty and the best thing you can do in German summer!

We will be back! Make sure you will be there too. Next years edition will happen from 04-09 July 2018.

To get some more visual impressions of the festival make sure to check out the impressive picture gallery HERE.