Everyone loves playing music stoned, but the (high) times they are a-changing. No disrespect to Bob Dylan covers strummed on “the quad” or psychedelic arsenals of guitar pedals, but these are instruments of marijuana’s past, best paired with a crumbling joint or resin-caked glass pipe that looks how a Jimi Hendrix guitar solo sounds.
The future of playing music stoned is electronic, and there’s no more fun way to make electronic music than on a modular synthesizer. And there’s no better way to do it than while stoned. Except when it becomes a nightmare.
Modular synthesizers are complicated, expensive, and wonderful instruments. Unlike a conventional synthesizer comprised of a keyboard with electronics under the hood that give a distinct sound, modular synthesizers are, well, modular. You buy one module at a time that serves very specific functions, then patch them together using the equivalent of aux cables.
Ranging from simple tools to shape a sound’s attack and release to wildly creative units like spectral multiband resonators and morphing terrariums (which both make great names for weed strains). A tiny twist of a knob makes a simple electric volt sound like tubular bells, a lawnmower starting underwater, or an alien conversation.
Marijuana isn’t addictive, but modular synths are. Imagine a deck of Magic: The Gathering cards, except that each card unlocks a type of noise, chops it into pulsing waves, reverses it, delays it. Unfortunately, it isn’t a cheap hobby. If you want that fetishized Three Sisters filter expect to throw down $350 retail, or hawkishly monitor used listings on various message boards or Facebook groups. Even modest rigs end up costing thousands of dollars.
But oh the places you’ll go. Traditional music theory and composition skills are useful, but playing a modular