Post

Sorry I missed the part with the mixer. Sure, an external mixer would help.

I have an ES-3 and have used it for sound design and composition, but never for playing the case, mainly because I do not play a modular and use it solely for sound design and composition. Something like the ES-3 is good for communication between the DAW and the case. I also have a Mutant Brain MIDI-CV module that I had bought in 2019 for a specific project. I'll use that to send note/gate data to the case and use the ES-3 for sending envelopes, LFOs and also audio.

Personally I find most modular performances boring OR music that could easily be done using a laptop or other hardware boxes. Lots of reverb-drenched pointless ambient doodlings or never-ending arpeggios over 4/4 kicks. I think most people use a modular for the sake of using a modular - an extension of a pitfall in electronic music (academic or non-academic) - the tool or process is more important than the end result. I will, however, give myself a last chance at trying to play with a modular by focusing only on my Make Noise modules as a consistent, single-producer system.

If you want some more interesting, experimental uses of modulars in live performance and composition, I'd recommend checking names like Thomas Lehn, Richard Scott, Eliad Wagner, Thomas Ankersmit...