Overview
Extend your creative practice through modular thinking and modular sound approaches with this advanced course, designed for experienced electronic music producers and sound designers. Expand your creative horizons, master complex modular systems and push the boundaries of sound design through hands-on experimentation and iteration.
- Transform your existing ideas into complete works – develop the structures and frameworks needed to bring your sketches, patches and experiments to a compelling conclusion as full-scale compositions, performances or installations.
- Clarify your creative direction – cut through the noise with focused support, feedback and techniques that help you refine your artistic voice and take your modular practice to the next stage.
- Create a portfolio-ready project – whether you're aiming to finalise an EP, prepare a live performance or design an immersive audio installation, you'll leave with a finished piece that reflects your unique sound and professional intent.
Even with a strong background in synthesis, there’s always more to explore. This course offers the opportunity to expand your creative approach, strengthen your modular system fluency and refine your compositional and performance methods through focused work in composition, live performance and sound installation.
Led by a team of modular synthesis experts and professional producers, you’ll explore both the technical architecture and the creative possibilities of modular systems. Participants are encouraged to bring their own setups, allowing for tailored support that deepens your understanding of your instrument’s capabilities. You’ll explore how to build and manipulate complex signal flows, craft performance-ready systems, and experiment with advanced multichannel audio techniques.
Topics include synchronisation strategies, DAW and hardware integration, voltage-controlled modulation, and methods for developing modular systems that support compositional clarity and performance reliability.
In a series of masterclasses and hands-on sessions, you’ll encounter diverse approaches to modular synthesis – from minimalist performance systems to generative patching, from immersive installations to site-responsive audio environments. These varied perspectives will support the development of a nuanced, deliberate and forward-thinking practice. By the end of the course, you will have established a personalised workflow and created a complete piece of work that reflects your creative and technical progress.
Course structure
The course content will focus on the following subject areas:
- Experimental Sound Design: Embrace open-ended experimentation in modular synthesis, where exploration and unexpected results become opportunities for new creative directions.
- Indeterminacy and Chance: Discover the philosophy of indeterminacy, using patching and knob-tweaking to let chance guide the artistic process, resulting in spontaneous and unique soundscapes.
- Interdisciplinary Creation: Develop your own artistic language through collaborations with other mediums
- Immersive Sonic Environments: Develop the skills to craft evolving soundscapes, creating immersive audio experiences that transform sound into a living environment.
- Non-Linear and Decentralised Composition: Experiment with non-traditional approaches to composition that challenge conventional structures, allowing each piece to evolve without a strict framework.
- Human-Machine Synergy: Explore the dynamic interaction between artist and machine, viewing modular systems as collaborative partners in the creative process.
By the end of this course, you’ll walk away with an expanded creative toolkit and a more focused artistic direction. You’ll be equipped to:
- Deepen your understanding of your own creative process, with the ability to critically reflect on the artistic choices, sonic aesthetics and modular techniques that define your work.
- Apply advanced modular synthesis techniques to design complex, original sounds that reflect your unique voice.
- Harness chance, chaos and generative systems as intentional tools for composition, embracing unpredictability as a powerful source of inspiration.
- Use tactile, hands-on sound-making methods to craft textures and introduce character, integrating subtle imperfections as part of your sonic identity.
- Design immersive soundscapes and environments, creating evolving auditory experiences that invite deeper audience engagement.
- Customise and configure your modular setup to reflect your artistic vision, building an expressive instrument tailored to your compositional goals.
- Balance structure with spontaneity, developing flexible composition workflows that support both live performance and studio work.
- Work confidently with modular technology, treating your system as a responsive collaborator rather than just a technical tool.
- Explore new creative territories, extending your modular practice beyond traditional music-making into interdisciplinary collaborations, installations and performance art.
- Integrate your modular system with the broader studio environment, learning how to blend acoustic and electronic elements, route through DAWs and hardware, and sculpt sound using the full spectrum of studio tools.
Whether you want to spend four weeks immersing yourself in modular synthesis and connecting with like-minded individuals, or you’re preparing to advance to our longer Creative Production (Music) MA programme, this short course will equip you with hands-on experience and unique insights into the world of sound design.
You’ll develop and receive feedback on projects relevant to career paths such as sound design, film scoring, instrument development and sound engineering, helping you build a portfolio that showcases your technical abilities and creative range.
Your technological playground
Get hands-on access to cutting-edge facilities and tons of bookable gear.
K3 Recording studio
K4 Recording studio
P1 Recording studio
P2 Recording studio
K13 Mastering studio
EMP Lab
Essential information
Enrolment fee*: €495
Course fee: €1,755
Total: €2,250
Early Bird Discount: Enrol in a Summer Short Course before the end of February 2025 and receive a discount of €150 off the tuition fee.
Multi Course Discount: Enrol in both a Summer Short Course and a degree course with us in the same year, and receive a discount of €500 off the total tuition fee.
*Enrolment fee is non-refundable.
We can’t provide an exact timetable until we know how many students will attend the course. However, you will have an average of 16 hours per week of workshops.
Our campus facilities are open for the students to use beyond the timetabled workshop hours. Studios and listening spaces are bookable from 10:00 until 19:45 during the Short Course term.
You can expect to be in a class of 12 to 16 students.
The most important prerequisite for attending this course is that you must be passionate about building and developing your skills in modular synthesis. You are encouraged to bring your own modular system to work on, if you have one, as you may be much more familiar with your own system that ours.
Our Short Courses are designed to be accessible to anyone, so we do not require any level of academic certification to apply. If you’re applying to an intermediate or advanced course, we trust you to make this judgment for yourself. To qualify, you should usually be aged 18 or over. If you're coming from outside the EU, a holiday/travel visa will usually suffice.
For more information, please contact a member of the Admissions team. We love to chat! Please reach out to us at admissions@catalyst-berlin.com or call us at +49 30 2900 9052.
Once a course is full, we will no longer accept more applications, so applying as soon as possible increases your chances of getting a place. The official deadline for applying to a Short Course is Friday 23 May 2025.
Get a feel for Catalyst and our courses at a range of both online and in-person events. Join us at a Virtual Open Day or an Open Day at our campus in Berlin, check out our facilities with a campus tour, join an Admissions Q&A, or try a taster workshop.