Eric Kuehnl has released a second collection of short modular synthesizer pieces. It’s titled *Modular Etudes — Volume 2* and contains five pieces, ranging from gurgling drones that unfold into what suggests pizzicato strings, to escapades in sound design for what might be a rough draft of a claustrophobic science fiction tale. One hallmark of the pieces is their range of sounds. Most of them contain clearly contrasting elements, like the varied percussion in “Mod\_06.11.17” (presumably the titles are dates) and the mix of percussion and an alarm-like presence in “Mod\_06.20.17.” Even the set’s most sedate piece, “Mod\_07.20.17,” the one that earns the #ambient tag that Kuehnl affixed to [the SoundCloud upload](https://soundcloud.com/erickuehnl/sets/modular-etudes-volume-02), is still quite sonically diverse, a little aural terrarium packed with life forms.
Get the full collection at [soundcloud.com/erickuehnl](https://soundcloud.com/erickuehnl/sets/modular-etudes-volume-02). More from Kuehnl, who is based in Berkeley, California, at [erickuehnl.com](https://www.erickuehnl.com).