#314

I’m guessing one day I could come back full circle on that. Haha

#315

Agreed with the suggestions about getting more utility and fewer sources (if you want to keep it to those dimensions.)

Instead of trying to commit to a fixed system, one approach I like with VCV is to commit to 2-3 specific modules that I’m trying to explore, and to be flexible about what modules I bring in and out as I’m exploring them. (Omri Cohen does something like that in a lot of videos.)

For what you’re describing, that could be Orca’s Heart, Macro Oscillator 2 (Plaits) and texture synth (Clouds).

I’d build a semi-default patch that includes a mixer (mindmeld is king, I default to the JR version) parched to my audio out, Impromptu Clocked (MVP & most useful clock), along with the modules I’m trying to focus on.

E.g. Get a mini melody going with just orca’s heart and the oscillator. And explore how I can make it evolve by adding only modulation sources. Eventually bring in clouds; tweak a starting point to taste; try to make it evolve with modulation sources, attenuverters, VCAs; etc etc.

With this kind of approach, at first it’s a good idea to try to limit yourself to a small pool of modulators just to keep things manageable (my suggestion as a nice and deep intro set would be the fundamental collection + audible instruments + vult (caudal is soooo nice as a chaotic source for ambient patches.) But let yourself explore…

Trying to build a fixed modular system (where you don’t change the modules) is an art. It’s incredibly hard even if you know exactly what you need and why. With VCV I’ve found that trying to build a system was a time sink with way less payoff than this kind of focused exploration…

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#316

This is just generally a fun practice and I second this. I haven’t done this in some time and I’m in need of more samples for my Tracker. Even I might do this during a work break today, since I’ve never used Braids before (and single borked a physical build I was excited to try).

Not to mention having some good samples of the FM oscillator. My fave. :drooling_face:

1 Like
#317

Oh the hours, how they evaporate while I’m using Rack!

One thing I’ve found while learning modular is to just ignore Rack’s polyphonic features for now, as they don’t really map to the hardware experience at all, and add a layer of complexity. (I noticed you’ve included Viz Poly in your default setup.)

Don’t get me wrong: Polyphony is one of the most amazing aspects of Rack in pushing beyond the physical realities of Eurorack (what could I make with 20 Plaits?!?) But it also is a layer of abstraction that can confuse the fundamentals of modular synthesis at first.

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#318

I also learned this approach from Omri, and it has stuck ever since. It’s helpful to lean in to what makes VCV different from a physical modular. Doing so accelerates the learning process greatly. With a physical modular the process of trying out new modules, diving deep with each one, finding the right companion modulators, is time consuming, expensive, and subject to physical constraints. Throwing off these shackles means you can go through the same cycles of the learning process orders of magnitude faster.

And as you gain in depth of experience and understanding of modular synthesis, you will eventually be able to discern the utility and application of each of the 2000+ free modules, and how they might work together in your patch. Deciding what to explore next gets easier. Having the ability to use as many multiples of each module (and polyphonically!) as needed, is incredibly freeing. Not to mention, no need to get out a screwdriver! Heck, you can rearrange your rack while a patch is running.

I can’t recommend Omri Cohen’s YouTube channel highly enough. If you aren’t patching VCV with his lovely accent lilting through your head the whole time, you’re simply missing out. He is a patient teacher, with excellent good humor, exquisite taste, and deep mastery of his chosen form of expression. Simply going through the motions he goes through can be enough to set off hours of exploration and learning, every time.

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#319

Hard agree re: Omri. I don’t even really use VCV & never miss his videos as they’re so useful.

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#320

I wanted to point out that I’ve gotten a lot of mileage out ZZC’s modules, particularly that clock you’ve included. You could accomplish a great deal with almost nothing but ZZC’s free modules (of particular note would be the function generator, quantizer, and clock divider expansion module). While this may not be so applicable in the hardware realm, I’ve been finding phase to be and interesting area study in digital audio production and and interesting means of exploring rhythm, and ZZC modules are a great entry-point.

Also, I think you might do with a function generator (ZZC’s own is a good way to start for a modular, minimal approach, the Befaco Rampage is a great all-in one solution), which can generally go quite far for oscillation and modulation on their own, though if you went the ZZC route, you might find an attenuator with offset useful.

While I do hazard to use the Audible Instruments modules from time to time, I still haven’t learned them well and feel like many of them make for a study or ecosystem all their own. They’re a pretty common addition but I think can distract from more fundamental elements in a patch (and can be difficult to learn alongside the fundamentals apart from more focused study). That Geodesics oscillator, however, while an oddball, bundles some interesting fundamental study into a tiny package. However, as some have pointed out, it would be worthwhile to start with a more basic oscillator. And do use a scope, it’s infinitely helpful for understanding what you’re hearing.

Orca’s Heart might well be the only sequencer you’ll need, though I do recommend Geodesic’s own sequencers for something similarly complex but a little more like a traditional sequencer. It would be be an exaggeration to say Orca’s Heart can be a black box, but it can be helpful to see the steps laid out the way more traditional sequencers do. Again, it might be worthwhile to try a more basic sequencer first, however.

As some have pointed out, VCV has incredible mixer options in the form of Mindmeld’s own, and if you’re looking to use VCV like a DAW or to emulate more traditional outboard approaches, that’s the way to go. If, however, you might fancy exploring an approach perhaps unique to VCV Rack and in the spirit of its weirdness, I would suggest Glue the Giant as a minimal, yet powerful modular mixing option.

Finally, while poly might distract from some of the fundamentals, if you are going to use Orca’s Heart extensively, muxing its output is my favorite way of generating poly without external software or equipment (and among the very few suitable ways of doing so without a gargantuan patch, honestly). Otherwise you may want a poly sequencer, as I’m not sure that any of those modules generate poly on their own.

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#321

Re:Audible Instruments. I fully agree that they can be ecosystems of their own. However, the sheer quality and amount of information/tutorials on each of them (esp. their eurorack counterparts) make them approachable for users of any level IMO. To users who feel drawn to them and want to put in the time to treat each one like its own instrument, their designs make them exceptional learning playgrounds.

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#322

Throw a scope in there. It will explain a lot

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#323

I use the Scope in this app with my rack and ES-8. Helps a ton to see what the heck the Cold MAC is putting out.

Have just changed from Ableton to Bjtwig tho, so maybe there’s a scope in there? I’ll have to see…

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#324

Looks like they have one listed here: https://www.bitwig.com/en/bitwig-studio/devices.html

#325

re: orca’s heart - it does love external modulation, connect a slow LFO to something like shift / algo (or any parameters really) for sequences slowly evolving over time.

it also becomes more interesting self modulated - one of the reasons for all inputs/outputs being close to each other is so you can connect them easily. or take it to the next level - use a matrix mixer in between, i love using the excellent bogaudio matrix88 (which is free too!) for this purpose. even small tweaks can produce interesting changes.

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(there is a cable connected to EXP1 input - EXP1 and EXP2 are for future expansion and don’t do anything right now - so they’re useful for “parking” cables if you want to remove some modulation temporarily)

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#326

This was the first sequencer in Rack and Eurorack in general that clicked for me. I suddenly “got” euro and Modular in general and almost a year later am finally getting ‘comfortable” with my tools.

I won’t say I make stuff that feels complete or an expression of myself, but Orca’s Heart showed me the pathway to what I believe is that pot at the end of the rainbow.

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#327

this is super nice to hear, thank you!

yeah i find it’s easier to make complete tracks with the eurorack grid version as it’s a lot more performance oriented, with vcvrack i tend to record jams and edit/arrange in daw.

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#328

It’s funny, Orca’s heart is so inspiring to just find nice sounds that “work” and because of the matrix system along with the reset, you can find really great loops that can be jumped between.

In the proceeding months I’ve become more and more interested in FULL control; finding a tracker paired with Max and my modular to really know exactly what I’m doing and where I’m going. But even last night I popped open Rack to connect a few FM operators to Orca’s Heart, slid it through plateau and just spaced out. Wonderful.

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#329

So long as you have a way to record and manipulate sequences in a tracker, you can get the best of both worlds. I’ve become fond of using VCV Rack merely for generating MIDI or CV to be captured by a tracker (NerdSEQ, in my case). I’ve tried this approach on Bitwig’s piano roll as well to good effect (though not yet specifically from VCV Rack), and though I do prefer trackers, it was a convenient way of capturing and reworking some sequencing of PolyGrid in its native environs with non-native sequence sources. I may yet try sequencing from VCV to the Bitwig Grid by way of the NerdSEQ soon enough (using Bitwig at first mainly as the voice, mixer, and MIDI host), and then performing a reworked sequence on the NerdSEQ for capture on piano roll–maybe a bit convoluted, but with an adequate template between VCV and Bitwig, it shouldn’t prove too daunting.

With this sort of approach I just plug through more generative or otherwise algorithmic sequences until I find something I would like to work with further, and then I capture it with the tracker. I’ve used everything between Orca’s Heart, both Geodesics sequencers, all manner of function generators, and ZZC clock dividers (in my case, it’s a great workaround for not having comparable modules in hardware form). The sequences may differ in translation, owing to the quantized nature of trackers (something to keep in mind while patching), but even so, you’re likely to find the results workable in their own right.

One thing that’s been helpful for me lately toward enabling reasonable syncing between Bitwig and VCV is to use abelton link in Bitwig and the Stellare Link v2 in conjunction with ZZC’s clock by patching Link’s V/BPS into Clock alongside Link’s actual clock output, which clock is able to analyze and lines up almost exactly with Bitwig’s MIDI clock (CLK/N) output (but only when the transport is running, for some reason, as otherwise they get slightly off); the big advantage of Link being that V/BPS keeps Clock from having to rely solely on analysis of the clock trigger to estimate the BPM (and perhaps V/BPS and reset would be all that’s needed to go between Link and Clock, though I haven’t tested the efficacy of this approach).

Edit:

The Stellare Link doesn’t pass start/stop or even stop the clock when a stop signal is sent over Link, so if you want that sort of functionality, you’d still need to use a MIDI-CV module and sum or sequence its start/stop output to ZZC Clock’s run toggle (which cab be configured for trigger or gate input).

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#330

This is an extremely good idea. I’ve been working with the new Polyend Tracker, so I’ll have to see what it’s capable of. I know I can transpose with incoming midi, but we’ll see about recording incoming midi. Fun idea though!

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#331

Just gave it a shot for 5 min. Works like a charm… So, yea… This machine is my new best friend.

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#332

This could be handy:

Today, he added Pure Data to VCV Rack so you can now load PD patches […]
He also added PD support to VCV Prototype, a code-based (Lua, JavaScript, SuperCollider) environment to design own modules. Thanks to this addition, it’s now possible to design your own modules without code.

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#333

I missed this apparently:

Looks like there’s a mostly functional build of the Teletype for VCV Rack. Been out of music-making for a little while now, but I might have to take that for a spin sometime here shortly.

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