Welcome to the community! 
To support the developers of some plugin look out for the “Donate” option in the module’s context menu in Rack! Joining GitHub will just help if you want to provide bug reports or ask for features.
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Hi Ben.Thanks for the welcome,and thanks for the advice.I’d no idea that the donate facility existed. My current PC won’t even open the Rack,so I’ve never actually used it yet. [Old Intel graphics.I may have found a solution.Don’t know yet,and I’ll be getting a new one very soon].
Some of your modules are ingenious.Probably the others are,too,but I just don’t know what they do yet,or how to use them. Thanks again.
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No, the encouragement to use github is github has a good bug tracking system, so if people report bug/suggestions there they won’t get lost.
Some devs have a way to donate.
I can’t claim to know why most devs make free plugins. I do it mostly because it’s fun. But it is nice when you see your modules used in other people’s videos. For me, that’s my “success metric”. If I make something and no one uses it I might (might) decide not to make more things like that. If something is very popular it might steer me to making more things like that.
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Donating to people is good. Another very common way to support VCV is to buy things, especially things from VCV. If VCV were to go away I would lose my fun hobby. So I like to buy VCV modules when I remember. Mind you, I’m not a musician, and I don’t really “use” them for anything.
Which reminds me - I’ve got my eyes on the new Room simulator and the chords module. I should go buy them now…
Of course not everyone can afford to go buy a bunch of modules, and that’s fine. But for people who do have a little extra cash it’s a good thing to do.
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Hi Squinky, Thanks for the welcome,last night.Sincerely. Good to know about github if I ever discover any bugs.
Re : Doing this work mostly for fun,and to see your work appreciated by others - What fantastic motives.Really.Just take a look at the prices of VSTs.I know there are some great ones,but lots are very ordinary,AND very expensive. I LOVE that you do it for the reasons that you do,and I’m sure that many of the other devs do their work for similar reasons.
Often,you’d think,looking around at the world,that there was something wrong with being creative - and making great sound modules is most definitely being creative - simply for the love of it,and the fun. I whole-heartedly disagree. I played piano,usually alone,purely for the love of it. If I played for an audience,I loved to have them enjoy it,but even if they hadn’t,I’d still have played alone,for the fun of it. It is nice to have what you do appreciated,though,I know.
Well, thank you, But of course one of the great things about the “VCV ecosystem” is that there are all kinds of different people here with all kinds of backgrounds and skills. You see that in the music, and you see it in the plugins. Some devs are good at screen design, some are DSP experts, etc…
Anyway, so some people (like me) are very fortunate that they have good paying day jobs (and don’t mind “working for the man”) so it makes sense to do this as a hobby. But you have to admire people who are trying to “go for it” and make a living from plugins, VST, etc…
It’s a big world out there!
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“Donating to people is good. Another very common way to support VCV is to buy things, especially things from VCV…”
Yeah,I totally agree. I’ll definitely be buying VCV Chords.It seems like a great module,and looks fantastic,too.Actually,I really like the clean,white/gold visuals of VCV Rack,on the whole,though I do love the look of many of the black [Vult etc.] modules,and some of the brightly coloured ones,too [especially if the bright parts are highlights [Like Mutable Instrumunts].
Anyway,I think we’d need to be mad not to support VCV by buying modules when we can.How else could it continue to flourish.Oh,Spectra,and Parametra look great,too,don’t they.Look great in both senses,I mean.
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You’re very welcome.
And yeah I do admire the devs who do this full-time.I’m a big fan of,for instance, Urs,of u-he fame,Richard from Synapse,and quite a few others,especially if they allow reselling of stuff I’ve bought,or who sell great stuff very cheaply.
I think there’s room for all. It’s just so refreshing to hear your motivations,in such an often cynical world.
Personally,I’m a bit limited cash-wise,but I hope to sell some of my VSTs,and give some money to VCV,and the devs,both buying modules that I really like,and making some donations.I’d love to be able to design,or create,but lack of skill/knowledge,and lack of health pretty much preclude that happening.
Nice chatting with you again.
Hi Steve,That’s great to hear. I think,though,like Squinky,you’re a little too modest.
I think you’re responsible for the design of all of the MindMeld modules,if I’m not mistaken,and they all look great. The EqMaster,and the AuxSpanders look especially great,with the colourful highlights.
Anyway,it’s absolutely fantastic to hear you speak of the joyful and liberating experience,as you just did. Thank you so much. And,of course working creatively with a great partner really is something special.
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Same here. I generally develop modules I have a personal need for or just for fun
Oh, and welcome BrightThunder.
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@CountModula, Thank you Count.It’s an honour. Love your name.Love your logo.Love your style.The modules ain’t bad,either 
.
Seriously,though,what an amazing collection.I just wish I knew how to use half of them.Honestly.I hope I’ll learn,in time.Your manuals are among the best I’ve seen,and if I were more familiar with how all of this works,in general,I could make much better use of the materials [and,therefore,the modules].
I think I’ll try picking a module that really appeals,for whatever reason,and try messing around with it,at the same time as reading the manual.Who knows what I might stumble upon. Thanks,again.
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most people here recommend starting with as few modules as possible. Usually start with the Fundamentals and only add to your palette when you have a compelling reason to. I don’t know if that’s good advice, but I’l buy it!
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That’s certainly good advice for your first few days I’d say. Once you want to start following along with tutorials from Omri etc though, you’ll find you need to install a lot of plugins to do it. With over 2000 modules available things can quickly start to feel overwhelming…
At that point my advice would to look at modules as tools that do specific jobs. There may be over 2000 modules but the list of jobs they do is a lot shorter - the category tags in the module browser can really help with this. Decide what tools you need and pick a module or two of each tool type and get really familiar with those.
Take the tool type “Sample and Hold” for example. In my module browser I have 51 modules tagged with that - but just two of them cover 99% of my needs. For me that’s the Bogaudio S&H and SHEight from Mockba - ymmv.
This principle holds true for pretty much every tool type. I may have over 2000 modules in the browser but I probably only regularly use about 5% of that number - around 100 modules. Once you know what tools you need, and what your favourite modules are for doing those jobs, things become much clearer.
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Hahaha… That’s more like it. I like a bit of wit,and a good pun is right up there.
But it’s also what I plan.Who could resist those beautiful Audible Intruments,especially where they are free,and Palette seems like an improvement on what I thought likely to be one of my main oscillators.Same thing,exactly,applies to Grayscale’s Supercell.
Yeah,I’ve heard that a few times. All I can say is that it May be good advice,but I’d go out of my mind trying to follow it.I’ve watched many hours of Omri’s fantastic tutorials,and plan on downloading his patches,and deconstructing,and trying to learn,and play with them,focusing on one especially appealing part at a time.
You’ve got to take into account how your own brain works,as well as what you have the most useful information on.In my case,I’ve been extremely inspired by the sounds that I’ve heard from Plaits/Palette,Clouds/Supercell and many of the other Audible Instruments,as well as Hora’s Detour,your own Chebyshev and Prism’s Rainbow.Also Vult and Lindenberg filters and more.
Also,I wouldn’t even try without good reverb and delay,except for Pure learning purposes,and even then I’d probably use a little reverb.
Sequencers and arps [and quantizers] are another area where there are many that appeal to me,as well as being very intuitive,at least once I watched some good instruction on them.
That last point is the key,to me,at least. I haven’t found very much in the way of really good video on the Fundamental modules,though Omri has a few,which I will follow through for a couple of hours,but as far as a compelling reason to go beyond that [very limited range],I already have that - the very strong desire to use modules that sound fantastic,not just good enough.
I hope I don’t sound argumentative,and I really do value your opinions and advice,not to mention your willingness to help,in the first place [as well as your excellent modules].
Thanks,Steve.I know you were replying to Squinky,but it fits me well,especially about following along with tutorials.
The advice on using the Tags is a great tip,even moreso when thinking in terms of tools,as you suggest.Great tips for any beginner.
I guess the “problem” is when you don’t know what S&H,Bernoulli Gates,Sequential Switches etc.are even for,though I’m learning that kind of thing as I watch the videos.
When I spoke to CountModula,earlier in the thread,I mentioned not even knowing what some of his modules do,or would likely be used for.All of that just comes from me being a naturally curious person,and I don’t see me just messing around with too much stuff until I have a good,solid grasp of the modules I decide to focus on,out of the Many that are covered in the videos.There are far too many modules covered in Omri’s videos to learn all at once.
I plan to choose favourites,and focus on them.For instance,as well as those I mentioned above,the Turing machine seems like something to get familiar with early on,and Omri has 6 videos about it.However,I prefer Marbles,but I think there is enough similarity between the two,and what they are used for,that,as well as the tutorial that he has on Marbles itself,the half-a-dozen that there are for the TM should have a lot of carry-over.
Hopefully,at least. Thanks again for the tips and advice.
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Well, there is no right answer to that question, it sounds like you will do well in your journey.
Assuming you stick around here you will soon know too much about my obsession with quality, but atm I just wanted to give my pitch for the Fundamental modules, as you might be suggesting they aren’t of exceptional quality (or I might be misinterpreting again – doesn’t really matter.). They are actually of remarkably quality, although by design they don’t have a lot of “character”.
I have spent a lot of time analyzing other’s plugins and can certainly say the Fundamentals are excellent. They never exhibit any unintended audio distortion, they don’t use up too much of your CPU power, they behave themselves when fed any input, they don’t crash.
So, by all means use modules that are more fun, have sounds that you like, etc… But if you find yourself wanting to do something basic the Fundamentals will not disappoint.
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Thanks,that,at least,sounds hopeful.Certainly,I’ve already been having great fun,just watching/listeing,and learning.
Yeah,I wasn’t very happy with how I worded that,but I’m aleady practically writing a book,and didn’t want to go even further.Earlier,I think I said something to the effect that I’d never come across anything like VCV,and I don’t doubt the quality of the Rack modules.As I said,too,they really look great as well.I also meant what I said about some of the commercial VCV modules.Actually,they all look great,and I’m sure your right about how well behaved they all are.You’re certainly in a position to know,far better than me.
I think your use of that word “character” hits the nail on the head,too. I’m no spring chicken,and have loved real analogue since my youth.I never did hear anything great about the DX7,or the M1 [and I tried them both,as well as then hearing them everywhere],compared to Arp,Oberheim,Moog and Sequential. In fact VCV is the first platform where I’ve heard FM [synthesis,like FM OP,and others] really shine.
I think it might be because there are so many types of synthesis here,and readily available,that FM can be used where it really shines,which is pretty narrow,imo,and other types used alongside,where they shine.What a fantastic set-up it all is.Amazing,and without needing a mortgage for a big hardware rack.
I’ve always loved “character”,both analogue,and digital.I loved the breathy D-50 sounds,as well,for instance,but,to be honest,I find the sounds of the VCV/Audible/Vult/Hora/Squinky/Lindenberg modules,and more,to be probably,almost certainly,the most amazing array of spectacular sounding synthesis I’ve ever encountered.And the fact that it’s all either free,or very affordable,is simply incredible.
All in all,I think that just about perfectly sums it all up.
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You didn’t mention the Voyetra 
(Squinky Labs (Bruce) worked on the Voyetra amongst other things)
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