In this VCV-Rack patch I use the voice recording of the wiki article about robots to modulate the level cv input of the Macro Oscillator 2 (Plaits). The result sounds a bit like a talking robot. I thought this sleepy robot-like sound would fit quite well with drone music, so I practiced some drone-like music today. You can also find the wave file in the download. I had rebuilt this patch a few times and forgot to rename the labels, which I unfortunately only noticed after the recording. The 01 should be the bass sound and the 13 the drone sound.
Today I used Dexter (Valley) for the first time. The many knobs had deterred me so far to try this module. The sounds this module produces are just fantastic. I should have looked at it earlier.
Finally, I would like to apologize for the many Supercell modules. I didn’t realize there were so many until I stopped building the patch. I hope your PC can handle it ^^'.
In this video I use the module Dexter (Valley), which I already used in the last video, to create a drone patch. To change the pitches this time I chose the Rand Gates module from Sha Bang! It allows you to randomly switch up to 4 gates. For the clock I use the module ZZC Clock for the first time. The interesting thing about this module is that you can extend it as you like, by simply placing it next to another module without a cable connection. For the wind effect I tried this time DN-112 (Submarine) and Feline (Valley), this solution uses at least little space in the patch. For the initial triggering of my strange Rampage construction I use the Startup Delay module from Count Modula. If you have watched the video “Desert Ship”, there I have reproduced the functionality of this module in a complicated way with other modules. Thanks to CountModula for the hint that it can be done easier
By the way, I noticed that my patch throws sometimes an error when I open it and using the module “MB” (Stoermelder). I’m not sure why this happen. But the error doesn’t appear, if I leave away this module. If you also get an Error with this module, just open VCV-Rack first and then the patch. If it doesn’t work the first time, just try it several times. Probably this problem will be fixed in the next update?
The story of Ice Drone:
A little ice bee knows a secret place where a special flower grows.
In this place it is freezing cold, but the flower gives the little drone warmth and its mind-expanding flower dust, when the bee sings a little song for the flower
#Globally used: Clock, Movement and Little Rampage (00:00)
#01 Moving Bright Drone (08:45)
#08 Ice Cracking/Sparcle (18:10)
#02 Random Bass String (23:50)
#07 Stereo Plucks (29:40)
#03 Bee/Drone Singing (34:23)
#06 Wind/Noise (41:05)
#04 Dark Drone (45:55)
#05 Short Ambient Noises (52:50)
#Finish (01:04:00)
I changed #07 to 12 Semitones higher after the recording. I think, this pitch sonds a little better in combination with #05.
As you can see, I’m not using the “Mind Meld” Mixer today, but the Bus Mixer from “Glue the Giants”. The advantage of this mixer is that you can expand it endlessly and don’t have to worry about missing slots. I also like the fact that the teleport module from “Little Utils”, the one where my audio signal comes out, can be positioned next to the mixer. Since this time there are a lot of occupied mixer slots and in order not to stress the PC so much, I thought about activating only the modules that can be heard in the mixer. The CV Map and Strip modules from Stoermelder seem to be very well suited for this purpose. Basically I linked the mute button of the mixer with the enable/disable button of the strip module and this way I only activate the modules I need in the mixer. To keep the RCM piano roll module in sync when activating the modules, a signal is also sent to the piano roll reset CV.
This time I had errors again when I tried to open my saved patch. I can’t explain it, but it’s definitely not the MB module, since I didn’t have it in the patch this time. I noticed that the error happens less often when all modules in the patch are enabled when saving. So, unfortunately, I can’t save you the patch with the modules disabled, because you probably won’t get it open then. It’s really weird, maybe it will help if I use less modules in the future ^^'.
Don’t know if it would meet your needs, but I have a modular mixer that was quite popular (before MindMeld It uses the VCV expansion protocol, so you don’t need any cables to bus from module to module.
Thanks for the tip. I think the wireless solution is sometimes not bad at all. Of course cables are part of a rack, but it’s sometimes nice to be able to create a little more clarity when needed by making connections in a more discrete way.
I’m really sorry, but I flooded my patch again with too many modules. Even my PC is screaming for help. I hope the strip modules from Stoermelder minimize the load on your computer a bit. Muted mixer channels also deactivate the corresponding module groups. I made it easy this time and saved some mixer positions in 8face, this way I only have to press buttons and not move the mixer controls with the mouse cursor. If you want to operate the mixer manually, just click on the button above the yellow label on the far left. This toggle will disable the module group and you can then move the sliders in the mixer with the mouse cursor. I noticed that the occasional error messages when opening the patch no longer come up. Either an update fixed this problem, or it’s because I’m using different Blank modules this time. It’s also worth mentioning that while browsing the module library, I happened to come across Count Modula’s Cable Palette. I didn’t know that there is another module besides the Wire Manager from Submarine that allows you to select the cable color manually. Also quite handy is the Credit module from Chowdsp, which exports a list of all used mudules in the patch as a text file. I also like the color play of the Catro/Blanco Blancs. It’s a pity that the colors are not so good to see when the Light-Off module is activated.
Here is the next one.
In this Ambient VCV-Rack patch I wanted to try the modules “trigSeq (trowaSoft)”, “Ikeda (Axioma)” and “Tesseract (Axioma)”. This resulted in a patch that sounds a bit like a swamp atmosphere
Tesseract can be used to modulate many parameters at once. A comparable module in the Rack library is CAUDAL (Vult). The module trigSeq allows to define up to 16 sequences running in parallel. In my patch, however, I just use it as a clock generator. Axioma has another sequencer module with a 8x8 matrix for longer sequences. For smaller sequences in parallel you can also use the Clockkky module from AlgorithmArte.
By the way, for the performance I used my keyboard and the mouse wheel this time. Basicly I’m holding the buttons 1-8 and Q-I pressed to select faders of the mixer I want to move. If the mouse cursor is placed in the region of the big mute module I can move the faders by simply moving my mousewheel.
The mouse wheel control takes a bit of getting used to and I haven’t quite got the hang of it yet. You can also try it yourself, maybe it works better for you. You can find the strip for the mixer control at the top of the patch. Unfortunately I used so many CPU heavy modules again. I am really sorry. Actually I wanted to stop after the bird and the ambient sound, but then I kept building until my PC complained
Beautiful, really liked the reverse delay effect at the end, how was that done? Hora have a good reverse delay module, also Frozen Wasteland’s Portland Weather is great.
This is the random bell sequence from mixer channel 2 that I recorded with comlex simpler and then just played backwards with lots of delay in supercell.
In this VCV Rack drone patch I’m using the Entrian Pitch and Envelope Follower module to record a noise for the second drone sound. I’m also doing some strange stuff here like using the audio out or an envelope signal as a trigger/gate. I’m not sure if this would be a good idea with real hardware. I thougt, it works somehow and you can’t damage a software module so who cares^^. Probably a better way is to use a slope detector. The next thing I didn’t solved very well is using 2xSupercell modules for the second drone sound. I needed another delay module to hide a possible click noise from a very short loop recording in the complex simpler. Maybe there is a better way to do this. For the distorted voice effect I was using a recording of my voice, where I’m reading a german wiki article about drone sound. I will add this recording in the zip file.
The heart of this VCV rack patch is the SIPO module from Stoermelder. It generates several VOCT signals for my voices from a Black Noise sound via the Quantizer. The Slope Detector from Count Modula provides the beat. For the effect, I used Supercell as I did the last times. I didn’t really need the voice recording this time. I used Plateau to create a persistent soundscape so that it’s not so painfully quiet while I’m setting up the patch. I’ll attach my recording about the Easter Bunny in the download, maybe you can do something more with it than I did. My voice is horrible, the best way to use it is to distort it a lot or add so much delay that you can’t understand a word
When I was building the patch, the click sound in the beat was not as unpleasant to me as it is now when I’m listening to it in the finished recording. Sorry for this terror ^^'.
Here comes the next one. In this vcv rack performance I’m using for the first time the confusing simplers slices feature. I stored 7 slices wich I can trigger by pressing the 8face buttons. I also tried the polygene module, which allows you to store a lot of euclidean sequences. I’m only using 2 sequences for triggering some 8faces and the inner sequence to reset the arpegio on the 2nd mixer channel. The voice you are hearing is the recording of my voice, which I pitched and distorted in fl-studio. I wanted to make it sound like a child, who is talking about mars and its moons phobos & deimos. For the Ambient sound I recorded the sequence of mixer channel 6 and played it backwards. Usually the bernoulli gate will trigger/stop the recording, after a long period. If you have no patience, just press the recording button by yourself
Download (including original and pitched voice recording):
In this video I try out the OSC module from trowaSoft and TouchDesigner. By the way, you can find a really good video on this topic on Omri’s channel. “Using VCV Rack with TouchDesigner - YouTube” For the beginning, I made something simple. I think it can be built in 5 minutes. Basically it’s a sphere that wiggles around. The vectors that go out from the sphere look like hairs. It reminded me of a dandelion/blowball. I thought a wind noise could go well with a dandelion. In VCV-Rack I added a sound of rattling shutters so that you can imagine the wind better (I slightly overdid it with the wind. Maybe I shouldn’t have used all the noises from the noise module in the Pulsar, maybe only red, pink and grey. The others are a bit too bright). To make it less boring, I added an effect and a melody (melody needs an envelope on trigger! I can hear a click in my headphones), which are also controlled by parameters from TouchDesigner. In the download you will find the TouchDesigner file and the VCV-Rack patch. When you open the patch, TouchDesigner must be open and don’t forget to switch on the OSC module in the patch, as it is initially inactive. Sorry that there are rarely videos from me, I stupidly decided to learn a new framework, and instead of practicing vcv-rack, I’m practicing next.js. I’m still trying to keep up with vcv-rack.
Building blowball in TouchDesigner (00:00)
Config OSC in VCV-Rack (07:00)
Wind Noise (09:00)
Window Shutters Rattle Noise (15:00)
Glitch because my external HDD mounted from sleep (17:28)
Xylophone Noise (19:45)
SFX Noise (23:45)
Patch finished and light off (29:30)
In this vcv-rack patch I try out the 4 modules SHAPEMASTER (Mind Meld), Rhodonea (AXIOMA), the tailor (SLM) and DOUBLE MUTE (NEX). The Shape Master is relatively new in the vcv-rack library, you can use it to create your own curves for modulating/envelopes, or even choose from a collection of ready-to-use presets. The Rhodonea module is a VCO with 5 modulable parameters and a nice visual effect. I haven’t used it before and thought it would be a good chance to try it out together with the Shapemaster.The Tailor is a waveform morphing tool. I used it to combine 2 noises and created a rain effect in supercell. Every time the bird sound is heard, I wanted to fade in and out mysterious sounding bells. Normally you can do this directly in the Mind Meld Mixer, but I took the opportunity to try out the Double Mute module. The title “rainy day at home” doesn’t quite fit the cover, does it ^^? The patch sounded so creepy, so I made a picture with a poltergeist. Today I used palettes build in feature for switching cable colors with keyboard keys. Man, I’m so happy to finally have such a feature in vcv rack. By the way, I noticed that you can also change cable colors with only using the STROKE module
About (00:00)
Clock (00:45)
Wet bird noises (02:00)
Rain & rusty noises (09:00)
Bell melody (12:30)
Pad (18:25)
Finished patch (25:00)
The topic of this patch is Shishi odoshi. This is a kind of Japanese scarecrow that is supposed to keep wild animals away from the home garden. Basically, it is a little spring, where a bamboo pipe is filled with water until it tips over and makes a hollow sound when it hits a stone. To be honest, I feel calming about this kind of noise. I wonder if it really scares animals. In Japanese movies you also sometimes hear grasshoppers chirping in the background. It always makes me think of a quiet warm summer day. I realised such a chirping with the analog hi-hat of the Macro Oscillator. For the sound of the Shishi odoshi I used Inharmonic string modelling. This noise has something of a hollow bamboo pipe, maybe it sounds too metallic, but it doesn’t bother me
It uses the VCV expansion protocol, so you don’t need any cables to bus from module to module.
Heh. I was going to say I prefer the first half, before the beats come in. " À chacun son goût", as they say.
Couldn’t agree more.
When I was building the patch, the click sound in the beat was not as unpleasant to me as it is now when I’m listening to it in the finished recording. Sorry for this terror ^^'.
