Hello all. I have only just discovered VCV Rack which is exactly the kind of music software I have been dreaming of for ages. I have been interested in computer generated music for many years but I never managed to create anything worth sharing.
Probably like many others here “Switched-on Bach” was my gateway drug, so to be able to play around with a modular synth on a PC is a dream come true.
After watching quite a few tutorial videos I would like to share my first two simple self-generative patches.
I called the first one " Depressive Hawaiian Guitar" because this is what it sounds like. By playing around with the Nozoid SIN AM oscillator I discovered a setting that created a nice rhythmically pulsating stereo backgound just on its own. I put an aleatoric melody on top also using the SIN AM with different settings. To make it more interesting I FMed both oscilators with a slow sine wave which resulted in the Hawaiian guitar effect.
The second patch is loosely based on Omri Cohen’s tutorial video about generative patches. I also used the NotSeq sequencer, but simplified by not using “Rampage” and “Pulsars”. The main clock is very slow with only 15 bpm in order to create a very slow ambient track.
The sequenzer is randomised by the clock every 32 steps, so it never plays a step twice (except of course it shows up by random…) This is as random as you can get, I don’t see the benefit of adding additional randomisation triggers as is suggested in the video.
I take two pairs of stereo voices from the sequencer, all using the Basal oscillator. I put the second pair two notches up so the voices will be triggered less often. Oscillator settings and envelope are a bit more accentuated, in addition I tuned the lower voices an octave down.
I also used the double delay and the Plateau reverb after the mixer. But to make things more interesting I modulated the time setting of the delay with a very slow sine wave. This creates a change of passages with more agitation and more quiet ones.
I want to thank the programmers and all contributors for this fantastic piece of software!
But it’s only a little excercise anyway.