First, VCVRack Pro makes it abundantly clear that, as has been long suspected, FL Studios MIDI Clock is jittery as all hell. It’s functionally unusable and attempting to sync any kind of delay to the DAW clock with through the usage of the clock input in the midi->cv module completely breaks the plugin.
A functional workaround is to use a Clocked module and manually set it to the same BPM, then merge the Start and Stop outputs from midi-cv to one signal, and connect that cable to the “Start” input of Clocked.
This makes Clocked use its internal clock for BPM which is rock solid, and syncs the start/stop play button to the start/stop of Clocked. Pain in the ass, but functional.
Next thought: Patcher is an amazing completment to VCV Rack, allowing you to fully utilize the 16 ins and outs of the plugin for individual processing / recording in your DAW:
It also allows you to create functional overlays/layouts for any “complete synth” patches you create in VCVRack, making it super nifty for bascially creating your own synths, complete with a usable layout and preset saving.
VCVRack also gives FL Studio a feature it hasn’t really easily had access to before: feedback. With VCVRack, you can finally create interesting and musical feedback loops to use as send channels. Super useful!
Finally, the VCVRack Host plugin is ridiculously powerful now that it allows DAW integration. You can basically use VCVRack to “extend” your favourite FX units with interesting modulation options like tempo-synced LFOs and what have you. It blows all of those “Effect Rack”-style plugins way out of the water.
As for me, the FL clock in unusable in it’s own current state. In Song and Pattern mode, I see that the “STRT” output from the MIDI > CV triggers every beat. This is pure esoterism…
Even with your solution (realy good workaround by the way !) it didn’t work properly because of the previous issue.
Otherwise, from my utilisation of the VST in FL as for now, it’s very stable and works well (aside from the clock of course).
EDIT : a workaround has been found, I totally forgot that you can change the clock mode in “CLOCKED”.
So by switching it to P24 (with the dedicated buttons “mode -/+”) and by changing the “CLK/N” of the MIDI > CV to 24 PPQN" it works perfectly ! (and starts automatically when I press play, even without patching the “STRT” output).
changing the “CLK/N” of the MIDI > CV to 24 PPQN" was the last piece of the puzzle for me. Now VCV and FL in sync and behaving themselves. Many Thanks from Trikitiki
Anyone had luck to get FL studio step sequencer notes to trigger VCV rack 2 in vst mode. I have problem with all available midi modules that they leave gate open after note is triggered from step sequencer. If i edit notes on piano roll then they will work as normal, but not with step sequencer.
Its mildly annoying if i just want to trigger drums etc without opening piano roll mode and extend notes.
I’ve been trying to use more of VCV as a VST in FL studio recently, and for a long time I have had a very specific problem with piano roll polyphony. Maybe somebody else has encountered this and can help.
The best I can describe the issue is as follows.
Whenever I attempt to use polyphony in the piano roll, I run into a problem of dropped voices. It appears to be a problem specifically with gates, as the v/oct comes through perfectly on all channels (up to 16). Some of the gates will not open after repeated notes on the piano roll. It also appears that some of the gates come through a bit behind the first group. A very inconvenient solution is to make all notes shorter, but I’d like to hear from others before I commit to always doing that. Has anybody experienced this? Does anybody have a solution? Is this another issue caused by the FL clock being awful?
Despite this issue, I absolutely love VCV inside of FL. The ease of automating any knob as an automation clip is huge for me, and once I figure out this other issue, I plan to make some very cool stuff.
Sounds like that happens when you send a polyphonic signal to something that isn’t polyphonic. That said, I’ve only used piano rolls all inside VCV - no VST/FL Studio…
I might not have been clear when I initially described the situation, but that is not the case.
All of the modules I am using are polyphonic. I have been changing the midi-cv polyphonic voice amount in testing. If I have 16 channels set in midi-cv, and I draw exactly 16 notes in the piano roll, I get the issue I describe. Even when I draw 8 notes in piano roll with 8 polyphony voices on midi-cv, I get the issue I describe. Even weirder, when I draw 7 notes with 16 voices set, I still get the issue. To describe further, the problem is with notes playing immediately after other notes were released. When consecutive larger chords play without any overlap in the piano roll, some of the polyphonic voices are lost. All of the notes V/oct get sent through midi-cv, however not all of the gates get sent. Changing the polyphony mode does not help, before anybody asks.
Maybe I don’t fully understand the problem or what causes it, I apologize, I’m trying my best.
Here is a brief video. VCV FL piano roll gate issue - YouTube
hm… weird… maybe because they start and end at exactly the same position FL doesn’t properly send note off before the next note on events and decides randomly which happen first…
I got a similar problem when playing external monophonic gear with FL over midi sometimes, that notes randomly restart or not… so might be a problem with FL…
I just tested it and it worked fine with 4 voices, but with 16 I get the same behaviour as you.
Well, I think you are right. Thank you for this, at least I know it isn’t just me.
After more searching, it looks like this has been a problem for a while, and the only solution I have found is to shorten every single note by exactly one unit. Quite inconvenient and a little infuriating. Ontop of that, the default timebase is not good enough resolution, and this solution produces too much audible space between notes. However I have found a way to make the timebase resolution better in the project settings, which helps.
I guess I will move my problem over to FL forum and hope they consider it a valid bug.