Introducing Rack Dive Volume One from Rack Dive Records

Announcements
1

Hi All,

I’m happy to announce here, the launch of a new project Rack Dive Records and Rack Dive Volume One.

Rack Dive Records is a space for me to release specially crafted compilation albums of pieces created with VCV Rack from various artists.

I’m kicking the whole thing off with a simple Bandcamp page. I’m interested to see where it goes.

UPDATE…Almost forgot…huge shout out to all the artists who agreed to part of Volume 1!!!

Why am I doing this?

1 - Largely, to feed back to the community something other than my own work.

2 - A lot of the Rack community and its posts are about Rack education and geeking out on the tech (which I love by the way!). Rack Dive is about the listening experience. Great pieces of music. No how to’s, interface visuals, or technique explanations.

3 - I noticed that I was finding a lot of Rack experiments buried deep in artists youtube channels that besides being great to learn from, I loved listening to them. Whilst putting together Volume One I felt as if I was unearthing curious hidden gems. The process was really very exciting.

4 - To get all these pieces in one accessible place. On the most basic level this is just a really cool playlist.

5 - To develop as an art curator. I think I have a lot of criticisms regarding ‘art curation’ but I’m not sure how to express it yet. It’s a presumptuous type of job to take on, arranging others work in an attempt to create a new cohesive atmosphere. I understand why artists have beef with curators. Either way, I’m interested exploring it. More to come on this subject.

24 Likes
2

Nice work Matthew and thanks for the inclusion! There’s a lot more out there worthy of curation and assembly into compilations. So many talented musicians here…

1 Like
3

Cool, thanks a lot. This makes me remember the 3 volumes of the “Switched on Rack” compilation, which I listen to quite sometimes…

2 Likes
4

Thanks Matthew, great job and I hope there are many more of these. I never have the confidence to release stuff, so it was nice to have something included!

3 Likes
5

Cheers Lars, I’m looking forward to putting together Volume 2! The initial response has been quite positive!

6

Cheers @Wanterkeelt, thanks for taking an interest. Yep, the “Switched on Rack” albums are great! It has very hopeful and innocent times in the VCV community back then. I hope to carry on the project way past 3 Volumes though. Cheers Matt

1 Like
7

Cheers @VirtualModular, Thanks again for being a part of it. There will be more! Already very slowly putting together Volume 2. Matt

2 Likes
8

Ha! Just got an email from Paypal Cheers :smiley:

1 Like
9

After seeing that, I went to check my email, and found a similar note from PayPal. By pure coincidence, I’m going to look at a house in the morning.

2 Likes
10

Don’t spend it all at once boys!

2 Likes
11

Haha! I got your payment too, thanks. The amount was about the price of a coffee in local currency, but it’s the first income I’ve ever made from sales of original music, so that feels quite significant! Or maybe it would just stretch to a pint if you find a cheap pub :wink:

Did you promote the release at all, or was it mainly just through the community?

2 Likes
12

I just sent the word out through the community. I thought the response from the enthusiasts was pretty good and positive. As I put together more albums I will try to find a wider audience. Initially though, I need the process to be organic and fun which means not too much of the boring business stuff. That side of will develop as the project grows. It’s really a big job just putting together a really great collection. So far still very excited about Rack Dive!

1 Like
13

Sensible approach. There’s enough people relentlessly pushing and spamming content everywhere already. Looking forward to Volume 2!

1 Like