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578

Hello,

Iā€™m Johannes from Bavaria, Germany. I am a hobby musician, I play piano and keyboards. I took keyboards lessons as a child, and have been playing in various bands, mostly pop and rock.

I have a doctorate degree in Physics, and work as a software developer, so I have some math background (itā€™s been a while though) and programming experience.

As a teenager (in the early 2000s), I had a KORG Pa1X PRO, which, though basically beeing a ROMpler workstation, let you modify the sounds. This is when I first learned about oscillators, envelopes, LFOs etc. and fell in love with synthesis. At the time I also started to use my PC for making music, and got FruityLoops along with my first proper soundcard. Over the years, I used many DAWs, keyboards, workstations, hardware and software synthesizers, but somehow I always felt kind of limited, since no single synthesizer would have all the features I wanted. So the desire to create my own synthesizer grew.

Many years ago I played around with Synthmaker, but eventually it felt too limiting as well (32 bit VSTs only, no proper ways to do oversampling, limited coding options since all code must be vectorized, etc). I also tried to start with JUCE, but didnā€™t gel with it. Then I stumbled upon VCV Rack, and loved the idea that I could start small with simple modules in an existing framework, and combine them with existing modules. So I have been working on the MUS-X plugin (GitHub - Jojosito/MUS-X: Modules for VCV Rack) for a while now, and have been learning more about DSP, BLEPs, Filters, ODEs etc. along the way.

My goal is the create a VA polysynth (sonically similar to the KORG prologue), but with a much more intuitive system to create modulations: press a button to select a modulation source, then turn the knob of the modulation destination to set the modulation amount, release the button, done. Just like the morph assignment on the Nord keyboards, but for all modulation sources.

I also have some experience with hardware: I built a Mutable Intruments AMBIKA, and a MIDI controller for it (with MIDIbox). I also fiddled around with an Arduino Uno, built some very crude MIDI drum triggers with some piezo elements, and even managed to get 4 sawtooth oscillators from a wavetable out of it.

So when my synthesizer module works out, Iā€™d like to build a MIDI controller for it as well, ideally with encoders.

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579

Hi all,

My name is Chris Muir, and Iā€™m a synthaholic. Iā€™ve been using and designing modular synths since the 1970s. Iā€™ve worked for a few companies in the musical instrument space over the decades, but Iā€™ve also had some real jobs. :slight_smile:

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580

MI is a pretty difficult way to make a living, amirite?

581

Itā€™s more lucrative than being a musician, but barely. :disappointed_relieved:

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582

Welcome - sounds like Rack may be perfect for you :slight_smile:

Do check out the Surge XT modules if you havenā€™t already - they have a unique approach to modulation in Rack - each module shares a similar one-to-many / many-to-one modulation matrix of the kind more often found in VST synths. Itā€™s powerful, intuitive and quick to work with.

You may find you can build that synth youā€™ve always wanted already with just Surge XT but either way I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

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583

Hi there! Iā€™m weiii, an inter-media artist who engages in thought experiments on cybernetics and the philosophy of technology through my creative work. I traverse various media and art forms, and lately, Iā€™ve been deeply immersed in modular synthesizer sound systems. I frequently release albums on Bandcamp and share patch ideas on YouTube. This year, I launched my Patreon page as well. My expertise lies in merging hardware modular synthesizers with VCV Rack, using electronic sounds to delve into unexplored realms of thought. I enjoy blending field recordings with my creations, uncovering new possibilities of connection. Iā€™ve been a silent member of this community for quite some time, and after posting my first article a few days ago, I realized I hadnā€™t introduced myself. So, here I am!

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584

I totally relate to what you said: ā€œEvery thing I do inside VCV means a lot to me, in terms of creativity and is almost healing.ā€ The modular system is open-ended, and the time within it has multiple dimensions. This frees up a lot of confusion and brings healing.

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585

Just found VCV Rack, thanks to a great YouTube video! Looking forward to learning this, as I always wanted to play with a Eurorack system.

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586

Omri Cohen ? or somebody else ?

587

No one else, so Omri cohen ! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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588

Hello, Iā€™m David (I often go by D. K. or David K. in online communities), a musician (multi-instrumentalist), composer and synth enthusiast from the Czech Republic. I work on lots of music projects of very different kinds. When it comes to electronic instruments, I like vintage ones a lot. Some time ago, I started learning making VCV Rack patches. Iā€™m not an experienced user of modular synths such as Eurorack (even though I know that the flexibility and possibilities of such things are incredible), and my patches are not the most common kinds seen in this community. Two types of patches that I make a lot are patches that emulate vintage instruments (synths, organs and others, especially analog), and patches that incorporate hardware instruments. For both kinds, I sometimes make Open Stage Control interfaces that help me control the patches more intuitively and sometimes even remotely (for example when I want to control the patch while playing another instrument).

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589

I think you are going to fit in well here! Welcome. Do you ever upload patches to PatchStorage? Many of us have created personal threads in the Music and Patches category to post links to our work on PatchStorage, YouTube, etc. For example, here is mine.

This sounds very interesting to me. I recently helped develop a software module based on a circuit schematic. I had to learn some new math skills! I imagine the kind of emulations you make could serve as perfect prototypes for designing new VCV Rack modules.

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590

I havenā€™t uploaded any patch so far, but I definitely plan to do so. My emulation patches donā€™t accurately recreate vintage gear component by component (in terms of circuitry and such), as Iā€™m not experienced in that field and such patches would probably be much more complex, but they are intended to sound similar and behave at least partially like the original. Patches of this kind that Iā€™m currently working on include an Omnichord patch playable for example using the Arturia KeyStep (keys for chords and modulation touchplate for strumming) or OSC (a recreation of the original instrumentā€™s interface), and my own twist on something like a Yamaha GX-1, at least partially controllable using a MIDI-enabled Yamaha Electone plus a touchscreen device. And many more patches like that.

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591

Hello, Iā€™m Dan Green, I live in Portland with my wife and kid. I make weird electronic music habitually but am more passionate about making new tools and instruments for making music. I have a company called 4ms Company and we make hardware eurorack modules. Iā€™m here because we are releasing ports of our modules for VCV Rack, and we also have a hardware device that ties into VCV Rack. Anyways, just wanted to introduce myself properly!

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592

Very cool! Iā€™m looking at your MetaModule product and this blows my mind. It sounds like you have lots of open-source software modules built into this one hardware module?

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593

Yes indeed! I have been following this news for a while, and am eagerly awaiting the release of the 4ms modules for VCV later this month (Aug 27?). I suspect there are a great many like me in that regard!

I am also interested in possibly porting some Venom modules to the MetaModule. I will send you a PM.

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594

Yes, the firmware has something like 160 modules built-in, all open source. We actually started to play with porting your Sapphire modules. If youā€™re interested we could discuss over email or PM.

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595

Very cool! We also tried porting your modules, as well! Iā€™ll PM you

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596

Hi Dan, great to see you here.

Iā€™m jaynothin and Iā€™ve been playing with VCV exclusively since 2017. Totally addicted now. :wink: So thatā€™s my intro. :rofl:

Iā€™ve been asked by Loopop, who is in the process of reviewing the MetaModule, if I could try and make a couple of patches so he can load them in the MM.

I donā€™t know much about the module, but Iā€™ve installed the plugins package available on github.

Iā€™d like to know, if possible, if there is a listing somewhere with all the plugins I can use (160-200?) and perhaps even their CPU load. As I donā€™t have the IRL module to test. That way I could be faster and he wont have to try and readjust everything.

Maybe Iā€™m just anticipating to much and I donā€™t need any list :slight_smile: But Iā€™m in the quick searching process right now, so before I start building patches Iā€™m gathering all the information I can :smiley:

If there is a manual also? And if Iā€™m not suppose to have any of this because Iā€™m not one of the reviewers, no problem, I totally understand.

Maybe in my research Iā€™ll answer my questions. But in any case, thank you. :slight_smile:

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597

All that info is to come! Manual, website with list of pluginsā€¦ Iā€™m talking with Loopop, too, so we can go more in depth about specifics over email if you like.

Itā€™s going to be a little hard to create a patch blindly, but my suggestion would be to prioritize modules that are the built-ins: 4msCompany, Befaco, AudibleInstruments, HetrickCV, NonlinearCircuits, Eightfold, Valley.

Plus the open-source plugin brands so far:

Not all modules in all plugins work well on hardware. In general, if it does something that an old-school synthesizer module canā€™t do (like, have an XY touch-pad, or is impossible to use without the screen, or it does some magical thing like remote-control a neighboring module) then itā€™s not likely to be very fun on the MetaModule.

As for CPU, reverbs use a lot of CPU. Itā€™s fine to use stereo reverb on every patch if you want, but I wouldnā€™t try to add 8 reverb modules or something like that.