It could be argued there’s really only 3 effects anyway - delay, distortion and frequency shifting.
[runs for cover]
3 Likes
I think that this thread hasn’t been hostile. I’m a veteran of the Usenet Flame Wars of the 1980s, so I have pretty thick skin.
The “get creative” thing is a valid suggestion. I’ve been working with synths and effects (real and virtual) for nearly 30 years, and there just aren’t that many different musically useful ways to change sound
- Time based (delay, flange, chorus, reverb)
- Wave shaping (distortion, overdrive, clipping)
- Filtering. (High/Low/Bandpass/Allpass/Phase Shift, Resonator, Vocoder)
- Dynamics (compression,limiting)
I may have forgotten some things, but those are the biggies. Everything else amounts to “get creative” by combining them.
As it happens ALL of those effects (and some other oddball stuff) are already available in Rack.
6 Likes
thanks for the thoughts. I guess I was thinking more like new creative fx modules rather than piecing effects together from existing modules. When you see al the pedals out there, you would think a bunch of people would want to do some of this in VCV
On the other hand if there already are these great fx chains, are they being shared somewhere?
I see your point… but the OP stated:
I think it would be great if developers put out new fx modules - get creative.
So I reply with a similar answer, ‘you get creative’. From this fairly ‘I demand’ first post, you can’t really expect a lot of compassionate answers. On an open source project which already takes so much time to manage, I think it’s important to give a bit when you ask for something, and if the answers seems a bit ‘rude’ it might indicate you’re coming at it from a wrong angle.
4 Likes
Classic and alternative delays, chorus, classic and alternative reverbs, different types of distortion, phaser, flanger … Honestly, I don’t think there is a lack of effect modules. It is up to us who use them to discover new ways to do it. The ways of the modular are infinite, it is like our brain, we use it every day but we know less than 10% of it
2 Likes
Check and study the submissions on VCV Rack | Patchstorage But I think it would be great if you would create your own fx chains - get creative.
1 Like
I designed Effects Pedal Rack to be a place for this kind of thing. It’s quite quiet in there but I’m hoping that will change with Rack 2 being out.
2 Likes
Thanks everyone
1 Like
Hey there! You know I enjoy patching my own effects (like trying to make a flanger that morphs into a delay) but I wouldn’t object to someone implementing harmonic tremolo. Just to try to clarify the dichotomy here: a while ago some of us folks on Twitch had a brief craze for fundamental only patches. It was fun but we had a problem, how do we do reverb? Someone (maybe @dronehands or @jaynothin) came up with the solution: 5 delays in sequence set a certain way. It was an interesting experiment but not as good as Plateau or, really, any of the other well implemented reverbs around here. So, yes, there is a place for patching your own stuff together but it’s not the end of the game.
2 Likes
some of us (perhaps the most forum users??) are trying to avoid facebook, lets open a thread here !
11 Likes
You might be right.
1 Like
Can you export an effect ‘rack’ so others can use them or do you just explain how you made your effect rack? I’m dabbling into granular effect now with live input and I might have some to share…
It is almost impossible to make a good reverb by patching delays. And the reverbs that are like this have maybe 20 delays all tuned just so.
But there is nothing magic about a chorus, a flanger, a crazy filter. You can patch almost all effects easily. But not reverb. Or a pitch shifter. Or even a freq shifter for that matter.
Any advice how to do it Bruce with maybe Fundamental only or at least a more DIY approach?
Yes, select all models you want and Edit->Save Selection. As… Then to load into a patch by selecting Edit-> Import Selection
1 Like
Yep, totally agree with this Latif! I spend way more time patching effects than I do making music, so I’m happy to chain stuff together and make complex patches. Come to think of it, I don’t finish much actual music, but when I do, I think my live ambient looping/FX with Rack is better than stuff I’ve sequenced with it. Seeing as someone suggested being more helpful, @thisguy have a look at DwineKcuttop, Author at Patchstorage
I started a series on modular guitar effects, and there are patches shared for a talk box, ring modulation (although that used the Blamsoft filter which hasn’t made it V2), random step phaser, a Microcosm pedal emulator, and a chorus/freeze/looper made from delay modules. Also try searching the VCV section of Patchstorage for effects. Obviously you don’t have to use these with guitar, but maybe if you can be a bit more specific about the type of FX you’re looking for, people can either help with patching it from scratch or getting an idea for developing a module. Let’s not have a massive bun fight about whether or not there are enough effects and help each other out instead!
Finally, don’t forget you can run your own code in the Prototype module. I’ve used a few Pure Data patches this way. If you download and install it, there’s example code with quite a few common effects which may give you some ideas. I’m terrible at coding but had a lot of fun running someone else’s Pd granular patch in Rack. This is another thing which I’ve not seen used much, and has enormous scope.
Cheers
4 Likes
I personally wouldn’t bother trying to make a reverb from scratch in VCV because it won’t sound very good, and there are plenty of nice sounding ones already available. In general though, I do like the idea of patching from scratch as you have more control over the sound and it’s also a good learning process to discover how effects work. I made my own phaser once from all-pass filters and feedback, arguably also largely pointless but it was kind of satisfying! I also love to modulate delays and build my own chorus/flangers. The real game changer with VCV is the modulation, because you can take standard effects like these and make them subtly, or completely different. Randomness, probability, envelope followers, sample and hold. This is what makes VCV effects very different to just throwing a plugin on a DAW or using pedals.
1 Like
Thank you so much. I too avoid Facebook and think this right here is a well suited space for sharing and gathering of ideas / patches.
2 Likes
I closed my Facebook account 12 years ago. It’s good to be back in the loop.
3 Likes