Hi, so many options with VCV, it is amazing. Can you all suggest some patches or setups that I should check out? I want to generate percussion and melody loops. I like the super tight percussions of the Double Knot and did download the patch I found here. Am interested in other combos you all have come up with that are good for this. I am happy to build a simpler setup with modules or try and patches you all suggest.
Thank you!
Count Modula trigger sequencer if you want to compose your own rhythms. Ports of MI Marbles or Grids if you want more generative rhythms.
Plaits/Palette gives easy access to synthesized drums and percussion sounds. docB Drum is a good one if you prefer sampled percussion.
Thanks, you know of any good tutorials on best practices to wire these up? I thought I had the basics down of wiring MIDI and Audio out of my DAW (using Cardinal), but it was a use case for triggering an oscillator on my keyboard. I need to learn deeper patch techniques.
Check out Omri Cohen’s channel. It has a wealth of resources.
This channel looks great, thank you!
Beyond the very basics, the “wiring up” part is in itself the art form. It involves creativity, imagination, inventiveness, spontaneity, and exploration. Omri is both a master of the art form, and a master teacher of it.
For rhythmic gate and trigger patterns, I usually prefer to try and come up with ways to combine simple multi-purpose modules (lfos, s&h, comparator, sequencer, etc…) but sometimes it is nice to be able to drop in a single module that gives a “turn a knob, get a rhythm” kind of workflow. Here are a couple examples you might take a look at: These three are very similar in how they operate:
VCV Library - Jasmine & Olive Trees Hotel
VCV Library - Valley Topograph
In a slightly different vein, octet sequencer is nice because it has a visual display of the pattern:
VCV Library - Count Modula Octet Trigger Sequencer
When I first started with VCV Rack, I found myself often wanting to automate a clock divider to double/triple/quadruple a clock and while I did manage to cobble together some solutions (rgate + 8face for example) I eventually tried splitterburst and found it does exactly what I needed for those cases:
VCV Library - XTRTN Splitterburst
(it has other uses but for the most part, you just put a clock in the top left input, some sort of gate pattern in the top middle or second-row right, and then use one or the other of the bottom two outputs)
And then of course there’s slips:
VCV Library - alef’s bits slips
Play with the knob marked “prob” to get variation on the gate output and turn up the “slips” knob to get another pattern on the slip output.
Check out some vids by @VCVRackIdeas too. I like his music. He has a premium subscription patreon, if you need more than the youtube vids. VCV RACK ideas | создаёт VCV Rack videos, tutorials, tips&tricks, Samples and pat | Patreon
Shifty has a quick start guide PathSetManuals/modules/Shifty.md at main · patheros/PathSetManuals · GitHub
Some great answers here. I’ve just replied to another thread saying exactly the same thing, but for drums I like to use samples, with Permutation or Seeds of Change for triggers.