So, to first impressions and experience of the module itself. [NB There may be misunderstandings in what follows - feel free to correct me.]
Aesthetically fairly pleasing for me. The brushed metal looks lovely. My only complaint about the physical aspects is the tall trimmers. I hate tall trimmers; just make the module bigger, please - Eurorack is cramped enough as it is. Here, though, they are doubly egregious because they are the main controls. There is no difference in function or use to the six (A-F) with Davies knobs. [There is actually a lower level of hell waiting for those who put short trimmers on modules.] As you can see, I have put Thonk Tall Trimmer Toppers on them, but I would rather 4ms had used metal shafted pots where I’d have a wide choice of knob replacements (the VnIcursal to the right suffers the same affliction, though on his other kits, he has metal shafts and I’ve been able to put Bastl knobs on instead).
In the box was a new 16 GB Micro SD card and a short USB-A to USB-C converter. Weirdly the SD card had problems last night, which is the first time that has ever happened to me in all the years I’ve been using them. My MBP will read and write to it, but Meta Module either reports that there are no modules on the card or says that it can’t read the card at all. Anyway, I used another and all is fine again.
I made two patches in my 7U, using the module without patching in VCV first as a Disting on steroids. It is really very easy and intuitive to do this. The only gotcha is that you have to load up the modules (plugins, rather) you want every time the module is powered up. This is simple but tedious.
Pulling up a module and automapping it is very easy, though the automapping proceeds based on the first available jack/knob and may not produce an appealing or intuitive map. I intend to create a series of patches for my favourite modules with mappings how I want them. Remapping in Meta Module, or mapping from scratch, is easy but tedious for many connections, involving multiple encoder presses for each one. Much of the time, though, it is a case of why bother? It is great to enjoy the flexibility of pulling up a module for a specific use, automapping it, and it’s up and running in seconds.
Connecting modules in the Meta Module requires more clicking and scrolling but is reasonably quick. You really don’t want to build patches in the Meta Module with more than two or three modules connected together. It’s a bit of a chore. With both my patches though, I had two modules connected together and then additional discrete modules loaded as modulation sources. I imagine 90% of my use of the module will be just like this, and I wouldn’t reach for the computer to facilitate it.
Considering the best strategy to map knobs is another thing entirely. You have multiple knob sets, but a control can only be mapped to a knob once. This is a pain and hopefully can be fixed in a future update. As it is, you have to choose between a knob set per module or trying to get all the main controls for all the modules, patched or not, on one page (or some hybrid). I’d rather be able to do both, having the master knob set controls also available from the module-specific knob set.
EDIT: A fix is in progress for this - v. #4 in thread.
Last night, I tried two more things. The first was to transfer some patches I had made to try them out. This didn’t work well. I had thought I could get away with keeping all the patches, discrete as they are, in one VCV patch, but the presence of multiple virtual Meta Modules in a patch appears to confuse the saving process, and when the patches loaded into Meta Module they were messed up with each appearing contained all the modules that were attached to each of the five Meta Modules in my VCV patch. So, the rule appears to be one per VCV patch.
The process of saving to an SD card each time you tweak a patch in VCV, transferring it to Meta Module, and loading it up tests one’s patience somewhat. I predict the first expander due out, the Wi-Fi one, will sell very well. It can’t arrive soon enough, as far as I’m concerned.
The other thing I wanted to try out was the Midi implementation, which I discovered was the steepest section of the learning curve. In hardware I use an FH-2 to work the Disting Ex, and to attach a Launchpad Mini as a step sequencer occasionally, or to use the Buchla Thunder Sensel MPE overlay. The stupendously powerful yet a little boggling Vector Wave I built has a Midi input to control its 4 voices and 16 oscillators, and I occasionally plug a keyboard into that.
Of course, this would be an exponentially more wonderful experience if I could actually play a keyboard. That boat having sailed and no longer doing anything in a DAW means that I almost never use Midi in software, which leads to saying that I am incredibly rusty on using the Midi modules in VCV. I experimented with them when they were released but ignored them since.
All that made figuring out how to use Midi with the Meta Module and VCV an evening of trial and error, but I got there in the end. The Meta Module is somewhat confusing because when you build a VCV patch, you use the VCV Midi modules (IN only until the release of the Midi/gate expander), but when you upload the patch to the Meta Module, those VCV modules are invisible. Meta Module understands what you are doing in the patch but handles the Midi directly and invisibly. There is no Midi monitor to see what messages are coming in, and you can only disconnect a Midi connection, not make a new one (in the Meta Module itself). You can partially ameliorate some of the potential inconvenience by connecting Midi in/out to mults, giving you a connection/disconnection possibility.
Anyway, after a couple of days, I feel I have a fairly good handle on the module’s functionality. I’m extremely impressed with what 4ms has done here. It’s as usable as I think it is possible to make the concept. The whole scrolling parameters and jacks to patch is pretty much the best alternative to a touchscreen, which I doubt would work well.
It’s certainly not a place to learn VCV for newcomers, though. Its initial kerb appeal will be to experienced VCVers, I think. If you are already familiar with the modules you are patching, it makes a big difference to how quickly you can patch and allows you to make sense of the small renderings of the modules on screen.
The first serious journey I want to take is with the Hetrick phasors. I’ve not really used them yet, so there will be a learning curve with Mike’s tutorial and Omri’s record hour-and-a-half-long video on his Patreon.
I have another early journey I want to take to try to fix some undesirable behaviour of a valued hardware module with VCV. I’ve only been partially successful in taming it with other hardware modules thus far, but more of that anon.
