Is there a module that even comes close to what Pam’s has got to offer? I’ve seen that Impromptu’s Clocked is usually referred to as an alternative, but it is missing lots of features. What do you guys use?
I realise that this would probably take a couple of different modules on VCV, but I am curious to see if we can get Pam’s features in the fewest amount of modules possible. What would you reccommend?
the Pamela I know use to teach math, perhaps a link or mention of the features you want to emulate?
I suspect all that functionality and more is already present in the many clocking type modules, with the benefit of having an interface that consists of more than a single encoder and one single button to dive your way through the extensive settings need to set Pam up. Obviously Pan’s interface is great for a hardware module of its size, however diving is needed.
something like this gives many of the features of Pam with room for expansion.
I’ve always seen Pamala’s Workout in people’s physical racks when I was struggling to afford modules, but by the time I could afford nice modules I was also already using VCV as my central clock source, and so I never dug into it. I’d be curious to hear what your favorite features are that you would like to see and be able to use in VCV.
I feel like VCV sits in an interesting space for UI. Like, there are the old unix maxims, that are modular and minimalist, which kind of state that a program should do one thing well, and then you can patch a number of those simple things together on the command-line. I found that really compelling as a design philosophy.
But then there’s the physical rack space, where actual real-world space is at a premium, so there’s a strong desire for a single module to do a lot of different things well and to be able to function smoothly in a large number of roles.
I feel like Pamela’s really hit that sweet spot for people, and that must be why it has been so widely adopted. But I’m very curious as to what those different roles were for different users.
Anyway, no worries if it’s difficult to describe, and I’ve always thought I could find the manual and, perhaps maybe deduce the magical combination that people love for myself. But I wondered if my modular journey has been too altered and strange to understand it properly.
Features of Pro workout as listed on the ALM site…
All of which functionality can be provided by combining a bunch of other VCV Rack modules, but not currently tied together in one module. I would like to see it in VCV Rack just to be able to build patches that are closer to my physical hardware so I can testbed ideas virtually.
I’d argue ShapeMaster Pro is probably the closest single module to Pam’s in Rack in terms of functionality. It can do most if not all of the things on main.tenant’s list above plus quite a lot more.
Feed it a 48ppqn external clock and you can multiply and divide from 1/128 to 128 bars. But you don’t need an external clock, you can use one channel as the master clock for all the others… external clock is better if you want a BPM display though.
Put Clocked and SM Pro together and you have Pam’s on steroids.
Clocked with uGraph and a couple of Surge XT Quad LFOs would get you quite a long way too though.
