I’ve been asked (again) where to start with VCV Rack. I said: copy this patch and start from there.
What’s your method and patches to explain Rack, and general modular approaches to complete beginners?
Looks like a good beginners patch to me Alessandro. Maybe the delay is half a step beyond that. Put it up on patchstorage?
looks like a good patch to start with 
could you share it here?
I think better that share in patchstorage is just share the image, beginers will learn more patching by themselves that patch ( I m beginner and I learn much more trying to reproduce patches than downloading it ).
10 Likes
Yes, I took a pic without sharing the file on purpose. For a beginner, IMO, it’s better to try to reproduce it than having it already done. You learn a lot by doing, I guess.
6 Likes
anyway, here’s the patch. All free modules, requires JW-modules for the quantizer. simple subtractive.vcv (8.2 KB)
2 Likes
perhaps a brief explanation is missing, one of the most odds things of the modular synthesizer is (at least it was to me) what the VCA do, at that point if you are not totally clear about what the voltages do the VCA is really singular piece
2 Likes
I was pretty amazed when I first saw this noise creating melodies trick in a Omri Cohen segment of a Talking Rackhead’s video like maybe a year ago. It’s just an square lfo triggering random notes sent to a sine wave vco into reverb & out. For added fun, start turning that offset knob on the top AtNuVrTr and figure out the coolest way to modulate it.
random_melodies.vcv (4.8 KB)
10 Likes
A lovely classic s/h patch, but it can be overwhelming to a person that doesn’t know v/oct from gate. A bit intermediate, I’d say.
5 Likes
Fair enough! Definitely a step past the sequencer/subtractive thing I agree, so I would for sure start with a patch just like yours(as I did when I started learning). I just thought there might be a couple lessons/concepts to learn in one really simple patch to set up that just gets wired left to right and explore from there to learn the what & why.
4 Likes
Yes! My opinion exactly. I learned everything I know by following along on the many video tutorials on my own VCV Rack. It was really the only way I understood what was going on.
7 Likes
I wonder if it would be worthwhile to adapt for VCV Rack the “Wizoo’s Guide to the Nord Modular” tutorial patch (along with explanatory text) for designing a synthesizer:
4 Likes
Would be my starting point, too: LFO with Squarewave for rhythm. But I like Boninos patch a lot, because you have really nice results from the very beginning.
1 Like
my attempt at a beginner tutorial is this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGh2VxyPTJA&list=PL3uoDdw5f0IwPkiA3LxYxNcyFgJ0_i5lH
5 Likes
I replaced the VCO with Vult-Free’s Vessek, and set the A mode to FM. Play around with that oscillator, you could get a more interesting sound that way. 
PondRacer
5 Likes
I’ve included a link to this post in my beginners guide; seemed fitting.
2 Likes
Here are a few tutorials that I have produced. I hope you find something useful.
A Minimal Patch
Minisystem
Building a Riser in VCV Rack
It was only through video tutorials that I learned VCV Rack. Best of luck.
2 Likes
Thanks AdiQ for your contribution, I added the NYSTHI VU single meter, and the 4CDB block- that to avoid peaking- then, for fun, the Bogaudio VCA … for a volume control. You new folks might then try adjusting the AtNuVrTr… I also modulate the cv on the attenuvator by hooking the S&H out to the cv inputs. Try choosing different combinations on the Quantum… you’ll find that by doing that you can change the scale…I also linked the wave cv input to the sign portion of the utilities function. This will add a random element to the wave form from the VCO-2. Try augmenting cv inputs with the out pulse from the S&H. See what happens! Happy New Year!!!
2 Likes