In reading the responses to the “Like System” suggestion, I think a goal is popping up that is worth addressing, but in a different thread. It is, ok, I’m new to all this, I have the VCV Fundamental plug-in, I fool around with that, but that’s clearly not everything, but there’s thousands of modules, what do I do next?
Some people appear to be downloading everything. While I appreciate those folks for driving up my module’s popularity number, that just moves the search problem from server to client.
I could watch a lot of videos or read posts and try to infer what module makers I should subscribe to. But that’s a bit ad hoc, and I’m a beginner, and so might lack the confidence to do that well. And I’d like to avoid the feeling of using the wrong reverb X that I’ll later be told was a terrible idea and everyone knows to use Y.
So, beyond Fundamental, I could see a real service to the community being a path people can follow (if they choose) for as long or as short as they like. It introduces new modules, new ideas, new UI in a measured way, so as not to overwhelm beginners, but also not to leave them stranded in the jungle with a note that says “have fun!”
I would hope multiple people would suggest these paths, maybe even notated by style of music that path might be slightly better suited for (EDM, Dub, Aphex Twin).
Great Topic Mahlen. I personally would reflect on what motivates you. What are you looking to do, then start searching for that. If its creating a particular style of music, then search for that style of music on this forum, or in google paired with “VCV rack”. If you find a patch you want to load, you can use the missing module finder to find modules you are missing.
If your looking for videos, I like may others, really enjoy Omri Cohen’s videos. He has quick tip videos, long dives into particular modules, and fixed rack challenges. His fixed rack challenges gives you fixed set of modules and challenges you to explore them without adding, removing, or moving any of the modules. This gives you a great chance to really learn and dive into particular modules.
For me personally I like exploring generative music. I usually play around with interesting sequences. I don’t tend to do a lot with filters. So I guess if I were to suggest a “Path” to follow in those footsteps, I would pick up the modules in this picture. It does include one of my own free modules, Glass Pane, which is network based sequencer.
There are no wrong choices. Reverb is an easy one because obviously everyone uses Plataeu, but it’s always good to try alternatives!
I would probably choose one collection to learn at a time, and start with Mutable Instruments or Vult. As Andrew said, it all depends what you want to achieve.
Unsurprisingly perhaps, this exact issue has popped up before
The issue is that in order to follow along with tutorials, new users often download all the free modules, but then their browser is full of thousands of modules they don’t know/understand. If they only install a few plugins in order to keep the browser manageable, then they can’t follow along with the tutorials that tend to be the best way to learn - it’s a catch 22.
Back in V1 you could share a json file of favourites from Stoermelders MB module, and that was seen as one way of approaching the issue - a curated list of say 100 high quality modules that users could move onto once they had got to grips with the Fundamentals.
A favourites list acts as a browser within the browser - so that new users get the best of both worlds - a small list of modules to focus on initially (which can be added to at any time once they are ready to experiment more) while still having access to all free modules so they can follow along with tutorials.
