I think VCV Rack could do well with a classic/standardized module skinning feature that can make all the modules have a generic white or dark look or custom look. Anyone second me on the request? Some of the modules are too gaudy and going generic like the standard VCV core modules is a good solution.
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Maybe this would satisfy the esthetic comfort-zone of some users, but when I think of applying a generic skin to my own modules I have to strictly say no, because it was a long process to come up with my own color-scheme and my own buttons and knobs and ports and fonts.
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@ Ahornberg I’m totally with you
and I think many developers have put a lot thinking and work in their module skins,
so generic skins won’t work for these,
and some licenses even prohibit to change the gui.
Beside this, generic guis might not work with all modules just out of the box.
@quantextkbd But you can always ask the VCV developement team.
You’re better off asking the module developers to offer themes for their modules rather than expecting VCV to be able to make the changes. Some developers do their panel graphics programmatically, others use SVG or even bitmap files. Further to this, many developers have strict licenses on the panel graphics that prohibit changing and distributing them.
It’s just an idea. You swear you couldn’t let VCV make generic skin choices for your modules so users could make everything more tidy when selecting from 1000’s of choice modules to make a full rack? It shouldn’t hurt anything!
Although they put in work one of the best ways to unify the design in a rack is to, instead of nullifying unmatching modules, allow fancy or generic 100% similar module design choices in VCV for the tidiest patching possible! 
I want all VCV’s modules tidy and unified using universal skinning themes damnit! No just the select ones.
just keep hoping, little bro!
Always want to optimize. I’m changing the topic title from white/dark to “themed”
My motivation for developing VCV modules
I made and I will make my modules for my own needs in the first place.
Additionally I put them open-source, so that everyone who has the skills can adapt them to their needs.
About dark mode
My modules provide a dark skin when Use dark panels if available is selected in the Rack.
When I was starting to apply the dark skin for my modules, I thought this would be an easy task. But I was totally wrong.
My thoughts on a generic skin
From my perspective, applying a generic skin by only swapping SVG-graphics, fonts, and colors on all modules that are in the library would lead to a total visual mess.
So e.g. text in different fonts covers a different amount of area on a module. Therefore text generically swapped to a different font will sometimes overlap knobs and other elements like ports and displays.
Knobs and buttons are not scaleable by default (we had that in version 0.6, but actually each knob size has its own SVG graphics file) and therefore you will have to provide a lot of additional graphics for all used knob-sizes out there.
And as I know so far, there are modules where all visual elements are defined directly in the C++ code. So this modules do not load SVG-files. Therefore graphics could not be swapped generically.
At the end, a lot of module developers would have to implement a proper generic skin-swapping-mechanism on their own to make your wish come true.
But luckily at least the Bitwig Grid module system provides a nice uniform look and feel (by the cost of not providing 3rd-party-modules).
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Plus, alot of us appreciate the amount of effort developers put into the aesthetics of their skins, and it makes their modules unique. I think, that by replacing the skins with a generic skin would be a bit of a slap in the face of the developer.
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VCV Rack is described on their web: “the virtual modular platform based on Eurorack synthesizers”
On https://modulargrid.net/ you can find Eurorack modules (16500+) in many colors - and likewise in VCV - hooray 
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When I want a tidy look in my patch, I create a separate controller area with the Patchmaster collection of Mindmeld and the bay module(s) by Venom. A bit like having a dedicated controller which is mapped to the actual synth engine/modules
When I am patching with these actual modules, I prefer the gui differences of each develloper. Together with colourcoding of cables, it makes it easier to navigate actually.
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Well let’s bring the Mindmeld Patchmaster stuff to the next level and add VCV “module nesting” if people are certain lot’s of module designers may not want themed skins including generic VCV style white and dark skins. How about a future version of VCV supporting module nesting like in Reason Studios Reason combinators? With customizable knob/fader/switch/button selections.
Renamed post topic to “Request: Standard themed skin modules feature/module nesting.”
hello, and welcome!
every dev here put a lot of work into his graphics, and discussions about their graphics’ licences are taken pretty seriously here…are you Lars Von Trier?
sorry, I couldn’t resist 
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First I want to note that Reason Studios also lacks generic skins.
But let’s talk about nesting modules 
Actually the Mindmeld Patchmaster modules already give you the opportunity to create something like the Reason Studios Combinator inside the VCV Rack.
The only thing you can’t do now is hiding modules. But the Rack itself is “infinite” large in both directions, so you can place modules as far away as you want, and by using the Little Utils Teleport modules, you can also hide cables.
My vision of nesting modules is the one I found in Pure Data which lets you create separate windows or “racks” for subpatches:
IMO Pure Data looks ugly with its minimalistic uniform skin.
Hiding nested modules is a feature I’d love in Patchmaster. Racks for subpatches would be great.
Somewhat related.
I’ve been working on a new plugin where I’m using/improving my svg_theme project’s code. There’s an open PR that includes some of the early improvements, and demos themed widgets (including screws and knobs) in addition to themed panels.
Here’s a snip of 3 very early WIP modules in 4 themes. Sorry, no knobs to show in these prototypes just yet, but I do have working themed knobs. The screws and ports are themed widgets (not a static part of the panel graphic). Theme is selected per-module in the right click menu. Themes are json files in the plugin’s res folder, found dynamically, so adding a theme is just dropping a new json file in the res/themes folder. This makes the themes user-hackable. By the time I’m done, these will be hot-reloadable so you don’t need to restart the plugin when editing a theme. I’ve added API to svg_theme so that custom drawing code can lookup colors.
Actually you can’t have hidden modules. In theory, a “patchmaster” module could paint “black” above some other modules, but the modules would still be there and the modules would occupy space inside the Rack.
I think you’ll need to place a feature request on VCV Support.
Bogaudio and stoermelder have similar features.