We push a new version to the VCV library every month or so but I generally update with the new chris-effect-of-the-week on sunday nights or Monday morning.
The library has 2.3.0 in it but the Nightly build of 2.4.0 (Release Nightly · baconpaul/airwin2rack · GitHub) has two more plate reverbs in it (or will when the sunday night build finishes in about 20 minutes) than the library version if you are comfortable installing binaries from GitHub.
Remember it has about 325 effects in it, but each has a built in documentation. Just press the “?” in the module. And they can all be polyphonic if you want.
I’m really interested to see what folks do here. ZLowpass in poly mode, Galactic and Verbity2, the new plates, and also the tape and noise effects are all things i find myself using a lot.
Cool! Looking forward to hearing what people do. I’ve got a lot of stuff that will get you heavily retro/classic sounds, but bear in mind there’s also many strange glitchy things in there since it’s the WHOLE library, not just a subset.
It’ll be fascinating to see what happens. Surge XT covers a lot of bases but the Airwindows mutli-plug lends itself to strange abuses of stuff that was never meant to be CV. For instance when it came out, I showed it off and one of the first things I did was throw ‘MV’ onto a pitch CV.
Which is a ‘bloom’ algorithm in the manner of old Midiverb, but DC-coupled, so it output a delayed and blurred pitch CV that acted like a surreal portamento that would eventually converge on what the pitch really was.
I think I would be equally inspired by the wild, wacky and wonderful as I would be, by very deep and vibey pseudo-analog tones. A user in the Surge forum responded to kPlateA by immediately throwing just a 303 into it, and it sounded amazing. I would imagine if you have Surge XT and the Airwindows plug, it would be the easiest thing in the world to make really satisfying Berlin School modular classics…
My contribution: A slow and spacious patch with me using galactic amounts of the fabulous AirWindows plugin Definately a headphone piece, or for your full range speakers, if you have them…
It really is a wonderful plugin, so here goes many thanks to Chris and Paul for bringing us this in VCV Rack! I feel like I’ve only begun to scratch the surface of it, and that it’s a lifetime’s worth of exploration in itself.
The patch is three voices. Tempo and gates are courtesey of the docB::PwmClock with some swing applied.
Melody is by the Proteus sequencer with it’s expander. I’ve pre-generated some sequences with Proteus I liked, for each of the three voices, and saved them with the expander, and I’m changing through those saved sequences using the clock and ML:Counter modules.
The bass voice is Tides2 in chords mode and I split the voice in two: The bass notes themselves, and then, through the Capacitor2 highpass filter, I use the wonderful TapeDelay2 module to create the ghostly overlay for the bass.
The Surge::Wavetable VCO lead voice gets some delay and spacious Galactic reverb.
The third voice is triggered by the Repelzen::Re-burst, as a burst of 4 notes, playing the wonderful docB::Pad VCO, with a royal treatment of tape delay and two reverbs.
Of the modes I tried in AirWindows, the TapeDelay2 mode is probably my favorite so far, closely followed by the Galactic reverb.
Enjoy!
Because I think this sounds pretty good, here’s the wav:
OK…it’s just a quick & dirty snippet I clicked together. Used it to actually checkout some more of the many Airwindows algorithms.
Especially challenging to create some (more or less…) tuned oscillators/generators. I resorted to push an impulse into some filters, manually tuning them and their cv frequency control. I couldn’t really find tuneable delays, or reverbs or other pingable stuff like (feedback) phasers, combfilters and such. But I might have missed some options.
Also threw in a noise source for some washes. Used some effects for sound shaping. Used ‘synced’ delays to create repetitive note patterns. And some reverb and feedback to create some sustain and space/ambience. Pitch (CV quantized) and gates are all random (yeah, lazy).
Anyway…it might inspire others…which is the main goal of the challenge…
Nice - close to the direction I have gone - how can we abuse the Airwindows to create sound. I missed that particular Biquad option for a pingable filter. But I found a couple pingable resonant filters in the filter category.
I will be debuting my Airwindows entry with flute sometime after 8:40 tonight at the Virtual Open Mic #159
My patch uses 81 Airwindows, and absolutely nothing else besides the Audio module. Almost half the modules are for a 4 channel stereo mixer with 2 Send and Return effects loops.
I hope to post the patch within the next couple days.
If by some miracle someone is actually waiting for my set with the challenge patch entry, it will likely be closer to 9:20. If it goes well I will post a recording of the performance.
I guess you are looking for some sort of definition? I’ll give it a try.
A patch is an information carrier, information, objectively describing/defining a (static) state of a (synthesizer) system. With this information ‘anyone’ (you or others) could recreate this state (assuming availability of the components of the system).
In modular a patch is generally describing:
all modules used
all connections made (basically all ‘wiring’)
all settings (state, per module)
So, you could say it’s the description/definition of ‘a synthesizer’ (modules and cables), but since the ‘settings’ are saved too, it could also describe ‘a sequence’. But it could also be describing neither. Some people might just use a modular system as a ‘passive’ effects processor or only as a ‘controller’ for external stuff. Or even to construct an analog computer (not even aimed at audio generation or processing at all)
Anyway…
In VCV Rack you can simply save all that information to 1 file that can be (re)loaded elsewhere in space and/or time (by you or others).
In VCV Rack, everything inside a rack is a patch. Patches can be saved as .vcv files. By loading a patch from file, everything pre-existing in the rack will be replaced.
For further information, please consult the manual:
Honestly, that is what I set out to do! I was shocked when something musical came out of it, let alone something that was (almost) in tune with my flute.
Definately a headphone piece, or for your full range speakers, if you have them…
