VCV Rack on iOS/Android devices?

Squinky · September 18, 2019, 8:28pm

Nice!

funkybot · September 18, 2019, 11:08pm

I spent a few minutes with it yesterday. The iPad workflow is a bit awkward and very clunky. Patching is much easier with a mouse, even moving a knob is easier than the desktop. Haven’t pushed performance yet. Love their browser. Pleasing to the eye, informational and functional.

When it comes to performance of a laptop versus an iPad, my iPad Pro runs better than my mid-priced Dell laptop. But I’d still rather patch up VCV on the laptop for workflow reasons. I’ve tried to seriously make music on the laptop but the touch screen and workflow quirks make it difficult for me. But I can now patch on the couch using MiRack. So good to have options.

orwell · September 19, 2019, 2:35am

Had the same issue with a Mac book pro last year - extremely hot and fan took off, crashed a lot and returned it next day. Horrible experience.

Picked up a mate book d amd - superb laptop and that amd ryzen 5 is a beauty! Windows 10 without the bloat warez, Asioforall, wasapi, is kicking Mac OS right up the behind! Never going back to Mac.

I have an iPad and it’s never had thermal issues and runs vcv rack perfectly.
I gather it is the arm cpu plus the streamlined os, no bloat ware.

Coirt · September 19, 2019, 1:38pm

@marc_boule was Clause 3 adhered to?

sadire · September 19, 2019, 6:46pm

Clause 3 is adhered to, here’s Marc Boule’s copyright notice from the app:

ImpromptuModular Donate: PayPal.Me Copyright (c) 2018-2019 Marc Boulé. All rights reserved. Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

Neither the name of the copyright holder nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS “AS IS” AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

marc_boule · September 19, 2019, 8:13pm

Looks like it’s ok to me, but I’m no licence expert

sadire · September 19, 2019, 9:13pm

Yeah, I should have added some cable news wiggle room words, or The Standard Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, but i do play one in online forums

Jon · September 19, 2019, 9:59pm

I dunno … it feels not 100% right to me.

Coirt · September 19, 2019, 11:01pm

Well did you give prior written permission? The images of your’s and other’s modules are used to promote the sale of software on the App store and elsewhere.

marc_boule · September 20, 2019, 1:01am

I didn’t give any written consent, but according to the license text above, he didn’t use my name. That’s what I hate about legal stuff, we have to get super technical with words, and I think I rather spend my brain power being technical with VCV Rack modules instead

But I appreciate the concern. I think it is still done in reasonably good spirit, since he did take the time to copy my donation link into that text box, which was not part of my license text. So all good with me.

joe.mcmahon · September 20, 2019, 4:26am

8mode

SoftSN Machine

Audible Instruments

Macro Oscillator
Macro Oscillator 2
Modal Synthesizer
Tidal Modulator
Texture Synthesizer
Meta Modulator
Resonator
Multiples
Utilities
Mixer
Bernoulli Gate
Quad VC-polarizer
Quad VCA
Keyframer/Mixer
Random Sampler

Autodafe

Clock Divider
Phaser

Autodafe-Drumkit

Snare
Kick
Claps
Cymbal
Ride
Rim/Claves
Closed Hats
Open Hats
8-channel Mixer

Befaco

EvenVCO
Rampage
A*B+C
Spring Reverb
Mixer
Slew Limiter
Dual Attemuator

Bogaudio

VCO
XCO
Additator
FM-OP
LFO
8FO
LLFO
DADSR(H)
DADSR(H)+
DGATE
Shaper
Shaper+

Core

Audio out
MIDI-1
MIDI-4
MIDI-CC
MIDI-Trig
Blank

E-Series

E340 Cloud Generator

Frozen Wasteland

BPM LFO
BPM LFO2
Damian Lilard
Everlasting Glottal Stopper
Hair Pick
Lissajous LFO
Mr. Blue Sky
The One Ring Modulator
Phase Locked Loop
Quad Euclidean Rhythm
Quad Golomb Ruler Rhythm
Quantussy Cell
Roulette LFO
Seriously Slow LFO
Vox Inhumana
Seriously Slow LFO - CDC Signal

Fundamental

VCO-1
VCO-2
VCF
VCA-1
VCA-2
LFO-1
LFO-2
Delay
ADSR
Mixer
8vert
Unity
Mutes
Scope
SEQ-3
Sequential Switch 1
Sequential Switch 2
Octave

Impromptu Modular

CTRL - Tact
CTRL - Tact-1
CTRL - TwelveKey
CLK - Clocked
SEQ - Foundry
SEQ - GateSeq64
SEQ - PhraseSeq16
SEQ - PhraseSeq32
SEQ - WriteSeq32
SEQ - WriteSeq64
SEQ - BigButtonSeq
SEQ - BigButtonSeq2
VIS - FourView
MISC - SMS-16 Semi-modular synth

JW-Modules

Bouncy Balls
Full Scope
GridSeq
Quantizer
Min-Max
NoteSeq
Simple Clock
Thing Thing
Wav Head
XY Pad
Blank (small, medium, large)

Koralfx-Modules

Beatovnik
Mixovnik
Nullovnik 4
Nullovnik 6
Presetovnik
Quantovnik
Scorovnik

ML-Modules

Quantizer (h-bar)
Quantum
Trigger Buffer
Sequential Switch 8->1
Sequential Switch 1->8
Shift Register
Evolution
FreeVerb
Sum8
Sum8 MkII
S&H 8
Constants
Counter
Trigger Delay
BPM Tools
Volt Meter
OctaFlop
OctaTrig
OctaSwitch
TrigSwitch 8->1
TrigSwitch 1->8
TrigSwitch3 8->1
TrigSwitch3 1->8
OctaPlus
OctaTimes

MSM

Blank panel
Fade
MLFO
Mult
Random Source-1
Random Source-2
SwitchedMult
WaveShaper

Squinky Labs

Booty Shifter
Chebyshev II
Chopper
Colors
Formants
Functional VCO-1
Gray Code
Growler
LFN
Mixer-8
Saws
Shaper
Slade
Stairway
[old} Waveshaper

Stochasm

Bitstream Resonator

Synthkit

Addition
Subtraction
And
Or
1x8 splitter
1x8 slitter (CV)
Clock Divider
Rotating Clock Divider
Prime Clock Divider
Fibonacci Clock Divider
4-step sequencer
8-step sequencer

cf

trSEQ
Ledseq
L3ds3q
SliderSeq
Variable
Algebra
Choke
Steps
Metro
Each
Four
Peak
Mono
Stereo
Master
Sub
Cuts
Buffer
Disto
Cube
Patch
Leds
Dave

mental

Sub Mixer
Mults
Mixer
Wave Folder
Clipper
Gates
A/B Switches
Quantiser
Chord
Multiplexers
Logic Gates
Buttons
Summing Mixer
Pitch Shifter
Clock Divider
Cartesian Sequencer
Patch Matrix
Binary Decoder
8 way Switch
8 way Multiplexer
Counters
Knobs
Gate Mixer
Master Clock
Quad LFO
Radio Buttons

mscHack

Master CLOCK x 4
SEQ 3 x 16
SEQ 6 x 32
SEQ Triad 2
ENVY - 9
Maude 221 Wave Combiner
ARP 700
SYNTH Drums
MIXER Cross Fader 3 Channel
(OBSOLETE) Mixer 1x4 Stereo/Mono
(OBSOLETE) MIXER 2x4 Stereo/Mono
(OBSOLETE) MIXER 4x4 Stereo/Mono
Mixer 9ch
Mixer 16ch
Mixer 24ch
ASAF-8 Channel Auto Stereo
DELAY 4-step delay
DELAY Ping Pong
OSC 3-channel
OSC Wavemorph3
Dronez

trowaSoft

MultiScope

pronvit · September 22, 2019, 5:45am

Hello all, miRack developer here. Happy to answer any of your concerns here, if @Vortico doesn’t mind. Also any plugin developers having issues with me including their work are welcome to contact me privately. Several things I want to point out myself first:

All included plugins are taken from their public GitHub repositories, and their license terms are fully followed. For example, it’s a common practice among repositories related to VCV to restrict the use of the included graphics files - such plugins were not included. Of course only plugins with permissive BSD/MIT licenses were ever considered for inclusion with the app.
I am assuming that developers chose the license for their plugins consciously and know that the chosen license allows commercial use of their work. Therefore, I do not understand allegations I received from some people that I’m stealing or selling someone else’s work. I (and anyone else) have the right to use such work as long as the license terms (mainly regarding attribution and promotion) are followed. The same as for numerous other software libraries used in almost any app, free or paid.
I make every possible effort to clearly state and emphasise that the plugins are open-source and come from third-party developers. First, in the app description, second, in a message displayed the first time user launches the app, third, on a separate screen listing authors, licenses and donation links (where available).
For anyone not familiar with iOS music software, here are some prices:

Audiobus (mixer to mix audio from other apps) - $9.99
AUM (similar to above) - $18.99
Animoog (synth) - $29.99
Moog Model 15 (synth) - $29.99
Minimoog Model D (synth) - $14.99
Audulus (modular synth) - $19.99
zMors Modular (modular synth) - $9.99
Ripplemaker (modular synth) - $8.99

miRack is currently priced $7.99 I think it’s a fair price for the work I’ve done myself and it shows that the included plugins basically come for free.

Despite there being some allegations of me using graphics content created for VCV Rack by Grayscale, I can confirm again that none of the files owned by Grayscale were ever included in the application and replacements have been drawn by me from scratch. However to avoid any confusion, I’ve made another version of my graphics, with even more distinct appearance, and made the updated version available as soon as the App Store review process allowed me. I have neither desire nor need for miRack to look similar to VCV Rack by using any of the copyrighted content.
Despite this not being stated anywhere in corresponding repositories, I was told I was not allowed to use panel graphics for certain hardware-based modules. I’ve contacted developers of such hardware modules and either obtained permission or removed their panels and brand names.
miRack has been wonderfully received by iOS music making community, it currently has 4.88 star rating in the US App Store. Instead of saying “buggy software” I suggest anyone interested to contact me for a promo code or another way to try the app. Specifically, all plugin authors are entitled to a promocode, should they want one.
I want to thank all the plugin creators again for their work. Without it, neither miRack, nor VCV Rack would be possible.

Olival_Clanaro · September 22, 2019, 6:46am

Thanks for coming by, i guess some persons will have a few questions for you
Welcome to the forum , feel free to explore other topics too, and if you do some music using Vcv Rack, you can also post it here in the music category

modlfo · September 22, 2019, 6:55am

Maybe is just my wild imagination, but I think that the change of license of VCV Rack express the actual point of view of Andrew regarding commercial exploration of his work (current and past). Version 0.6 is allows it, but not v1.0.

If would start the project of porting Rack to the alien technology used in Vult planet, I would use my deduction powers to conclude that maybe this could be against the authors wishes. But if I use v0.6 he cannot do anything about it.

stoermelder · September 22, 2019, 7:09am

As far as I understand GPLv3 you can commercially sell any derivative work as long it is also licensed as GPLv3, so Rack v1 can be sold in Apple‘s AppStore if someone is Ok with licensing it under GPLv3 and releasing the source. Please anyone correct me if I‘m wrong.

pronvit · September 22, 2019, 7:11am

Honestly, I don’t know. Andrew changed the license several times, I don’t know the reasons of course, but I guess adding a commercial exception would’ve been easier than changing the license.

miRack project started in early 2018, so it was even pre-0.6 I guess? Of course this also means that it doesn’t contain any code or features (apart from multithreading which I implemented differently before Andrew) that were added after the license change to GPL.

pronvit · September 22, 2019, 7:13am

Theoretically it could be possible if the source code of the app is also made available, but in practice there are several legal and technical details that make it impossible to distribute GPL-licensed software on the App Store.

GPL is a very um… special and restrictive license. I don’t remember for sure but I think the reason is that App Store software comes encrypted (and is not easily downloadable in the first place), which makes it impossible to reuse the binaries, re-link, disassemble, etc. which GPL requires.

Such GPL quirks is one of the things why in the recent years software shifted noticeably to BSD-style licenses. Almost all libraries and other reusable components you can find now have BSD/MIT license and not LGPL, for example.

modlfo · September 22, 2019, 7:28am

@pronvit I’m glad you sorted out the copyright issues. As you may know, your release created some mixed feelings and friction in the community of developers. Personally I think it would have been better to pre-announce the release in order to raise awareness and sort all issues beforehand. Even when the source code of many modules has permissive licenses, it’s always nice to ask the developer if their work can be included. You know, receive the blessings of the developers of the included modules.

One of the reasons I closed the source of my Vult modules was to have better control on how my brand name is used, because I don’t want surprises.

pronvit · September 22, 2019, 7:43am

Maybe you’re right. The two reasons I didn’t announce/ask permissions in advance are

I’m not legally required to do so. I know, it’s nice to ask, but again, any software now contains a lot of components by other developers and asking every of them for explicit permission is not something any developer would normally do. Interestingly, everyone seems to be ok so far with using their source code, all the complaints I’ve heard are about graphics (even if no special restriction on graphics is listed in the license!), naming, etc. - I couldn’t have predicted this.
I’ve contacted some developers - of VCV Rack plugins and of hardware modules - and three of them (which is most of them) haven’t replied. So it’s unclear for how long I should’ve waited for the permissions and what to do in case of no reply. Combined with 1. this resulted in the decision not to try asking at all.

pyer · September 22, 2019, 8:08am

Hi Vitaliy,

Thanks for your explanation and congrats on your work for this great port, as an iPad user, is a dream come true… that I would enjoy best with the insurance of a total legality:

about point 6. does it mean that you recieved an autorisation form Papernoise studio or/and Emilie Gillet to use theirs graphic design? have you recieved the authorization to use the official name Befaco (and the module names).
Attention: opensource is about software, not visual identity: while the source code can be used without restriction, the use of a logo or a complete visual identity is copyrighted as a creation and must be done with the authorisation of the author, unless the author states explicitly that he or she renonces to his copyright. How ok is it to use Impromptu, squinky labs, bog audio logo without authorisation?

I certainly don’t want to kill the miRack (VCV on ipad, come on, it’s a huge thing and if it can exist, I believe it should!), but respecting all aspect on IP would be a great way to thanks the devs