Simon Garton
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Jun 07, 2024
6 min read

VCV modules

Virtual modular synthesis

Over 2,000 modules, apparently. And they seem to get updated most days. Lots of options, so where to start ? (Apart from Omri Cohen’s videos …) Ones I like up at the top, others further down.

VCO

You’ll always need a signal, which will come most often from a VCO.

  • Basal smooth Oscillator Vult is clean and simple. It seems to be a sine wave; but has two MOD dials for modulating the sound. *
  • Bleak analog oscillator Vult is equally clean and simple. PW for pulse width and Wave for different wave patterns.
  • Squinky Labs Saws really nice twin saw.
  • Squinky Labs EV 3 really nice triple oscillator, built in quantizers.
  • BogAudio FM-OP has built in envelope and you can apply it to level, feedback and depth. Not sure what depth does, and you probably don’t want same envelope for level and feedback. Sounds like a sine.
  • Fundamental VCO-1 is fine. Has four waves : Sine is smooth and soft, triangle not too different, saw is harsh, square is metallic.
  • Fundamental VCO-2 has a dial for the wave which goes through all four. It has FM but not V/Oct … changing FM doesn’t change the pitch.
  • Audible instruments macro oscillator & m.o. 2 (Braids, Plaits) have a million waves, some of which (e.g. Bell) are lovely. Tutorial
  • Vult Vessek two oscillators, lots of modulation. Detune the oscillators for that nice fat Moog sound. *
  • NYSTHI Seven Seas super weird, lots of controls.*
  • Wave from XVF has a stack of complex waves that you can modulate nicely.

Also looked at AS TinySine and TinySaw.

VCA

Amplify the sound, normally combined with an envelope generator.

  • VCV is fine; VCA is a single, with a nice green LED level; VCA-2 is a double.
  • AS VCA is a double.
  • Audible Instruments have a Quad, as do AS.
  • Vult have Slap which is a combined ADSR/VCA.

ADSR / Envelope generator

  • Fundamental is fine, with traditional ADSR; gate and retrig inputs.
  • Rampage is a double with rise and fall. It has CV for trigger and a trigger button (as well as Gate) and outputs for Rising and Falling.

Quantizers

  • Fundamental QNT difficult to use, just a scale of yellow LEDs.
  • JW Quantizer has dials for note and kind of scale, very nice. *
  • ML Quantum Ok, has keyboard with selectors. *

Effects

  • BiFaco Spring Reverb, but I don’t really know how this is working.
  • Valley Plateau very complex but out of the box is nice.
  • ChronoBlob

Drums

  • SV Modular drum kit and sequencer.
  • AutoDaFe drums 8 options, each with samples from different machines.

Midi In

  • To import a midi sequence from a keyboard. Not yet tried.

Sequencers and Arpeggiators

  • Fundamental SEQ-3 is limited it works, has built in clock. Right click on dials to set note / use quantizer.
  • NoteSeq16 (simple) and NoteSeq (16 voices) from JW, built in Quantizer, and you can draw on it; but it’s not very modulatable.vall
  • Topograph - a drum sequencer, generating 3 gate patterns suited for bass / snare / hihat. Lots of patterns, smooth variation. Manual
  • mscHack ARP 700 - 7 note arpeggiator, has keyboard and lots of options. Curiously no gate output. Multiple patterns.
  • Voxglitch Digital Sequencer has up to 6 simultanous sequences, easy to play with, difficult to program.

Other note generators

  • dadr is one of several chaotic attractors and is awesome for suddenly changing speeds and pitches.
  • Walk gives you random voltages.
  • Alan is a Turing machine and I keep coming back to it.

Clock

  • J W Simple Clock is small and nice.
  • Impromptu Clocked has 3 clocks, and is probably my goto for complex ones. *
  • The Fundamental sequencer SEQ-3 has a built in clock.

Mixers

  • Fundamental is OK.
  • Charred Desert’s SV Module is 8 channel, solo and mute, and pan, to set up stero.
  • BogAudio has 8 with mutes, panning, expanders.
  • BogAudio as Mult, two splits of a single input into 3.

Sample and Hold

  • Tyrant is superb as sample and hold. As it can have up to 6 channels, you can stagger chords beautifully.
  • Shift Register - I think this is a sample and hold.saw

Scopes and Meters

  • VCV Fundamental is excellent.
  • Entrian Follower shows you pitch, octave, envelop.
  • VC MinMax shows you min and max voltages *.
  • NYSTHI Graphic Meter has heaps of inputs and shows min and max in bars.
  • ML Modules has Volt Meter has 4 meters.
  • NYSTHI 2M Dualo Volt Meter has two plus VCA and shows peaks as well as nice VU display.
  • Submarine LA-108 is nice.
  • VCV Scope does the job.

Miscellaneous

  • LifeFormModular QuadSteppedOffset to change octaves. But it doesn’t take control CV and I have seen something that did.
  • 21 Khz D also transposes.

Miscellanous tricks

  • The Rampage Envelope generator from Bifaco has a trigger button to send a single note out.
  • NoteSeq has a step button.
  • A lot of modules are doubles - two save space ?
  • Querty keyboard - rows start at Z and Q.
  • Use multiple AS mixes 2 4 8 chained to have raw signals and then effected.
  • I have run into issues with sending a polyphonic signal to a mixer. Only PolyMix seems to work. There is nothing much I can find in the forums.

Polyphony

Be aware of the VCV modules Viz (to show which channels you have), Sum (which adds multiple polyphonic signals into a single monophonic one, so you can then send it to a monophonic effect like Plateau), and Split (which splits the polyphony into multiple signals.)

Many modules you need to right click on and set Polyphony on. There’s a Polyphonic tag in the library.

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