Hacker News Reader

Comment by maxekman | Hacker News Reader

I would recommend VCVRack, a mostly free virtual Eurorack system.

I would not recommend that someone just starting out and who doesn't fully understand subtractive synthesis start with a very sophisticated, open-ended modular system.

oscs, filters, lfos, envelopes, vcos . . . for a beginner, this is all hard enough without adding control signals and fancy routings to the equation.

Rack is amazing; I don't mean to criticize it in any way. But if you're trying to learn to fly, you might want to start with a Cessna instead of trying to jump into the cockpit of a 787.

Seconded. Synths are my main instrument, have been since 199X, and I see at least 5-10 modules a year that I desperately want because of the unique and interesting things they can do. And VCV Rack is still often frustrating to build things in.

I got VCV Rack (via MiRack on iOS) because it has clones of some popular open source modules like Clouds that I really wanted to play with. And what I learned is…maybe full modular is not actually a good fit for me. Some of that is lack of experience with it for sure, some of it is that it ain’t physical.

It just takes SO LONG to get anything interesting to happen. Wiring a sequencer and a gate to an osc and envelope, throwing in other control signals for texture and effects, making it all sound good, all takes ages.

I haven’t given up on it, and I’m very excited to see what happens in the next few years with VR. If someone remakes VCV Rack with a VR front end, it’ll probably convince me to finally buy a rig. Synthspace [1] looks like fun, and is a great proof of concept, but relying on one person for modules might be a dealbreaker for me.

I think if I ever get into modular, it’ll be to build a small system to mostly work with (and sometimes against) live sampled input, like this setup from Knobs. [2] I might be able to start even smaller by picking up something to enhance my Subharmonicon… (Danger! Rising expenses ahead!)

[1] https://www.engadget.com/synthspace-vr-modular-synth-0201085...

[2] https://youtu.be/i7e58SE0gU4

There is something very similar, but not open, available for iPad, called MiRack[0]. It was a great help to me in figuring out basics like VCO/LFO/ASDR/VCA.

Virtual modular isn't going to sound quite like real analog but it's a great way to learn and experiment at very low cost.

I have promised myself to get VCVRack working before I spend any real money on modular gear.

[0]: https://mirack.app

Hah! you beat me to it by 4 comments. Upvoted.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com