My starting Points in VCV , years ago, i used a paper to make a sketch of what i'll expect . Next was a template with a mixer (from mind meld) EQ , some effects ... Audio out. save that template so you can start up on this point. Next step was experimenting with some modules OR i had a sound in my head that i'll archive Most time i spend in searching the right module for some special effect. If i was ready with a patch i select the part of the modules and save the selection as selection, which cannow easy be used in an other patch.
That’s such a cool idea, to draw out the expected outcome on paper. Especially with this all being on the computer it feels so intangible, drawing it out sounds like a really great exercise! I also really like the idea of saving a template of modules, like having a physical eurorack set up that would stay the same until you changed it. I’m going to give that a try!
What's important to understand is that melody and triggers are two separate things. So the melody set by the knobs will always go through the quantizer. Then imagine turning the volume up and down with the envelope. Since you have a long attack and decay, the trigger will start and it will play over a stage that isn't active. At this point it's something you don't want, but when you start getting creative, you could create two paths, one with short snappy blips to sculpt the individual notes (no attack, short decay) and a second one that goes through the reverb (with different AD(s)R settings).
In similar fashion, the subharmonicon will only retrigger the envelope after envelope completion, so if you stretch attack + decay over the note interval like this, you can get cool rhythmic patterns that differ to the note intervals, just like this. Sometimes it messes up your melody and sometimes you find gold. As with all modular, what can be a problem in one context can introduce you to a whole new concept you might never have considered in another.
This may have already been answered re: the seq-3 playing pitches when the trigger is turned off: with sequencers being independent of triggers, we sometimes need to use a sample and hold module triggered by the same trigger or gate as the envelope. That way, the signal at the start of the trigger/gate will be sampled and held until the next trigger/gate regardless of whether the sequencer keeps outputting different CV values. Omri Cohen uses this technique a lot in his VCV Rack tutorials 🙂
brilliant! I haven't gotten very far with the sample and hold module yet, but this explanation makes a lot of sense! I love Omri Cohen's channel, but I hadn't noticed that he does this, and now I'm really looking forward to trying it! thank you so much!
Great video. Been working with hardware modular for over 20 years. What I have learned is less is more, and I am still learning. Found your page watching a video on mutable Rings trying to get inspiration on new ways to use it. Following your journey in vcv for sure. 👍
So cool to know that you’re finding less is more! That’s really encouraging, I’m excited to keep learning to simplify and get more out of each module! Thank you very much!
welcome to the world of modular synthesis, Darlene I have subscribed and I will see how your journey goes and maybe, one day, you will explore the hardware option 🙂 cheers, andy
Having dabbled in vcv a while back it can get a bit overwhelming. Really interested to see where this takes you. Benn Jordan did a pretty good vid a while back on VCV that may be worth a watch if youve not seen it
I have definitely felt that overwhelm! Thanks! I’ve watched his channel before but I didn’t know he did a VCV rack video! I’ll definitely check it out!
Your intuition is right. The triggers coming off of SEQ 3 only start the envelope, they don’t act as a gate even with clock pass through. When the release is set long it keeps the envelope open to let the pitch information coming from the SEQ 3 to the VCA. You can “shut” the pitch envelope gate a couple different ways but here’s one: mirror the CV 2 out of SEQ 3 with the trigger pattern to modulate the release time on the envelope. Turn the knob below release all the way right to enable CV modulation of the release length. -10 on CV 2 step shortens the release to 0. You have a lot of control over the envelope this way. Hope this helps your journey with VCV. Cheers!
Thank you so much for your help! I really appreciate you taking the time to write such a long helpful comment, and I feel like I actually understand the issue now. I can’t wait to give these techniques a try!
Hi Darlene! I LOVE this video, and I'm trying to learn VCV also. Would you consider doing a list of videos or channels that you'd recommend for learning from??
Thank you so much, I’m glad you liked it! It’s nice to hear from someone who’s also learning VCV rack, and I’d love to put a list together of what I’ve found helpful so far!
If still sticking to the default modules, the "Gates" module will also help with some of the timing stuff in regards to gates vs. triggers. At least that gives the ability to set the whole pulse duration of the gate that the envelope will build upon. That can also get a bit more mileage from the decay and sustain parts of an envelope too, depending on what you're trying to do. For whatever reasons it's not under "utility" or "logic" categories, so it's a bit "hidden" from the usual way of filtering modules to find specific things more quickly. It's under "polyphonic" for some reason, but that category is almost laughable as it applies to anything that supports polyphony - rather than polyphony-specific functions. I suppose that's one of the head-scratcher quirky things about VCV Rack?
Oh that sounds great! I’ve used the gate module before, basically just to try the “flip / flop” outputs, but I haven’t tried using it to determine the specific duration I want for gates! I cant wait to give that a try with the sequencer! Thanks for letting me know, that’s funny that the gate module ended up in the polyphony category!
Great video! VCV rack is so frickin cool. I made a similar-ish vid recently on the 23 songs I made in 23 days to learn Ableton, awesome to stumble across your channel doing a similar thing!
thanks! I really love content that shows the process of learning something! I'll definitely go check out your 23 songs in 23 days to learn ableton video, that sounds really cool!
Hi Darlene, thank you for your inspiring video! It made me evntually have a look at the free DAW capable variant called 'Cardinal'. I'm looking forward to more videos of your journey. 🚀💗
thanks! I'm so glad you liked the video and that it inspired you to check out cardinal! I haven't heard of that one, I hope it's a lot of fun! thanks for coming along on the journey!
@@darleneelizabethmusic Hi, it's a free open source spin off of VCV Rack, that works in a DAW as a VST. I tried to share the link, but the comment is not displayed. Searching in google for 'cardinal kx studio' should lead to the website. For me, VCVRack is much more usable when it works in a DAW. Best regards!
I really struggle with my music sounding the way I feel like it's supposed to, compared to other people. so I related to what you were saying at the start
How in the world do you figure out what module does what when they have such obscure names? I've tried using Cardinal, which has a very reduced set of modules, but is MIDI-enabled. Still, if I'm looking for an envelope generator, but all I see is weird names like "Cat Vacations with Woodchuck" I wish there were categorical lists available.
That sounds so frustrating! The VCV Rack library has tags, which makes it a lot easier to find modules by function, but the free version of VCV rack can’t be used in a DAW like cardinal. I wonder if maybe there’s a forum or something out there where people might talk about their favourite cardinal modules to use for different functions - it could be a lot of reading, but it might help to get to know all the crazy names! “Cat Vacations with Woodchuck” sounds like an interesting module!
@darleneelizabethmusic Thanks Darlene, I appreciate the info and clarification. Of course I made up that example name but, as I'm sure you've seen, I'm not far off. 😄
![SAFEPLANET - ดาวเคราะห์ [ THE PLANET ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/4X1XL3I_k3c/mqdefault.jpg)
You're doing great! Thanks for sharing your learning journey 🙂
Thank you! Thanks for coming along on the journey!
My starting Points in VCV , years ago, i used a paper to make a sketch of what i'll expect . Next was a template with a mixer (from mind meld) EQ , some effects ... Audio out.
save that template so you can start up on this point.
Next step was experimenting with some modules OR i had a sound in my head that i'll archive
Most time i spend in searching the right module for some special effect.
If i was ready with a patch i select the part of the modules and save the selection as selection, which cannow easy be used in an other patch.
That’s such a cool idea, to draw out the expected outcome on paper. Especially with this all being on the computer it feels so intangible, drawing it out sounds like a really great exercise! I also really like the idea of saving a template of modules, like having a physical eurorack set up that would stay the same until you changed it. I’m going to give that a try!
Thanks for the great video, I'm starting out with vcv rack as well and this is massively helpful!
Thank you so much! I'm so glad you liked it and found it helpful! good luck on your VCV rack journey!
What's important to understand is that melody and triggers are two separate things. So the melody set by the knobs will always go through the quantizer. Then imagine turning the volume up and down with the envelope. Since you have a long attack and decay, the trigger will start and it will play over a stage that isn't active. At this point it's something you don't want, but when you start getting creative, you could create two paths, one with short snappy blips to sculpt the individual notes (no attack, short decay) and a second one that goes through the reverb (with different AD(s)R settings).
That’s so well explained! Thank you, that helps a lot!
In similar fashion, the subharmonicon will only retrigger the envelope after envelope completion, so if you stretch attack + decay over the note interval like this, you can get cool rhythmic patterns that differ to the note intervals, just like this. Sometimes it messes up your melody and sometimes you find gold. As with all modular, what can be a problem in one context can introduce you to a whole new concept you might never have considered in another.
This may have already been answered re: the seq-3 playing pitches when the trigger is turned off: with sequencers being independent of triggers, we sometimes need to use a sample and hold module triggered by the same trigger or gate as the envelope. That way, the signal at the start of the trigger/gate will be sampled and held until the next trigger/gate regardless of whether the sequencer keeps outputting different CV values. Omri Cohen uses this technique a lot in his VCV Rack tutorials 🙂
brilliant! I haven't gotten very far with the sample and hold module yet, but this explanation makes a lot of sense! I love Omri Cohen's channel, but I hadn't noticed that he does this, and now I'm really looking forward to trying it! thank you so much!
Great video. Been working with hardware modular for over 20 years. What I have learned is less is more, and I am still learning. Found your page watching a video on mutable Rings trying to get inspiration on new ways to use it. Following your journey in vcv for sure. 👍
So cool to know that you’re finding less is more! That’s really encouraging, I’m excited to keep learning to simplify and get more out of each module! Thank you very much!
Whoa! She's got gadgets and gizmos aplenty! Love seeing the progression 💖
I love the movie reference! Thank you so much!
welcome to the world of modular synthesis, Darlene
I have subscribed and I will see how your journey goes and maybe, one day, you will explore the hardware option 🙂
cheers,
andy
Thank you so much! I do hope to try hardware soon, and I would also love to try using VCV rack in combination with hardware when I get to that point!
Having dabbled in vcv a while back it can get a bit overwhelming. Really interested to see where this takes you. Benn Jordan did a pretty good vid a while back on VCV that may be worth a watch if youve not seen it
I have definitely felt that overwhelm! Thanks! I’ve watched his channel before but I didn’t know he did a VCV rack video! I’ll definitely check it out!
Your intuition is right. The triggers coming off of SEQ 3 only start the envelope, they don’t act as a gate even with clock pass through. When the release is set long it keeps the envelope open to let the pitch information coming from the SEQ 3 to the VCA. You can “shut” the pitch envelope gate a couple different ways but here’s one: mirror the CV 2 out of SEQ 3 with the trigger pattern to modulate the release time on the envelope. Turn the knob below release all the way right to enable CV modulation of the release length. -10 on CV 2 step shortens the release to 0. You have a lot of control over the envelope this way. Hope this helps your journey with VCV. Cheers!
Thank you so much for your help! I really appreciate you taking the time to write such a long helpful comment, and I feel like I actually understand the issue now. I can’t wait to give these techniques a try!
@@darleneelizabethmusiceven better is sample and hold.
th-cam.com/video/fwgxu915lG0/w-d-xo.html&si=U3gVUOgjhD_Tc_Bg
Hi Darlene! I LOVE this video, and I'm trying to learn VCV also. Would you consider doing a list of videos or channels that you'd recommend for learning from??
Thank you so much, I’m glad you liked it! It’s nice to hear from someone who’s also learning VCV rack, and I’d love to put a list together of what I’ve found helpful so far!
If still sticking to the default modules, the "Gates" module will also help with some of the timing stuff in regards to gates vs. triggers. At least that gives the ability to set the whole pulse duration of the gate that the envelope will build upon. That can also get a bit more mileage from the decay and sustain parts of an envelope too, depending on what you're trying to do.
For whatever reasons it's not under "utility" or "logic" categories, so it's a bit "hidden" from the usual way of filtering modules to find specific things more quickly. It's under "polyphonic" for some reason, but that category is almost laughable as it applies to anything that supports polyphony - rather than polyphony-specific functions. I suppose that's one of the head-scratcher quirky things about VCV Rack?
Oh that sounds great! I’ve used the gate module before, basically just to try the “flip / flop” outputs, but I haven’t tried using it to determine the specific duration I want for gates! I cant wait to give that a try with the sequencer! Thanks for letting me know, that’s funny that the gate module ended up in the polyphony category!
Great video! VCV rack is so frickin cool. I made a similar-ish vid recently on the 23 songs I made in 23 days to learn Ableton, awesome to stumble across your channel doing a similar thing!
thanks! I really love content that shows the process of learning something! I'll definitely go check out your 23 songs in 23 days to learn ableton video, that sounds really cool!
Hi Darlene, thank you for your inspiring video! It made me evntually have a look at the free DAW capable variant called 'Cardinal'. I'm looking forward to more videos of your journey. 🚀💗
thanks! I'm so glad you liked the video and that it inspired you to check out cardinal! I haven't heard of that one, I hope it's a lot of fun! thanks for coming along on the journey!
@@darleneelizabethmusic Hi, it's a free open source spin off of VCV Rack, that works in a DAW as a VST. I tried to share the link, but the comment is not displayed. Searching in google for 'cardinal kx studio' should lead to the website. For me, VCVRack is much more usable when it works in a DAW. Best regards!
I really struggle with my music sounding the way I feel like it's supposed to, compared to other people. so I related to what you were saying at the start
thank you! I find that with the music I produce too, there’s so much good music out there, it’s hard not to compare!
VCV is not easy, but it's worth it, With no other technology do you have as much freedom to design as with Eurorack Modular
I totally agree! It’s more of a challenge to learn than other synthesizers, but you also get so much more sound design potential!
How in the world do you figure out what module does what when they have such obscure names? I've tried using Cardinal, which has a very reduced set of modules, but is MIDI-enabled. Still, if I'm looking for an envelope generator, but all I see is weird names like "Cat Vacations with Woodchuck" I wish there were categorical lists available.
That sounds so frustrating! The VCV Rack library has tags, which makes it a lot easier to find modules by function, but the free version of VCV rack can’t be used in a DAW like cardinal. I wonder if maybe there’s a forum or something out there where people might talk about their favourite cardinal modules to use for different functions - it could be a lot of reading, but it might help to get to know all the crazy names! “Cat Vacations with Woodchuck” sounds like an interesting module!
@darleneelizabethmusic Thanks Darlene, I appreciate the info and clarification. Of course I made up that example name but, as I'm sure you've seen, I'm not far off. 😄
it’s true!! I actually believed it was a real module name because it’s not far off from a lot out there!