Hey everyone, anyone here into VCV Rack or Cardinal ? Or any other similar software like Pure Data for example ?
I’ve really got into it recently, and was wondering if people on Lemmy were interested. Should I post stuff here or start a specific community ?
Yeah, I use Cardinal sometimes. I spent a few months getting really into and then nearly buying physical hardware and ruining myself financially. I’ll have funding soon so I’m excited to get back into it and develop a minimal set in Cardinal then build it out in real life.
Why do you use Cardinal and not vcv rack ? So you can use it in a DAW for free ?
I get the temptation to build it with physical hardware too, but as you said, I don’t want to ruin myself financially hah. There are also so many synths and semi-modular synths out there that are so much more affordable than physical modular. For now I’m happy in vcv with some external controllers, that really makes it worthwhile imo.
Edit : I forgot to ask, what kind of music do you make with Cardinal ?
Using it in a DAW for free was my initial reason but I liked using it more standalone on my Steam Deck so I could have something to mess with when not at home. A lot of what I’ve done with Cardinal is making the weirdest noises I can and trying to make generative tracks. I’m not sure I’ve ever recorded something I made but I do learn a lot about synths when I experiment with this stuff. When I go back to other softsynths I feel like I’m tweaking settings with a bit more knowledge and with more intention instead of just twisting randomly.
What are you using for external controllers? I should probably get into that as a next step.
I’ve seen pictures of VCV/Cardinal on the steam deck, how is it ? Does it work well ?
I’ve also definitely learned a lot more about synthesis since using VCV.
I’m using the akai midimix, the cheapest mixer-type controller basically -> 9 sliders, 24 knobs, 18 or 20 buttons. I have a default patch set up that assigns the faders to an 8 track mixer + Master volume, and then I assign the knobs and buttons to whatever I feel like going along, it’s nearly instant with a module called MIDI-CAT. The midimix is not the best controller obviously, but at 50€ second hand it’s great.
It definitely makes using vcv a lot better, you can really play the patches you make, it’s so much better. I really recommend trying it out.
Oops… I’m really bad at checking notifications.
The Steam Deck definitely isn’t the ideal way to use VCV because of the screen size but the touch screen does make it easier to pan around. It runs well enough but I haven’t really pushed it too hard with tons of modules running.
That midimix looks perfect for what I want to do. Definitely getting that before I build a physical rack. It would be nice to use this for mixing in Reaper as well. I’ll get one and try it out with my Steam Deck.