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 ?
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Yes, I’ve been into VCV rack and Cardinal for a while. My primary use case is idea/sample generation and it’s spectacular for that.
Maybe once I learn the sequencers I’ll make whole tracks in it.
By the way, you should not be afraid of modular hardware. Get a versatile effects module (for me, Mutable Instruments Beads) and use it as an effects processor.
Yeah sample generation is great, or to create a synth patch to be played with a midi keyboard. There are quite a few sequencers and sequencer “accessories” (ie. expanders, clock dividers, quantisers, etc…), it’s definitely worth exploring them ! As I recommended in the thread, a midi controller with a few knobs and sliders is also a great way to “play” vcv/cardinal.
You use the beads as an fx processor software as well ?
Beads has a special mode with its own wavetable banks, so you can use it as a granural synth basically. Although, if you know how to play with feedback well, you don’t really need to feed it too meaningful of a material to get gnarly sounds out of it. In addition, you can feed standard line level signals into Beads, which means that it’s compatible with virtually any audio device.
I have played with Pure Data before – and was actually trying to remember the name, when I was writing a comment yesterday in response to someone wanting to visualize some audio they were producing, if you’re just asking whether anyone here has touched it. I haven’t done so in some time – I don’t do much audio stuff, and it was more from interest in software synthesizers than in live-performance enabling stuff. I don’t know how much I could contribute to a discussion on Pure Data, but I’d probably read it.
I can’t imagine that people would object to more vaguely-on-topic content on pretty much any community on the Threadiverse – I mean, I’m pretty sure that almost all communities are presently constrained by content. Few are seeing so much that they have to specialize further. This one is getting a couple posts a week.
That was I was thinking regarding specialized communities, no need to as the main communities need to develop first, and I suppose music production is already specialized.
Thanks for your answer !
And speaking of remembering names, I’m looking for a community related to live video content, like VJ’ing or 3D creation (live music or performance art or anything really). Even 3D art could be related. Any ideas or suggestions ? Thanks !
And speaking of remembering names, I’m looking for a community related to live video content, like VJ’ing or 3D creation (live music or performance art or anything really). Even 3D art could be related. Any ideas or suggestions ?
I don’t personally frequent any such, but if you’re not familiar with it, lemmyverse.net runs a bot that indexes all the communities out there – no one instance has visibility of all of them – and makes them searchable.
Thanks for the suggestion, I hadn’t heard of lemmyverse.net.
i prefer touch screens so im using drambo on my ipad mini.
Never heard of Drambo, I’ll have a look thanks !
I was thinking of running TouchOSC on an old iPad to use as a wireless custom midi controller for vcv rack, that should be fun.
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.
