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 ?
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.
