How to Better Understand VCV Rack - One More Option or a Series of Options

There are a few things you can do to help your understanding of modular synthesis. One is to understand that all of the information you have learned about subtractive synthesizers applies to modular/eurorack. The basic structure used for many synths, both modular and eurorack is VCO > VCF > VCA (> audio out).

Then you have your modulation sources such as LFO’s, envelopes and even sequencers can be considered modulators. Sequencers allow you to specify and change the pitch of a VCO but also acts as CV so you can sequence just about anything.

And here is a little known secret: even I do not know it all (I write with a little facetious grin). I had to search for the proper module to get my ADSR to work with a gate signal when all I had at the moment was a trigger from the sequencer. I know I could have just used another module - the BodAudio DADSR(H)+, which will work with either a gate or trigger signal. But, as I say below, patience and perseverance are essential qualities to have when working with modular synths.

If you do not already have a MIDI keyboard, I suggest you get one. Even if you are not a good keyboard player, being able to play your synths as you create and finish them can help a lot by playing notes and seeing how that affects your creations, how envelopes react to keyboard triggers and gates, etc. MIDI keyboards have a wide range in prices and capabilities. So you should be able to find something to fit your budget and still be useful.

Use the oscilloscope modules. They can show the waveforms being produced and those are the ones making the sounds. But you can also use (oscillo)scopes to view CV and waveforms created by envelopes and LFO’s and even changes in sequences. Give it some time and keep using the scopes. You will understand eventually if not quickly. Below is a very useful scope module that is made for CV signals such as envelopes and LFO's.

There are tutorials out there on how to make synths that are based on hardware synths. Omri Cohen has an excellent video on his version of the Subharmonicon. It has lots of modules but not so many that you get completely lost. Working through that tutorial helped me a lot with a number of modules. And use your scope modules even though they might not be in the tutorials.

Once you have become a little more familiar with building your own patches, branch out to other modules that might interest you. One of my personal favourites is the cANARd by BIDoo. It is a sampler module and I did not have a very good idea of how it worked when I first tried to use it. I looked on YouTube for tutorials but could not find much. There weenie or two videos that showed it in use but no real tutorial. But I kept going back to it and figured it out.

cANARd has some labels that start to look a little more familiar as you wonder about what you should connect to it. There are inputs labeled G/T. What does that mean? What two signals or anything else that start with the letters G or T? Gate and Trigger. But how do I use it? Well, it is a sampler module so you know it has to have an audio input, or two in this case as it can do stereo.

If you have not figured out how to use it right away, there area couple of modules that can really help. Triggers MKIII is one. Hook it up to an input that takes a trigger and you get a short signal that acts as a CV trigger but just one time. See what happens. Need a trigger but just have a gate. Go back to Omri Cohen’s Subharmonicon video for the for the OctTrig module.

It pays to have patience as well as perseverance with any kind of modular synthesis. Use YouTube as a learning tool. It might take more than one viewing but there is nobody to hassle you for viewing a video more than once. I had to view the Subharmonicon video again after VCV Rack updated and some of the modules were gone or changed. And I made my own version in miRack on the iPad. I viewed that video lots as a reference for that project.

Synth manuals are great sources for reference if you want to build something similar in VCV Rack.

And you should read Synth Secrets from Sound on Sound - find it on the web.