# VCV Rack 2 is released



## emid (Nov 30, 2021)

https://vcvrack.com/

Currently Rack 2 pro on sale for $139. Standalone is free which is the full version but not supported in DAW.

This is the video of version 1.xx showing what it is capable of.


What's new in VCV Rack 2​


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## Pier (Nov 30, 2021)

Beat me to it! I was just going to post this


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## emid (Nov 30, 2021)

Pier said:


> Beat me to it! I was just going to post this


Sorry . But incredible synth, isn't it?


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## Pier (Nov 30, 2021)

emid said:


> Sorry . But incredible synth, isn't it?


I've never used it because there was no VST version... but now I will have to!

Thank god I still have some money left after BF!


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## emid (Nov 30, 2021)

Here is the VCV rack patch archive: https://patchstorage.com/platform/vcv-rack/

I specially like the patches of Omri Cohen. Amazing programmer. https://patchstorage.com/author/omri_cohen/


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## doctoremmet (Nov 30, 2021)

Awesome!


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## emid (Nov 30, 2021)

Pier said:


> I've never used it because there was no VST version... but now I will have to!
> 
> Thank god I still have some money left after BF!


It's miles better and amazingly full sounding than say, Cherry audio's and others IMO.


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## Pier (Nov 30, 2021)

emid said:


> Here is the VCV rack patch archive: https://patchstorage.com/platform/vcv-rack/
> 
> I specially like the patches of Omri Cohen. Amazing programmer. https://patchstorage.com/author/omri_cohen/


Can you open patches that include modules you don't own?


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## emid (Nov 30, 2021)

No. But you can open the modules by subscribing t the developers page. I am also not a long time user, still exploring it. You go here find the developer and subscribe, The reopen VCV and update your library. But beware....it's a rabbit hole. You will end up having hundreds of them.


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## Pier (Nov 30, 2021)

emid said:


> No. But you can open the modules by subscribing t the developers page. I am also not a long time user, still exploring it. You go here find the developer and subscribe, The reopen VCV and update your library. But beware....it's a rabbit hole. You will end up having hundreds of them.


Bummer... I guess they're thinking about it purely as a platform for experimentation.


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## emid (Nov 30, 2021)

I should have also added. In version 1, either you would buy the modules or if you want to use them for free, you would subscribe. I think many other modular synth developers have the similar business strategy. But standalone is totally free and doesn't have a big footprint, and that's why I'm still trying it.


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## charlieclouser (Nov 30, 2021)

VCV is really really good. For the price of a small Euro enclosure only, with no modules at all, you can get the equivalent of $30k worth of hardware. It's nuts. And for my use case, where I want to run audio from the DAW through something like Clouds or whatever, having a virtual version is even better than the real hardware, especially if we're talking about modules that are all-digital under the hood, like the Mutable or Noise Engineering stuff. 

For true-analog or tube-based stuff, like my beloved Fusion VCO from Erica, the hardware still has that extra something, but for so much of the bread and butter modules the simulation is just fine.

Anxiously awaiting an AU version of VCV Pro so I can use it in Logic...


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## Joe_D (Nov 30, 2021)

I just got it for $99 (intro price until the end of the year). The $139 price is for a bundle that includes their drum modules plus a (cool) spatialization module.


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## D Halgren (Nov 30, 2021)

Does anyone know how the CPU hit compares to Softube Modular?


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## José Herring (Nov 30, 2021)

D Halgren said:


> Does anyone know how the CPU hit compares to Softube Modular?


I had the standalone version working on an 8 year old AMD computer with no noticeable CPU hit at all. It's kind of lean though I must admit that the sound of the stock modules could at times be a little weaker compared to Softtube modular, Reaktor Blocks and Cherry Audio modular. Though I suspect over the years VCV Rack has gotten a lot better since then. 

Looking forward to the update and the VST version.


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## D Halgren (Nov 30, 2021)

José Herring said:


> I had the standalone version working on an 8 year old AMD computer with no noticeable CPU hit at all. It's kind of lean though I must admit that the sound of the stock modules could at times be a little weaker compared to Softtube modular, Reaktor Blocks and Cherry Audio modular. Though I suspect over the years VCV Rack has gotten a lot better since then.
> 
> Looking forward to the update and the VST version.


Thanks Jose, let us know what you think when you update.


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## José Herring (Nov 30, 2021)

D Halgren said:


> Thanks Jose, let us know what you think when you update.


Sure thing. I'll probably download the free version in just a little while after dinner. May take me a bit to get the VST version. I have a few other priorities at the moment. I've got just a few months to wean myself off of composer cloud so I'll have to finally purchase OPUS and upgrade BBCSO Pro in the month of December. Hopefully there will be sales, sales, sales!!!


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## KEM (Nov 30, 2021)

This looks really cool, modular is far above my head but I’d love to learn it!!


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## José Herring (Nov 30, 2021)

D Halgren said:


> Thanks Jose, let us know what you think when you update.


The update is amazing. I consider VCV Rack 2 to be on par with Softube Modular. As a matter of fact I like it a bit better as it's not as user unfriendly and they've really tried hard to make VCV rack 2 more like


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## Mikro93 (Dec 1, 2021)

I used VCV for a while, and then simply stopped because of how uninspiring it was to use in a real project in the DAW. This is just about to change.

On top of that, it gets the @José Herring and @charlieclouser seals of approval? My my my.


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## doctoremmet (Dec 1, 2021)

It has the coolest modules. This may make me abandon Voltage Modular…


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## rroc (Dec 1, 2021)

Awesome! Looking forward to given v2 a go!


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## Yury Tikhomirov (Dec 1, 2021)

Idk if I even need to try it and got into the rabbit hole since owning a Softube Modular and every single module for it (including awesome Buchla, and two of their beefy synths as modules too) plus hundreds of presets are still unexplored.


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## charlieclouser (Dec 1, 2021)

Mikro93 said:


> I used VCV for a while, and then simply stopped because of how uninspiring it was to use in a real project in the DAW. This is just about to change.
> 
> On top of that, it gets the @José Herring and @charlieclouser seals of approval? My my my.


I mean, most of the time when I'm using modular (either hardware or software) I am absolutely NOT looking for happy accidents, fiddling with algorithmic / generative stuff, or hoping to be surprised by what comes out of the speakers (except in the case of a very few modules like Clouds and its derivatives).

For me it's more of a "deep sigh, roll up sleeves, yank all patch cables from last week, and start bashing on the thing until something not-terrible and reasonably close to what I was going for starts appearing at the output".

So for that, hardware is actually worse than software - as long as the sound isn't terribly thin or something. I absolutely need MIDI CC control, tight response to Beat Clock for a whole bunch of modules, multiple VC envelopes firing at once, etc. In hardware this quickly gets really messy (sooooo many mults!) and really expensive (I have three Cwejman VC dual envelopes). So a lot of the time software is actually better.

Although I'm not selling the big hardware rig.... yet.


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## Markrs (Dec 1, 2021)

You comments have been very interesting on here @charlieclouser and I think are consistent with Tom Hulkenberg moving over to Softube and selling his big Euro Rack setup (unless I am misremembering that). Just shows how good software modular racks are these days.


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## Mikro93 (Dec 1, 2021)

charlieclouser said:


> I mean, most of the time when I'm using modular (either hardware or software) I am absolutely NOT looking for happy accidents, fiddling with algorithmic / generative stuff, or hoping to be surprised by what comes out of the speakers (except in the case of a very few modules like Clouds and its derivatives).
> 
> For me it's more of a "deep sigh, roll up sleeves, yank all patch cables from last week, and start bashing on the thing until something not-terrible and reasonably close to what I was going for starts appearing at the output".
> 
> ...


Thank you very much for sharing your experience and workflow 

And that would somewhat match my experience! I ended up selling most of my Eurorack stuff, keeping a little fuckbox for live stuff, and focusing on Generate, which gives me the sound I wanted from a modular setup.

The feeling of having to roll up my sleeves is the difference between making music and not making music. VCV might solve that


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## D Halgren (Dec 1, 2021)

José Herring said:


> The update is amazing. I consider VCV Rack 2 to be on par with Softube Modular. As a matter of fact I like it a bit better as it's not as user unfriendly and they've really tried hard to make VCV rack 2 more like


I was afraid you were going to say that 😂
How's the CPU? Still reasonable? That's the main problem I have with Softube. It's such a hog!


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## José Herring (Dec 1, 2021)

D Halgren said:


> I was afraid you were going to say that 😂
> How's the CPU? Still reasonable? That's the main problem I have with Softube. It's such a hog!


I don't have the plugin version so I can't directly measure but the free version of VCV rack 2 reports cpu usage by the module which is interesting. I have 12 modules loaded up and the total CPU usage for the rack is about 12%. The VCO and the sequencer use the most cpu, the EG next and filters are next and then the LFO's. 

I'm about to stress test it out now to see what the limit is.


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## José Herring (Dec 1, 2021)

So I loaded it up with a super saw configuration. 11 Vco's, 2 EG, Filter, VCA, Mixer, Cv Mixer, Sequencer, 2 Delays and Spring reverb and maybe some other odds and ends I can't remember. I couldn't get my CPU meter to go over 57%. Also, it idled at 57% so the modules seem to stay active just in idle mode. That's good a potentially bad. The good is it is easy to tell how much resources you are using before you start actually playing notes. The bad is at least the standalone version will eat up CPU cycles when not in use. I assume that would be the same for the VST version but not sure. If there is a demo of the VST version I'll give it a shot and see if that holds true.


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## D Halgren (Dec 1, 2021)

José Herring said:


> So I loaded it up with a super saw configuration. 11 Vco's, 2 EG, Filter, VCA, Mixer, Cv Mixer, Sequencer, 2 Delays and Spring reverb and maybe some other odds and ends I can't remember. I couldn't get my CPU meter to go over 57%. Also, it idled at 57% so the modules seem to stay active just in idle mode. That's good a potentially bad. The good is it is easy to tell how much resources you are using before you start actually playing notes. The bad is at least the standalone version will eat up CPU cycles when not in use. I assume that would be the same for the VST version but not sure. If there is a demo of the VST version I'll give it a shot and see if that holds true.


Thanks for all the info, I'm going to get Pro here in the next couple of hours. How are the envelopes? I need very snappy. The Doepfer ones in Modular are so tight. I will check back and let you know how the vst is on CPU. I mainly use Bitwig, but I do have Ableton and Cubase as well.


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## José Herring (Dec 1, 2021)

D Halgren said:


> Thanks for all the info, I'm going to get Pro here in the next couple of hours. How are the envelopes? I need very snappy. The Doepfer ones in Modular are so tight. I will check back and let you know how the vst is on CPU. I mainly use Bitwig, but I do have Ableton and Cubase as well.


I like the stock envelopes a lot. Not as aggressive as the Doepfer. I have the real Doepfer Eurorack and I must admit Softube did such a great job they react in almost the same way. 

The VCV envelopes are definitly more soft synthy. But you can get them fairly snappy no doubt. like peck, peck, peck if you need that tight transient.


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## José Herring (Dec 1, 2021)

Oh and yes please report back on the VST version. I'm so interested because VCV is WAYYYYYY easier and more fun to work with than the Softube.


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## D Halgren (Dec 1, 2021)

José Herring said:


> Oh and yes please report back on the VST version. I'm so interested because VCV is WAYYYYYY easier and more fun to work with than the Softube.


Yep, give me a couple of hours and I will post my findings 👍


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## Pier (Dec 1, 2021)

José Herring said:


> So I loaded it up with a super saw configuration. 11 Vco's, 2 EG, Filter, VCA, Mixer, Cv Mixer, Sequencer, 2 Delays and Spring reverb and maybe some other odds and ends I can't remember. I couldn't get my CPU meter to go over 57%. Also, it idled at 57% so the modules seem to stay active just in idle mode. That's good a potentially bad. The good is it is easy to tell how much resources you are using before you start actually playing notes. The bad is at least the standalone version will eat up CPU cycles when not in use. I assume that would be the same for the VST version but not sure. If there is a demo of the VST version I'll give it a shot and see if that holds true.


Sorry if you've mentioned this before José... but what CPU are using?


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## KEM (Dec 1, 2021)

If I get this then I really will be the poor man’s Ludwig lol


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## D Halgren (Dec 1, 2021)

José Herring said:


> Oh and yes please report back on the VST version. I'm so interested because VCV is WAYYYYYY easier and more fun to work with than the Softube.


So far in Bitwig the CPU usage is some of the lowest of anything I use. I mean the patch that is there when you open it didn't even move the DSP meter. I am having some problems downloading the premium drum module and spacial deal that I bought, but I have read that they are having some server issues. All the Audible and Befacto stuff showed up fine.

I will do some more serious tests over the week when I have a bit more time, but first impressions are pretty good. I'm on a 8 core iMac Pro 10.15 Catalina. Thanks again @José Herring !


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## José Herring (Dec 1, 2021)

D Halgren said:


> So far in Bitwig the CPU usage is some of the lowest of anything I use. I mean the patch that is there when you open it didn't even move the DSP meter. I am having some problems downloading the premium drum module and spacial deal that I bought, but I have read that they are having some server issues. All the Audible and Befacto stuff showed up fine.
> 
> I will do some more serious tests over the week when I have a bit more time, but first impressions are pretty good. I'm on a 8 core iMac Pro 10.15 Catalina. Thanks again @José Herring !


I have a similar spec machine on the PC side so I'm encouraged.


Pier said:


> Sorry if you've mentioned this before José... but what CPU are using?


I 7 10700K I believe. I built it last year with the idea of upgrading to the newer chip this year when it was released but in all honesty I have yet to tax this baby because I have similar spec'd slave machine running all my samples and I never hit a brick wall CPU wise.


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## José Herring (Dec 1, 2021)

On a side note it seems to me that VCV rack evolved into probably one of the best software I've ever experienced. Time will tell if it's stable or not but I'm very impressed.


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## D Halgren (Dec 1, 2021)

José Herring said:


> On a side note it seems to me that VCV rack evolved into probably one of the best software I've ever experienced. Time will tell if it's stable or not but I'm very impressed.


I opened the standalone and the rest of my stuff showed up. It was there when I opened the daw again... just in case that helps anyone.
Man, this thing is going to be a time suck! I guess at least it isn't going to drain my bank account 😂

You were right, though, nothing beats those Doepfer envelopes. I'll come back with more concrete info soon. Cheers 🥂


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## José Herring (Dec 1, 2021)

KEM said:


> If I get this then I really will be the poor man’s Ludwig lol


You will learn so much about synthesizers when you go Eurorack.


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## Pier (Dec 1, 2021)

Dash Glitch did a VCV2 stream:


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## KEM (Dec 1, 2021)

José Herring said:


> You will learn so much about synthesizers when you go Eurorack.



I really want to!! Always been very intrigued by modular, I guess now is the time to dive in


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## Pier (Dec 1, 2021)

@Databroth too


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## spektralisk (Dec 1, 2021)

Great update. VST integration is a big one and will most likely attract even more people to use it.
Not only it sounds great and have wealth of modules to choose from but also it super usable. Workflow is the best I've experienced so far comparing to other modulars. Things like browsing, connecting and moving modules, randomisation are very quick to do.

For me Softube is still the best when it comes to analog modelling. They should really look into how VCV Rack is managed and copy that workflow to their Modular, cause at the moment it's not the good (why do I have enter the edit mode to move the module?)

I've made a quite big collection of patches for it some time ago. You can check some of those in the video below.




There are free patch templates available here: https://spektralisk.gumroad.com/l/WgSqe
(not all of them will work, since there are still third party modules that haven't been updated for 2.0)


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## rollasoc (Dec 2, 2021)

VST2. er OK.


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## Pier (Dec 2, 2021)

rollasoc said:


> VST2. er OK.


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## Markrs (Dec 3, 2021)




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## mscp (Dec 3, 2021)

Markrs said:


> You comments have been very interesting on here @charlieclouser and I think are consistent with Tom Hulkenberg moving over to Softube and selling his big Euro Rack setup (unless I am misremembering that). Just shows how good software modular racks are these days.


It is unquestionable how software has improved over the last few years. However,

The 3 main reasons to choose hardware (digital) over software over here are:

1. No CPU hits or crashes at all;
2. Avoid having to stare at a computer screen all the time;
3. Resale value. 

I prefer having dedicated toys than a rack mount filled with networked computers.


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## Pier (Dec 3, 2021)

mscp said:


> No CPU hits or crashes at all


Maybe I'm just very lucky, but CPU and crashes have not been a problem for me in a decade.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to throw 10k into a modular rig lol but as a hobbyist it's not going to happen.


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## mscp (Dec 3, 2021)

Pier said:


> Don't get me wrong, I'd love to throw 10k into a modular rig lol but as a hobbyist it's not going to happen.


Yeah, for a hobbyist, it is crazy expensive.


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## Databroth (Dec 3, 2021)

vst support was the main reason I jumped back into vcv
really happy to be using it again, it's a nice alternative to other modular systems

as far as the old hardware vs software conversation goes, it depends what I'm doing, there's no module limit in software, with software I can just keep polishing a sound and dive deeper and deeper into editing, which is fun for me. I spent years with hardware and while limitations breed creativity, I found I was always struggling with whatever sound range the gear was capable of vs my imagination

I do love my elektrons though, and don't think that workflow will ever be replaced by software
also there's something to be said about analog sound, yes there is something to be said about it

either way I love both

I'll be trying to play with vcv more, and I have many ideas for tutorials/tips and tricks type videos
so much to explore


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## KEM (Dec 3, 2021)

Are there any Erica modules on VCV? Especially the Plasma Drive they made with Gamechanger Audio


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## José Herring (Dec 4, 2021)

liquidlino said:


> Opus is 419 at jrr right now, with code GROUP


Thanks. I own HO Play version so I qualify for the upgrade price. I'll see if JRR has that on sale as well.


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## Markrs (Dec 4, 2021)

José Herring said:


> Thanks. I own HO Play version so I qualify for the upgrade price. I'll see if JRR has that on sale as well.


Sadly the upgrade can only be bought via EsstWest’s site https://www.soundsonline.com/


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## doctoremmet (Dec 4, 2021)

José Herring said:


> Thanks. I own HO Play version so I qualify for the upgrade price. I'll see if JRR has that on sale as well.


I ended up buying HOPUS a month ago for $295 and boy José, it is such an improvement. You’ll love it. (I only used to have EWHO Gold).


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## Crowe (Dec 4, 2021)

I wonder if VCV rack 1 will keep working. I've been running veeceevstrack and after BF I do not have the cash to upgrade XD.


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## cqd (Jan 27, 2022)

I'm playing with this a lot over the last couple of weeks..
This thing is bleeding insane..
And the ability to load other vsts into it and route everything to everything?..
It's class..


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## kvmorgan (Jan 27, 2022)

Just wish they’d fix the lack of persistence of the Mac vst window size and position during a session. Been going back and forth with support for two months on this issue. Frustrating, as it seems to work fine on Windows and Linux.


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## grabauf (Oct 13, 2022)

I just stumbled upon this. Awesome use of VCV and BBC


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## Pier (Nov 23, 2022)

VCV Rack 2.2.0 has been released with VST3, CLAP, and Mac ARM support in beta.









Rack development blog


VCV Rack 2.2.0 has been released, including VST3, Audio Unit, and CLAP plugins for Rack Pro. Builds of Rack for Mac ARM are available for developers to build and test their plugins on Mac ARM. This is in “beta” stage, so some features or plugin adapters might not work correctly. Rack Free...




community.vcvrack.com













Rack/CHANGELOG.md at v2 · VCVRack/Rack


The virtual Eurorack studio. Contribute to VCVRack/Rack development by creating an account on GitHub.




github.com


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## Kslovelace (Nov 23, 2022)

Pier said:


> VCV Rack 2.2.0 has been released with VST3, CLAP, and Mac ARM support in beta.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yes! Finally a version that doesn’t crash live when in full screen on Mac! Vst 3 alreast. The vst and au versions still give a grey screen and crash when trying to close the plug-in window.


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## cqd (Nov 23, 2022)

Just FYI it's $129 until the 30th..


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