Reader Omri Cohen shared this overview and video demo of the new VCV Host for the free software modular synth, VCV Rack.
VCV Host plugin is a premium (paid) add-on for the free, open source VCV Rack software modular synth. It features includes two modules, one for instruments and one for effects. Both modules include stereo audio outputs and 16 parameter inputs.
Video Summary:
A few days ago, the VCV Host plugins for VCV Rack were released. With them, it is possible to load VST2 64-bit instruments and effects in VCV Rack and controlmodulate them with the available VCV modules. This opens up a whole new universe of sonic adventures and possibilities, controlling instruments like Kontakt, Monark, Serum, Arturia’s Soft-Synth collection and more, with modules like Marbles, Stages, Clouds, and all the crazy sequencers that are available, all inside VCV Rack, with pretty low CPU consumption.
In this video, I go first through all the sections of both Host modules, and then I build a couple of patches using Native Instruments’ Form, Una Corda, Battery 4, and I’ve used also the Arturia’s Buchla Easel and a few more VSTs.
Pricing and Availability
Host is available now for US $30.
i want all of this in logic!
VCV rack is now an alternative to your DAW for modular composition and mayhem. You can still use the bridge VST to record it into another DAw, but this is become more of a stand alone self contained differerent way of working. I can’t believe the base rack product it is free….I have tried softube and cherry etc, VCV time is better in all ways that matter, save yourself a few hundred bucks and accesss the mind melting world of modular patching….it’s still only V0.6 and the release version (1) will have even more stuff and will still be free.ym
So true even Reaktor Blocks with his million modules is a way behind vcv…
hey now, i really dig VCV, but Reaktor Blocks has a lot of advantages.
particularly:
1) better sound quality on the stock modules. in VCV, the mutable instruments stuff sounds dope, but to my taste all of the ‘fundamental’ modules sound pretty poor. in comparison, in Blocks, every stock module sounds great.
2) Reaktor can be hosted as a VST in your DAW, with automation lanes for modulating any parameter. so while Reaktor has the same problem with lack of multi-core support, at least you can run multiple instances at the same time. with VCV it is neither possible to host it as a VST (officially), nor run multiple instances (officially).
3) Reaktor has OSC mapping of every parameter, making it easy to integrate with real-time performance systems in Max/Pd etc. not so for VCV (officially).
those mutable instrument modules sound truly great though.
I think you are right at point 2 and 3 but the main advantage from vcv are that the cables are on the front not hidden like in Reaktor… Its a pain in the ass to set your own modular creation in Blocks…
i generally keep the panel view and patch view open at the same time, so i don’t really notice a difference there.
Sorry its total unintuitive too look on 2 pages to do something you do normaly do on one page… I totally disagree with you, If your patch is big you are the hole time searching… Thats the reason why I never build new block patches inside reaktor. And the other big down is that every block is saved in the patch which make the patches huge (on mb).