miRack Now Available For Mac As A Free Download

mifki Limited has released miRack for macOS, a desktop version of the Eurorack style software modular synthesizer for iOS.

miRack started out as a fork of VCV Rack, designed for iOS multi-touch interaction. The developer notes that miRack for macOS is essentially the iOS miRack app built for desktop. Because of the, miRack for macOS will probably be of greatest interest to users that are already using the iOS version.

Here’s what the developer has to say about miRack for macOS:

“As it is essentially the iOS miRack app built for desktop, it requires macOS 10.15 (Catalina) or later to work.

Many users asked for a way to work on their miRack projects on desktop, too. Initially I was planning to support exporting to and opening patches made in VCV Rack, but that does not seem to be achievable at the moment. Therefore, miRack is now also available as a free macOS app.

It contains all the same modules, supports Core MIDI and Ableton Link, and can open patches directly from miRack iCloud folder.

Several things to mention:

Although miRack supports opening a patch (located on iCloud) on multiple devices at the same time, I noticed that the “patch changed remotely” notifications that are displayed when the patch is changed on another device are a bit too annoying at the moment. This will be fixed in the next update, until then I recommend closing the app before opening the same patch on another device.

Currently, external assets, like samples loaded into certain modules, are not saved inside patch file. Therefore, when opening a patch with such modules on macOS after iOS (or the other way round), you will need to re-open assets in the modules using them. Asset management will be improved in the near future to solve this problems.

In general, it received much less testing than the iOS app, please report any issues you notice.”

If you’ve used miRack for macOS, leave a comment and share your thoughts on it!

Pricing and Availability

miRack for macOS is available now as free download. The iOS version is available for $9.99 USD.

19 thoughts on “miRack Now Available For Mac As A Free Download

    1. Yea, same here. I just arrived at High Sierra after much kicking and screaming. I might just nudge up to Mojave, but Catalina seems like a big ask, since it’s going to hose quite a few things, and requires me to wipe my drive.

  1. Great app on Ipad, was surprised at how well it worked. But Catalina? I downgraded both my desktop and laptop from Catalina back to Mojave.

    1. “Many users asked for a way to work on their miRack projects on desktop, too. Initially I was planning to support exporting to and opening patches made in VCV Rack, but that does not seem to be achievable at the moment. Therefore, miRack is now also available as a free macOS app.”

    2. In addition to the iPad interoperability, this could be useful for thos with underpowered machines that are not able to run VCV Rack, this version performs much better

        1. fwiw I’m running Catalina on a MBP 2012 and it’s fine. The only difference is a bunch of my apps don’t work anymore haha

  2. I use external SSD’s so only a few things are actually on the hard drive so it wasnt that big a problem. Was harder to find the correct process online to downgrade and one machine got stuck but i made it out alive. Only upgraded when i saw you could use an ipad as a separate screen, thought it was cool and “what could go wrong” besides no other software being updated in a timely manner. Live and learn.

  3. Never experienced any problems with Catalina and I’m running it since day 1.
    Mind you all my apps and DAWs were 64bit before the move from Mojave.

  4. The fact that miRack is AUv3 is a gamechanger. It’s CPU efficient and it takes part in a whole modular ecosystem with different things being easy to access at the same time in an AUv3 host (much easier than in the typical DAW).
    We’re waiting for the VCV plugin and it’s not even clear to me that Rack will ever come to iPad (let alone Raspbian). We all understand why there’s a vocal fanbase around VCV. The development of miRack has followed its own path, as happens with any good fork.
    The Catalina version of miRack is, explicitly, an outgrowth of the iPadOS version. Part of the usefulness may come from building patches on one OS and perform with them on the other. Same with iOS, actually. An iPhone screen may be too small to create elaborate patches efficiently. But an iPhone can be a pretty cool performance device if you design your patch properly.
    Just sad that the first miRack for macOS requires Catalina and, like VCV’s own, doesn’t work as a plugin. Surely, this could change pretty quickly if there’s any demand. We’re expecting there won’t be.

    1. Finally! I never cared for VCV rack as I read its a hell of a CPU hog. Already on Catalina so nice to have my mirack patches running on desktop! I hope there will be some form of DAW integration for it eventually.

  5. Has anyone been able to figure out a way to get midi/cv *out* of miRack? I was hoping I’d be able to control other synths with miRack once it went Auv3 but it seems like you can just use other apps/midi to control parameters in miRack…

      1. You’re right! I just checked muffwiggler for the first time in 100 years and the dev for miRack said “midi out and multichannel support are the first things on the todo list”!!! I thought I was just not seeing a crucial module or something!

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