January Q&A

I'm curious, I know vcv is a non expensive and great way to learn modular synthesis. but how did you get into hardware? and if you didn't get vcv, would you get other modules?

Sorry if this question is covered elsewhere in your videos, there's a lot to go through! I'm trying to figure out easy ways to switch between parts of my patches, so I can essentially record an entire song with VCV. My goal is to have every voice in my patch carry multiple parts, either arranged by me or generated randomly, that I can switch between to add more movement without changing other parts in the process. I know I can route different patches to a mixer but that seems like it will get cumbersome fast, and I'd like to preserve patch accessibility so I can still improvise without getting things mixed up mid-performance. I feel like there's an obvious solution I'm overlooking. Hope this question makes sense! Thanks for everything, Omri!

and now for something different : how to transpose different sequences for different vci's at the same time; simple example : a II-V-I in a circle of fifths, sequenced with different sequencers (and rhythms) with respective 1 v/o to a few vco's? can this also be done with HW?

Could you maybe talk a bit about working with samples? I think I am missing some core concepts... Like how do you make them sound in tune/work with what you are composing? (For example if you are using piano samples from Felt or that someone gave you). Do you use samples that were made to a specific key? Do the samples you want to use sometimes dictate the key you will compose in? Is one way just to use samples that are more "ambient" (like in your Arbhar demo) and not specific to any key so they work in any composition? Are a bunch of short samples easier to work with than a long sample? Also do you have tips on how to make samples work rhythmically with a composition? I find if I change a sample to work in pitch it might not fit rhythmically anymore or if I change its speed to work with a certain rhythm now the pitch is not good and that sort of thing… Thank you for your insight.

(I know... this seems to be part of a wider question as giacecco pointed out asking for something wider more dedicated to it, but looks like is something we are interest in a lot since you work a lot with hybrid now)

What are the choice(s) you followed or recommend when building a hybrid system, or better mistakes to avoid? Do you just choose for HW the modules you love most, or those non DSP that sound different on HW? Do you tend to build something that could live stand-alone in HW and minimize back/forth with VCV (to mange latency at best) or do you rely on only one of the two worlds for specific tasks of the job (CV, master clock etc...)

I’m wondering why we rarely see compressors and limiters in modular patches.

Hi Omri, I have been experimenting with your Subharmonicon patch. The hardware Moog version has switches so that the subharmonic oscillators can be sawtooth waves, however octave and frequency dividers only seem to output square waves. My solution is to use 'Tidal Modulator 2' as it can output saw waves and also has a clock input. This works but is a bit unstable. Do you have a better solution? Also, there a frustrating thing about the single envelopes for both oscillators and their subharmonics - if you are triggering one oscillator with sequencer 1 you can't seem to have separate triggers from sequencer 2 for oscillator 2, meaning oscillator 1 is also triggered. This seems to happen also on the Moog version. Is there a way to have the two sequencers trigger the separate oscillators without having separate envelopes? Cheers.

I would love to see some advanced examples of the Sensel Buchla overlay in vcv.. I really enjoy experimenting with it, and I bet you have some mind expanding tricks/inspiring patches that use the crazy possibilities of it that you came up with by now?

I think, for me, the question is how do experienced vcv and hardware users inject freshness into their techniques in order to build patches that surprise them. Like an instrument player, we practice the techniques - in a musical instrument we make them muscle memory, and in modular I think we make them brain muscle memory, but because we are building up the instrument as-new so often, I think there might be some good ways that people have adopted to trick their muscles into building a new instrument. Or to set out and make the landscape different, so that their experienced muscles have to learn a new landscape. None of these are the real secret sauce, all of that is in our heads and the bits that prefer some sounds to another, but I think they must be a part of the daily approach to the instrument.

To me, it would be really useful if we started collecting somewhere all necessary techniques that make VCV and hardware hybrid possible. It's not really a Q&A thing, it's just what I need the most today :-) Omri has a lot of experience in that space, but I don't think there is one place one can go to as a reference. It may be nice to expand on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-bhfv68drM .

What would be a good order to explore resources (youtubes, manuals etc) to try to learn VCV from absolute scratch and hoping to get to eventual intermediate level?