April Q&A session

Hey Omri! I really loved your most recent 'sequences' performance. I was wondering if you could explain a little about your process and the harmonic choices / note timing choices you made for the patch? (I believe?) you weren't keeping to any particular scale so I was just wondering how you went about choosing the notes for the various sequencers, given that they all had different timings etc.

I don't know why but even though it says the post is unlocked, I can't look at it cause the link loops back to the original page (with all 3 major browsers)

Thanks so much for your questions everyone! I just recorded the video and hope to have it ready soon :)

Hi Omri, I was wondering what your thoughts are on the Make Noise Semi-Modular Trio of 0-Coast, 0-Ctrl, and Strega? As a follow up question I was wondering if you would be interested in showing a few patch examples with only these three pieces of gear? Thank you as always for your time and for sharing your expertise.

I am interested in making Buchla-like sounds in VCV Rack 2 Pro. Any cool ways to use Nysthi Dual Pulser together with a phaser or a delay to get Buchla-like timbres?

Hi Omri.. I hope You are fine ! So my concern this time is: I haven't been around long and I'm really missing to build another patch...I watch your videos and build them...it works very well and I'm learning a lot, but when I invent a patch on my own then I really miss it something good to do. My question is, maybe you have a few tips for beginners on what to look out for when building!? What are you looking at, how do you start!? Does it depend on a module . Do you let yourself be guided by modules or do you already have a musical idea in mind before you start? Maybe you have some tips !ß And thank you again for being there!!!! And for your school, a big thank you !!!!

Hi there, Hope I am not too late to add a new question. Watching your 'Ghost' video with its use of the Intermix module inspired me to ask this question. I recently changed my setup and it has gotten a little more complicated. I used to just have a computer, an audio interface, and speakers and headphones. I recently got a monome norns, which is basically another little computer. It has its own inputs and outputs. So now I might want to route audio from the norns into my main computer, or from my main computer into norns and from there to my speakers and headphones. And I'd like to do all this with a minimum of patching (I have nothing against patching, but I don't have a lot of space to work with). Basically I'd like something like Intermix in hardware where I can press buttons to route signal from inputs (which could include one of the two computers) to one of the two computers, and from there to speakers/headphones. Is there something like this in hardware? I guess it's sort of like a matrix mixer? or a mixer with multiple outputs? Thanks in advance.

Hey Omri, first thank you for all your work. The amount of information, examples, videos and also little gifts ( like you did with the lovely interface for nano kontrol ) is just insane. I've noticed that you recently release more hardware live performance like " To conquer grief" that is so moving. Did you consider doing breakdown and those patches? Personnaly, even if I don't have any hardware, I find very interresting to listen to you about your patches and ideas. Hope that you'll consider it! Once more thank you for all!

Omri, can you recommend how to set up a big patch (drums, melodies, Bass, fx...) to perform live with patchmaster and a midi controller (e.g. Nanokontrol) in a smart way? Which parameters do you tend to perform live? Complexity VS simplicity, trying to find a middle ground as too many control elements can end up in confusion and too few can be/sound boring. Also, do you change musical/harmonic structures live or do you use 'song mode' like in foundry for that? Cheers!

It's Q&A time baby!! I am once asking you to take a look at a cool module. This time I'm thinking the Frozen Wasteland Portland Weather delay. I know lately you've done some granular content, and I am loving it. I'd love to see what cool things you can come up with using this delay!

Hey Omri Maybe it's a lack of music theory. I enjoy spending my spare time with VCV-Rack, and I have some understanding of the basics of synthetic sound generation, but I would never call myself a musician. Sometimes when I adsorb your videos I see that you take some modules and set some parameters before you even hear the voice and then when you patch that into the mixer it mostly sounds great. When *I* create a patch from scratch, it usually sounds like someone's head in the bowl or flatulence - but it's definitely not harmonic. Is there a trick that you immediately get the right setting so that it sounds good? Or is it the result of the countless patches you've already created? Or do I have to stand at a crossroads at midnight on the next full moon and sell my soul to the devil :-)

Hi Omri, I looking for a solution to quantize generative notes/melodies to specific chords. I strip it down, first I generate a chord progression on a sequencer. Second I generate random melodies from another sequencer like the turning machine. These notes I want to route thru a note filter/quantizer, so that the generated notes/melodies only play the note values of the specific chord from the chord progression. I want to keep the solution so simple, as possible without any "special" modules. Edit: I found some special quantizer on vcv, but is there a solution with standard modules? Thanks in advance, keep up your good work Omri. I create a overview for better understanding https://www.dropbox.com/s/sb02kyh72sdntq5/ext_quantizer.png?dl=0

Hey how's it going? I recently watched your video on generative patch basics and got a good result going but as I add more voices and song structure I'm starting to hit some hardware performance bottlenecks. What are some strategies and techniques to keep scaling generative patches?

Hi Omri, thanks for the neat opportunity to ask you yet another question. I am a big fan of Boards of Canada, especially their album Music Has The Right To Children. Very Interesting textures and use of samples and reverb and spatial effects and tapey warbles and many many lofi ish things ( warm organs and keys, washed out drones, extreme compression artifacts, analog machine noises). Love to pick up a few tips to get some of these colors out of VCV Rack!!

Im sorry to double-dip on the questions, but i was just thinking about the differences between hardware and vcv and i kind of realized there's a whole other game at play with software, just because of the capabilities of software and limitations to hardware. It seems we're currently in the midst of a kind of 'evolution' of vcv with several newer modules that came out over the past year taking advantage of the unlimited nature of software, like how easily accessible polyphony is, or the nature of how modulation works on the surge xt modules, or the airwindows module giving access to an entire suite of vsts, or everything stoer melder does, and i was wondering, considering the divergence in utility of modules available in vcv vs hardware and vcv slowly evolving into it's own separate misical experience away from the original intended eurorack sim, where do you see vcv or similar software going in the next 5-10 years compared to hardware eurorack and synths?

This may be better as a video suggestion, but I've been really interested in wavetables recently, and was wondering if you could share some ideas of what to do with more complex wavetables beyond just modulating a basic scan through the table. I love the idea of having so many sounds available in one waveshape but it can get pretty extreme with the scope of sounds pretty quickly if I'm doing more than just a carefully modulated scan.

Hey Omri! Thank you for all the amazing knowledge you’re passing on and, of course, your beautiful music! Apologies for a non-musical question - but would you be willing to share your video setup for making modular videos? They just look soo good and crisp! I’m especially interested in what kind of lights you’re using, tripod setup and camera lenses? I promise I won’t tell anyone :) Thanks again!

Greetings Omri, curious if you have heard this track. Scanner is such an interesting artist and experiments with so much different equipment. It amazes me how deceptively simple and yet beautiful a track can be at least to my senses. I think this track is made on elektron instruments. Curious how you think the background sounds might be constructed, I hear the arp or sequence, everything just seems to go so well together, cheers, thank you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diRK6wdhryM

Virtual vs hardware: I am wondering if you use a different general approach to creating a patch in hardware vs in VCV Rack. Most of the techniques in your wonderful "Patching Techniques and Ideas" collection are applicable to hardware as well as software. (Thank you! BTW) But in VCV I have pretty much unlimited resources. In contrast my Eurorack is pretty much fixed and my Eurorack is full. I use a lot of multi-function and algorithmic modules like a Vult Freak, an Expert Sleepers Disting EX, and an "Ornament and Crime-Hemispheres". They give me a great degree of flexibility, but there's only one of each. I'm finding I need a whole different approach to patching compared to VCV. It's fundamentally different in some ways. Any tips? Thanks.