VCV Rack

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VCV Rack is a modular analogue synthesizer, more precisely a Virtual Eurorack DAW. It uses a plug-in systems to add more Eurorack emulated modules. As hardware Eurorack, it can be connected to midi, audio sources and destination, and other Eurorack modules. See also Wikipedia:VCV Rack. VCV Rack allow input from computer keyboard too, via the rack module MIDI-CV (included in "fundamental" modules pack).

The main principle of a modular analogue synthesizer is to add several module in the rack, and connect the different modules with wires, here by clicking on a connector and dragging in into another connector. Buttons on the modules allow you to change specifics parameters of the module.

Installation

Install vcvrackAUR. This only has a few modules, the "Fundamental" modules that are generally shipped with VCV Rack must be installed from the vcvrack-fundamentalAUR package.

Modules are installed by packages in /opt/vcvrack/, fundamental is automatically detected by VCV Rack at launch time and installed in the user ~/.Rack/plugins-v1/ directory. That's not the case for other modules packages.

So to complete a modules package installation.

  1. Install the AUR package
  2. cd ~/.Rack/plugins-v1
  3. unzip /opt/vcvrack/$Module.zip

The new modules package will then be detected and available inside the application.

Modules packages that are compatibles with VCV Rack 1.1.6+ version are:

They both depends on vcvrackAUR package, not on the vcvrack-gitAUR version.

Using computer keyboard Input

To use computer keyboard Input:

  • add the MIDI-CV module in your virtual Rack
  • Click on the middle line on the screen of the module.
  • Choose QWERTY keyboard for virtual piano keyboard
  • Choose Numpad keyboard for virtual percussion keyboard

You can add two (or more) times the module, to have QWERTY part controlling some part of your setup and Numpad controlling some other part for example.

Using computer audio input and output

The Audio-8 (8 channels) and Audio-16 (16 channels) modules, from "Fundamental" modules pack, allow to input and output audio to JACK, PulseAudio, ALSA or (MIDI) Bridge Output. To set the desired Input or Ouput:

  • Choose the desired sound library on the first line of the screen of the virtual module
  • Select the Input or Output port on the Second line.

For using audio Input source into the modular setup use the "From device" connectors For using audio Ouput destination, from the modular setup, use the "To device" connectors.

Oscilloscope

The Scope module, allow you to see the signal, from any part of the setup, and then allows to debug the setup.

See also