VCV Rack Example Patches

Three patches built in VCV Rack — the free, open-source virtual modular — so the ideas from the lab’s hardware modular can be explored at home. Each patch has a downloadable .vcv file, a walkthrough video, and a short description of what it demonstrates. Open the patch, watch the video, then change one thing at a time and listen to what happens.

Modules Used

All of these are free from the VCV Library:

• VCV Rack’s core modules — oscillators, filters, sequencers, mixers, and utilities included with Rack
• Alright Devices — Chronoblob2 — a clock-synced delay
• Valley — Plateau — a lush plate-style reverb
• SynthKit — Clock Divider — derive slower clocks from a master clock
• Befaco — Rampage — a dual function generator that can loop as an LFO or envelope

1. Sequential Arps and Chords, V01

Download: Sequential Arps and Chords_V01.vcv

One sequencer drives both a harmonic progression and a related arpeggio pattern. The same pitch data feeds two voices at different rates, so the chords and the arpeggio can never drift out of key with each other.

2. Sequential Arps and Chords, V02

Download: Sequential Arps and Chords_V02.vcv

Expands on V01 by adding several sources of modulation — LFOs and randomness — and a new, randomly generated, freely moving melody on top of the sequenced material. Compare the two patches to hear what modulation does to a static sequence.

3. The Krell Patch

Download: Krell Patch_V01.vcv

A looping envelope generator (Befaco’s Rampage) triggers itself, and several sources of randomness choose each note’s pitch, length, and timbre, producing a melody that never repeats. This is a classic self-generating patch inspired by Louis and Bebe Barron’s electronic score for Forbidden Planet (1956) — the music of the ancient Krell. See Controlled Chaos for the thinking behind patches like this one.