Put something like a Morphagene in the mix and you don't see patch recall as much of a bother, the timeline of the instrument itself becomes parameterized ...

I use my Eurorack as an extension of the realtime synths and 19"-rack stuff I already have MIDI'ed up and so on. I do think I could put everything I need into Eurorack, eventually. It is extremely versatile.

You might find some joy in tossing an octatrack towards the end of your chain. It pairs really nicely with modular

The Buchla Easel is semimodular and has preset cards and a memory recall card

That's funny because I find VCV much "easier" but perhaps it's because I'm not composing so much as noodling and texture-spelunking.

I do like bespoke and think its great, but it feels a bit janky to me (though it's been like a year since I tried).

It's fun to think about all the various ways people can implement such tools. I'd recommend bespoke for those who want a bit of a different modular system than just a skeuomorphic approach that copies Eurorack design.

How does VCV Rack have a high entry cost?

For me, the "wires" are the play! I go into VCV rack when the intention-oriented workflows in a DAW like Ableton feel too much "on the rails". The large exploration space of a virtual modular setup is tedious if you're trying to do a straightforward DAW task but wonderful if you are itching to have something unexpected and inspiring thrown at you within the action space of one or two knob or wiring changes.

> Pitchfork: What made you decide that either the tracks were done or you were ready finally to put an album out? What was the catalyst?

> RDJ: It's because I finished making a studio in Scotland that I'd been building for about three years. It took so long. I had this engineer helping me wire all the patch bays together, and he was doing it for about three months, every day, and then he realized he was doing it all wrong and had to start again. That was pretty brutal. So it's kind of like, “OK, I've done that now, it's the end of an era.”

> But then I realized I actually like making studios more than making music, because I like the possibilities of what you can do. I make these setups that will achieve some sort of purpose, so the way I've wired it together becomes the track in itself.

https://pitchfork.com/features/cover-story/9506-strange-visi...

For around $1200 USD you can put together the “dark easel” of a Make Noise Strega, 0-Coast, 0-Ctrl off Reverb. That plus a little oscilloscope/tuner like the Korg NTS-2 and you’re set.

https://youtu.be/SofDTfm1QKUsi=On2kh85cCa5rgRmA

https://youtu.be/gO9qlVr6-HA?si=FltmhE1xiqPYmKNB

Once you can start to visualize the voltage flow in your brain its so much fun to deal with the cables.

The worst thing about them is the lack of patch memories. This is sold as some kind of creative limitation, but really it just means you can't park an interesting patch and keep refining and exploring it.

I prefer virtual modulars like Reaktor and Cherry Modular. Especially Cherry because there's a nice Java dev system which allows custom development with some ready-made UI and I/O options.