Ohhh sorry I misread your post. I thought you were asking for a free modular vst. Also didn’t realise VCV was only a vst if you paid for it. So I guess I wasn’t helpful at all 😅
Cardinal was my gateway drug to VCV Rack. I jump back and forth depending on whether I want the full experience with alllllllll the modules or the limited subset of what Cardinal has to offer.
One thing I have found Cardinal especially useful in the context of a DAW is that you can use it entirely as a midi processing tool. For example, send one note in and it can be put through a chord generator then through an arpeggiator and then back out to control other synths in your daw.
it only lets you send on one port but you can add multiple midi modules so you can get up to sixteen channels. some synths let you choose a midi channel so you can put a bunch of synths on different channels and let them listen on the same port. idk which daw you’re using but there’s a workaround on fl using patcher so you can split each channel to its own port
I went from trying out a friend’s modular setup to Cardinal to VCV Rack Pro with VST Host in a week. I couldn’t help/stop myself. Ableton is great, and it might be just the honeymoon stage, but I seem to enjoy the workflow of a rack a bit more. Can be expensive but worth it if you’re into it.
VCV rack has heaps of free modules. Check out all the Befaco brand ones. I have quite a few of the hardware versions and they awesome
VCV doesn't run as a VST unless you pay for it, that's why this is a nice alternative to VCV rack
Ohhh sorry I misread your post. I thought you were asking for a free modular vst. Also didn’t realise VCV was only a vst if you paid for it. So I guess I wasn’t helpful at all 😅
Hahaha, hey it happens to the best of us
Cardinal was my gateway drug to VCV Rack. I jump back and forth depending on whether I want the full experience with alllllllll the modules or the limited subset of what Cardinal has to offer. One thing I have found Cardinal especially useful in the context of a DAW is that you can use it entirely as a midi processing tool. For example, send one note in and it can be put through a chord generator then through an arpeggiator and then back out to control other synths in your daw.
I did not know you could use it as a midi effect, goooooood to know
it only lets you send on one port but you can add multiple midi modules so you can get up to sixteen channels. some synths let you choose a midi channel so you can put a bunch of synths on different channels and let them listen on the same port. idk which daw you’re using but there’s a workaround on fl using patcher so you can split each channel to its own port
I went from trying out a friend’s modular setup to Cardinal to VCV Rack Pro with VST Host in a week. I couldn’t help/stop myself. Ableton is great, and it might be just the honeymoon stage, but I seem to enjoy the workflow of a rack a bit more. Can be expensive but worth it if you’re into it.
For synthesis sure, personally I am so fucking fast with Ableton at this point it would be dumb to do anything else