[Blackthorn]

VCV Rack is quite fun and shows how the skeumorphic interface to things like music and synthesis is actually quite useful and understandable. While things like supercollider and pure data exist, it's hard to argue that VCV Rack's interface isn't a lot simpler to get going with.

I wish popular DAWs would learn a thing or two from it tbh. Connecting VSTs with the skeumorphic interface is a better experience than something like the otherwise excellent a Reaper does. Only FL Studio (with Patcher) gets this right.

[bambax]

> Only FL Studio gets this right

Reason has racks and cables, if that's your thing.

Personnally, I like Reason's synths, but I don't find connectiong virtual cables on a screen super intuitive, or practical. After a while it's difficult to see what goes where.

Reaper is much less "sexy" but much clearer, IMHO.

[Blackthorn]

With connected cables, you can see at a glance what feeds into what. I can't imagine anyone being able to do the same with reaper's in/out pin matrix.

[bambax]

Here's a patch for "Complex-1", an attempt by Reason to do a modular synth: https://cdm.link/app/uploads/2018/12/cables.png

Given the nature of that synth, there may not be a better way to do this, but it's still far from clear what does what at a glance, or even after staring at it for a while.

[PaulDavisThe1st]

The old EMS hardware synths (and it bigger cousins) that used a pin matrix were often said to be much easier to grok than systems with cables.

[Blackthorn]

On that note there's a modern hardware synth that uses a pin matrix still -- Eaganmatrix (used in the Continuum and the Osmose).

IDK, some people say it's really hard to understand, but I think the pin matrix they use actually works really well.

[PaulDavisThe1st]

> skeumorphic interface to things like music and synthesis

There's a lot in Rack that isn't skeuomorphic. Really, a very big lot. In fact, even the patching process is only barely skeuomorphic - it doesn't obey the laws of physics in several different ways.

Reaper has no modular environment at all, so "connecting VSTs" is not really a thing in that context - the data flow is almost always linear.

[Blackthorn]

Skeumorphic doesn't mean 1:1, it just means very much like it from a design perspective. Obviously, patch cables in real life aren't polyphonic.

> Reaper has no modular environment at all, so "connecting VSTs" is not really a thing in that context - the data flow is almost always linear.

It most certainly does. The VSTs that sit in the fx chains are the modules. Parallel fx chains in the same track are handled by a (quite terrible) pin based system. Then beyond that there's the usual sends and side chains.

[PaulDavisThe1st]

From my perspective (as a Rack user and developer of Ardour, another DAW), you're somewhat stretching the definition of a modular environment there.

[Blackthorn]

That's fair. I also think people would be more eager to do wacky vst routing in Reaper if the interface supported it somewhat better.

[PaulDavisThe1st]

I've considered merging all of Cardinal or Rack into Ardour as something similar to Logic's "Environment" or Bitwig's "grid"

We could do that because we're all GPL'ed projects, and can thus share code easily.

[fb03]

There's the excellent (and open source) Bespoke Synth.

https://www.bespokesynth.com/

https://youtu.be/NnrStjS4NhU

[jcelerier]

ossia score (https://ossia.io) also uses a patching interface for audio/video/etc plug-ins, I'm curious about what you think of it

[Blackthorn]

Honestly I can't say! It's just way beyond what I'm used to, with its multimedia focus. I'll need to check it out some more, which looks fun.