Rack VS helm

VCV Rack - Modular Synth

> It’s haven’t bought any Modular’s yet but I’m really looking forward to getting into other on the new year.

http://cardinal.kx.studio

https://vcvrack.com/

The former is libre and gratis, runs as a standalone or plugin and in the browser!! and is based on the latter.

Ther former has a libre and gratis standalone version, the plugin version is non-gratis.

A music synthesizer. It's a pathway to learning electronics, music, and the nature of sound. There are cheap kits, cheap synths, lots of kinds of synths, and there are much more complicated and expensive systems you can grow into. You can get software synths also, VCV Rack is a free though complex one:

https://vcvrack.com/

However I'd recommend an inexpensive hardware one with real knobs you can turn, like one of the Korg Volca series:

https://www.korg-volca.com/en/

Recording the sounds can lead into exploring all the concepts and gear involved in recording and mixing music. It's not mutually exclusive with doing other things also, you can play with both synths and computers and being involved with something artistic can add dimensions to and an escape from the nature of classwork/work.

Some other suggestions: gardening, high voltage electronics (with lots of supervision), electronics, photography, movie making, ham radio (gnu radio), show lighting systems (there's more than disco lights, robotics is involved), robotics, acoustic instruments (guitar, piano, flute, drums), sensors (you don't necessarily have to know electronics, get a data logger with built in sensors), weather monitoring/forecasting, hydraulic systems (with supervision), wood working, metal working, 3D printing, bird watching, painting, minibikes/small engines.

What really opened my eyes was the Nord Micromodular; it taught me what I just described. It showed me how limited other synths were - but that limitation was a trade-off because it's much faster to make something on a fixed-structure synth than on a modular, in most cases. Nowadays, you can use https://vcvrack.com/ instead of a small limited box that needs Windows 98 to run the editor on.

Also I would suggest the paid version of VCV rack which works as a VST too ( the free version is just stand alone ) Expecially when experimenting with modular ( believe me, it can save you a fortune whilst you learn what different modules do ) I would also recommend Omri Cohens Youtube channel for learning this too.

undertstand how to install VST (Virtual Studio Technology) download some free plugins. FREE ONES, NO matter if they sound superduper or not. just to play around and try to undertstand them. watch some tutorials how to set them up in your DAW. i recommend the Plugin Helm! yes not the best but for free and alot of options to learn from it. and thats what makes it great! https://tytel.org/helm/ . i recommend this heavily because you have some sounds to start witha and you can create alone with this one alot. i mean really alot. there are endless tutorials how to make some specific sounds with this. than you need to a drumkit. you can use helms drumsounds and so on. but i recommend to search for a better way to do drums. helm can give you good piano, bass, and so on. but take your time to find a drum plugin. after you played around with helm already.

Matt Tytel's Helm is a great option to learn, CPU friendly and it sounds really good.

For a synth, you can't go wrong with Helm https://tytel.org/helm/

Does anyone here have a suggestion for a really cool software synth (preferably free) that can do these kinds of things? I've been messing with Helm, Cardinal and the built-in synths in Bitwig Studio and have yet to get a satisfying result... Don't you hate it when that happens?

What about installing Helm and trying to play it as a standalone instrument.