VCV Rack 2 is out! Free and Pro versions ($99 at launch)

[biberact]

I'm glad I didn't buy VCV Rack yet because this sounds really sad. It would be easy for the devs to come up with some cool new exclusive + features that would make the Pro owners feel as if they use an inferior product. Imagine the dark room mode or black module panels were a + exclusive feature. How would you feel as an early supporter? I hope they won't go that route but sadly I lost all trust in software companies as a whole.

[ere2learn]

what you all complaining about, so you have the free version, pro version & new monthly sub

how can you complain about too many options

[shorty]

yup, always complaining, some folks. sounds really sad. go, make sad music.

[foosnark]

Are the parameters directly automatable in vcv rack pro? Or is there some module or something that's needed?

When you add a module, it adds the knobs from that module as VST parameters that you can automate from the host. (I don't know about other hosts, but In Bitwig the most recently changed parameter in the GUI is shown at the top of the device panel, making it easy enough to find the right one.)

You can also convert MIDI CC using a module if you want.

I wonder if this actually works like real modular, none of the others I have tried do. Gates/switches and whatnot are not accurately represented in them.

It works like Eurorack, in that everything is a (virtual) voltage and there aren't different signal types, just different ways that modules interpret continuous signals.

Except that they added polyphonic cables, where an output might be some variable number of channels, and if you plug a cable into a polyphonic input, it'll treat them separately. If you plug it into a monophonic input, the source module acts monophonically instead. There are modules to split, merge, and otherwise manage polyphonic signals. (Unfortunately there is no standard for showing what jacks support polyphony, or how many channels a cable is carrying.)

Personally I ignore all of that most of the time and use patch cables the way they were meant to be But once in a while abusing the "polyphony" feature for stereo processing, so you don't have to duplicate modules, is handy.


This subscription thing was a mistake. It definitely doesn't make sense to anyone who's already bought Pro, and it is never welcomed with open arms. That said, unless they actually do take away the option to just purchase normally, I don't see any need to get too wiped out about it.

[robelanator]

I'm not a VCV Rack user so I don't really have a horse in this race, but I think the cynicism is understandable. Adobe users know how this ends. As do AutoCAD users. And Quickbooks users. And VMware users. Or maybe they'll just follow the Microsoft Office model and eventually only offer a perpetual license that's both outdated and super expensive in order to make the subscription seem like the better deal.

As someone else said earlier in this thread, if the real goal was to provide a cheaper point-of-entry for users who want to try out the software then a rent-to-own model would be a much better deal for those users.

[foosnark]

The better news is that ports of SynthTech E352 and E370 are coming. Hopefully those will be available as a separate purchase the way the first batch of SynthTech modules were, because they kick ass.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

My only would-be beef with this option so far is the cost. You get the entire Plugin Alliance catalog for $30/month and they throw in vouchers from what I understand. It's not a good value propisition for end users. In 5 months you've already spent enough to pay for the full VCV software. Imagine mortgages were 5 months long! There'd be no home owners. I would've priced this option to closer to $5/$10 per month.

Otherwise, as long as nothing else changes, I'm not going to get angry about it. VCV Rack is great software and I'm glad I paid for it. When they release cool modules, I'll buy the occasional one.

[ere2learn]

In 5 months you've already spent enough to pay for the full VCV software.

kinda false, the sub is more than the pro version,

sub package is vcvpro ($149) + $270 of premium plugins currently, totaling $419

so 14 months at $30 & at $19 a month its 22 months

[whyterabbyt]

It's not a good value propisition for end users. In 5 months you've already spent enough to pay for the full VCV software. Imagine mortgages were 5 months long!

I misinterpreted it as being all the paid modules, not just VCV's own, and thought it was expensive for that! Having realised its just their own, I just cant see it, its not like they're releasing so much stuff on a regular basis.
Adding up all their paid modules comes to $320 I think, so that's like 11 months of subscription before that becomes uneconomic too. Aand most of them are about the same price as a month's subscription, $30 each so if you really wanted them all...

[whyterabbyt]

In 5 months you've already spent enough to pay for the full VCV software.

kinda false, the sub is more than the pro version,

No, he's still correct. In 5 months you'd have spent enough to pay for the full VCV Pro application. And then you could basically buy one extra Premium module set a month at the same cost as the monthly sub, and own them all in less than a year, and not have to pay for ones you dont want.

[Dencheg]

I'm glad I didn't buy VCV Rack yet because this sounds really sad. It would be easy for the devs to come up with some cool new exclusive + features that would make the Pro owners feel as if they use an inferior product. Imagine the dark room mode or black module panels were a + exclusive feature. How would you feel as an early supporter? I hope they won't go that route but sadly I lost all trust in software companies as a whole.

Well, the dev's haven't come up with such stuff so far.
So far they added another way to use the instrument, without impairing the full license owners in any way.
Why speculate about nothing?
Should I sell my Toyota cause some people are disappointed by subscription options in BMW cars (or whatever brand)?
Should be easier for some people to deal with problematic stuff where the problematic part is around zero

[ThomasHelzle]

Subscription at this point feels like a kind of virus that each company is getting contaminated with at one point in time.
And each time they seem "surprised" at the backlash, as if they are living on some pastoral hills herding sheep.
Big monopolies can maybe push it through, but that only makes people hate it more.
Enshitification is not a good business model in the long run.
People are not completely stupid.
Even the biggest monopolies can not survive without people using and buying their stuff.
Everybody hating you is NOT healthy.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

I misinterpreted it as being all the paid modules, not just VCV's own, and thought it was expensive for that! Having realised its just their own, I just cant see it, its not like they're releasing so much stuff on a regular basis.
Adding up all their paid modules comes to $320 I think, so that's like 11 months of subscription before that becomes uneconomic too. Aand most of them are about the same price as a month's subscription, $30 each so if you really wanted them all...

Yeah, for $150 you get Rack pro. That's 5 months. Add for the other paid modules as whyterabbyt points out, that's less than a year of the sub to cover the cost of everything currently available. That's a terrible value proposition.

I know the list prices are practically a joke, but what would the Plugin Alliance at $30 a month bundle (Mega XXL) cost in perpetual licenses? It's probably 10s of thousands of dollars in licenses. Even if you said, "ok, but I buy PA plugins on sale for $30 each," there are still 190+ plugins in that bundle. So 190x$30=$5,700. So you're getting a LOT more for that $30/month when using the sale prices only.

So yeah, my personal opinion is that VCV just really miscalculated on the pricing by a factor of 3 to 6. If they could say, "hey, our sub is only $5/month and we'll release at least 10 modules a year" it would be enticing. That would be a set and forget/Patreon type deal where I can let it auto-renew each month and forget about it. $30 per month is bonkers.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

...and I LOVE the VCV Rack platform. I want them to be successful.

There are so many cool free modules (which may actually be part of what makes it hard to monetize) and some really terrific commercial modules. I hope the platform gets kept up to date and is around forever.

[elxsound]

There is a way this could have been done better as this ain’t it.

Better pricing.
Different option for VCV Pro users.
A pay-to-own model?

Offer demos? Seems the infrastructure is there for time limited demos that won’t requiring paying more money than the modules.