VCV Rack vs Hardware: is there a difference? Testing Mutable Instruments Clouds, Rings and Elements

One of the really interesting things about VCV Rack in my view is, besides being open source and free, that it comes with free versions of Mutable Instruments’ modules, some of the most sought after and successful eurorack modules. Controversially, Olivier (Mutable CEO) has decided to discontinue some of the most successful ones… yet the most admirable thing he does is to open source the code for his modules, so they have the potential to live on and evolve forever.

The big question I had is, how do they compare to the real thing? If the differences are small or even unnoticeable, VCVRack can become very disruptive.

I picked three of his most beautifully sounding modules (in my view of course…) Elements, Rings and Clouds (which is has been discontinued!) – and I compare the sound of the hardware to that of the software. These modules are digital, so they have a good chance of sounding similar, but DAC and other hardware magic or software tweaks might make a difference.

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NOTE: Occasionally I’ll try out affiliate marketing and include affiliate links. This means that I may earn a commission when you click on or make purchases via affiliate links. The content of this clip is entirely my opinion, and was not paid for or dictated in any what by the company creating the gear. Without addressing the particulars of products shown here as they might be under NDA, gear shown on this channel may be either sent by the manufacturer, on loan for review or bought at a discount.