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What are the best Voltage Modular Bundles, I have the 2500, tb collection, the s100, and a moog modular.. what else is good, and has decent presets?

First of all, hello to you too.
Afterwards...
Wow What question
Perhaps the begining of an answer in a topic posted a long time ago, on December 18, 2023 at 6:26 a.m., the last response dating back to May 4, 2024 at 7:06 p.m.) :
viewtopic.php?t=3097
Enjoy !

It's all down to personal taste and opinion but I'd say that Voltage Modular Core is the only essential purchase.

Unless you are already an expert in modular synthesis then having a large number of modules to play with might slow you down.

For me modular is about going off the beaten path and doing crazy sh*t nobody else has done before. The attraction is deep learning, experimentation and invention and in this context presets are of limited use.

Yes, simple modular presets are helpful for beginners and as demonstrations of how one might begin to explore a new module but beyond that it's generally too difficult to examine modular presets in sufficient depth to discover how they work. So many people end up using such presets as if they were just like presets in non-modular synthesizers. In which case why bother with modular?

If you are looking for a large palette of sounds then perhaps non-modular synthesizers are a better choice as they often come with extensive preset libraries that have been put together by expert sound designers. One can then devote one's limited time to searching through preset sounds and then quickly get stuck into using them either live or in a DAW to produce great music.

That's not to say that if you are a modular enthusiast you shouldn't invest in new modules when you feel there are gaps in the functionality of your existing library. But at this point, you'll know more precisely what you need and good documentation might be more important than presets.

Hello Colin,

at first, thank you so much for your analysis, it will certainly be useful to me, even if it was not me who asked the question.

I personally really appreciate the high quality of all your answers: relevance, accuracy of technics AND tone, humility (...this is becoming so rare!)...and above all: competence.

Whaoo, you are one of the best on virtual modular domain (but not the only one, that's sure also), and the quality of the modules you produce proves it.

Really, a big thank you to you

Bradner

ColinP wrote: ↑Thu Jun 13, 2024 12:14 pm It's all down to personal taste and opinion but I'd say that Voltage Modular Core is the only essential purchase.

I second Colin's answer, here. Core is utterly essential if you want to have a satisfying relationship with Voltage Modular. I wouldnt be tempted by Ignite as a half-way house. For my money, Ignite lacks too many of the utility modules which I find indispensible on a day-to-day basis.

The only other advice I'd give is to demo, DEMO, DEMO! before deciding to purchase any modules or bundles. You have to find out if something fits in with your VM rack and your personal workflow before parting with your cash.

that's a tough question to answer without more context and information about you. what are your goals with modular? what music/sounds do you want to produce? how familiar are you with modular already?

in my opinion, you can do a lot with the modules included in VM already. that's a great starting point to explore virtual modular endlessly. my advice here is to just start patching and if you really feel like something is missing, then you can still look into the store. it's easy to get lost in the many amazing options the 3rd party devs in the VM store provide, so it's better to shop for your needs

that being said, there's many free modules in VM you can try. here are some of mine:
Partial Oscillator
Free Micro Modules
Free Poly Micro Modules
Free R_Ware X Airwindows Modules

Hi Bradner,

Stop it or I'll blush. I'm afraid humility isn't one of my virtues. I have a planet-sized ego and am perhaps one of the most vain, opinionated, arrogant, stubborn, self-confident people you might ever have the misfortune to encounter. It's just that some of these traits happen to be very useful in large-scale software development. Especially on the fourth day of tracking down a bug when twelve months into a full-time project you thought would take six.

Grant and I (and I think ChR_is too) are pushing VM Core for good reason. The Plugin-Host modules alone are worth the investment because being able to run VST (and other plugin formats) inside VM means you can use it as a sort of architectural glue. If you fancy running Cardinal alongside Surge XT and sending the results through Valhalla Supermassive - all with VM controlling the most important parameters then no problem.

The polyphonic modules are fantastic too, as are the "super" modules like Super LFO and the Super Envelope Generator.

Sadly Cherry Audio has neglected VM a little but there are strong signs that this is changing and a new era may soon begin. Even if they continue on their antique restoration path and an update doesn't materialize then VM still has great strengths. Notably how incredibly easy it is to develop modules for.

Module development isn't for everyone but Voltage Modular Designer is available for free and is perhaps the easiest-to-use software development environment I've encountered. Even if you've never done any coding before I think you should be able to get a very simple module working by dabbling a few hours an evening over a week. This is completely different to "normal" coding environments which are so obtuse and overloaded with features as to be almost impenetrable.

We all have time constraints but most of us have some kind of monetary restriction too so it just makes sense to demo stuff before purchase as Grant says.

Another point on money is investment in a computer. I get the impression that many people spend a ton of cash on software while running everything on a machine that is well past its sell-by date. This seems to be especially a problem for Apple customers who spent an absolute fortune on a machine seven or eight years ago. The biggest limit on what you can do in virtual modular is the CPU throughput of your machine. So budgeting for hardware upgrades should be part of the equation. I've expounded my dollar a day on hardware concept elsewhere. Where possible spending about $1,100 every three years or $1,500 every four years on hardware upgrading enables one to maintain a reasonable balance in software v hardware performance. I don't know exactly but maybe add something like 50% if you use Apple kit.

ColinP wrote: ↑Fri Jun 14, 2024 12:17 pm Sadly Cherry Audio has neglected VM a little but there are strong signs that this is changing and a new era may soon begin.

I have that exact same feeling. It has become very quiet recently. No announcements as of late. No new mysterious vintage synth on the horizon so I check CA's website every day for that new (hopefully big) VM update.

Just a heads-up that Andrew Macaulay's "Ultimate Bundle" is down to a sale price of $45.00 currently. This provides a host of very useful and flexible utilities which you didn't realise you needed until they're in your library!

EDIT: I originally posted that the sale price was $32.50, but that was because I was logged in to my account and I get a further reduction because I already own it!

Voltage Modular Core + Electro Drums is now on sale for $33. This is the best price I have ever seen for it.
Also, the CA/MRB VM900 Collection is down to just $26.
And VM2500 Collection is an astonishing $15.