Erica Synths adds three free modules to the VCV Rack platform

Erica Synths adds three free modules to the VCV Rack platform

Erica Synths launches three Eurorack modules for the free VCV Rack platform – Pico Drums, Black Octasource and Black Wavetable VCO.

Erica synths is a well-known name in the modular synth scene, their approach to synthesizer design is unique in that they cater to the more gritty and industrial side of music. Of course, they are just tools, and can be used by anyone in any genre – however the sonic capabilities of their modules are pretty unique and great for distorted, crunchy and downright weird sounds.

VCV Rack is the free open-source modular software platform that emulates a Eurorack very closely in the way it operates and a large amount of the included and third-party modules.

Since it’s open-source, there have been a lot of developers creating emulations of real-world modules – some being bang-on exact replicas while others falling quite short.

Seeing manufacturers like Erica Synths get involved in this project is fantastic because we now have more options for creating those gritty and industrial sounds, something I found a bit limited with the stock VCV Rack plugins. But it also means we get to test out how these modules really work in case we want to buy the real thing.

What’s new?

I feel that VCV Rack was a little bit limited in the “all-in-one” drum modules, there were a few third-party options but nothing fantastic. The Erica Synths Pico Drums has definitely changed that, it’s an incredibly versatile little module that offers two sampled drum voices mixed at a single output, each one has a trigger input and there is a global CV input which you can have control the pitch, decay, volume or sample selection – you can only imagine the power alongside a deep CV sequencer.

Another massive introduction to VCV Rack is the Erica Synths Black Octasource – it’s essentially an LFO on steroids.

The LFO is split into eight segments, each of which can be used as a trigger or independent CV output, so you can trigger a few layers of drums and synths from it.

Next up is the Black Wavetable VCO, its an incredibly versatile oscillator with variable shapes, an internal bitcrush effect and independent sub output – It’s absolutely wild.

If you haven’t tried VCV Rack yet, download it free here.