Voltage Modular Feature Requests

[GusGranite]

Seeing as it is the new year for many of us, it seems like a good time to take stock and, in the spirit of continuous improvement, collect our thoughts about what features might make Voltage Modular even more fun to use.

I am so impressed with what VM can do and with the amazing 3rd party developers who are really making it something special. I would love to see the community grow and I hope that 2023 is a very active year for VM development.

To the Cherry Audio developers, thank you and I hope you like this idea… Please jump in on the feedback if you have the time! If I am able to edit this first post going forward, I will keep adding to a list of unprioritized requests.

1. Collapsible cabinets. Big space saver. .
2. Bus configs saved in Cabinets
3. Collapsible modules. Minimize what you are not working on.
4. Adjustable sample rates
5. Receive midi clock and transport controls
6. Merge patches
7. Cabinets remember remotes
8. CPU Meter per module, see which modules are hogging CPU.
9. Adjustable width blank module, stretch it to fit.
10. Cabinet presets, without affecting the other cabinets
11. Oversampling / anti-aliasing library module
12. Save dialogue that shows the presets list
13. Convert Cables to Bus
14. Show/hide cables by colour
15. Favourites filter in the module library
16. User naming of files created by the VM Recording utility.
17. Hide all cables and connections for developer store screenshots.
18. User nameable categories of favourites
19. Shortcut for the 2x interface zoom option or the focus feature from other CA synths integrated into VM.
20. Additional inputs and outputs.
21. 1U modules.
22. Serge and Buchla modules
23. Ability to sync custom categories to account across platforms
24. Ability to sync custom cabinets across platforms
25. Ability to sync favorites across platforms
26. Sort Manufacturers by A-Z in the module library
27. Right-click > insert module would place a module where you click and space the surrounding modules accordingly
28. Saving preferred patch cable color, patch cable transparency and window zoom between sessions
29. Stop the VM library from scrolling back to the top while syncing and downloading updates. So annoying lol
30. Speed up the VM sync process
31. Filter library by module bundles (such as Nucleus) etc.

[Steve W]

I agree with the accolades for CA and 3rd-party developers and optimism for more good things to come in 2023 and beyond.

Collapsible cabinets. The ability to extract and expand cabinets with one click.

I agree collapsible cabinets would be nice. For me the ability to hide active, on-going visual stuff [animated graphics] should save valuable CPU resources.

Along these lines, it would be nice also to have a button on each module that would expand and contract the module. This way modules not being worked on could be small and modules being worked on could be large while being tweaked.

[tristanshoutsf]

- adjustable sample rate. All modules currently run at 48kHz. Perhaps some built-in support (e.g., stock up/down-sampling filters) for internal oversampling as well.
- receive midi clocks + start/stop/continue to drive the transport section in the standalone version.

[GusGranite]

Updated first post.

[PoohBear]

Merge patches.

Cabinets remember remotes.

[Aarnville]

1. CPU Meter per module, so we can see which modules are hogging the CPU.
2. Adjustable width blank module, so we can have just one blank panel and stretch it to fit.
3. Cabinet presets, so we can load up settings for one cabinet without affecting the others.

[utdgrant]

1. #1 priority for me is a per-module (and total patch) CPU load meter. Please add my upvote to that suggestion.

2. This is more for the developer side but it would improve the lives of end users, too:

I'd like to see an oversampling / anti-aliasing library module in VMD which offers three or four settings of Off, x2 (96kHz), x4 (192kHz) and optionally x8 (384 kHz). This could be applied only to modules which would benefit from oversampling, e.g. non-linear distortion. Nipping alias frequencies in the bud before they exit the 'problematic' module at the standard 48 kHz rate would mean that downstream modules could still operate at the standard rate. This would save overall CPU time whilst safe in the knowledge that no new alias frequencies will be generated in clean-living, linear modules. Of course, MIDI and CV modules in general would never benefit from an oversampling option.

Placing all the upsampling, filtering and downsampling maths into a write-once library module would make per-module oversampling an easier option for developers to offer. Not transparent or zero-effort by any means, but certainly a lot easier than rolling your own solution in isolation. Many optimisations could be made based on the fact that you would only be dealing with a small, finite set of options / sampling frequencies.

From an end-user perspective, having a front-panel switch (or right-click option) would allow you to make a judgement on whether oversampling was worth the cost on a case-by-case, module-by-module basis.

[huggermugger]

Another vote for: collapsible and enlargeable modules, collapsible cabinets, CPU load per module, resizable blanks.

[huggermugger]

1. A save dialog that isn't blind. This drives me nuts. I want to see the presets list I'm saving into.

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2. A "Convert Cables to Bus" option, the reverse of the existing "Convert Bus to Cables".

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3. A selective "hide cables" option, e.g. by colour. I realize the scope of VM's colour palette makes this seem awkward, but I mimic the colouring scheme that Nord Modular used (red=audio, blue=control, yellow=logic), and I can easily limit myself to four or five colours. Oh to be able to hide and show all those trigger/gate cables with a single click!

4. Favourites subcategories in the module browser.

5. User naming of files created by the VM Recording utility.

[Agentslimepunk]

This is a killer list. I agree with all of the above as well