Software Alternatives & Reviews

Surge XT VS VCV Rack

Compare Surge XT VS VCV Rack and see what are their differences

Surge XT logo Surge XT

Open-source subtractive-hybrid synthesizer formerly sold commercially as Vember Audio Surge.

VCV Rack logo VCV Rack

A cross-platform modular synthesizer.
  • Surge XT Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-31

Surge XT is an open-source hybrid synthesizer and the synth which started the Surge Synth Team project!

  • VCV Rack Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-11-06

Surge XT videos

Free VST - Surge Synthesizer plugin

VCV Rack videos

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

More videos:

  • Review - 10 awesome FREE modules in VCV Rack (Review with techno patches)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Surge XT and VCV Rack)
Email Marketing
86 86%
14% 14
3D
0 0%
100% 100
Work Management
100 100%
0% 0
Music Generation
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using Surge XT and VCV Rack. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Surge XT should be more popular than VCV Rack. It has been mentiond 178 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Surge XT mentions (178)

  • Ask HN: Comment here about whatever you're passionate about at the moment
    Good stuff! I started getting in to this at the start of the year. Already had an old, dusty MicroKORG and MIDI interface to use it as a controller, but recently splashed out on a bigger controller as the Korg's tiny keys were hurting me - plus, I wanted something bigger to get better at piano! A couple of free soft synths I'd recommend are Surge XT, and Vital. https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/... - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • Obsolete (or not) DAW recommendations for windows 8?
    Https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/ and https://asb2m10.github.io/dexed/ should work like a charm. Source: 10 months ago
  • Hi, I'm new
    To get the equivalent of a symphonic orchestra in your computer, the solution is basically money; you buy the instruments you need. In the case of synthesizers, things are much cheaper - if you put in the effort yourself. https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/ is excellent and could even be used if you wanted to make a more retro-style soundtrack. Source: 10 months ago
  • So is serum worth the money? Can someone ELI5 why I should buy it rather than use a free synth like synth one?
    Instead of Synth1, try https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/ . It's pretty much better in every aspect except for the UI which is going to look a lot more daunting to you ;). Source: 10 months ago
  • These just appeared in my Facebook, anything to be excited about? I’m waiting on prices.
    For the DW-8000, check https://www.fullbucket.de/music/fb7999.html . Alternatively, https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/ can use single-cycle waveforms (basically wavetables that don't change) which can get you close. Source: 10 months ago
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VCV Rack mentions (112)

  • Ask HN: Comment here about whatever you're passionate about at the moment
    > It’s haven’t bought any Modular’s yet but I’m really looking forward to getting into other on the new year. http://cardinal.kx.studio https://vcvrack.com/ The former is libre and gratis, runs as a standalone or plugin and in the browser!! and is based on the latter. Ther former has a libre and gratis standalone version, the plugin version is non-gratis. - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • Ask HN: Whats the modern day equivalent of 80s computer for kids to explore?
    A music synthesizer. It's a pathway to learning electronics, music, and the nature of sound. There are cheap kits, cheap synths, lots of kinds of synths, and there are much more complicated and expensive systems you can grow into. You can get software synths also, VCV Rack is a free though complex one: https://vcvrack.com/ However I'd recommend an inexpensive hardware one with real knobs you can turn, like one... - Source: Hacker News / 7 months ago
  • I love synthesizers, but I suck at synthesis and sound design?
    What really opened my eyes was the Nord Micromodular; it taught me what I just described. It showed me how limited other synths were - but that limitation was a trade-off because it's much faster to make something on a fixed-structure synth than on a modular, in most cases. Nowadays, you can use https://vcvrack.com/ instead of a small limited box that needs Windows 98 to run the editor on. Source: 10 months ago
  • Long time Cubase user who is leaving a more traditional electronic workflow to modular hardware... Bitwig seems to be the DAW more for this style possibly? Any opinions first hand?
    Also I would suggest the paid version of VCV rack which works as a VST too ( the free version is just stand alone ) Expecially when experimenting with modular ( believe me, it can save you a fortune whilst you learn what different modules do ) I would also recommend Omri Cohens Youtube channel for learning this too. Source: 11 months ago
  • Recreate boutique pedals in DAW?
    Would be way easier with VCV rack than a DAW as there's already almost 3k modules including a lot of granular and other complex ones that blow away a lot of pedals: https://vcvrack.com/. Source: 11 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Surge XT and VCV Rack, you can also consider the following products

Vital - Vital is a spectral warping wavetable synthesizer with drag'n'drop modulation workflow and animated preview of the synth's inner workings where needed. Comes with many modulation sources (including audio-rate), MPE support and FX chain.

Pure Data - Pd (aka Pure Data) is a real-time graphical programming environment for audio, video, and graphical...

Serum - VST for FL Studio, Ableton Live, and many other VST supported DAWs. Heavily utilized in EDM.

SuperCollider - A real time audio synthesis engine, and an object-oriented programming language specialised for...

ZynAddSubFX - ZynAddSubFX is an open source software synthesizer for Linux, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows.

SynthEdit - Visual programming software to build your own synthesizer.