Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

VCV Rack VS Velocity.js

Compare VCV Rack VS Velocity.js and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

VCV Rack logo VCV Rack

A cross-platform modular synthesizer.

Velocity.js logo Velocity.js

Velocity is a JavaScipt animation engine.
  • VCV Rack Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-11-06
  • Velocity.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-10-02

VCV Rack features and specs

  • Modular Flexibility
    VCV Rack offers a highly modular environment, allowing users to create custom setups with a wide array of modules available. This provides significant creative freedom for sound design and experimentation.
  • Cost-Effective
    The basic version of VCV Rack is free to use, making it an accessible entry point for those interested in modular synthesis without having to invest in expensive hardware.
  • Community and Support
    A large and active community around VCV Rack provides extensive support, tutorials, and third-party modules, ensuring users can find help and inspiration easily.
  • Expandability
    VCV Rack supports third-party modules and plugins, allowing users to expand their setup with new functionality and sounds as they see fit.
  • Cross-Platform Availability
    VCV Rack is available for multiple operating systems such as Windows, macOS, and Linux, ensuring broad accessibility.

Possible disadvantages of VCV Rack

  • Learning Curve
    For beginners, the sheer number of modules and the complexity of modular synthesis can be quite daunting, leading to a steep learning curve.
  • Resource Intensive
    VCV Rack can be demanding on system resources, requiring a powerful computer to run smoothly, especially when using numerous or complex modules.
  • Lack of Integration
    The free version of VCV Rack does not support direct integration as a plugin in DAWs, which can limit its use in professional studio workflows (this feature is available in the paid version called VCV Rack Pro).
  • Standalone Limitations
    As a standalone application, it requires additional steps to route audio and MIDI to/from a digital audio workstation (DAW), potentially complicating the workflow.
  • Stability Issues
    Being an open-source project with a continuously growing library of modules, users might encounter occasional bugs or stability issues, particularly with third-party modules.

Velocity.js features and specs

  • Performance
    Velocity.js is known for its high performance animations compared to traditional jQuery animations, offering better frame rates and smoother transitions.
  • UI Pack
    The library comes with a UI pack that provides pre-made animation effects, making it easier to implement complex animations without building them from scratch.
  • Browser Compatibility
    Velocity.js works across all major browsers, including older versions, reducing the need for multiple fallbacks and increasing consistency in animations across different platforms.
  • Robust API
    It provides a comprehensive API that allows for fine-tuned control over animations, including duration, easing, and looping, providing developers with a lot of flexibility.
  • jQuery Compatibility
    Velocity.js can be used as a jQuery plugin, meaning it integrates well with existing jQuery projects, allowing developers to leverage familiar syntax and concepts.

Possible disadvantages of Velocity.js

  • File Size
    While not overly large, Velocity.js does add additional file size to projects, which could be a concern for performance-focused applications aiming to minimize load times.
  • Learning Curve
    For developers unfamiliar with Velocity.js, there might be a learning curve to grasp its API and features, especially when combining complex animations.
  • jQuery Dependency
    Although it can operate independently, many features integrate with jQuery, which could be a downside for projects trying to avoid additional library dependencies.
  • Feature Overlap
    Some features offered by Velocity.js overlap with modern CSS animations and transformations, which may be sufficient for simple animations in newer projects.
  • Maintenance
    Like many open source projects, there can be concerns about long-term maintenance and updates, particularly with evolving web standards and new browser features.

Analysis of VCV Rack

Overall verdict

  • VCV Rack is considered a powerful and versatile tool for anyone interested in modular synthesis. Its open-source nature and active community support contribute to its continuous growth and improved features, making it an excellent choice for sound designers and musicians alike.

Why this product is good

  • VCV Rack is highly regarded for its extensive modular capabilities, allowing users to experiment with sound design in a highly flexible environment. It offers a virtual platform to explore synthesizer modules, user-friendly interfaces, and a wide array of plug-ins from both community and professional sources. It caters to both beginners and experienced users, providing an open-source system for music creation and education.

Recommended for

  • Electronic music producers looking for a modular synthesis experience
  • Sound designers seeking flexible and versatile sound sculpting tools
  • Music educators and students interested in learning about synthesis
  • Musicians wanting to experiment with sound design without investing in hardware

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)

Velocity.js videos

Ball Drop - Velocity.JS

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to VCV Rack and Velocity.js)
3D
100 100%
0% 0
Javascript UI Libraries
0 0%
100% 100
Music Generation
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare VCV Rack and Velocity.js

VCV Rack Reviews

We have no reviews of VCV Rack yet.
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Velocity.js Reviews

Top 20 Javascript Libraries
Web animation has become a breeze with velocity.js. It is a fast performance engine that simplifies website animations. It is free, open-source software. Velocity is as fast (or more) as CSS and jQuery, especially on mobile devices. We can run a sequence of animations one after the other in a neat way, unlike jQuery or CSS, where we need extensive coding. Uber, WhatsApp,...
Source: hackr.io

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, VCV Rack seems to be a lot more popular than Velocity.js. While we know about 115 links to VCV Rack, we've tracked only 4 mentions of Velocity.js. 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.

VCV Rack mentions (115)

  • Learning Synths
    If you want to understand (Subtractive) synthesis. The best way is to get copy of VCV rack and follow a few tutorials. If you patch one subtractive mono synth voice once, you understand 80% of all subtractive synth architecture moving forward. https://vcvrack.com (open source and wonderful). - Source: Hacker News / 5 months ago
  • Dynamicland 2024
    I wonder whether someone already has build away to create modular synthesizer using block with knobs on the table. A line on the top of the knob would signal its position. (In the video I saw some shots that looked like sequencers.) You would also need some mechanism to connect the modules together. I played around with VCV Rack [1], but adjusting knobs with a mouse feels very different than using your hands to... - Source: Hacker News / 9 months ago
  • Enlightenmentware
    I have a couple of these to add as well: VCVRack - simply one of the most mind-expanding things a synthesizer-nerd can play with. (https://vcvrack.com/) ZynthianOS - another example of a simple software solution to a problem nobody realized existed, opening the door to an absolutely astonishing array of Audio processing tools (https://zynthian.org/). - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • 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 / over 1 year 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 / over 1 year ago
View more

Velocity.js mentions (4)

  • 100+ FREE Resources Every Web Developer Must Try
    JavaScript Animation Libraries 🔥 . Anime.js: Lightweight JavaScript animation library. . ScrollReveal.js: Easily reveal elements as they enter the viewport. . Popmotion: A functional, flexible JavaScript motion library. . AniJS: Declarative handling library for CSS animations. . Wow.js: Reveal CSS animation as you scroll down a page. . Typed.js: A JavaScript library that types. . Velocity.js: Accelerated... - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • Top 10 JavaScript Animation Libraries
    Velocity.js (17.3k ⭐) — A library that combines the best of jQuery and CSS transitions. It can animate colors, transforms, loops, easings, SVGs and more. It can work with or without jQuery and has a high performance. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Jquery animations choppy on mobile?
    Also I've never used it before but I checked just now and http://velocityjs.org/ looks like a pretty solid drop in replacement for jQuery animations. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Anyone know if this animation effect is a library?
    Just gotta look in page source. There's cdn for Velocity.js. Source: over 3 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing VCV Rack and Velocity.js, you can also consider the following products

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

GSAP - GSAP (GreenSock Animation Platform) is a suite of JavaScript tools for high-performance animations that work in all major browsers.

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

Anime.js - Lightweight JavaScript animation library

TouchDesigner - TouchDesigner is a visual development platform that equips you with the tools you need to create stunning realtime projects and rich user experiences.

Popmotion - Popmotion is the JavaScript motion engine that enables user to create delightful user interfaces.