VCV Rack
Tied for most recommended of 5 software synthesizers
Free modular synthesizer that people recommend for learning modular synthesis and as a main music tool alongside Renoise. One critic finds the emulated virtual knobs frustrating.
Free modular synthesizer that people recommend for learning modular synthesis and as a main music tool alongside Renoise. One critic finds the emulated virtual knobs frustrating.
11 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 82%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 4.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Good for learning modular synthesis
“VCV Rack is great. Use it to work out what to build in a Eurorack system eventually”
Comment from 25 Sep 2026 on Hacker News “It good fun to noodle about with. Does provide a good experience of modular.”
Comment from 19 Sep 2026 in “Suzanne Ciani's Buchla Cookbook” Among the best software, often recommended
“I think it's one of the best pieces of software in existence and I don't say that lightly.”
Comment from 24 Jan 2026 in “KORG phase8 – Acoustic Synthesizer” “the impulse to recommend VCVRack is pretty high”
Comment from 4 Jan 2026 in “From silicon to Darude – Sandstorm: breaking famous synthesizer DSPs [video]” Used daily alongside Renoise
“Not everyone can just re-base their setup on linux (for me Renoise & VCV Rack)”
Comment from 1 Dec 2025 in “Games using anti-cheats and their compatibility with GNU/Linux or Wine/Proton” “Now I just use Renoise & VCV Rack”
Comment from 29 Jun 2026 in “CachyOS June 2026 Release”
Other software synthesizers people recommend
The four most recommended other software synthesizers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VCV RackThis page | 9 | 2 | 82% | 5 | — | — |
| Surge XT | 9 | 1 | 90% | 6 | — | — |
| VOOG | 8 | 1 | 89% | 1 | — | — |
| Bespoke Synth | 6 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
| Dexed | 5 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
11 of the 13 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“VCV Rack is great. Use it to work out what to build in a Eurorack system eventually”
“I go into VCV rack when the intention-oriented workflows in a DAW like Ableton feel too much "on the rails"”
“It good fun to noodle about with. Does provide a good experience of modular.”
“spent time learning to build your own plugins or VCV Rack modules”
“Now I just use Renoise & VCV Rack”
“open-source, non-Electron, multi-platform software that handles copy-paste via system clipboard exists just fine”
“I hate having to interact with the virtual knobs on the emulated forms of them in VCV Rack”
“I think it's one of the best pieces of software in existence and I don't say that lightly.”
“It never felt fun for me, even one bit.”
“the impulse to recommend VCVRack is pretty high”
“Not everyone can just re-base their setup on linux (for me Renoise & VCV Rack)”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.