Thoow Dub
Documentation & Manual

Seven dub techno modules for VCV Rack 2. Coming soon · last updated 14 October 2026.

Coming soon. Thoow Dub is in its final listening sessions and not released yet. This manual describes the current beta, so details may still change. Get notified when it's out →

The suite

Thoow Dub is a set of seven modules for VCV Rack 2, made for dub techno and ambient. Each module covers one technique of the genre, works on its own with any other modules, and connects to the other Thoow modules without cables when they sit side by side.

ChordsChord voice and bass

StepsChord sequencer

FilterColour and motion filter

EchoDelay and reverb

MixerDub desk with kick ducking

MotionSlow modulation

BrainScenes for the whole suite

How the parts fit together

A classic dub techno track is built from a few elements: a short minor chord stab, a deep sub bass, echoes that are thrown in by hand, filters that open and close slowly over minutes, a mixing desk whose sends are fed back into themselves, and a kick that pushes everything else aside. Thoow Dub turns each of these into a module:

Steps plays the rhythm and the progression of scale degrees.
Chords turns each degree into a voiced chord and plays it through its own polyphonic synth voice, with a monophonic bass on the chord root.
Filter colours and moves the chord sum, an echo return or the bass.
Echo is the delay and the space behind it.
Mixer sends, throws and feeds back, and ducks everything under the kick.
Motion moves things slowly, over minutes, never in sync.
Brain stores the state of the whole chain as scenes and morphs between the parts of a track.

Thoow Dub is in beta. Details and defaults may still change before the release; this page is updated with every version.

Basics

Requirements

VCV Rack 2 (Free or Pro). All sound is generated in real time by our own DSP code; there are no samples and no third-party code.

Signals and voltages

Signal	Convention
Audio	±5 V per voice or channel; outputs stay below 10 V (soft limits above 8 V)
Gates and triggers	0 / 10 V out; inputs switch high from 1 V and low below 0.1 V
Pitch	1 V/oct, 0 V = C4
Modulation CV	Usually ±5 V over the full range of a knob, unless the jack says otherwise
Clock	Pulses per quarter note as set in the module's context menu (1, 2, 4 or 24; default 4 = sixteenths)
Poly cables	Audio inputs sum all channels; gate and CV inputs of the Mixer read channel 1–6 of a poly cable

Reading the panels

Frames group controls by job. The title sits on the frame's top line.
Outputs always sit in a black block without title. Everything on the light panel is an input or a control.
Knob marks: ticks around a knob mean it snaps to positions (one tick per position); an arc means it is continuous. A small mark at the top of the arc means the centre is neutral (bipolar).
Knob sizes: the black knob is the main performance control of a module (CUTOFF, FEEDBACK). Medium knobs are for playing, small knobs for setting up.
Switch labels: one word means "on when switched right" (SMOOTH, AVOID); "A · B" or "A · B · C" names the positions from left to right.
Tooltips: hover any control or jack in Rack for its full name, value with unit and, often, a sentence on what it does.

Displays

Every display uses the same language:

Value readout: turning a knob shows its name and value for 1.5 s, then the display returns to its normal view.
Presets: after switching a preset, the display shows its name ("P3 DUAL BAND"). In the status line the preset number gets an asterisk ("P3*") as soon as a knob differs from the preset.
Connections: the status line alternates every four seconds with the module's connections. » means "output goes to", « means "input comes from", for example OUT » MIXER 1 or DEGREE « STEPS. Internal couplings without cables are marked LINK.
Chain: a thin glowing edge on the left or right of a display shows that a Thoow module is docked on that side. When a module joins the chain, it is announced for two seconds.
Start-up: each display plays a short start animation and then lists the modules it is linked with.
Brain: while a module follows a Brain, the preset number is replaced by the scene number (B08) and a thin bar at the bottom shows the progress of a morph.
Some displays switch views when you click them (Chords: text or keyboard, Echo: status or echo history).

Presets

Chords, Echo, Steps and Filter have a PRESET knob. Turning it sets all sound and playing parameters at once, and the knobs turn with it. Loading a patch never applies a preset, so your saved knob positions stay as they are. Presets never change routing, mix level or suite couplings.

While a module follows a Brain in its chain, its PRESET knob has no effect: the scene decides. The display shows the scene number (B08) instead of the preset. When the Brain leaves the chain or Follow Brain is switched off, the knob works again from its current position, without jumping.

The suite link

Thoow modules that sit directly next to each other, without a gap, form a chain. Inside a chain they exchange signals through VCV Rack's expander system: audio, clock, gates and settings travel along the chain in both directions, so a module also reaches modules that are two or three places away. You can mix the order freely.

Rules

Off by default. Most couplings are switched on in a module's context menu under "Suite link". A few that only make sense in the suite are on by default (Filter: clock and accent from Steps).
A cable always wins. When you patch a cable into a jack that a coupling feeds, the cable takes over and the coupling steps back.
No clicks. Couplings fade in and out over 10 ms, also when you pull a module out of the chain.
Visible. Displays list every active coupling with LINK, and Mixer channel displays show where their signal comes from.
Saved. Coupling settings are stored in the patch and can be part of a Brain scene.

All couplings

Coupling	What happens	Switch it on in
Steps → Chords	Chords plays degree, gate, length and cutoff accents from Steps	Chords: Play from STEPS
Steps → Echo, Bass, Filter	Clock, reset and clock resolution of Steps	Echo: Clock from STEPS · Chords: Bass clock from STEPS · Filter: Clock from STEPS (on by default)
Steps → Filter	Accents fire the Filter's accent envelope	Filter: Accent from STEPS (on by default)
Chords → Echo	Auto-throw: each new chord opens the echo input for 1/16, 1/8, 1/4 of the echo time or while the gate is high	Echo: Auto-throw on chord change
Chords → Motion	Motion restarts on each chord or gate	Motion: Reset from Chords
Chords → Mixer	Chords plays into a mixer channel (stereo)	Mixer: Chords into channel
Chords bass → Mixer	The bass of Chords plays into a mixer channel (mono)	Mixer: Chords bass into channel
Echo ↔ Mixer	The first Echo of the chain runs as send A / return A	Mixer: Echo as send A / return A
Second Echo ↔ Mixer	A second Echo runs as send B / return B (often set up as a reverb)	Mixer: Second echo as send B / return B
Mixer → Echo	A channel THROW on the Mixer also throws the Echo	Echo: Throw with Mixer channel throws
Motion → anything	Each Motion output modulates a target inside another module, like a cable into its CV jack	Motion: Motion 1–4 internal target
Filter as insert	Filter sits between Chords, an Echo return or the bass and the Mixer	Filter: Insert on
Brain → all	Scenes set the knobs and couplings of every module in the chain	On by default in every module: Follow Brain

Motion targets: Chords cutoff, drive, length and width; Echo time, feedback, tone and space; Mixer sweep and send A of channels 1–5; Filter cutoff, resonance, offset and mix. Scaling is the same as a cable into the matching CV jack.

A first patch

This builds a complete dub techno voice in a few minutes. Dock the modules in one row, left to right:

STEPS · MOTION · CHORDS · FILTER · ECHO · MIXER · BRAIN

Patch a clock with four pulses per quarter note (sixteenths) into Steps CLK, and its reset into RESET.
In the Chords menu switch on Play from STEPS and Bass clock from STEPS. Chords now plays the progression of Steps, and the bass follows the clock.
In the Mixer menu: Chords into channel → 1, Chords bass into channel → 3, Echo as send A / return A.
In the Echo menu switch on Clock from STEPS, so the echo time snaps to note values.
In the Filter menu choose Insert on → CHORDS and turn PRESET to P3 DUAL BAND.
Patch your kick drum into Mixer KICK (channel 6). Everything else now ducks under it.
Raise SEND A on channel 1 and listen to the stabs being echoed. Press THROW for a full throw.
In the Motion menu set Motion 1 internal target → CHORDS CUTOFF for a slow filter drift.
Patch Mixer OUT L/R into your audio interface.

Mixer channel convention (used by the Brain factory scenes): 1 Chords · 2 Atmo, noise, percussion · 3 Bass · 4 Hats · 5 Snare, rim · 6 Kick.

Module · 30 HP

Chords

A harmony engine and a fifteen-voice synthesizer in one panel, with a monophonic bass on the chord root. One gate and a degree in, a finished, voiced dub stab out.

Two ways to play

Degree mode (variant A): a sequencer sends a scale degree (1 V per degree into SEQ DEGREE, or the DEGREE knob) and a gate. Chords builds the chord on that degree of the key. Without a gate cable it plays a held drone.
Keyboard mode (variant B): as soon as KEYS V/OCT is patched, the played note becomes the chord root. With several keys held, the lowest one counts. In diatonic mode the note snaps to the key; with PLAY (THRU) on, the played notes go through unchanged.
From Steps: with Play from STEPS in the menu, degree, gate and accents come from a Steps module in the chain.

Harmony

Control	Range	What it does
DEGREE	I–VII	Scale degree the chord is built on. Added to SEQ DEGREE (1 V per degree, I = 0 V; above VII continues in the next octave, below I in the octave beneath).
CHORD	17 / 8 shapes	Chord shape. In PAR mode a fixed shape that moves through the degrees like chain stabs: 5, m, madd9, m7, m7 open, m9, m9 without root, m11, m6, major, maj7, maj9, 7, sus2, sus4, fourths, m octave. In DIA mode a stack of thirds from the key: fifth, triad, seventh, ninth, eleventh, thirteenth, sus2, sus4. The name in the display follows the result.
INVERSION	0–3	The lowest notes move up an octave.
VOICING	Close, Drop-2, Open	Close keeps the notes together; Drop-2 moves the second-highest note down an octave; Open spreads the chord further.
PAR · DIA	switch	Parallel shapes or diatonic thirds from the key.
SMOOTH	switch	Voice leading: each new chord picks the inversion and octave closest to the previous chord (overrides INVERSION) without drifting more than an octave away.
AVOID	switch	Checks every note against the root of the chord (not the key): a perfect fourth above the chord root becomes a ninth, a minor sixth is removed. sus4 turns into sus2, m11 into m9.
THRU (PLAY)	switch	Keyboard mode only: the held notes play exactly as they are, without harmony processing.
ROOT	C–B	Key of the chords.
SCALE	7 modes	Aeolian (default), Dorian, Phrygian, Mixolydian, Ionian, Lydian, Locrian.
OCTAVE	−3 … +1	Register of the chord (default −2: the root sits around 110 Hz, where dub stabs live).

Sound

Control	Range	What it does
ENGINE	VA, PULSE, TINE	VA: two detuned saws that blend to square. PULSE: two pulse waves with slow counter-moving PWM. TINE: soft two-operator FM with a short attack click.
SHAPE	0–100 %	Its meaning follows the engine: saw → square (VA), pulse width 50 % ± 40 % (PULSE), FM index (TINE).
DETUNE	0–50 ct	Detune between the two oscillators of each voice (default 8 ct).
DRIFT	0–100 % (±10 ct)	Slow random pitch movement, independent per voice, up to ±10 cents.
SUB	0–100 %	Square one octave below, only on the lowest note of the chord.
NOISE	0–100 %	Pink noise per voice, before THIN and the filter; 100 % is about −18 dB.
THIN	20–500 Hz	High-pass before the sub and the filter: takes the low end out of the stab. Fully left = off.
CUTOFF (black)	20 Hz–20 kHz	Ladder filter cutoff (default about 800 Hz).
DRIVE	1× – 8×	Saturation before the filter.
RES	0–85 %	Resonance, limited below self-oscillation.
KEYTRACK	−1 … +1	How the cutoff follows pitch. Negative values (default −0.25) make high chords darker.
ENV	0 to +5 oct	Filter envelope amount.
DECAY	5 ms–2 s	Filter envelope decay: the pluck of the stab.
SLOPE	12 dB, 24 dB, BP	12 or 24 dB low-pass, or band-pass with the cutoff as centre.
ATTACK	1 ms–2 s	Amp attack.
LENGTH	0–100 %	Decay, sustain and release together: decay 50 ms–10 s, sustain up to 50 %, release half the decay. From short pluck to long, overlapping tail.
LEGATO	switch	Chord changes during a held gate glide the voices to the new notes instead of restarting the envelopes.
VCA BYP	switch	Bypasses the amp envelope while the chord is active, for an external VCA.
WIDTH	0–100 %	Stereo spread of the chord notes, lowest left to highest right.
LEVEL	0–100 %	Output level (70 % is the reference level).
DIRT	0–100 %	Tape saturation up to 60 %, above that a sampler going down to 12 bit and 26 kHz.
CHORUS	Off, I, II, I+II	Stereo chorus after the voice sum (not on POLY OUT).
PRESET	12	Chain Stab, Ninth Chain, Deep Stab, Hollow, Dorian Six, Wow Stab, Wood Stab, Glide Chain, Diatonic Walk, Ninth Walk, Glass Major, Tape Chord. Sets sound and playing parameters, never key, octave or degree. No effect while Chords follows a Brain.

Bass

The dark block on the right is a monophonic sub bass on the root of the current chord (E1–D#2, then OCTAVE). It plays figures in a sixteenth grid and never on the kick positions.

Control	Range	What it does
PATTERN	5 figures	OFF (off-beat eighths), PUSH (sixteenth after the kick, the last one dragged), DUB (three sparse notes per bar), ROOT (one note per chord), DRONE (held tonic).
VAR	none, 5th, oct, m7	Variation note in the figures.
OCTAVE	−1, 0, +1	Register around E1–D#2.
TONE	0–100 %	Sine plus up to 50 % triangle, saturation and a little noise.
DECAY	40 ms–1.5 s	Note length (to −40 dB).
LEVEL	0–100 %	70 % is about 5 V peak.
CLK, RESET	jacks	Clock (resolution in the menu, default 4 per quarter) and reset: the next pulse is the one. Without a running clock the bass plays one note per new chord.

The bass is ducked under the kick by the Mixer when it plays into a mixer channel; on its own it does not duck.

Jacks

Jack	Signal
CV: CHORD, INV	Chord shape and inversion, 0–10 V over the whole list.
CV: ROOT	Root, 1 V/oct (1/12 V per semitone).
CV: CUTOFF	Cutoff, 1 V/oct.
CV: LENGTH	Added to the LENGTH knob, ±5 V over the full range: positive longer, negative shorter.
SEQ: GATE, DEGREE	Gate and degree for degree mode.
KEYS: V/OCT, P.GATE	Poly pitch and gates from MIDI-CV for keyboard mode.
OUT: V/OCT, GATE	The current chord notes (poly) and their gates, to drive other voices.
OUT: POLY	Each voice on its own channel, before chorus.
OUT: L, R	Stereo sum.
BASS: CLK, RESET (inputs)	Bass clock and reset.
BASS: V/OCT, GATE (outputs)	Pitch and gate of the bass line, to play an external oscillator or synth with the same figures.
BASS: BASS (output)	Bass audio, mono.

Display and menu

Click the display to switch between text (chord name, degree, key, preset, notes and voices in use) and a keyboard that shows the held notes and the fading voices.

Osc 2 +1 oct: the second oscillator of every voice plays one octave higher (with TINE, the second FM pair).
Long sustain (before v4): sustain is 0.8 × LENGTH instead of 0.5 × LENGTH. Patches saved before version 4 switch this on automatically, so they keep their sound.
Bass clock pulses per quarter note: 1, 2, 4 (default) or 24.
Suite link: Play from STEPS, Bass clock from STEPS, Follow Brain.

Tip: for the classic chain stab, use PAR mode with m7 or m9, SMOOTH on, a short LENGTH and a low CUTOFF with some ENV, then throw the chords into the Echo.

Module · 18 HP

Steps

A small sequencer for Chords: a rhythm grid of one or two bars, a progression of up to eight scale degrees, accents, swing and dub variation. It also clocks the rest of the suite.

Rhythm

Control	Range	What it does
RHYTHM	10	Loads a rhythm into the grid: PURE, DOTS, CALL 1, CALL 2, CALL 3, SKANK, PUSH, SPARSE, GHOST, HOLD.
DENSITY	−100 … +100 %	Centre = the grid as it is. Left removes hits (accents last), right adds off-beats, then other sixteenths, then quarters, never on step 1.
SHIFT	0–15	Rotates the pattern by sixteenths.
SWING	50–75 %	Delays every second sixteenth.

Progression

Control	Range	What it does
PROG	6	Loads a progression into STEP 1–8: STATIC, ROCK, DROP, DESCENT, LIFT, TENSION. The STEP knobs turn with it.
STEP 1–8	I–VII, –	Degree per chord; – ends the progression early (STEP 1 always plays).
BARS	1, 2, 4	Bars per chord.
DUB	0–100 %	Randomly drops normal hits (up to half of them); above 50 % up to 10 % become accents. Accents are never dropped. The random sequence is stored with the patch and restarts on RESET.
ACCENT	0–100 %	How far an accent opens LEN (up to 2 V) and CUT (up to 1 V = one octave).
RUN	on / off	Start and stop. When stopped, the position keeps running with the clock, so you re-enter in time.

Editing the grid

Click a cell in the display to cycle it: off → hit → accent. Click into the greyed second row to extend the pattern to two bars (bar 1 is copied). The header shows the rhythm (with * when edited) and the bar within the progression. The bottom row shows the progression with upper or lower case numerals, depending on the chord quality Chords reports.

Jacks

Jack	Signal
CLK, RESET	Clock (default 4 pulses per quarter note) and reset: the next pulse is step 1, bar 1, chord 1.
DEG	Degree, 1 V per step (I = 0 V), for Chords SEQ DEGREE with its DEGREE knob on I.
GATE, ACC	Gate (half a sixteenth, or tied) and accent gate.
LEN, CUT	Accent voltages for the LENGTH and CUTOFF inputs of Chords.
ROOT	Root of the chord Chords is playing (V/oct), read from the chain.
EOC	Trigger at the end of each progression cycle, e.g. into Brain NEXT.

Menu: clock resolution and pattern length. With Play from STEPS on in Chords, no cables are needed between the two.

Module · 14 HP

Filter

A colour and motion filter for the sum: a ladder low-pass, four state-variable types and a phaser, a second filter in series or parallel, tape drive and an internal modulation source that locks to the clock.

Signal path

IN → DRIVE (tape saturation, oversampled) → FILTER A → (FILTER B in series or parallel) → MIX → LEVEL → OUT. Left and right run through separate filters with shared controls.

Control	Range	What it does
CUTOFF (black)	20 Hz–20 kHz	Cutoff or centre frequency of filter A. The "Tubby knob".
RES	0–100 %	Resonance. LP24 self-oscillates from about 95 %; the other types reach a Q of 20 and stay below self-oscillation.
DRIVE	0–100 % (0–12 dB)	Tape saturation before the filters, level compensated.
TYPE	6	Filter A: LP24 (ladder, round and full), LP12, BP (narrow band), HP (the high-pass to turn things away), NOTCH, PHASE (six-stage phaser, resonance = feedback).
B-TYPE	5	Filter B: OFF, LP12, BP, HP, NOTCH.
SGL · SER · PAR	switch	Route: filter A only, A into B, or A and B side by side. PAR with BP and BP plus an OFFSET is the classic double band-pass.
OFFSET	±3 oct	Distance of filter B from A; snaps to the centre.
MOD	5	Source of the internal modulation: LFO (sine), RAND (smooth random), STEP (sample and hold, 3 ms smoothing), ENV (envelope follower, 5 ms attack), ACC (accent envelope, 2 ms attack).
RATE	1/16–16 bars · 0.02–20 Hz · 20 ms–2 s	With a clock: note value. Without: frequency. ENV: release, ACC: decay. Without a clock, note values are calculated at 120 BPM.
DEPTH	±100 % (±4 oct)	Modulation on the cutoff.
SPREAD	0–100 %	Right cutoff up to one octave above the left, and the modulation up to 180° apart.
PRESET	10	CLEAN LP, TUBBY HP, DUAL BAND, RANDOM BAND, ACCENT SNAP, FOLLOW, PHASE, NOTCH DRIFT, SLOW SWEEP, DIRTY BAND. Sets filter and modulation, never MIX, LEVEL or the insert. No effect while Filter follows a Brain.
MIX	0–100 %	Dry against filtered at equal loudness.
LEVEL	−∞ to +12 dB	Output level, 0 dB in the centre.

Jacks

Jack	Signal
IN L, R	Audio in (R is normalled to L, poly is summed).
CUT	Cutoff CV, 1 V/oct.
RES	Resonance CV, ±5 V over the full range.
CLK	Clock for the synced modulation (resolution in the menu).
ACC	Trigger for the accent envelope.
OUT L, R	Audio out.
MOD	The internal modulation as ±5 V, to move other things along.

Display

The display draws the live frequency response of both filters, including the modulation. With SPREAD the right channel appears as a second, dimmer curve. The header shows the preset and the modulation ("RAND 1/16"), the bottom line the types and route ("BP | BP PAR").

Insert: filter without cables

With Insert on in the menu, Filter takes its input from the chain and hands the result back to the Mixer, which crossfades from the original to the filtered signal in 10 ms:

CHORDS: the chord sum on its mixer channel is filtered. The channel display shows LINK · FILTER.
ECHO return A / B: the filter sits in the echo return. Everything the FEED matrix sends back into the echo passes through it, so a high-pass makes the loop thinner with every round.
BASS: the bass of Chords on its mixer channel.

A cable in IN L switches the insert off. Only one Filter per chain can hold an insert; a second one shows TAKEN. For CHORDS and BASS the matching mixer channel has to be switched on in the Mixer menu.

Menu: Insert on, Accent from STEPS (on), Clock from STEPS (on; a cable in CLK takes priority), Follow Brain, clock resolution (default 4).

Tip: Motion is ideal for very slow filter journeys (minutes per cycle); rhythmic movement comes from the Filter's own LFO, RANDOM or STEP locked to the clock. Smooth random and Drunk walk make the gentlest sweeps; Ramp, Drop, Stairs and Sample & hold make audible jumps at high resonance.

Module · 20 HP

Echo

A stereo delay with a clean core and a reverb behind it. Filters and saturation sit inside the feedback loop, so every repeat gets darker and thinner, and the loop can sing past 100 % without blowing up.

Echo

Control	Range	What it does
TIME	10 ms–2 s	With a clock (CLK or Steps) and SYNC it snaps to the note value closest to the knob position at 120 BPM: 1/64 to a whole bar, including triplets and odd values like 3/32 or 5/16.
OFFSET	±10 %	Moves both echo times slightly off the note value, so the repeats drift against the beat. Together with SPREAD they fan out in stereo.
FREE · SYNC	switch	FREE: TIME in milliseconds even with a clock. SYNC: snaps to note values whenever a clock runs.
SPREAD	0–50 %	Right time = left time × (1 + spread). With a clock shown as e.g. "1/8. +15%".
FEEDBACK (black)	0–150 %	Above 100 % the loop runs away into a warm limiter (about 5 V). More feedback also darkens the repeats by up to half an octave.
TONE	200 Hz–19 kHz	Low-pass in the loop, 12 dB/oct. Fully open = clean digital echo.
LOW CUT	20 Hz–7 kHz	High-pass in the loop, 12 dB/oct, for thin, hissing repeats.
DRIVE	0–24 dB	Tape saturation at the input and a gentle one inside the loop.
WOBBLE	0–100 %	Wow (±28 ct), flutter (±7 ct) and slow drift of the echo time.
NOISE	0–100 %	Band-limited tape noise (300 Hz–4 kHz) inside the loop.
DUCK	0–100 %	Lowers the echo while the input plays (release 120 ms).
INVERT	switch	Inverts the feedback.
JUMP · REP	switch	Time changes crossfade (jump, 60 ms) or glide like tape (repitch, 200 ms).
PING-PONG	switch	A mono input starts left and the repeats alternate sides.
CLEAN · DUB	switch	DUB narrows the echo to 180 Hz–5 kHz and darkens it by 1.5 octaves instead of half an octave as the feedback rises: the classic dub band.

Space

Control	Range	What it does
TYPE	PLATE, HALL, CLOUD	Plate: bright and dense. Hall: smooth, diffuse room. Cloud: huge, slowly blooming, strongly modulated.
DECAY	0.5–12 s	Reverb time.
PRE-DLY	0–250 ms	Pre-delay.
DAMP	1.5–12 kHz	Damping of the highs in the tail.
MOD	0–100 %	Modulation of the reverb tail.
LOW CUT	50–600 Hz	High-pass on the reverb.

Route, play and mix

Control	Range	What it does
ALW · THR	switch	Send always, or only while THROW is held or its gate is high. Until something can throw (a THROW cable, auto-throw, or one press of THROW) it behaves like ALW.
DRY	switch	Off for use as a send effect, on for use as an insert.
THROW, FREEZE, CUT	buttons	Throw the input into the echo; freeze the loop at 100 % feedback with the input closed; stop the feedback and fade out echo and reverb tails.
ORDER	4	Echo → space, space → echo, parallel, or the space inside the echo loop.
ECHO, SPACE	0–100 %	Levels of echo and reverb.
PRESET	10	Clean, Dub Classic, Throw Only, Deep Loop, Runaway, Tape Loop, Slap, Haze, Wide, Collapse. P1–P3 are clean, from P4 on with tape character. Sets echo and space, never SEND (except Throw Only) and DRY. No effect while Echo follows a Brain.

Jacks

Jack	Signal
IN L, R	Audio in (R normalled to L).
CLK	Clock for note-value times.
TIME, FDBK, TONE	CV, ±5 V over the full range.
THROW, FREEZE, CUT	Gates.
OUT L, R	Audio out.

Click the display for the echo view: the levels of echo and reverb over the last 2.5 seconds, left and right from the centre outwards.

Menu: Auto-throw on chord change (off, 1/16, 1/8, 1/4 of the echo time, while gate), Throw with Mixer channel throws, Clock from STEPS, Follow Brain, clock resolution (1, 2, 4 or 24 pulses per quarter).

Tip: as send A of the Mixer, set DRY off and SEND to ALW, and throw single chords with the channel THROW button. A second Echo set to a long HALL or CLOUD with ECHO turned down makes a fine reverb on send B.

Module · 36 HP

Mixer

A small dub desk: five stereo channels with a sweep filter, two sends and a throw button each, a kick channel that ducks everything else, two returns and a FEED matrix that sends the returns back into the sends.

Channels 1–5

Control	Range	What it does
SWEEP	±100 %	Centre = off. Left closes a low-pass (20 kHz → 150 Hz), right opens a high-pass (20 Hz → 5 kHz), 12 dB, little resonance.
SEND A, SEND B	0–100 %	Send levels. 0–10 V on the poly SEND A/B jacks add to the knobs.
PAN	±100 %	Panorama for a mono input (constant power), balance when R is patched.
LEVEL	−∞ to +6 dB	Channel level, 0 dB at about 70 % of the travel.
POST · PRE	switch	Send tap after or before MUTE. PRE keeps feeding the echo while the channel is muted.
MUTE	button	Latching mute with a soft 7 ms ramp.
THROW	button	Sends the channel fully into send A while held.

A neon tube next to each channel shows its level (green up to 0 dB, red above). The small display at the bottom shows where the channel's signal comes from, by cable or by suite link.

Channel 6: KICK · DUCK

Channel 6 is the kick channel. It is mono, goes straight to the master and never into the sends, and pushes everything else aside.

Control	Range	What it does
DEPTH	0 to −24 dB	How far channels 1–5 are lowered (default −6 dB).
RET	0 to −24 dB	Separate ducking of return A and B (default −9 dB): reverb and echo bloom in the gaps.
ATTACK	0.1–20 ms	How fast the ducking grabs (default 2 ms). Below about 2 ms the change is smoothed slightly so it never clicks.
RELEASE	30–600 ms	Time until the level is back (5 % of the ducking left). This is the pump (default 160 ms).
FOLLOW · PUMP	switch	FOLLOW: the ducking follows the kick's energy like a sidechain compressor, full DEPTH at 5 V. PUMP: every kick hit starts the same curve, whatever its level: down in ATTACK, held for 10 ms, back in RELEASE.
LEVEL	−∞ to +6 dB	Kick level. Ducking is measured before LEVEL, so the kick level does not change it.
MUTE	button	A muted kick does not duck (unless Duck while muted).

The KICK jack takes the kick audio. TRIG (the second jack of channel 6) takes a trigger, for example straight from your drum sequencer: with a cable in TRIG, only the triggers start the pump curve. The neon tube of channel 6 shows the current ducking from the top down. Context menu: Kick low cut (off, 25 Hz, 35 Hz), Duck sends, Duck channels (exclude e.g. the hats), Duck while muted.

Returns, FEED and master

Control	Range	What it does
RETURN LEVEL A/B	−∞ to +6 dB	Return levels.
RETURN TONE A/B	500 Hz–20 kHz	Low-pass on the returns (fully right = off).
FEED A→A, A→B, B→A, B→B	0–100 %	Send a return back into a send bus: gain up to 0.8 at three quarters, then up to 1.3 where the loop tips over. A high-pass at 120 Hz and a soft limiter in each send keep it in check.
MASTER	−∞ to +6 dB	Master level. Bass below 150 Hz is folded to mono; the master stays untouched below 8 V and rounds off softly up to 10 V.

Jacks

Jack	Signal
IN 1–5 L, R	Channel inputs (R normalled to L, poly summed).
KICK, TRIG	Kick audio (mono) and duck trigger.
SEND A, B (L, R)	Send outputs.
RETURN A, B (L, R)	Return inputs.
MUTE, THROW	Poly gates, one channel per mixer channel. A mono cable controls channel 1.
SEND A, SEND B (CV)	Poly CV for the send knobs, 0–10 V.
OUT L, R	Master out.

Suite menu: Echo as send A / return A, Second echo as send B / return B, Chords into channel, Chords bass into channel.

Tip: set channel 1 to PRE, raise SEND A, then mute the channel: the chords disappear and only their echo keeps playing. Turn FEED A→A slowly past three quarters for the classic self-oscillating dub loop.

Module · 16 HP

Motion

Four slow, free-running modulation sources at related but uneven speeds, from ten minutes down to two seconds per cycle. They drift against each other, so a long track keeps changing without ever looping.

Control	Range	What it does
RATE	10 min–2 s	Cycle time of output 1, for all four outputs together. Outputs 2–4 run 1.37, 1.93 and 2.71 times faster, so they never line up.
SHAPE 1–4	20	Sine, Triangle, Ramp up, Ramp down, Breath, Tide, Wow, Siren, Drop, Swell, Pendulum, Heartbeat, Bounce, Plateau, Stairs, Stairs up-down, Ripple, Smooth random, Drunk walk, Sample & hold.
WARP 1–4	±100 %	Bends time within the cycle: the curve lingers longer at its start or its end, while start and end stay fixed.
TIME 1–4	×¼ … ×4	Speed of this output, on top of its fixed ratio. Centre = ×1. Each output has its own TIME.
AMT ± 1–4	±100 %	Amount and polarity (attenuverter).
BI · UNI	switch	Outputs ±5 V or 0–10 V.
FREEZE	button	Holds all four phases; the LED lights while frozen.

Jacks

Jack	Signal
RATE	Rate CV, +1 V doubles the speed.
RESET	All phases back to their start (0, ¼, ½, ¾).
FREEZE	Freeze gate.
OUT 1–4	The four movements, smoothed against steps.

The display shows all four curves with their playheads. Turning a knob of one output enlarges its curve, with warp, speed and amount. Motion never syncs to a clock: that is on purpose. Each patch gets its own random seed, so random shapes differ between patches but repeat after a RESET.

Menu: an internal target for each output (see suite link) and Reset from Chords.

Module · 10 HP

Brain

Scene recall for the whole suite. Brain stores the settings and couplings of every module in its chain as a scene and recalls them together, smoothly or on the next bar.

Control	Range	What it does
SCENE	1–20	Selects a scene. The display shows number, name and the part of the track.
MORPH	0–30 s	Fully left = hard switch. Continuous settings fade over the morph time, switches jump at the start.
QUANT	Off, Beat, Bar	The scene change waits for the next beat or bar (default Bar; without a clock cable changes are immediate).
SAVE	hold 1 s	Stores the current state of the chain into the selected scene.
RECALL	button	Reloads the selected scene now, discarding your changes.

Jacks

Jack	Signal
CLK, BAR	Clock (quarter notes) and a pulse on the one, for QUANT.
SCENE	Scene CV, 0–10 V over the 20 scenes.
NEXT, PREV	Triggers for the next and previous scene. Steps EOC into NEXT gives a new scene every cycle.
MORPH	Morph time CV, ±5 V.
EOM	Trigger at the end of a morph.
MORPH (out)	Morph progress, 0–10 V.

Factory bank and your own banks

The factory bank walks through the arc of a track: intro (FIRST LIGHT, HORIZON), build (FIRST STAB, CHAIN), main parts (FULL CHAIN, FODDER, WALK, PING, TAPE, LOOP SPACE, RETURN, COLLAPSE, SLAP), breaks (FOG BREAK, DROWN, GLASS, RUNAWAY), a turn (HOLD) and outro (LONG TAIL, LAST ECHO). It assumes the mixer channel convention 1 Chords, 2 Atmo, 3 Bass, 4 Hats, 5 Snare, 6 Kick.

Saving into the factory bank creates a copy ("USER 1"). Banks are stored in the patch and can be saved and loaded as files from the context menu, where you can also rename, copy, paste and clear scenes.

Every module has Follow Brain in its menu (on by default). While a module follows, its PRESET knob has no effect and its display shows the scene. Switch it off for a module you want to play freely while the rest changes with the scenes.

Two Brains

Within one chain only one Brain leads: the leftmost. A second Brain in the same chain shows 2ND BRAIN and sends nothing, so two Brains can never fight over the same knobs. Two Brains make sense in two separate chains (leave a gap in the rack between them): each chain then has its own scenes and bank, for example one chain for the main voice that follows the parts of the track, and a second voice with its own Echo whose Brain steps through scenes from a different Steps EOC.

Two modules of the same type in one chain (for example two Echos) are handled by one Brain: it stores them separately, the first Echo as send A, the second as send B.

Changelog

Beta 1 · coming soon

Seven modules: Chords, Steps, Filter, Echo, Mixer (with kick ducking), Motion and Brain.
Echo with FREE · SYNC (note values 1/64 to 1/1), OFFSET and delay times from 10 ms to 2 s.
Calm value readout on all displays.
Builds for Mac (Apple Silicon and Intel), Windows and Linux.

The plugin reports a version starting with 2 (for example 2.0.4): VCV Rack 2 only loads plugins whose version starts with its own major number. The beta number counts our releases.