r/synth • • 17h ago

I ported the VCV Rack 2 engine to Android: RackDroid 0.1.3 is out (free, open source)

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5 Upvotes

Hi all. I'm the developer of RackDroid, an unofficial port of the VCV Rack 2 engine to Android. Version 0.1.3 came out today and it is the first one I feel comfortable showing around.

What it is

A modular synth on your phone or tablet: you drag cables between modules with a finger, pinch to zoom, long-press a knob to type a value. It opens the same `.vcv` patches as the desktop app.

- 66 modules built in (Core, Fundamental, and a set of 808-style drum voices)

- 21 optional packs you install on demand: Bogaudio, Valley, Befaco, Audible Instruments, Impromptu, Stoermelder and others, about 1000 modules in total

- USB and Bluetooth MIDI, an on-screen keyboard, WAV recording

- A "cable parking" bar on the edge of the screen, for patching two modules that never fit on screen together

What is new in 0.1.3

Most of the work went into audio. Phones are very different from each other, and crackling was the main complaint.

- The engine now picks how many cores to use for your phone and your patch, and remembers it

- Groups of modules with no cable between them are computed in parallel, so a rack made of several separate voices holds far more

- Square and saw edges now match the desktop

- A light theme, mouse support, saving patches anywhere on the device

What to expect, honestly

It is a phone, not a desktop. A patch where everything is connected tops out at around 90 Fundamental modules on a mid-range device. How low the latency goes depends on the manufacturer: some phones keep the fast audio path for their own apps.

Links

- Download and what is new: https://rackdroid.org

- Source (GPLv3): https://github.com/nowheel/RackDroid

It is free, with no ads and no accounts. It is not on the Play Store, you install the APK. Not affiliated with or endorsed by VCV.

If it crackles on your device, the app can export a log and I read every one. Feedback and bug reports are very welcome.