VCV Parable Instruments vs Clouds sound quality

BlindedVeils · February 16, 2020, 2:27pm

Wondering if anyone has tried both the VCV version of parasites resonator/clouds resonator and found differences. I assume sound fidelity is much better in VCV. There is also a Hi and Lo Fi mode in VCV that makes me anxious in getting a Monsoon - Supercell variants. The effect is super cool but are the hardware versions completely different?

DonKartofflo · February 17, 2020, 12:53pm

Why would the fidelity be better in vcv?
Hi and lo fi mode refer to original clouds‘ 8 and 16 bit modes afaik

BlindedVeils · February 17, 2020, 1:22pm

ah nice to know. I assumed the emulation isn’t an exact copy.

pichenettes · February 17, 2020, 1:29pm

Clouds’ audio ADC is notoriously crappy, it’s used in 16-bit mode but given the noise, it’s more like 13-bit or even 12-bit. So VCV’s high-fidelity mode is probably going to be less noisy than the actual hardware, while in lo-fi mode they should both sound the same.

DonKartofflo · February 17, 2020, 4:37pm

Wow i stand corrected

sempervirent · February 20, 2020, 8:07pm

FWIW we’ll be adding a Supercell plugin to VCV Rack soon. Same caveats above apply of course. We considered adding more hi-fi options but wanted to maintain parity with the hardware (to a certain degree) and avoid extensive DSP changes.

aphexhex · February 21, 2020, 12:58am

Just my experience from using mine and a friend’s: I’ve found the Grayscale Microcell to be noticeably noisier compared to Mutable Instruments’ Clouds. I haven’t taken precise measurements, but there’s enough added noise that it’s very obvious without whipping out an oscilloscope.

In order of noise from least to most: VCV Clouds, Clouds, Monsoon, Microcell/Supercell

Parasite firmware also seems to be moderately noisier, not sure why that’s the case.

sempervirent · March 13, 2020, 4:33am

@aphexhex the difference probably comes down to the added output gain on Supercell/Microcell. Optimize your levels going in and you won’t have to compensate by boosting the output, which correspondingly adds noise because the noise floor of your Eurorack system is being amplified along with the signal. You don’t hear this on VCV because it’s a simulation; you don’t hear this on Clouds or Monsoon because there’s no way to boost the output (but there are “complaints” about the output being too quiet which is why the output boost was added).

Sonam · March 14, 2020, 3:49pm

I would just like to say I find the noise on my monsoon v factory clouds to be more manageable tbh. (not to disprove your experience@!!)