Vnicursal vs Veils

Hi, folks.

Through one of Lugia's rack reduxes, I was recently introduced to the Zlob Vnicursal VCA, which packs 6 VCAs into 8hp. I have it in all my rack designs, but I'm starting to second-guess myself, since many people here use MI Veils instead.

Are there reasons for choosing Veils over Vnicursal?

Thanks,
Jack

the obvious answer is to read both manuals...

veils has variable lin/exp, offset (I believe, new version I only have the original) and a lot of gain (which can be useful - definitely enough for line-> modular) and sliders - off the top of my head

no idea about vincursal

"some of the best base-level info to remember can be found in Jim's sigfile" @Lugia

Utility modules are the dull polish that makes the shiny modules actually shine!!!

sound sources < sound modifiers < modulation sources < utilities

With both VnIcursal and Veils 2020 side by side I can perhaps add a bit to Jim's answer above:

  • VnIcursal is linear only, requiring lin/exp/adjustable upstream if you want that.
  • Where VnIcursal has a seventh mix out, Veils has flexible submix normalling.
  • Where Veils is pristine across essentially all ranges of input and control voltage, VnIcursal has some distortion character to it past certain voltages. You may want this. You may not. I like having both options around.
  • VnIcursal's trimpot layout is, frankly, error-generating. Very easy to turn the wrong pot.
  • And lastly there's the obvious channel count / HP density difference.

Hi Jtunes_ia,

Good comments by Jim and Mvdirty!

The main reason for me to choose the Veils over the VnIcursal would be the user interface. The Veils has, in my opinion, a better user interface, it looks calmer and I am sure with the Veils one would feel more comfortable in usage rather than the VnIcursal, when fully patched, having 18 cables going to a small 8 HP panel with 6 tiny potentiometers above those 18 cables... mwaaahhh.... Veils is the winner here for me.

Though I have to admit those 8 small potentiometers on the Veils is of a similar problem, at least the sliders make this module a bit more comfy to use though.

Now if you want a serious comfortable module to use, then you might want to look at the dual VCA called Waldorf - DVCA1 (look at my below website for a downloadable report in PDF format about the DVCA1), it's on offer right now and is one of the best (if not the best) VCAs I have come across so far. But... there is always a but... it is 20 HP wide, that's the downside of it; if HP usage is an issue that is.

Good luck with choosing a suitable (quad/dual) VCA and kind regards, Garfield.

For review reports of Eurorack modules, please refer to https://garfieldmodular.net/ for PDF formatted downloads

Yeah, VnIcursal did look cramped, and given everything you guys mentioned, I think I'll avoid it for now.
Thanks a lot,
Jack

FWIW, it isn’t so much that VnIcursal is cramped, it is that the ordering of the pots, in relation to their channels, is really unintuitive. Zoom in on one of the module images and you’ll see what I mean. :)

They’re both pretty great little modules, though. They just optimize for different things, as with all good modules large or small.