Vessel

Vessel models a resonant bowl excited by a mallet. Strike it for a ringing decay, or maintain friction around its rim to build a sustained tone. Pitch, material, and mallet choice shape the response; the bowl can keep ringing after the gesture ends.

Use Vessel alone for direct performance and CV control. Add V.Tune for six dedicated controls over excitation, decay, mode-pair imperfection, and stereo observation.

1. Add Vessel. Connect L and R to a stereo mixer or audio output and begin at a low listening level.
2. Leave FREQ near its default C4, FINE centered, and ΔHz at zero. Start with Crystal and Wood.
3. Click halfway up the left HIT pad. Click higher for a stronger strike, then let the bowl decay.
4. Hold the right RUB pad near its middle. Give the friction tone time to build; drag upward or downward to vary intensity, then release.
5. For sequencing, patch a trigger to HIT (T) and pitch CV to V/OCT. Add 0–10 V to VEL for dynamic accents.
6. For automated rubbing, patch a gate to RUB (G) and a slow 0–10 V envelope to INTENSE.

Click a numbered marker to jump to its description. Controls and connections have separate views.

1

Energy and frequency readout

Above the bowl

The bar follows energy remaining in the model, including quiet tails. L and R show the two bowl frequencies. This is a model-energy display, not an output-level meter.

2

HIT pad

Left half of the bowl

Click to strike once. Higher on the pad gives greater velocity; the bottom gives zero. Holding does not repeat the hit. Release and click again for another strike.

3

RUB pad

Right half of the bowl

Hold to rub, and drag vertically to change intensity: higher is stronger. Release to stop manual rubbing; a connected RUB gate can still keep contact active.

4

FREQ and FINE

Main knob and small adjacent knob

FREQ sets the base pitch from 20 Hz to 2 kHz; the default is C4 (about 261.63 Hz). FINE adds −100 to +100 cents. V/OCT adds pitch CV, with the combined target limited to 20–2000 Hz.

5

METAL / CRYSTAL

Material switch

Selects one of two bowl profiles. Crystal is the default. Compare both with the same strike and pitch; they change the resonant character of the model.

6

MALLET

Four illustrated choices

Click Wood, Suede, Silicone, or Felt. The selection affects both impact and friction behavior. Wood is the default; a mallet that suits a strike may behave differently when rubbed.

7

ΔHz

Lower-left large knob

Sets the difference between left and right bowl frequencies, 0–33 Hz. Zero gives equal tuning. This is separate from V.Tune’s WIDTH control.

8

LEVEL

Small knob near V/OCT

Output gain from 0–200%, default 100%. It remains on Vessel when V.Tune is attached. Lowering it reduces the output without changing the bowl’s stored energy.

9

V.Tune button and link light

Gear button; top-right indicator

Click the gear to create V.Tune immediately to the right. The button hides while the companion is attached. Vessel’s link light is amber while attached but not ready, and green when accepting its controls.

Inputs and outputs · 10–15

10

HIT (T)

Trigger input

A rising edge strikes the bowl. The threshold is 1 V; the detector rearms at 0.1 V or below. A held high signal produces one hit.

11

VEL

Velocity input · 0–10 V

Sets gate-triggered hit velocity, replacing the stored or V.Tune VELOCITY setting. 0 V gives no hit energy; 10 V gives full velocity. Manual HIT uses its pad position instead.

12

RUB (G)

Gate input

Holds friction contact active. Turns on at 1 V and off at 0.1 V or below. With INTENSE unpatched, rubbing uses the stored or V.Tune SPEED and PRESSURE settings.

13

INTENSE

Intensity input · 0–10 V

Overrides separate speed and pressure with a coordinated rubbing gesture. Requires RUB (G) to be high, unless the manual RUB pad is held. The held pad takes priority over this input.

14

V/OCT

Pitch input

Adds 1 V per octave to FREQ and FINE. All inputs use channel one; Vessel is a monophonic voice with stereo output.

15

L / R

Two mono audio outputs

Patch both to a stereo mixer or audio destination. Each jack carries one channel. One output can be used alone, but it does not sum the stereo pair.

Friction is an interaction between speed, pressure, mallet, and the bowl’s existing energy. More intensity need not sound like a simple volume increase. Let a setting settle before comparing another, and try a small hit to begin a sustained gesture.

All five input jacks read their first channel. A polyphonic pitch or gate cable does not create extra voices. HIT and RUB can be used together.

FREQ, FINE, and V/OCT establish the center pitch. ΔHz separates the bowls around that center: the left is lower by half the difference and the right is higher by half. At 261.63 Hz with ΔHz = 6 Hz, the readout is approximately L: 258.6 Hz and R: 264.6 Hz. Near the pitch limits, the center is moved inward to keep both bowls within 20–2000 Hz.

V.Tune WIDTH changes the separation of the observation positions on the modeled bowl. It does not set a frequency difference. To compare the two effects, first leave ΔHz at zero and sweep WIDTH; then hold WIDTH steady and slowly raise ΔHz.

The labels DELTA, THETA, ALPHA, BETA, and GAMMA above ΔHz identify ranges of the selected frequency difference. They are not measurements of the listener. The bowl’s color follows pitch.

1. Click Vessel’s gear button to create V.Tune, or add V.Tune from the module browser.
2. Keep V.Tune immediately to Vessel’s right, touching in the same row. No cable is needed between them.
3. Adjust its six knobs; Vessel supplies the audio. Output LEVEL stays on Vessel.

On attachment, V.Tune adopts the current Vessel settings. While connected, Vessel retains the received settings, so removing or bypassing V.Tune leaves the latest values available. Moving a V.Tune to another Vessel adopts that new neighbor’s values.

Read the V.Tune control guide →

Right-click Vessel for Processing quality. The options are 48 kHz — Economy, 96 kHz — Balanced, and 192 kHz — Reference. Balanced is the default. These are target modes; the actual internal rate depends on the host sample rate and any fallback. Read the Actual internal rate entry in the menu.

Saving the Rack patch preserves controls, selected material and mallet, and processing quality. Save the connected pair to keep V.Tune’s panel settings and body-map preferences too. The running vibration is not stored as an audio recording; excite the bowl again after loading.

Bypassing Vessel mutes its outputs while its model continues processing. It does not freeze the ringing tail.

VCV Rack 2 · 16 HP · monophonic physical-model voice · five mono CV/gate inputs · two mono audio outputs forming a stereo pair · two materials · four mallets · optional right-side V.Tune.

V.Tune User Manual →

Checked against the local Vessel engine, performance-pad widgets, V.Tune connection protocol, and plugin manifest on October 28, 2026. Appearance and available behavior can differ between releases.