VCV Rack is a very popular software-based modular synthesizer. Thousands of people are using it to make music in their computers. Most often, though, the music consists of a single texture that runs from the start of the piece to the finish.

This approach doesn’t satisfy me. Maybe I’m old-fashioned (well, I know I’m old-fashioned), but I like a piece of music to go somewhere. Again and again, when listening to home-produced electronic music, I hear a 5-minute piece to which my response is, “That’s a nice 8-bar intro. When does the A section start?”

VCV provides various ways to add structure, but for one reason or another most people seem not to want to use them. One of the easiest and most effective methods is to use Jeremy Wentworth’s Arrange module. Here’s a simple example of what I’m talking about. It’s called “Adrift.”