So, the comparison on YouTube is between the VCV Rack and Mutable Instruments Elements, Rings, and Clouds. Mutable's offerings are presented in the Eurorack format, so they have much more 'immediacy' (physical knobs, etc.). But - they're all 'virtual' instruments! We're essentially just reading a comparison between two developers's DSP code.
There were no digital modulars in the 70s and 80s, and certainly nothing like the granular synthesis or physical modelling available today. A more meaningful comparison in that context would've been against something like a Roland System 100M or Moog Modular: instruments with real analog electronics.
Not just the same code, but in many cases, the same developers! So there is a vested interest in making things match as closely as possible - it sells hardware, after all!
There were no digital modulars in the 70s and 80s, and certainly nothing like the granular synthesis or physical modelling available today. A more meaningful comparison in that context would've been against something like a Roland System 100M or Moog Modular: instruments with real analog electronics.