Official Arturia VCollection5 thread

[wagtunes]

Sequencing in the Synclavier (not just using as an arpeggiator) is tricky and requires some really heavy duty programming. But it's worth it. The key is making the most out of your partials frame tuning and frame speed. It's not the most elegant nor the easiest way to create a sequence, but the upside is you can get sequences that are just not possible with any other synth. At least none that I know of. There are dedicated sequence VSTs (a few in Reaktor such as VSS) that can do some very complex sequences, but no synths on this level.

Actually it reminds me a lot of the keyframe based sequencing in Kinisis:

http://www.kvraudio.com/product/kinisis ... io/details

It's actually closer to how sequencing is done in animation programmes (eg Flash).

I used Flash many, many years ago when it was Flash 4. Now I think they're up to Flash 8. Yes, it is similar but I think a lot easier than Flash, which is why I eventually dumped it.

[deastman]

Flash has always had an abysmal keyframing system which made me tear my hair out every time I used it.

I have to agree though, the partial keyframing in the Synclavier is really excellent. A bit tedious, perhaps, but quite intuitive and easy to work with. And the results are fairly unique.

[aMUSEd]

Would be good if all the Analog Lab 2 controller params didn't start with 'Part 1...' because in hosts they just show up with the same name when shortened - dumb automation naming.

[trusampler]

Agreed!

[exmatproton]

Would be good if all the Analog Lab 2 controller params didn't start with 'Part 1...' because in hosts they just show up with the same name when shortened - dumb automation naming.

+1

[artao]

Here is a quick and dirty video I put together comparing the Mini from 4 to 5.

There are 3 sections to the video: 1. similar settings, 2. similar sound, 3. with drums for context.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NJPcLDTcJQ

The new interface isn't updating all the time...the key presses are missed.
I have no idea what is what. I find one is more quiet compared to the other. So it is difficult to compare them

I matched the peak levels between them but not the measured loudness. should be close enough to draw a comparison.

In that case they are different for sure. Don't know which one i like more. Some further testing with high resonance and pulses would result in a defenitive answer.

What is your opinion? Which one do you prefer?

Interesting. I hear virtually no difference aside from the apparent loudness. Perhaps a slightly brighter sound with the new version.

[artao]

Wait... are they rendering a different image file for every single key? That's borderline idiotic.

Not only one.

The minimoog has 44 keys. There is a separate folder for each key, and each key folder contains 8 key images. Then there are 5 sizes. Added together the minimoog keyboard comes to a grand total of 1,220 image files in 255 folders. (~28MB)

ARP: 49 keys

Jupiter: 61 keys

etcetera

You do the math.

Pardon my French, but this is f**king ridiculous. :O
What noob did they have do these GUIs, and why the HELL did they do it this way? Utterly ridiculous. There's no excuse for this.
Arturia, time to re-implement your new GUI designs, in a sensible manner. There's no excuse for the gorram interface graphics to take up such a vast amount of space.

And now I'm seeing that knob/parameter information has been stuffed into a box on the bottom of the interface? o.O ... who the hell thought THAT was a good idea. the info should be AT THE KNOB!!!!

The more I read about these updates, now that people are using them, the less inclined I feel to update my V4 set to V5 (and the ONLY new instrument i'm interested in is the Synclavier. not worth the full 200 buck upgrade price)

<sigh> I was SO excited Thursday when my e-mail said the updates were available. Then i was shocked and disappointed that they wanted another 100 bucks from me JUST for the V4 instrument updates. Then I was outraged that our custom patches weren't compatible, and that the Sound Map has been removed.

I'm gonna try the demos of the Modular and Arp 2600 tho. Just downloading them now. May as well check out Analog Lab 2 while I'm at it, even tho it's utterly useless to me without the full V5 synths. .. that way I can at least hear what the Synclavier sounds like.

Regardless, I'll be holding off on paying for this update. It looks like Arturia has some updating to do on these updates :\

[fmr]

The more I read about these updates, now that people are using them, the less inclined I feel to update my V4 set to V5 (and the ONLY new instrument i'm interested in is the Synclavier. not worth the full 200 buck upgrade price)

Actually, the Synclavier alone is worthing the price of the upgrade

[artao]

The more I read about these updates, now that people are using them, the less inclined I feel to update my V4 set to V5 (and the ONLY new instrument i'm interested in is the Synclavier. not worth the full 200 buck upgrade price)

Actually, the Synclavier alone is worthing the price of the upgrade

The Synclavier alone IS the price of the upgrade. What are you talking about?

[4damind]

And now I'm seeing that knob/parameter information has been stuffed into a box on the bottom of the interface? o.O ... who the hell thought THAT was a good idea. the info should be AT THE KNOB!!!!\

I agree, this was a design mistake. Under some circumstances you never see the values for the knobs/sliders. I hope they add quick infos with some of the next updates and/or move the info text field to the top of the GUI.

[fmr]

The more I read about these updates, now that people are using them, the less inclined I feel to update my V4 set to V5 (and the ONLY new instrument i'm interested in is the Synclavier. not worth the full 200 buck upgrade price)

Actually, the Synclavier alone is worthing the price of the upgrade

The Synclavier alone IS the price of the upgrade. What are you talking about?

You need to make up your mind Either the Synclavier alone worths the upgrade or not

[artao]

The more I read about these updates, now that people are using them, the less inclined I feel to update my V4 set to V5 (and the ONLY new instrument i'm interested in is the Synclavier. not worth the full 200 buck upgrade price)

Actually, the Synclavier alone is worthing the price of the upgrade

The Synclavier alone IS the price of the upgrade. What are you talking about?

You need to make up your mind Either the Synclavier alone worths the upgrade or not

uhh ... sry, but reading comprehension much?
the Synclavier alone is 200 bucks. the price of the upgrade is 200 bucks. therefore, the synclavier alone IS the price of the upgrade.
to me, no, it is not worth 200 bucks.
i'm not even sure at this point that simply updating my V4 instruments to the V5 instruments is worth a HUNDRED bucks. at best, I'm going to wait for awhile and see how things settle out with the updated versions. there's some issues, most certainly. for now the V4 instruments are fine, as they have been since I bought them.

[jbraner]

As a "V Collection Classics" owner, I really don't understand why we can't just:
- either update the "Classics" collection (which doesn't seem to exist in V5)
- or update the individual instruments (there is only one license key for the whole collection of 5 instruments)

My only option is to upgrade to the full V collection, which I don't really want to do right now

It sounds like there were a few brain farts going around at Arturia. I hope they take a step back and re-think this...

[jasco]

As a "V Collection Classics" owner, I really don't understand why we can't just:
- either update the "Classics" collection (which doesn't seem to exist in V5)
- or update the individual instruments (there is only one license key for the whole collection of 5 instruments)

My only option is to upgrade to the full V collection, which I don't really want to do right now

It sounds like there were a few brain farts going around at Arturia. I hope they take a step back and re-think this...

This.

[Scotty]

We need a counterbalance to some of breathless nail biting in this thread. I'd love to hear from those of you who are using the new stuff and are inspired by the sound and presentation. I'll start.

Here are my thoughts on Arturia latest update.

If you own Analog Lab you will get Analog Lab 2 for free. Apart from a newly designed and pleasing interface, It contains hundreds of presets from their new synths with an incredible amount of flexibility on hand. It is far more than a preset player with significant tweaking options available. You can load two parts and global effects are available. There are over 400 presets alone for the Synclavier to which the underlying sound is drawn from from a one to one emulation of the real deal. There are over 30 Piano presets which are taken from the Arturia Piano collection. The piano sounds are created using physically models of strings and sound board resonances. While PianoTeq will not lose sleep over Arturia's entry into the physical modelled world of pianos the sounds are extremely useful and even in the Analog Lab 2 format can be altered significantly with pleasing results. With over 5000 presets on offer including sounds from the now updated filter of the Arturia Mini, the Physically modelled 73, and the new organs this could well be all the that you need to create some very inspiring sounds. Did I mention that this update is free to those who have Analog Lab in their account?

Should you own previous bundes (V Collection 3 and 4). Arturia is asking $99.00 to update the guis of all their older synths in one fell swoop. Otherwise you can cherry pick. For a paltry $9.99 you can update the interface of any single older plugin. The ARP 2600 would be the obvious choice given how much functionality was crammed into such a small space in an age when monitor resolution was limited. Speaking of graphics, Arturia made the wise decision to provide realistic and resizable guis for the V2 updates. This is a decision which makes sense given the analog lineage to which they pay homage. There are no vector graphics here, a design choice of which I am grateful.

In regard to the sound, Arturia has been in this game for a long time. Some of their older synths have been eclipsed by more modern competition. NI's Monark for example is a superior emulation of the moog sound but the Mini V2 with its updated filter comes very close and is likely close enough for all but a few. It is also polyphonic. The ARP 2600 has been reviewed by SOS magazine and it was rated superior to the TimewARP 2600 option which is its closest competitor that I have tried. Despite its age it remains a valuable part of the collection. The newer synths including the Matrix, Vox, Sem, Solina and Wurlitzer are practically alive and to me are best in class. The Wurlitzer and the Vox have extensive sound efx on offer including amplifiers, rotary efx and stomp boxes. While they do their intended job very well it is when you start to manipulate them and use them outside of their traditional scope that new sonic territory is made available and it is a inspiring place to explore.

This brings me to the latest additions to the Arturia line to which I invite thoughtful comment in regard to the sound. It would be nice to read more comments without the posters complaining about their precious hard drive resources and self-abscribed world class expertise in graphic design.