Arturia synth development.

[Ingonator]

Talking about "competition" some of the Arturia plugins like e.g. Synclavier V, Matrix-12 V2 and Modular V (there are other modulars but no Moog and the iOS plugin does not count for me) have no comepeting products so far and some other of their plugins still sound better than what is available (including discontinued and Synth Edit based ones and exclusing DSP card based plugins) like e.g. SEM V2 and Prophet V3 (Prophet 5 + VS + hybrid synth).
I still like the Jupter 8 emulation for what it is even if it does not sound exatly like the real thing (and i also got Diva for Jupiter 8 sounds). To be fair none of teh xsiting Jupiter 9 emulations including the recent Roland ones seems to sound like the real thing (i owned teh real thing more than 10 years ago).

With those synths that lack low end i normally use an EQ or a Bass enhancement plugin like Waves OneKnob Phatter and it works nicely taht way. Same about other effects where external ones normally sound better anyway.

Concerning Minimoog emulation after having owned a real one around 11 years ago i tried all emulations and currently own Mini V, Monark and The Legend where IMO The Legend is the best at the moment (also after the filter was updated in Mini V). Anyway Mini V still seem to be useful and if it' only for the presets included.

Concernin gARP2600 i have TimewARP 2600 since along time and laways preferred it over Arturia ARP2600V while that one is still nice on it'S own and has some features not included in TimewARP2600 (and the development for this seemed to have mostly stopped).

Besides that with the latest V-Collection they also include Acoustic Pianos, E-Pianos and Organs. If you upgraded from V4 like i did you still go Spark 2 which is great as a drum synth. I found taht Piano V could sound surprisingly good for a pure modelling piano, at least after some tweaking to get custom presets for it. Looking forward to future updates for it.

BTW i think that their prices for single products are too high but as part of V-Collection 5 they seem to be a no brainer, especially if you got this at a discount/sale. Sometimes there also were sales of single products with very low prices (also at e.g. JRR Shop).

Concerning their hardware i am not so much enthusiastic except maybe the MatrixBrute which is quite expensive. When i decided to get a analog monosnth i got a Novation Bass Station II instead of a MiniBrute (i had tseted this mutiple times) and also got a Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol S61 controller instead of an Arturia controller (tested those too).
The Bass Station II could maybe not rival the MatrixBrute but it got a quite high amount of features too (including the filter section with overall 7 modes) and is quite versatile.

[SLiC]

So, V Collection 5 you get 17 VSTi for £300 - that's £17 per VSTi....less than most pre-set packs and each instrument has a lot of pre-sets- maybe the vest value out there along with Komplete?

You get SEM V which is as good as any of the modern offerings IMO, Synclavier V is amazing (one of the best of its type if you like that sound) and the Matrix 12 is fun. I still like and use the Modular V as I don't have anything else like it; I prefer the legend raw sound to the mini- but its worth having the Mini just for the 1000 pre-sets, full mod matrix and 32 voice polly (not 4!). I think the mini3 update with the free running osc's sound a lot better and its good to see Arturia are still working on the basic 'raw' sound of the emulation, not just adding effects and sequencing/matrix features.

All in all, Arturia are one of my favourite developers and I would recommend V Collection 5 to anyone- its on my travel laptop as it has a small footprint, is relatively CPU friendly, scalable GUI and a great sound.

[Robmobius]

All in all, Arturia are one of my favourite developers and I would recommend V Collection 5 to anyone- its on my travel laptop as it has a small footprint, is relatively CPU friendly, scalable GUI and a great sound.

It's a cheap bundle to be fair... And if you like their synths it's well worth it. But personally, I wouldn't buy it for one or two synths that I'd use as the rest would be just gathering virtual dust. But if you like your presets then you've a lot to use.

SEM V is decent but nothing special... And when you compare it to the hardware it sounds very plasticky. But then again the hardware will set you back a grand. But Diva (imo) blows it away. I know they are not the same synth of course, but in terms of that analog sound, etc.

Good price for lacklustre synths... except for the Synclavier which I think is pretty special. I'll probably buy that at some point and save myself a hundred quid (as I don't want or need the rest of the bundle).

[Examigan]

Never liked arturia, never will. I think they all sound the same, I think they half ass a lot of the software, and I honestly put them on the third shelf their with tone 2. Cutting corners where ever possible to get away with it. Filters all sound the same to me. A buddy of mine likes say they have more bugs than an elephant carcass.

Have you tried Synclavier V? It is definitely not the same as the rest, I really like it. Also, I think the Matrix-12 V is great, even though it is a bit CPU hungry.

[SLiC]

''gathering virtual dust'' - I guess that's the point, they don't eat any bread (as they say in the midlands) and it can be surprising sometimes where you find a sound you like. I have no problem with pre-sets when I am looking for inspiration or a certain sound for a song (I also have 400hp of Eurorack, so don't mind patching), but for writing songs, especially for 'other people' its the sound that they want that matters, so the more the better!); for example, I didn't expect to like the Piano V as I am happy PianoTeq user and for almost everything I prefer PianoTeq....but there were a few ambient patches in Piano V I love and use a lot....buying a bundle can lead to happy accidents!

Personally I think all VST's (including Diva and legend and Monark which I own) sound very different to the real thing; I have a ton of real analogue and most people can tell the difference on my studio speakers through my desk.....very, very few can tell the difference once a synth is in a mix...the vast majority of listener could be fooled by (or even prefer!) say the mini V over a real moog (or in reality wouldn't care!), its only us gearslutz that care how the oscillators drift at 50Hz!

[bobhva]

I am an older guy and when I was younger I could only dream of having a collection of synthesizers like I have in software today. I have 8 Arturia synths and plan to add the Synclavier V if I ever find it for a price that I can afford. I love how so many people whine and complain about how the Arturia plugins and other emulations are not perfect recreations of the originals. If it is that important to you and you have the money, by all means get the original hardware. I don't have the money or space to acquire and store a hardware collection like this. For me, as an amateur who just plays with music for fun - I really don't care if it is not a perfect copy of the original. I am so grateful to have access to software that sounds close to stuff that I could only wish for in my younger days. If you take a look here on KVR you will find that something bad has been written about almost every piece of software ever produced - I guess there will always be those who view the glass as half empty in just about every walk of life.

[Aryaroman]

I am an older guy and when I was younger I could only dream of having a collection of synthesizers like I have in software today. I have 8 Arturia synths and plan to add the Synclavier V if I ever find it for a price that I can afford. I love how so many people whine and complain about how the Arturia plugins and other emulations are not perfect recreations of the originals. If it is that important to you and you have the money, by all means get the original hardware. I don't have the money or space to acquire and store a hardware collection like this. For me, as an amateur who just plays with music for fun - I really don't care if it is not a perfect copy of the original. I am so grateful to have access to software that sounds close to stuff that I could only wish for in my younger days. If you take a look here on KVR you will find that something bad has been written about almost every piece of software ever produced - I guess there will always be those who view the glass as half empty in just about every walk of life.

All of this.

And add the many composers who have used Arturia's synths in their work. I doubt they lost a good night's sleep thinking about that "oscillator drift at 50khz" and if the developer/filmmakers/etc. will notice that, after they submitted some 4 hours of music for them.

[Robmobius]

when I was younger I could only dream of having a collection of synthesizers like I have in software today. I have 8 Arturia synths and plan to add the Synclavier V if I ever find it for a price that I can afford. I love how so many people whine and complain about how the Arturia plugins and other emulations are not perfect recreations of the originals. If it is that important to you and you have the money, by all means get the original hardware.

'Ehh up... Back in my day we only had a wheel and a stick to play with. It were great... Now all the damn kids want X-boxes.'

I love the way really old people whine and complain about the youth of today. It never gets old... By the way, how are all those other modern conveniences working out for you. Is your computer steam powered?

And no, I don't particularly want to own a load of dusty 20-year-old hardware that are the size of the titanic and will probably break down every few days.

But I will compare Arturia synths to their modern counterparts and say they are now quite far behind (imo).

[Robmobius]

Personally I think all VST's (including Diva and legend and Monark which I own) sound very different to the real thing; I have a ton of real analogue and most people can tell the difference on my studio speakers through my desk.....very, very few can tell the difference once a synth is in a mix...the vast majority of listener could be fooled by (or even prefer!) say the mini V over a real moog (or in reality wouldn't care!), its only us gearslutz that care how the oscillators drift at 50Hz!

Any decent engineer should be able to make anything sound vaguely decent. But using better quality synths will get you there faster, and will probably have a better tone (or one I'd prefer)). Do you need it? Not necessarily, use whatever you want.

And no many people would care either way as long as it sounds good, so I agree with you in part.

Diva, does a bit of everything. Diva sounds like Diva, but it's a bloody good analog emulation.

But I'd love to hear a test comparison with the SEM V Vs. A real one, on a piece of music like 80s influenced Drokk (with minimal external instruments, etc). Are you telling me you wouldn't hear the difference?

Anyway, it's all about opinions. I don't like Arturia you do... Enjoy the bundle, I won't. It's all good!

[SLiC]

I tend to agree with the earlier posts; musicians don't tend to bother to compare how different VSTi's sounds, they just make music. A good musician/producer can make anything sound good I the right context (and visa versa!)

When someone brings something out that makes Diva sound 'far behind' it wont change the fact that Diva is a very good and musical instrument, it that has fact hasn't changed with the older Artura plug ins. The one thing you can say about newer models (like the Legend) is that to get a bit more 'emulation' over the mini V you only get 4 notes polly....that may not be enough in some cases...it realy is the law of diminishing returns as people seek for that perfect emulation (that you can only really hear at 96K) that's why I run real analogue, its getting cheaper than the never ending CPU upgrade battle for new simulations....Hardware like the Deepmind 12 may well reduce the demand for VA soft synths and maybe software synth producers will do more original types of synthesis that wont be 'compared' they will just be judged on if they sound good or not!

[bobhva]

'Ehh up... Back in my day we only had a wheel and a stick to play with. It were great... Now all the damn kids want X-boxes.'

I love the way really old people whine and complain about the youth of today. It never gets old... By the way, how are all those other modern conveniences working out for you. Is your computer steam powered?

And no, I don't particularly want to own a load of dusty 20-year-old hardware that are the size of the titanic and will probably break down every few days.

But I will compare Arturia synths to their modern counterparts and say they are now quite far behind (imo).

These "modern" conveniences are just fine and I use them every day! Actually I have a pretty sweet computer with an 8 core CPU and 32GB of RAM.

I wasn't complaining about youth in any way so I'm not quite sure why you made it about this, this was about general whining from whoever complains about this crap on a constant basis. It gets old reading about how bad this or that is, if you don't like a certain product, by all means use something else.

But now that you brought it up, I will. First off I'm not that old(49). My only complaint with some younger people these days is the lack of respect for people that have more life experience than them. Don't worry, if I have any questions I will be sure to ask you while you still know it all!

[SLiC]

Personally I think all VST's (including Diva and legend and Monark which I own) sound very different to the real thing; I have a ton of real analogue and most people can tell the difference on my studio speakers through my desk.....very, very few can tell the difference once a synth is in a mix...the vast majority of listener could be fooled by (or even prefer!) say the mini V over a real moog (or in reality wouldn't care!), its only us gearslutz that care how the oscillators drift at 50Hz!

Any decent engineer should be able to make anything sound vaguely decent. But using better quality synths will get you there faster, and will probably have a better tone (or one I'd prefer)). Do you need it? Not necessarily, use whatever you want.

And no many people would care either way as long as it sounds good, so I agree with you in part.

Diva, does a bit of everything. Diva sounds like Diva, but it's a bloody good analog emulation.

But I'd love to hear a test comparison with the SEM V Vs. A real one, on a piece of music like 80s influenced Drokk (with minimal external instruments, etc). Are you telling me you wouldn't hear the difference?

Anyway, it's all about opinions. I don't like Arturia you do... Enjoy the bundle, I won't. It's all good!

I think you missed the point of my e-mail- I use real analogue (Prophet 8, Moog and a rather large modular!) as I can hear the difference and I like using hardware. I don't think any VST's (including Diva) have nailed analogue at studio quality, although Legend gets closest IMO due to a very focused model. If you really care about the sound of a synth (rather than the song or the context) get the real thing; you can get real analogue now for the cost of a handful of VSTs....there has never been a better time for cheap analogue hardware (I went from in the box to mainly hardware...you cab get the SEM sound in Eurorack format )

[fmr]

But I will compare Arturia synths to their modern counterparts and say they are now quite far behind (imo).

So, this is just your opinion, since you have no knowledge whatsoever about the hardware couterparts? Wold you be surprised if I say to you, that, for example, the Arturia Jupier-8 V is the closest software where you can pick a real Jupiter-8 patch sheet and create a sound similar to the hardware out of it? Tha same can be said about the Minimoog V, and several others. So, your opinion is just that, your opinion. You din't like Arturia synths? Fine. That doesn't make them inferior, since you aren't any kind of taste ruler.

FWIW, the Matrix V, Prophet V (with the hybrid approach), Minimoog Modular, etc, have no competition in the market, so, no matter how good they are, they are the best emulations available, period.

Arturia passed for a difficult period after they lost their main (or one of their main) developer (Xavier Oudin), Only recently (like a couple of years ago or little more than that) did they manage to find substitutes. So, I'm really optimistice rgarding the future of Arturia synths.

[Robmobius]

My only complaint with some younger people these days is the lack of respect for people that have more life experience than them.

What an obnoxious and cliche thing to say... Think that people owe you something because of your gargantuan age? Nobody owes you or me anything.

But what do you expect from the aged? 'We have all the answers...'

I'm sure your special 'life experience' has so much to offer de' kidz.

[waltercruz]

I was about to post an thread about Arturia, as they products are being silently updated! By example, the much requested sustain pedal on Solina now works (even if this is not 100% faithful to the original, is very usesu, to people who use it alive, like me). Most of the updates are still cosmetic and stability, but there are some small updates in the sound too ("The square waveform of the Prophet 5 sounds closer to the original instrument"). Maybe they are not the best emulation, but I don't feel that they're abandoned anymore.