ARP 2600 Clone?

[Daags]

But if he just wants something "close" I'd say go with Timewarp unless money is an issue than Arturia. Neither one is going to give him what he really wants but if it's a synth with a name tag that says "2600" that's good enough, either one will do.

seems like what he wants is the "best", which it sounds like you think is timewarp.

see? that wasnt that hard was it?

yes, but then how would anyone know that he's an elite synth ninja ?

[chaosWyrM]

personally,

id start off with the voltkitchen one and see if that gets you where you want to go. its free...and its a fun instrument.

[ontol]

[wagtunes]

But if he just wants something "close" I'd say go with Timewarp unless money is an issue than Arturia. Neither one is going to give him what he really wants but if it's a synth with a name tag that says "2600" that's good enough, either one will do.

seems like what he wants is the "best", which it sounds like you think is timewarp.

see? that wasnt that hard was it?

No, but it's the weakest "recommendation" I've ever made for a synth where I really just want to say "don't get any of them."

But hey, it's his money. I was trying to save him some.

[chaosWyrM]

But if he just wants something "close" I'd say go with Timewarp unless money is an issue than Arturia. Neither one is going to give him what he really wants but if it's a synth with a name tag that says "2600" that's good enough, either one will do.

seems like what he wants is the "best", which it sounds like you think is timewarp.

see? that wasnt that hard was it?

No, but it's the weakest "recommendation" I've ever made for a synth where I really just want to say "don't get any of them."

But hey, it's his money. I was trying to save him some.

hmm...really? cuz if that were the case why not just suggest the voltkitchen one? or do you think that that one at $0 isnt even worth the install compared to the others at $99 and $199?

[wagtunes]

But if he just wants something "close" I'd say go with Timewarp unless money is an issue than Arturia. Neither one is going to give him what he really wants but if it's a synth with a name tag that says "2600" that's good enough, either one will do.

seems like what he wants is the "best", which it sounds like you think is timewarp.

see? that wasnt that hard was it?

No, but it's the weakest "recommendation" I've ever made for a synth where I really just want to say "don't get any of them."

But hey, it's his money. I was trying to save him some.

hmm...really? cuz if that were the case why not just suggest the voltkitchen one? or do you think that that one at $0 isnt even worth the install compared to the others at $99 and $199?

Having downloaded just about every free synth VST ever made (big mistake) the 2600va was one of my first. It is buggy as hell and sounds like crap. No, it wasn't even worth the time it took me to download and put it in my VST folder. It has long since been deleted.

[EnGee]

But if he just wants something "close" I'd say go with Timewarp unless money is an issue than Arturia. Neither one is going to give him what he really wants but if it's a synth with a name tag that says "2600" that's good enough, either one will do.

seems like what he wants is the "best", which it sounds like you think is timewarp.

see? that wasnt that hard was it?

No, but it's the weakest "recommendation" I've ever made for a synth where I really just want to say "don't get any of them."

But hey, it's his money. I was trying to save him some.

No. You just wanted to have some presence that's all!

How could you recommend or not recommend a synth you have never owned or demoed! Based on what you had your opinion?! (Timewarp 2600)

Have you ever owned an ARP 2600 anyway? Which model was it?

You even didn't try programming the Arturia one because you can't see the fonts!!

[chaosWyrM]

Having downloaded just about every free synth VST ever made (big mistake) the 2600va was one of my first. It is buggy as hell and sounds like crap. No, it wasn't even worth the time it took me to download and put it in my VST folder. It has long since been deleted.

fair enough.

i happen to disagree. i havent found it to be buggy in the least. i also think it sounds quite nice. do i use it often? no...but i do break it out on occasion when i want something with a bit of an old school dirty edgy sound to it from a synth people wont be able to identify.

i find it to be perfectly serviceable and even "pretty good" when used in the right situations.

but then again...my favorite band is neubauten who used wired up shopping carts, rusty metal pipes, and sand to make music.

[db3]

I like the tone of Arturia's 2600. Maybe not faithful, but arp-esque. Decent run down here... http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun05/a ... ria2600htm ...although there were probably some updates in V2.

General consensus seems to be the TimewARP 2600 is more authentic sounding.

[Daags]

i'm not really sure how one can say timewarp sounds more 'authentic' than the arturia ... to me it smacks of echo-chamber commentary that just keeps bouncing back and forth, gathering more 'truth' with each repitition.

its a modular synth ... so, if say the oscillator sounds closer on one VS the other, or the filter sounds closer ... ok, that's probably fine if your patch simply involves an oscillator being run through the filter with a basic amp envelope. and maybe that's enough to say one is more authentic than the other ? maybe. you could argue that.

but is that the kind of patch most people get a machine/plugin like this to knock out ? i propose not .... to me, it seems more likely that people will be making patches that look like a plate of spaghetti - coupled with the sequencer - and I have my doubts that anyone has done such a shoot out between one of the 2600 hardware variations in 'good' calibration, vs the latest arturia, vs the latest timewarp with these kind of patches. if they have, I haven't read such shoot outs and/or heard any demos.

authenticity wasn't what was asked for anyway ... just which is the best ... and for my money the best would be the arturia .... it's kept up to date, there is no sign of arturia disappearing or abandoning it. you can demo it. wayoutware's timewarp ? ... i don't feel confident spending money with that developer, the plugin seems like abandonware and ...if I'm not mistaken, you can't demo it ? wayoutware also have conducted themselves in a shady manner as developer for roger linn's hardware product.

ymmv.

[VariKusBrainZ]

In a mix or with effects/EQ/Dynamics no one would know

[fmr]

i'm not really sure how one can say timewarp sounds more 'authentic' than the arturia ... to me it smacks of echo-chamber commentary that just keeps bouncing back and forth, gathering more 'truth' with each repitition.

its a modular synth ... so, if say the oscillator sounds closer on one VS the other, or the filter sounds closer ... ok, that's probably fine if your patch simply involves an oscillator being run through the filter with a basic amp envelope. and maybe that's enough to say one is more authentic than the other ? maybe. you could argue that.

As I said, there were so many incarnations of ARP 2600 that I can just laugh when I see some snobbery like "there is none". I can't testify the degree of fidelity the Arturia or the WOW emulations have to the real thing, since I never worked with one real thing (BTW - which real thing? v1? v2? v3? v4? etc.). Perhaps the main complain towards the Arturia emulation is about the envelopes not being snappier enough, but since there were so many ARP 2600s and the electronics used were so different from each other, it may very well happen that Arturia just modeled one unit that had envelopes not so snappy as other incarnations.

Anyway, for the price, i think it is a darn good VI, and fulfills very well it's role of recreating the ARP 2600 (at least, when I use the patches from the original manual, they sound pretty close to what I imagine were the original sounds, based on the descriptions). The manual is available around in the web, so anyone that has doubts may search for it, grab a demo of Arturia emulation, and try for themselves.

[.jon]

ARP 2600 is a super sexy synth and yes, I'd very much like to have one to explore and play. Unfortunately I don't honestly think it sounds all that interesting in the demos I've watched, and the interface doesn't translate, like, at all into a software GUI. Programming it looks pretty awkward in real life, I have no idea why anyone would replicate and multiply that pain in 2D mousy crap.

[fmr]

ARP 2600 is a super sexy synth and yes, I'd very much like to have one to explore and play. Unfortunately I don't honestly think it sounds all that interesting in the demos I've watched, and the interface doesn't translate, like, at all into a software GUI. Programming it looks pretty awkward in real life, I have no idea why anyone would replicate and multiply that pain in 2D mousy crap.

To be honest, the only time I could contact live with one (when JMJ came to Portugal), I felt a little disappointed with the sound. I remember to have thought to myself: WTF - this is it? Of course, there was near that a Moog Modular and the ARP 2500, and several VCS-3 surrounding it, so...

[ENV1]

General consensus seems to be the TimewARP 2600 is more authentic sounding.

No idea what model the TimewARP is supposed to emulate, but Arturias would seem to be the model with the newer oscillators and the 4012 VCF, which means 'authentic' ultimately depends.


As for the idea that Arturias emulation 'sounds nothing like a real 2600': I think you can draw your own conclusion from this audio. Id only gotten around to 2 tests, but ive got tons of dry sourcematerial from practically all of the real 2600s features so i will probably do a couple more just to demonstrate that the idea that Arturias emulation 'sounds nothing like a real 2600' is simply.....absurd.

Comparison Audio ARP 2600 / ARP 2600V 1.2 - May 2007


And just to make this clear too: I am not saying that the emulation is perfect in every conceivable aspect, because that would be equally absurd. There certainly are things that can still be improved, like for instance the subtle growl the real 4012 has at high resonance (which is pretty much absent in the emulation) and the fact that the Saws are supposed to be ramping upwards and not downwards, etc. All this goes without saying, the point is that the claim that the 2600V sounds 'nothing like a real 2600' is no more than a well-repeated rumor and easily disproven if you take the time to sit down and actually compare the two.