ARTURIA ARP 2600V vs Way Out Ware TimewARP 2600 in 2017?

[pcf]

Any opinions about ARTURIA ARP 2600V versus Way Out Ware TimewARP 2600?

I have read all the old reviews, but I'm wondering if TimewARP 2600 has been updated since then?

I'm asking because TimewARP 2600 is on sale for just $39 now, and I was wondering if I should buy it: http://www.pluginboutique.com/product/1 ... ewARP-2600

If anyone tried them recently, which one seems more authentic - or usable - to you? Thanks!

[Autobot]

I would say that TimewARP 2600 is closer to a real Arp then the Arturia one -- design-wise as well as sound-wise. Nevertheless the TimewARP 2600 sounds a bit outdated and use simple "tricks" to sound more authentic (e.g. a steady noticeable vibrato). You can make the sounds of TimewARP 2600 with a lot of other synths. The only advance of TimewARP 2600 is the structure (which imo is very important in designing sounds). And TimewARP 2600 is still a bit unstable and has some quirks a new version was announced a long time ago I do not know if this ever happens. When you really really really in need of a Arp I would buy TimewARP 2600 but only on discount or from the 2nd-hand market ... (Arturia for me is a no-go, at least their software stuff, I do not like the sound and the design)

hope that helps

[bobhva]

I own and like the Arturia version, mind you I'm not saying it is better than Timewarp. The Timewarp 2600 is on sale for only $39 at pluginboutique.com which a good deal. I actually bought the Timewarp 2600 in the past and had technical problems that Sonivox could not resolve so I got a refund. I never experienced the real Arp 2600 so I can't say how close Timewarp or the Arturia version are. I will say that Sonivox is one of the worst companies that I have ever dealt with when it comes to customer service and even at the $39 sale price I can't bring myself to purchase another one of their products.

[VariKusBrainZ]

Sound On Sound didn't think much of it and considered the Arturia to be more feature rich and closer in sound to the hardware

[egbert101]

Arturia recently improved the sound engine on their older emulations, so the quality is really high. Authenticity, however, is still somewhat questionable. Also, they improved the interfaces to very high resolutions, so the installation uses up far more disk space.

Arturia seem to be still updating their old emulations, and at least trying to make them more authentic, so in the long term Arturia are a good bet. I spend a lot of time switching between older and newer versions, because the older sound more authentic (or sound more analogue) but lesser quality, while the newer sound a bit different but higher quality.

I've heard a lot of talk that TimewARP 2600 is supposed to be closer to the original, but I'm a bit suspicious considering how old the software is, compared to modern advances in circuit modelling, zero delay filters, sample rate audio, and all that.

Some alternatives you might consider are GForce Oddity2, which is again very authentic and has the Moog Ladder filter that the older ARP 2600 had, or u-he's ACE, which is very loosely inspired by the ARP 2600, but has a very high quality analogue sound, and modular possibilities.

Hope that helps.

[pandashake]

The way I understand it is development of the TimewARP is pretty much dead and will not be revived outside of maintenance updates. Just glad to have a x64 version of it.

With that out of the way, I believe it captures the quirks and "spirit" of the hardware better than the more feature-ridden and smoother-sounding Arturia version; however, I prefer the Arturia version better if only for the fact that it's a lot harder to blow up your monitors with it than with the TimewARP. The volume scaling is a little odd in the TimewARP. As I recall from my brief time with a hardware 2600, it could get super loud as well.

Now, the only other reason why I like the Arturia over the TimewARP is the scale-able interface and sequencer, which is a nice touch. Does it sound exactly or even 90% like a 2600? Nope, but it is stable and much easier to maintain.

[wagtunes]

Arturia. End of post.

[ENV1]

I would say that TimewARP 2600 is closer to a real Arp then the Arturia one

I've heard a lot of talk that TimewARP 2600 is supposed to be closer to the original

Nobody can say that since not even the originals sound like each other.

(After all there were several revisions of the 2600. The oscs were exchanged like 3 times, the filter was exchanged at some point too, heck, even the op-amps were exchanged at some point.)

So before you ask yourself the question "Which one is closer, Wayout or Arturia", the question you have to ask first is "Closer to what?".

After all theres a whole bunch of them.

[electro]

The way I understand it is development of the TimewARP is pretty much dead and will not be revived outside of maintenance updates. Just glad to have a x64 version of it.

Wasn't there recent talk of a 2.0 update with new GUi?

[sbangs_air]

The way I understand it is development of the TimewARP is pretty much dead and will not be revived outside of maintenance updates. Just glad to have a x64 version of it.

Wasn't there recent talk of a 2.0 update with new GUi?

Yes and a relaunch of sister product kikaxxe.

[Echoes in the Attic]

The way I understand it is development of the TimewARP is pretty much dead and will not be revived outside of maintenance updates. Just glad to have a x64 version of it.

Wasn't there recent talk of a 2.0 update with new GUi?

Yes and a relaunch of sister product kikaxxe.

Sure... right after the "demo" is released...

[Echoes in the Attic]

Arturia recently improved the sound engine on their older emulations, so the quality is really high.

Sorry but this is nonsense. They improved the filter if the miniV and that is all. ARP sound has not changed at all. It's possible that presets have changed somewhat since they I think they had to redo some presets with all the analog lab integration and all the sound map stuff but the engine has not been updated.

[egbert101]

Arturia recently improved the sound engine on their older emulations, so the quality is really high.

Sorry but this is nonsense. They improved the filter if the miniV and that is all. ARP sound has not changed at all. It's possible that presets have changed somewhat since they I think they had to redo some presets with all the analog lab integration and all the sound map stuff but the engine has not been updated.

Excuse me? It's not nonsense. It is mentioned in their release notes for their ARP 2600 V and their other older plugins. Click on the icon on their resources page:

https://www.arturia.com/arp2600v/resources

Version 3.0.0
New Features
- Resizable GUI
- Advanced Preset Browser
- New Presets For All Instruments
- Improved Sound Engines

EDIT: After comparing two patches on V2 and V3, I could not tell the difference. So it appears that Arturia are telling porkies about the updated sound engine, unless indeed there is some improvement that I can't hear.

[ENV1]

Sorry but this is nonsense. They improved the filter if the miniV and that is all. ARP sound has not changed at all. It's possible that presets have changed somewhat since they I think they had to redo some presets with all the analog lab integration and all the sound map stuff but the engine has not been updated.

I recently checked some the latest V3 demos to see if they had finally fixed any of the 10+ years old bugs and errors that i kept bringing up in threads. (It has become kind of a tradition to do that every once in a while.) And i still cant believe it: They actually DID. After 10+ years finally something was done, they just failed to tell anyone about it. (Well at least i hadnt heard anything about it.)


Most notably:

- minimoogs VCF modulation by VCO3 is finally no longer reversed (fixed for all waveforms)

- The Saw waves of ARP 2600s VCOs are finally ramping upwards instead of downwards

(First time ever since initial release that the ARPs Saws are ramping in the right direction.)

I also tried the Jupiter-8, (more or less just for fun), and noticed a change there too, namely this really annoying attack-click which kept occuring even with increased Attack and Release times appeared to be completely gone. (Which im sure owners of the Jupiter-8 will be glad to hear.)


So while they are not exactly 'verbose' with regard to info on changes, at least there seems to be an effort going on behind the scenes now which aims to fix at least some of the errors that have plagued their plugins for more than a decade due to total neglect in these areas. How far this will ultimately go of course remains to be seen, as does whether or not they will replace this incredibly wasteful new UI system with something that doesnt require tens of thousands of files in thousands of folders. (Which i personally will never go along with because in my opinion this is where the users just have to say no.) But at any rate, at least there is finally some action with regard to the sound side of things. They are definitely working on it, so maybe the future for Arturia instruments will be brighter than many had believed due to their rather weak performance in recent years. Time will tell.

[electro]

The way I understand it is development of the TimewARP is pretty much dead and will not be revived outside of maintenance updates. Just glad to have a x64 version of it.

Wasn't there recent talk of a 2.0 update with new GUi?

Yes and a relaunch of sister product kikaxxe.

I would bet on this being the best virtual 2600 option. Scalable GUI, Remodeled VCF, internal upsampling to take advantage of current generation CPUs .