Pigment 1.2 released...

[Biome_Digital]

One of the best synths to program! I have made 100's of patches for it. It sounds fantastic. Yes, there are some things that could be improved, but it really is very capable already. The GUI is amazing!

[strongergodzilla]

Absolutely agree, this synth is just a joy to program. Its animation also really helps me understand and reverse engineer patches that at the surface just seem too complex to understand, maybe the most educational synth experience i've had because of it.

It'd be nice to get a "performance" mode where you can turn off the animations to save on CPU cycles. Love the animations for programming. I guess in reality its the same as closing the GUI though, yea?

One of the best synths to program! I have made 100's of patches for it. It sounds fantastic. Yes, there are some things that could be improved, but it really is very capable already. The GUI is amazing!

[simon.a.billington]

I’m actually thinking about this one at some point. What’s people’s impressions after living with it for a while??

[zvenx]

My 2 cents.
It is to me indeed a joy to program. Fantastic GUI(UI/UX). I am however not sold on the sound...had it from when it first came out and I think I have used it once on an actual project.
rsp

[Angle Loss]

Looks beautiful, but not finding anything interesting sound wise. Sounds very generic and would rather use one of the Synthmasters for tone reasons.

[Ficciones]

This is a sleeper synth, I've had it for a week and I'm blown away by what it can do, how much personality it has, and what a delight it is to patch and play. It feels open, expansive, unconstricted, with a huuuge sweet spot.

[Biome_Digital]

Looks beautiful, but not finding anything interesting sound wise. Sounds very generic and would rather use one of the Synthmasters for tone reasons.

Maybe you haven't heard my presets for it? Although you have to buy the from arturia website, the extra preset packs are really good (if i do say so myself)!

[simon.a.billington]

Thanks guys.

[jdoo]

I completely forgot how fantastic Pigments sounds. Updated tonight to 1.2, and then went through old patches I had created. OMG. It's ruined me for a recent purchase (Novation Peak). The wavetable manipulation and timbre possibilities with Pigments, (for me) - set the bar high, for what I expected out of Peak. I really like my Peak -- but for controlling wavetables, there is a lot it just doesn't do. Anyway - Pigments ftw...

[zerocrossing]

They’re very different animals, of course, but Arturia saved me $4k US with Pigments, which I consider more interesting and usable - especially in a software environment - than Waldorf’s Quantum, intriguing as that is.

wut.

I’ve made my piece with not having a Quantum (lack of space) but... Pigments? Don’t get me wrong, I like Pigments, but something like Falcon would be a lot closer, eh? Or Omnisphere 2? Both of those really only need Dune 3 or Massive X level modeled filters to really put them in similar territory, sonically and feature set wise... though no real time granular. (I use Rids for that) As it is now, I sort of have to do a lot of mixing and matching of different hardware and software to approach the Quantum.

002 gives me great digital waveforms through a liquidy analog filter. Great analog drive and lo-fi wave mode.
Prophet 12 gives me similar to the above but with waveform morphing... but not real wavetable scanning. (I assume the Quantum does this) Great feedback and drive/distortion.
Massive X, Zebra HZ, PPG 3, Pigments and Dune for wavetable though analog (modeled) filters. Some FM in Dune.
Rids for real time granular
Granite and Padshop Pro for more granular.
Falcon and Omnisphere for multi engine sound design playgrounds.
Etc.

I’m sure I’m missing stuff because I don’t totally know the Quantum, but I know there are things like stereo oscillators. Anyway, Pigments... really nice synth, but would’t quite bring it up as a replacement for a Quantum.

[zerocrossing]

I completely forgot how fantastic Pigments sounds. Updated tonight to 1.2, and then went through old patches I had created. OMG. It's ruined me for a recent purchase (Novation Peak). The wavetable manipulation and timbre possibilities with Pigments, (for me) - set the bar high, for what I expected out of Peak. I really like my Peak -- but for controlling wavetables, there is a lot it just doesn't do. Anyway - Pigments ftw...

It took me a long time to get my Peak. It’s definitely not a hardware Pigments, that’s for sure. Ultimately, where it really sets itself apart from software is in its various ways to get drive and distortion, especially the post filter per voice distortion. Because of that, I use it for mono/unison sounds more about 80% of the time. Nothing cuts though a mix like that thing though.

[SLiC]

I often run Pigments out through my electron analog heat (as an ITB fx using overbridge) - just subtle analog warmth (saturation) and a little analog filter. It makes a difference with all VSTs just adding some real analog drive/eq/filter at the output, but Pig ents seems to really come alive more than most (like many of the mentioned digital heart synths with an analog output section). Best of both worlds in my opinion.

[tasty tatsyn]

my 2 cents too, i understand some of the complaints mainly the one about individual oscilator panning joined by my issue with pigments.....

i love the sound, contrary to other people i like the FX too, though they could be expanded somewhat but no problem there...

UI is amazing so is modulation.. would like a 3th oscilator eventually but can work with 2....


My problem and the reason i'm not using it much:

Like someone stated before it seems even though it's a softsynth and they got so much stuff right for some strange reason in some things it feels like you're working with a hardware synth and it's limitations....

the main problem i have with pigments is the preset management system, i'm soorry but it's so freaking cumbersome, expecially when you do sounddesign and save 10 presets versions before getting the preset "done", it's just gets a complete mess imediately (after designing 2 or 3 presets) imo

I'll try to transmit this to Arturia soon, it's the only thing preventing me from using this lovely synth really...

i mean why can't we even have access to creating new categorys, preset folders and organize them as we like, we're working on PC's !??! more, i haven't been able to even find the presets locations, am i missing something +- obvious?

[fmr]

the main problem i have with pigments is the preset management system, .../...
i mean why can't we even have access to creating new categorys, preset folders and organize them as we like, we're working on PC's !??! more, i haven't been able to even find the presets locations, am i missing something +- obvious?

You certainly are missing some things

Creating new categories and preset folders - You definitely can. When you choose "Save As" for a preset, you are presented with a dialog box.

That dialog box has a place for the name of the preset, a place for the author, a place for the Bank and a place for the Type. Although the Type has a list of Types to choose from, you can simply "type" a new name, and this way you will create a new Type. Although, if you change the Bank name (by simply "typing" a new name) you will create a new folder for that same Bank, where that preset will be saved.

Now, for the Styles. Again, you have a bunch of Styles to choose from, but, if you navigate to the end of the list (in this case it is a series of "boxes") you have a "+" sign. If you click that sign, you will be able to "type in" a new Style, and that Style will, from then on, be available to be selected for any preset you want.

This is in the "Save As" stage. But there is more. If you click in the Library symbol (the symbol right after the Arturia menu, which resembles three books aligned vertically in a bookshelf, with a fourth slightly inclined), you will access the entire collection of presets stored for that instrument (in this case Pigments).

The section on the right lists all the details for the highlighted preset (which may be chosen in the middle column). You can change the name, the type, the bank, and the styles associated (you can have more than one style classifying the preset). If you click the "Save As" button, after this operation, the changes will be saved, and the preset will reflect those changes.

Now, the preset folders location. They are located in C:\ProgramData\Arturia\Presets for Windows OS, and I believe in Library/Application Support/Arturia/Presets for macOS.

BTW - You only have two oscillators if you are considering the wavetable engine (which is complex enough for two oscillators to be enough, IMO). If you consider the Analog engine, you actually have 2 x 3 oscillators, which means 6 oscillators.

Hope this helps you.

[tasty tatsyn]

the main problem i have with pigments is the preset management system, .../...
i mean why can't we even have access to creating new categorys, preset folders and organize them as we like, we're working on PC's !??! more, i haven't been able to even find the presets locations, am i missing something +- obvious?

You certainly are missing some things

Creating new categories and preset folders - You definitely can. When you choose "Save As" for a preset, you are presented with a dialog box.

That dialog box has a place for the name of the preset, a place for the author, a place for the Bank and a place for the Type. Although the Type has a list of Types to choose from, you can simply "type" a new name, and this way you will create a new Type. Although, if you change the Bank name (by simply "typing" a new name) you will create a new folder for that same Bank, where that preset will be saved.

Now, for the Styles. Again, you have a bunch of Styles to choose from, but, if you navigate to the end of the list (in this case it is a series of "boxes") you have a "+" sign. If you click that sign, you will be able to "type in" a new Style, and that Style will, from then on, be available to be selected for any preset you want.

This is in the "Save As" stage. But there is more. If you click in the Library symbol (the symbol right after the Arturia menu, which resembles three books aligned vertically in a bookshelf, with a fourth slightly inclined), you will access the entire collection of presets stored for that instrument (in this case Pigments).

The section on the right lists all the details for the highlighted preset (which may be chosen in the middle column). You can change the name, the type, the bank, and the styles associated (you can have more than one style classifying the preset). If you click the "Save As" button, after this operation, the changes will be saved, and the preset will reflect those changes.

Now, the preset folders location. They are located in C:\ProgramData\Arturia\Presets for Windows OS, and I believe in Library/Application Support/Arturia/Presets for macOS.

BTW - You only have two oscillators if you are considering the wavetable engine (which is complex enough for two oscillators to be enough, IMO). If you consider the Analog engine, you actually have 2 x 3 oscillators, which means 6 oscillators.

Hope this helps you.

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Thank you! it did , the presets folder location solved the main issue....! (

Although the Banks didn't show at 1st attempts, i then realized the problem was that i just needed to press the "clear all" button in front of search box for the user banks to show up!!!!!!! FIXED!

all good now !!!!!!

i still think we should be able to create types but since i now know how to create and manage user banks it's fine, more like a design option...... now going to organize my presets and go back to creating soon..

About the 3th oscilator, i know we can have 3 on analog engine but expecially given the amount of modulation available i think a 3th oscilator would be nice....

anyway the main problem i had with pigments is now solved ty fmr
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