Arturia VCollection 7 Official thread

[jens]

Playing an old Mellotron, with the very-analog everything about them, including the exceedingly brief sound tapes, was and is an art in itself. Walking in as a keyboard player, one has familiarity with the layout, and knobs are knobs, but the feel and the timing and the preparation of the instrument are skills that are particular to the Mellotron. Getting a recognizable sound out of it is no problem. (I got a sound that was tolerable for a couple of notes in my one pass at one of these old beasts, back in prehistory. Mainly, however, I made a mess.) Playing it well is another matter.

Yeah, you have to really take it for what it is and see what you can do with it - it's basically an instrument of its own - it's also interesting that the other common "orchestral" keyboard of that time - the B3 (which is also an instrument that asks for its own special way of being played, albeit it's super easy to play it in comparison) - reacts really really fast - so I can imagine armies of Hammond players trying a M400 and giving up cursingly after a few bars....

If you manage to let go of your preconceptions regarding what you want to play on it and instead let it dictate you how to make use of it and give yourself some time to adjust to its weird quirkiness, playing the Mellotron can be very rewarding and extremely satisfying because you can get wonderful things out of it you could get from no other instrument. I think it's much more important to be open-minded and flexible than to be technically skilled in order to (pseudo-)master it.

[Stefken]

What is the benefit of the CZ series? What are some typical patches that you cannot get with another synth and where this synth shines?
Currently I cannot see what is special about this synth. Walking through presets, the Casio sounds pretty uninteresting to me.


( I rather upgrade later at 99 euro but I really like the Synthi; so trying to decide to just buy the Synthi or go for a full upgrade. I see the added value of the Mellotron but currently see no added value in the CZ).

[beely]

What is the benefit of the CZ series? What are some typical patches that you cannot get with another synth and where this synth shines?

My first digital synth was a CZ-101, and I used it and programmed it *extensively*.

I've wanted a proper emulation for years. The CZ series sound unique, and do a great job at being "FM-ish" while managing to not be wimpy and dull, and not getting biting and gritty like FM can - in short, they are simpler, but sit in a sweet spot.

And for a cheap digital synth, they sounded surprisingly good, and could do a wide range of sounds being sort of analogish, sort of DXish, sort of PPG ish, sort of digital-ish.

These days, of course, we all have a million sounds and characters available, but the CZ is unique, and I'm really glad to have a top modern emulation, first with VCZ, and now CZV.

I can load in my old patches, and take them further, and while the CZ series can sound "cheap" and uninteresting, they can also be quite surprising, and quite unique sounding.

Currently I cannot see what is special about this synth. Walking through presets, the Casio sounds pretty uninteresting to me.

That's fine. Not everything has to appeal to everyone...

[realtrance]

Every synth has a unique character, a unique way of playing it.

That’s the real pleasure of the Arturia collection.

Rather than fussing over how “accurate” this or that emulation is (bottom line: it’s accurate enough, for all but .001% purposes), it’s a better use of time to let each instrument take you where it wants to go.

Despite the excellent search facilities in the Collection, I find it far more rewarding to start from init, and really learn the synth itself, one aspect at a time.

That way, you broaden your skills and expectations instead of rigidifying them, and can later bring those to every other instrument you play.

It takes time, though. The extensiveness of what’s available leads to Synth ADHD; you really have to discipline yourself to stay with a particular instrument for a while.

[meecek]

+ 1

[SLiC]

Its getting harder and harder for people to find excuses about why they can't just make great music with what they have!

[bill45]

What is the benefit of the CZ series? What are some typical patches that you cannot get with another synth and where this synth shines?

My first digital synth was a CZ-101, and I used it and programmed it *extensively*.

I've wanted a proper emulation for years. The CZ series sound unique, and do a great job at being "FM-ish" while managing to not be wimpy and dull, and not getting biting and gritty like FM can - in short, they are simpler, but sit in a sweet spot.

And for a cheap digital synth, they sounded surprisingly good, and could do a wide range of sounds being sort of analogish, sort of DXish, sort of PPG ish, sort of digital-ish.

These days, of course, we all have a million sounds and characters available, but the CZ is unique, and I'm really glad to have a top modern emulation, first with VCZ, and now CZV.

I can load in my old patches, and take them further, and while the CZ series can sound "cheap" and uninteresting, they can also be quite surprising, and quite unique sounding.

Currently I cannot see what is special about this synth. Walking through presets, the Casio sounds pretty uninteresting to me.

That's fine. Not everything has to appeal to everyone...

Back when these synths were around.People would do their demos with them.Go to a studio and plug into expensive Keyboard rigs,get frustrated because they Could not match the sound on their demos.Then they would run home and get their casio's

[Lotuz2019]

Playing an old Mellotron, with the very-analog everything about them, including the exceedingly brief sound tapes, was and is an art in itself. Walking in as a keyboard player, one has familiarity with the layout, and knobs are knobs, but the feel and the timing and the preparation of the instrument are skills that are particular to the Mellotron. Getting a recognizable sound out of it is no problem. (I got a sound that was tolerable for a couple of notes in my one pass at one of these old beasts, back in prehistory. Mainly, however, I made a mess.) Playing it well is another matter.

The Mellotron V always plays the sample from the top like an ordinary sampler. But on the real Mellotron I can imagine that when you play a long note till (near) the end of the tape, release the key and directly play the same key again, the tape will not have been fully rewound yet and the tape will start playing not from the top but 'halfway'. A piano tape for example would lose its attack. Am I right?

[enCiphered]

Anyone here who updated to V7 and already wrote a complete song that contains any of the new instruments? Would love to listen to some finished tracks

[meecek]

Anyone here who updated to V7 and already wrote a complete song that contains any of the new instruments? Would love to listen to some finished tracks

It won't happen because it's no worth to create (another) masterpiece while Arturia doesn't make 1:1 emulations

[starflakeprj]

Anyone here who updated to V7 and already wrote a complete song that contains any of the new instruments? Would love to listen to some finished tracks

It won't happen because it's no worth to create (another) masterpiece while Arturia doesn't make 1:1 emulations

You won't be able to hear it in a mix anyway, and even if they're not 1:1 emulations, they sound really good individually anyway

[Echoes in the Attic]

Do do the samples loop in the mellotron? Both factory and user samples? Can you set the loop points in user samples?

Did Arturia say whether they were planning nks compatibility for the new instruments or are they abandoning that?

[Lotuz2019]

Do do the samples loop in the mellotron? Both factory and user samples? Can you set the loop points in user samples?

You can set loop points for both factory and user samples. It's a very basic sample editor though. I haven't found zoom in/out and crossfading yet, so I find it not that easy to get smooth loops.

[fmr]

You can set loop points for both factory and user samples. It's a very basic sample editor though. I haven't found zoom in/out and crossfading yet, so I find it not that easy to get smooth loops.

Zoom in and Out exists. Position the mouse over the waveform timeline and drag up and down. It's in the manual.

Crossfade is automatic. It is a small crossfade, to not alter the sample significantly, but is enough to smooth the loop. But you have to know what you're doing when defining the loop points. Not all samples loop well, and defining good loop points is far from being an easy task.

[Lotuz2019]

Thank you, Fernando. Zooming in should make it easier. I was thinking about determining good loop points in my external wave editor and then translating those into the Mellotron V loop points, but that probably won't be necessary now.

I'm using the demo btw. Not sure if it comes with the manual. I'll check it out later. In general this plugin is very intuitive, but dragging up and down the waveform itself (also with Ctrl) didn't result in zooming. But now I see that I should drag the timeline. I was close...