What is the best Arturia emulation?

[Frantz]

Having one of Arturia's Analog collection instruments (factory?), I've found that, no matter the engine, there's a uniformity to the presets. That left me unimpressed.

Agreed. I have a freebie version of the Analog Experience/Factory? that came with an audio interface. Sometimes I find there is so much similarity between the synths that it feels like variations on one synth.

Gordon Reid caught Arturia recycling Minimoog oscillator and filter code in the ARP 2600:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun05/a ... ia2600.htm

But wait... the filter and at least some of the oscillator code is the same as that in Minimoog V, so the same, fat timbres should be available. To test this, I loaded Minimoog V and 2600V simultaneously, and copied the parameters of one of my string ensembles from the former to the latter. Having done so, the sounds were almost indistinguishable.

[jdoo]

Having one of Arturia's Analog collection instruments (factory?), I've found that, no matter the engine, there's a uniformity to the presets. That left me unimpressed.

Agreed. I have a freebie version of the Analog Experience/Factory? that came with an audio interface. Sometimes I find there is so much similarity between the synths that it feels like variations on one synth.

Gordon Reid caught Arturia recycling Minimoog oscillator and filter code in the ARP 2600:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun05/a ... ia2600.htm

But wait... the filter and at least some of the oscillator code is the same as that in Minimoog V, so the same, fat timbres should be available. To test this, I loaded Minimoog V and 2600V simultaneously, and copied the parameters of one of my string ensembles from the former to the latter. Having done so, the sounds were almost indistinguishable.

Is it really necessary to dredge up a seven year old article, and post a single snippet? Out of context at that? Why not pull in the author's conclusion that the Arturia synth being evaluated " …the software retains much of the character of the ARP 2600, and I applaud that. The answer to the second question is more important. The 2600V is powerful, it's extremely flexible, and its sound makes it something that you might choose to use whether it looked like an ARP 2600 or not. Add the sequencer, polyphony, and all the other features and — despite a few niggles — it all adds up to a very attractive package."

Your quote, and those of the other haters.. that seem to pour out of the woodwork on Arturia threads, is predictable, but a waste of space in my opinion. We're all entitled to those (opinions) --- Sorry to stomp in here, but like I said, it feels like there is something personal with these posts.

Peace out,

[donato]

Arturia stuff is pretty good overall I think. It doesn't make sense to get them all, but one or two is good and some are better than others. Still demoing the SEM. Have the Analog Experience. There is a samey quality, but I do think they upped their game with the SEM. Xils is better for emulations and is generally just much better sounding IMO, and if you want Moog just go with Diva which also does more anyway.

[Frantz]

Is it really necessary to dredge up a seven year old article, and post a single snippet?

If you are objecting to a single quote, below are additional quotes from the same article. I posted it because it substantiates the claim that Arturia's synths sound similar. It seems that Arturia recycled filter and oscillator code between synths, ignoring the quality of the emulation, in order to churn out a new product quickly.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun05/a ... ia2600.htm

By a happy coincidence, I was able to discuss this matter with Arturia at the recent Frankfurt Musikmesse and it turned out that, as I had suspected, Minimoog V and 2600V share blocks of common code. Arturia justified the use of a common 24dB-per-octave filter by suggesting that, as ARP had been sued in the 1970s for breaching Moog's filter patent, the response of the ARP 4012 would be identical to that of the Minimoog filter. When I suggested that this was not the case, they undertook to look into it and, if necessary, consider changing 2600V's filter.

Firstly, does it emulate — and sound like — an ARP 2600? ....
The answer to the first question is no, unless your patches are quite simple.

[A.M. Gold]

That's pretty hilarious, but maybe they could argue that the osc and filter circuits themselves were similar in the hardware. I wouldn't be surprised if ARP and Bob were studying each other's work and doing some borrowing.

Then again, I really don't know if those internal similarities really exist between those synths. Sounds like Arturia believed they did.

[jbuonacc]

Is it really necessary to dredge up a seven year old article, and post a single snippet? Out of context at that?

i'd say it's pretty relevant seeing as the discussion concerns how good their emulations are. i don't think there's any way that you could patch up a MiniMoog and an ARP 2600 like he did and have them sound the same. honestly, that's pretty ridiculous if you're able to do that.

[afreshcupofjoe]

Your probably right but perhaps a bit unfair IMO...

...i used to have a minimoog model D during early eighties, it seems to me that the "minimoog original" is still a very decent emulation

Minimonsta is a better emulation than Arturia's. Diva's is even better, of course.

I would disagree with that assessment. I think the reason Minimonsta gets so much praise is becasue it's simply a better overall synth, but as far as pure emulation goes, I would say Arturia's Minimoog V sounds and behaves much closer to the real thing (the second version, not the first). And I have used a real Minimoog many times.

Have you tried Arturia's Minimoog V since they updated it to v2? I have a hard time believing someone would say Minimonsta sounds more like the real thing.

But yeah, DIVA completely slays both of them.

[A.M. Gold]

Is it really necessary to dredge up a seven year old article, and post a single snippet? Out of context at that?

i'd say it's pretty relevant seeing as the discussion concerns how good their emulations are. i don't think there's any way that you could patch up a MiniMoog and an ARP 2600 like he did and have them sound the same. honestly, that's pretty ridiculous if you're able to do that.

Not necessarily. Those were both early consumer synth pioneers and it wasn't a world where a million different things had been tried like what we have today. There could well be a lot of internal similarities between those two.

[jacqueslacouth]

gone

[masterhiggins]

Is it really necessary to dredge up a seven year old article, and post a single snippet?

If you are objecting to a single quote, below are additional quotes from the same article. I posted it because it substantiates the claim that Arturia's synths sound similar. It seems that Arturia recycled filter and oscillator code between synths, ignoring the quality of the emulation, in order to churn out a new product quickly.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun05/a ... ia2600.htm

By a happy coincidence, I was able to discuss this matter with Arturia at the recent Frankfurt Musikmesse and it turned out that, as I had suspected, Minimoog V and 2600V share blocks of common code. Arturia justified the use of a common 24dB-per-octave filter by suggesting that, as ARP had been sued in the 1970s for breaching Moog's filter patent, the response of the ARP 4012 would be identical to that of the Minimoog filter. When I suggested that this was not the case, they undertook to look into it and, if necessary, consider changing 2600V's filter.

Firstly, does it emulate — and sound like — an ARP 2600? ....
The answer to the first question is no, unless your patches are quite simple.

If you read the author's statements, he merely suggested their circuits weren't identical. Arturia never admitted it. He said the rep told him he'd look into it and change it accordingly. He didn't even say who he spoke to at Arturia. It could've been some dumbass sales rep talking garbage. Who knows? Give us a name so that we can hear it directly from the horse's mouth. Enough of this idiotic conjecture.

-Sam

[Gonga]

I've tested the Moog Modular and SEM so far, and I'm really liking the SEM. It's not going to set the world on fire, and I can already make these kinds of sounds, but the 8x keyfollow mod curves and mod matrix really open it up.

It may not have a 0df filter ( ) but I really like the sound of it, and the way it blends modes (will it blend? yes!) creates a lot of subtle nuances (more so than certain other filter blend implimentations...). Besides that it has a certain pleasing flavour. It's no Diva, but it works well alongside (under? ) her.

Yeah, no mono legato, what's up with that? Seriously... Fix it plox Arturia!

The Moog Modular V was quite impressive overall, but that GUI... gah! I'm not crazy over the workflow, either. It'd take some while to get used to, and the cables seem even more fiddly-hellish than they could have been. I get enough modular action from ACE and Bazille and my semi-modulars (and I also just bought Aalto!). The unique modules in Arturia's modular are sweet, but I have equivalents that are easy enough to incorporate into my music already (including the fixed filter bank). The cutoff was very steppy with manual adjustment, too. That's always a huge turnoff even when it responds fine to control signals. If I can't whale on the knob and have it sound good what is the point?

+1 Took the words right out of my mouth. I love the static sound of those 9 oscillators together, but the synth steps horribly when tweaking the cutoff (or sweeping the osc freq, etc). Makes it pretty much useless for serious playing...it's stuff like this that makes Arturia such a big target folks.

The 2600 is the best one of my 4 (Mini, Mod, 2600 and Jup8) for live tweaking, and it's really deep for sound programming. But since I haven't played them all I didn't vote.

If somebody could make a real solid CS-80, it'd take over the world on a keyboard with key aftertouch.

[Sendy]

I ordered the download version of SEM yesterday and still haven't recieved a serial number so I can register... is this normal? Getting kinda antsy here... Obviously I'll take it to Arturia support soon but I don't want to do that just yet.

Luckily the demo version is limited in days only, so I can still save and load patches...

[dexterbella]

Personally, I really like modulars and with the price drop it was too tempting - I've ended getting ARP2600 and Moog Modular. I love the retro GUI and the fact that the patch cables are a bit fiddly is fine - it all adds to the experience of pretending I'm playing with a real modular synth.
Obviously the main thing is the sound though and I've got to say I really like them both. Haven't got a clue if they sound like the real thing and don't really care - they're fun to play with, have a sound that I really enjoy, a ton of sound sculpting possibilities and (at the new price point - especially if you pay in dollars) offer good value for money.

[Echoes in the Attic]

I still think the ARP 2600 is a great balance between flexibility and simplicity. It can be simple, like a minimoog, but you can change the routing and do FM with it. Also the filter has several types. The notch is great especially.

However once I got Poly-Ana, I had less use for it since it has a similar setup with three osc, each able to modulate each other.

It's funny how Arturia are calling their synth line the "next generation". They haven't changed the synth engines since quite some time. The minimoog 1.5 had some sound quality updates and the CS-80V2 changed a bit but mostly they are the same as their early versions.

[braj]

I can't answer the poll honestly so I didn't vote, but I can see that the recent freebie sure has garnered Arturia a lot of posts here at KVR. That and the price reduction. I would probably jump at the CS80 myself if I didn't have Memorymoon's version which I think is enough for me personally.