Arturia has announced Origin Keyboard, the keyboard version of its first hardware synthesizer Origin.

Origin is a modular system. Loaded with modules extracted from the best synthesizers of all time, Origin lets you combine these modules and benefit from the additional possibilities put onboard. Origin is not a simple Hardware synthesizer, it is an integrated system offering the best out of the Hardware and Software Worlds: it can be used as stand alone to play live on stage and also as a plug-in with your sequencer in the studio environment.

Origin Keyboard lets you perform and create your music with a "new level of dynamism, control and ergonomics". With a ribbon controller, a velocity and aftertouch sensitive keyboard, a joystick and numerous knobs, Origin Keyboard provides you with the control and playability needed to express yourself fully. The front panel can be adjusted to meet your performance needs, allowing you to comfortably control your sounds in even the most demanding set-up situations.

Main features:

• Create your own patch by combining innovative modules and modules extracted from the Minimoog, the CS-80, the ARP 2600, the Moog Modular and the Prophet VS.
• Use template patches: an Origin audio structure made by connecting independent modules, or the minimoog, the ARP 2600, the CS-80, the Moog Modular.
• Up to 32 voices of polyphony for a typical patch.
• More than 500 presets created by talented musicians and synthesizer specialists.
• Superb audio quality with TAE engine. 24 bits/96 kHz supported.
• Origin lets you open dedicated software on your Mac and PC and use it as an AU or VST plug-in. All the sounds are calculated on the machine while you work on your computer, as you would do with a native application.
• Analog: 2 audio ins, 10 audio outs. Digital: SPDIF out, USB 2.0.
• Large selection of effects: Phaser, Chorus, Delay, FX Reverb, Distortion, Param Eq, Compressor,Bitcrusher,...
• 16/32 step sequencer.
• Innovative Macro, Advanced LFO, Advanced modulation modes, Advanced Joystick modes,...
• MIDI : In, Out, Thru or USB 2.
• High Level of Control:
  • ultra sensitive 40cm ribbon controller.
  • high quality light-weighted 61 keys keyboard, with velocity response and aftertouch.
  • Modulation and pitch-bend wheels, 3-mode Joystick, 55 potentiometers, 46 encoders, 64 switches.
• Ergonomic design
  • Self adjustable front panel, from 0° to 135°, giving you total setup flexibility.
  • 5.2” TFT screen for clear visual feedback.
  • complete mobile solution, offering everything you need to perform your sounds in a single, easily transportable cabinet.
• Unique Origin Sound Engine
  • Modular system coming with more than 80 modules, some new, some excerpted from legendary synthesizers from the past.
  • Accessible as a plug-in within the main sequencer programs.
  • All sounds are totally editable on the Hardware but also editable through the Origin Software application.

Origin Keyboard is not expected to be released until the end of the year (December 2007). It will have an MSRP of $3499/ €2999, expect the street price to be nearer $2999/ €2499.