Arturia V Collection 6

[foosnark]

Playing with the Buchla demo has been interesting. I'll take various peoples' word for it that it sounds similar, because I don't have any experience with the real thing.

Compared to the Eurorack West Coast-influenced modules I'm used to, it is very different. I was expecting more out of the FM for sure, but the AM is gorgeous. I also had hoped for a bit more roundness and punch to the LPGs, but LPGs vary a lot so it's not too much of a surprise.

It's certainly capable of some cool stuff, and has a lot of character. It's also shown me I've had a bit of tunnel vision in some of my modular patching, so it's done me a favor already.

As far as upgrading goes... I'm on the fence. I'm reminded of how much the Arturia GUIs seem to fight the windows they're in, though maybe that's a quirk specific to Maschine. It'd be an easier decision if I hadn't spent to much recently. I might wait on a discount on the Buchla Easel plugin alone sometime down the road rather than going for the full collection crossgrade. Or I might wake up tomorrow and decide I have to have it all, or...?

[braj]

Remember that someone that bought two or three Arturia synths at full price very well may have given them more money than a smart KVR shopper. So I actually don't think the $250 price is bad, but do think they could have garnered more good will if they gave a post Black Friday break to people upgrading from the V collection for even a day or two after launch. $150 seems like it would have made most happy. Then if you miss out on that, it's on you, not them.

[Dewdman42]

I just barely bought v5 within the past 6 months, I would not pay more the $99

[ghettosynth]

Part of the goodwill equation is that the better you are at it, the less flack you'll get in venues that aren't under your control. That's kind of the key point here, no, that this isn't Arturia's venue so they have to take the good with the bad. Sure, new update is cool, but that pricing, oh Arturia, we know what to expect from you <insert eyeroll here>.

That's a good point. And fire away. But just as there are bad developers/companies, so too are there bad customers. Basically, best way to deal with a bad company or bad business practice is to vote by walking away from them. I'm not sure Arturia are doing bad business practice by offering a ridiculously cheap bundle of their products. Time will tell.

I don't disagree, but the expectation that people won't complain in a venue where the primary purpose is for people to talk about products and how to use them is unreasonable. I'll go even further, collectively, we have a vested interest in vendors balancing the profit/goodwill equation and so it's not only ok that we voice our opinions, some see it as their responsibility to each other to do so. KVR is a little weird because many members dabble on both sides of the fence, but the vast majority of us here are primarily customers.

Sure, some people will overreact, as I said, that's human nature. If they go a bit too far, people comment, if they go a lot too far then moderators step in. However, it's wishful thinking to believe that people are not going to complain and speculate about the price now and in the future and it's ok that it happens because it favors the interests of the majority here, i.e., customers, over the minority, vendors.

A statistically different response is completely within Arturia's control. Lower the price to upgrade and you will most likely see an immediate change in the response here. Talking openly about pricing might have some impact as well, but, there's really not much that they can do about that discrepancy in price from one product to the previous bundle. Unless they change that, it will be viewed as unfair, hence, greedy.

[Silaris]

Well, I was excited about the V Collection 6 until I installed Analog Lab 3, which apparently replaced Analog Lab 2 in the V Collection 4 and 5 when installed. Not only do I find the GUI a downgrade from version 2, on my system, Analog Lab 3 is fairly buggy and CPU intensive.

To make matters worse, there does not seem to be a method to re-download and reinstall Analog Lab 2. Now, any old project I load with Analog Lab 2 in use, which is many, no longer has the said VSTi, with its assigned preset, available.

[Update: Problem Resolved]

[jdnz]

To make matters worse, there does not seem to be a method to re-download and reinstall Analog Lab 2. Now, any old project I load with Analog Lab 2 in use, which is many, no longer has the said VSTi, with its assigned preset, available.

you can still download AL2 from the manual download page : https://www.arturia.com/support/updates&manuals

[wagtunes]

The whole product launch concept with them is ass backwards.

With almost every company (yes, even U-he and I'll explain why) the price you can get the synth for upon release is always less than down the road.

Even though U-he doesn't run sales, every synth goes through a beta stage. You can purchase the synth during this stage for a damn good discount. Loyal U-he customers who know their products are top notch jump on this without even thinking.

And even Arturia offers $100 off upon initial release but ONLY to new customers.

The folks who have been with them for years get hammered right out of the gate.

And you know what? I absolutely understand Arturia's thought process in doing this and it's very simple.

If they charge $99 for the upgrade right away then they have zero chance to make that extra $100 per sale. This way, even if just ONE person upgrades right away that's $100 more than they would have made...

IF

Yes, here comes the BIG if.

IF all their loyal customers aren't pissed off enough to NOT upgrade 6 months later when the price drops to $99.

That's what Arturia's banking on. That 6 months down the road, everybody who is pissed off now gives in and upgrades because they ultimately want the product.

I admit it. I'm one of them. I want the new synths bad enough to spend $99 for them. So I'll wait. In the meantime, Arturia's made their extra $100 per sale.

The question that nobody here can answer, including Arturia, is how many current customers are going to say "screw you" even when the price comes down.

That's their gamble. And I'm going to assume that they've been doing this long enough and have the figures to confirm that doing business this way doesn't hurt them.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

You've certainly made your voice heard, I'd just follow that up with, "vote with your wallet [or wait for a sale]."

[Silaris]

To make matters worse, there does not seem to be a method to re-download and reinstall Analog Lab 2. Now, any old project I load with Analog Lab 2 in use, which is many, no longer has the said VSTi, with its assigned preset, available.

you can still download AL2 from the manual download page : https://www.arturia.com/support/updates&manuals

Thanks. The Analog Lab installers did not state the version number, but viewing the linked content, Analog Lab 2 is still available. That is a major relief!

After submitting a support ticket prior to posting my message, Arturia actually sent me a link to Analog Lab 2 installer in a matter of minutes. Although Analog Lab 2 is no longer showing as one of the available products under my V Collection 4 and 5 licenses, in the Arturia Software Center, it still works fine.

With that said, as a person who mainly uses Analog Lab, but still purchases the V Collection for full edit capability, I am planning to wait until Analog Lab 3 has received a few patches before I purchase the V Collection 6.

[electro]

Clav V audio demos sound pretty good for a full PM synth.

[Astralv]

The whole product launch concept with them is ass backwards.

With almost every company (yes, even U-he and I'll explain why) the price you can get the synth for upon release is always less than down the road.

Even though U-he doesn't run sales, every synth goes through a beta stage. You can purchase the synth during this stage for a damn good discount. Loyal U-he customers who know their products are top notch jump on this without even thinking.

And even Arturia offers $100 off upon initial release but ONLY to new customers.

The folks who have been with them for years get hammered right out of the gate.

And you know what? I absolutely understand Arturia's thought process in doing this and it's very simple.

If they charge $99 for the upgrade right away then they have zero chance to make that extra $100 per sale. This way, even if just ONE person upgrades right away that's $100 more than they would have made...

IF

Yes, here comes the BIG if.

IF all their loyal customers aren't pissed off enough to NOT upgrade 6 months later when the price drops to $99.

That's what Arturia's banking on. That 6 months down the road, everybody who is pissed off now gives in and upgrades because they ultimately want the product.

I admit it. I'm one of them. I want the new synths bad enough to spend $99 for them. So I'll wait. In the meantime, Arturia's made their extra $100 per sale.

The question that nobody here can answer, including Arturia, is how many current customers are going to say "screw you" even when the price comes down.

That's their gamble. And I'm going to assume that they've been doing this long enough and have the figures to confirm that doing business this way doesn't hurt them.

What I dont understand is who in the world wants to pay ANOTHER $200 for an upgrade to add more junk. I already have multiple hardware synths standing around the studio, I dont use them because they sound OLD. And this constant "yey! We recreated your old piece of junk again!" does not offer anything to my modern EDM production. If I was 20 years old, and wanted to explore what synths were like then, maybe. I dont need more of the same old pads and synths sounds. Is it going to wooble? No. Is it going to make my listeners say, "Wow! How did they make this? Doubt it. In fact- my V 4 and V 5 are still sitting and taking valuable space on my expansive SSD. When I start new song- do I want to load anything from V5? No. I hardly touch it. I load Avenger, Nemesis, Serum. Ugh! No more junk! If I wanted more old stuff, I would go to pawnshop. $200- absolutely now way. I thing I got V5 for like $150- wasn't it $150 for upgrade on release? For those that did buy it- did you find any new sounds that we dont already have?

[wagtunes]

The whole product launch concept with them is ass backwards.

With almost every company (yes, even U-he and I'll explain why) the price you can get the synth for upon release is always less than down the road.

Even though U-he doesn't run sales, every synth goes through a beta stage. You can purchase the synth during this stage for a damn good discount. Loyal U-he customers who know their products are top notch jump on this without even thinking.

And even Arturia offers $100 off upon initial release but ONLY to new customers.

The folks who have been with them for years get hammered right out of the gate.

And you know what? I absolutely understand Arturia's thought process in doing this and it's very simple.

If they charge $99 for the upgrade right away then they have zero chance to make that extra $100 per sale. This way, even if just ONE person upgrades right away that's $100 more than they would have made...

IF

Yes, here comes the BIG if.

IF all their loyal customers aren't pissed off enough to NOT upgrade 6 months later when the price drops to $99.

That's what Arturia's banking on. That 6 months down the road, everybody who is pissed off now gives in and upgrades because they ultimately want the product.

I admit it. I'm one of them. I want the new synths bad enough to spend $99 for them. So I'll wait. In the meantime, Arturia's made their extra $100 per sale.

The question that nobody here can answer, including Arturia, is how many current customers are going to say "screw you" even when the price comes down.

That's their gamble. And I'm going to assume that they've been doing this long enough and have the figures to confirm that doing business this way doesn't hurt them.

What I dont understand is who in the world wants to pay ANOTHER $200 for an upgrade to add more junk. I already have multiple hardware synths standing around the studio, I dont use them because they sound OLD. And this constant "yey! We recreated your old piece of junk again!" does not offer anything to my modern EDM production. If I was 20 years old, and wanted to explore what synths were like then, maybe. I dont need more of the same old pads and synths sounds. Is it going to wooble? No. Is it going to make my listeners say, "Wow! How did they make this? Doubt it. In fact- my V 4 and V 5 are still sitting and taking valuable space on my expansive SSD. When I start new song- do I want to load anything from V5? No. I hardly touch it. I load Avenger, Nemesis, Serum. Ugh! No more junk! If I wanted more old stuff, I would go to pawnshop. $200- absolutely now way. I thing I got V5 for like $150- wasn't it $150 for upgrade on release? For those that did buy it- did you find any new sounds that we dont already have?

Well, kind of not the point. Sure, for some people, the V collection is useless. But not for me. I use it. And when new synths come out that I also want to use, I don't want to have to pay more for them than a new customer. That's what these upgrades are for me and everybody else who has V5.

[ghettosynth]

Clav V audio demos sound pretty good for a full PM synth.

Yeah, I thought so too. That might be an interesting addition as well. That said, as with the string machines, organs, and epianos, I don't really need the bundle to get most of what I want out of those. Analog Lab gets you a log of what's on offer for free. I don't care about the effects, I have better effects from other vendors so unless they are a part of the voice architecture, they don't really matter to me.

[pdxindy]

I don't disagree, but the expectation that people won't complain in a venue where the primary purpose is for people to talk about products and how to use them is unreasonable. I'll go even further, collectively, we have a vested interest in vendors balancing the profit/goodwill equation and so it's not only ok that we voice our opinions, some see it as their responsibility to each other to do so. KVR is a little weird because many members dabble on both sides of the fence, but the vast majority of us here are primarily customers.

Then I wish that there were 2 instrument forums... one where people can go on page after page about the price. Another forum for people, like myself, who would like to actually discuss the synths themselves, share ideas, sounds and so on and not have to do so on the margins of the main discussion which is so often about money.

For me it is frustrating that in thread after thread f**king money so dominates that the other stuff is drowned out. From my perspective, it shows how people are slaves to money. I have no interest to read as they demonstrate their slavery over and over.

Now, if there were a forum where only the instruments themselves were talked about, I would happily frequent that and we could all get what we want.

[ghettosynth]

I don't disagree, but the expectation that people won't complain in a venue where the primary purpose is for people to talk about products and how to use them is unreasonable. I'll go even further, collectively, we have a vested interest in vendors balancing the profit/goodwill equation and so it's not only ok that we voice our opinions, some see it as their responsibility to each other to do so. KVR is a little weird because many members dabble on both sides of the fence, but the vast majority of us here are primarily customers.

Then I wish that there were 2 instrument forums... one where people can go on page after page about the price. Another forum for people, like myself, who would like to actually discuss the synths themselves, share ideas, sounds and so on and not have to do so on the margins of the main discussion which is so often about money.

For me it is frustrating that in thread after thread f**king money so dominates that the other stuff is drowned out. From my perspective, it shows how people are slaves to money. I have no interest to read as they demonstrate their slavery over and over.

Now, if there were a forum where only the instruments themselves were talked about, I would happily frequent that and we could all get what we want.

We don't need two forums, just start a thread about the instrument that you want to talk about and tell people that price is off topic there and to come here and grumble. This is the release thread and I think that it's a bit of wishful thinking to expect people not to talk about price here.

I think that you know the reality though, what makes threads popular is the complaining and argument, not information.