Arturia Collection or Uvi VV2

[martedi]

Hi everyone and thanks to anyone who will help a newbie like me.. and by the way forgive my English

I’ve been playing for some months with logic pro plugins and, while i’ve found them pretty good to record ideas or songs, I’ve been wanting more and more something different or, perhaps I should say, more “vintage sounding”.

I’m really into vintage synths but of course I can’t afford a moog modular or a cs80, so I have to make do with a vst suite.

now, I’m not a pro nor I have ambitions of any sort, I play and write music for me, for the sake of it and, now and then, I let my friends listen to my masterpieces (sarcasm alert).. but then again, I don’t mind paying for a software if that can give me what i’m searching for.

so now, the choices are two: arturia collection 6 or uvi vintage synths 2. I’ve been watching youtube videos for both suites and I’m really hesitant about which is the best (as long as there is a such a thing or only personal opinions). I have to admit I like arturia gui more, it’s nice to see the “real” synth in front of you, on the contrary i find uvi vv2 gui a bit... how can i say, they’re all too similar? that takes me to another point: being similar I think the learning curve will not be so steep as with arturia.
next, a question: i’m not a only-preset-guy but I admit sometimes I'm content with slightly modifying a preset I like, without starting from the scratch.. and I understand uvi synths are sampled, but does that mean I can only modify the presets? if there’s a synth with, say, 20 presets, will i be able to modify only those 20 (no matter how drastically), but i won’t be able to create new ones if not starting from those 20?
I’ve got to admit, while i like everything about arturia, I find uvi sounds a bit more “fuller” and probably more usable.. at least this is the idea I got by watching youtube videos.

So.. help me understand.. and sorry if i’ve been so verbose but i didn’t want this to be another “which is the best” thread.

Thanks

Paolo

[DocAtlas]

Hi everyone and thanks to anyone who will help a newbie like me.. and by the way forgive my English

I’ve been playing for some months with logic pro plugins and, while i’ve found them pretty good to record ideas or songs, I’ve been wanting more and more something different or, perhaps I should say, more “vintage sounding”.

I’m really into vintage synths but of course I can’t afford a moog modular or a cs80, so I have to make do with a vst suite.

now, I’m not a pro nor I have ambitions of any sort, I play and write music for me, for the sake of it and, now and then, I let my friends listen to my masterpieces (sarcasm alert).. but then again, I don’t mind paying for a software if that can give me what i’m searching for.

so now, the choices are two: arturia collection 6 or uvi vintage synths 2. I’ve been watching youtube videos for both suites and I’m really hesitant about which is the best (as long as there is a such a thing or only personal opinions). I have to admit I like arturia gui more, it’s nice to see the “real” synth in front of you, on the contrary i find uvi vv2 gui a bit... how can i say, they’re all too similar? that takes me to another point: being similar I think the learning curve will not be so steep as with arturia.
next, a question: i’m not a only-preset-guy but I admit sometimes I'm content with slightly modifying a preset I like, without starting from the scratch.. and I understand uvi synths are sampled, but does that mean I can only modify the presets? if there’s a synth with, say, 20 presets, will i be able to modify only those 20 (no matter how drastically), but i won’t be able to create new ones if not starting from those 20?
I’ve got to admit, while i like everything about arturia, I find uvi sounds a bit more “fuller” and probably more usable.. at least this is the idea I got by watching youtube videos.

So.. help me understand.. and sorry if i’ve been so verbose but i didn’t want this to be another “which is the best” thread.

Thanks

Paolo

I have Vintage Vault (1, not 2) and Arturia's collection; they're both decent products, but I think that the Arturia set has more breadth than the UVI set.

The UVI instruments are definitely editable, but they are all basically doing fairly standard subtractive synthesis, while the Arturia instruments, while heavy on virtual analog, also include 2 FM synths (Synclavier V and DX7 V), physically modelled electric pianos (Wurlitzer & Rhodes), Clavinet and Acoustic Piano; 3 organs (B3, Farfisa, and Vox), and a string machine (Solina). While the VA synths mostly focus on subtractive synthesis (the Buchla is an exception, but it does have a filter), many of them have other capabilities as well. The Modular V, 2600 V and Matrix 12 V are well worth looking at.

I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with the Vintage Vault, but if you want to get into doing a lot of programming your own sounds, the sample-based content would be more useful within Falcon, which is another expense. I use the VV content within Falcon; I've never even installed the UVI workstation, which is the free player for their sample-based products.

Manuals for both companies' products are available on their websites. It's well worth the time to download and read them. Having a good idea of what features each has should let you know which collection will suit your needs, both sonically and programming-wise.

[zzz00m]

I went with IK Multimedia Syntronik, which is another choice for a great sounding vintage analog collection. It has 17 instruments that were sampled from 37 vintage synths. There is a fully working free version that includes a small set of factory sounds.
https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/syntronik/

They use a hybrid approach of sampled oscillators, with modeled filters and effects.

You have to start with a preset that is based on a sampled oscillator, but you can change everything else about the preset. They have supplied some patches that use raw waveform samples (saw, square, pulse, etc) from each model of synth, so you can pretty much do your own sound design thing using them, but it does take a little effort to search them out. The effects rack is excellent, there is a good arpeggiator, and the multi mode lets you layer or split up to 4 instruments.

The UI for each instrument has the identical workflow and controls, just with a different 'skin' based on the original. There is no attempt to replicate the original controls like Arturia does.

I have demos for a few of the Arturia synths, so for having the look and feel of the original instrument Arturia cannot be beat.

But in my opinion, I think Syntronik samples sound better. A very enjoyable instrument to play.

[Tj Shredder]

Arturia is a collection of virtual instruments! The others are just tweakable samples of presets. If you do not plan to create your own sounds and have huge disk space, go for what sounds better. But if you want to dive into the universe of possibilties, there is no other way than having a virtual instrument...

[Sparky77]

Arturia is a collection of virtual instruments! The others are just tweakable samples of presets.

Very true and not very comparable.
Both have something to offer but sound different.

[SJ_Digriz]

If you have falcon.. I'd consider vv2. Otherwise I'd go arturia tp start

[bobhva]

Both are great options. I have the Arturia V collection 5 and will upgrade sometime in the future. I also have many of the UVI Synth that are in the VV2 and probably should have gotten it when it was on sale as it is a good collection also. Most of the VV2 synth are somewhat limited in that they are sampled libraries that can be tweaked to varying degrees, but they sound great! The V collection are physically modelled emulations and offer much more variation. Both are great and very usable in a production sense, you will find many opinions both positive and negative about both but in the end only your opinion matters! Another option to get you started for less money would be to get the Arturia Analog Lab, since you mentioned that you are somewhat content to tweak presets - which you can do with Analog Lab and it has lots of presets(I think most if not all) from all the synths included in the V collection.

[ATS]

K Multimedia Syntronik sounds really good. I think i second that if you can get it for a good price.

[husker37]

Both are great options. I don't think you can go wrong with either one. I have both, and sometimes prefer one over the other.

Both are sold quite often in the KVR marketplace. That is how I purchased both sets.

Good luck!

[zenophilix]

Sounds to me like the Arturia stuff would be great for you. I haven't come across anything that can beat it when it comes to analog warmth.(Apart from the Microbrute I demoed today. I have a problem.) Softube modular would be another one to look at IMHO, when I tried it I was pretty blown away at how much it sounded like the real thing. Seen it go on sale for pretty cheap over at Pluginboutique, so that may be another one to look at if you fancy some modular goodness. And, of course, if you do decide modular is your thing, Reaktor + Blocks is pretty great.

But, personally, if you'll allow me to be a bit subjective, I've never found myself that excited over the UVI stuff. V Collection, on the other hand, well... At one point I cut an Arturia ad out of a Sweetwater catalog and pinned it up over my computer.

[anomandaris1]

Arturias have vintage GUI, but their analogue synths do NOT sound vintage. Don't get fooled. (Their CPU usage is also on the high side without offering any superior sound - the funny thing is that FM synthesis should be computationally cheap on resources, but their DX7 is unplayable for me compared to any other FM synth out there...)

Try the demos of (u-he Repro or Diva - these are CPU killers... but sound authentic), Monark, synths by Xils-lab (Polykb is my favourite, they have cheap player edition), Imposcar2, The legend, OP-x pro2, memorymoon me80 (this one has GREAT presets, but maybe doesn't sound as good as high CPU synths like Repro). Maybe there are other good synths, but I could think only of these.
The problems with most of these is that they are all ugly( wow) or are trying to imitate some old synth look. I would have liked something that looks like Valhalla's or Fab-Filter's clean, modern UI designs.

[ATS]

I remember Arturia stuff being really buggy in the past too, not sure if that is still the case.

[VariKusBrainZ]

If you buy Falcon you get $100 coupon you could use on VV

[dangayle]

I’ve owned both. VV2 is more idiosyncratic. The interfaces are all over the place, the preset management system is mostly terrible, even on a fast hard drive some of the patches take forever to load. But dang, some of the things sound so great. Like really, really great. Very well recorded, nice, interesting patches. I ended up selling the whole bundle, but I still have Vintage Legends and Digital Synsations 1.

Arturia, on the other hand, is far more consistent. Their new plugin framework is a pleasure to work with. Their older synths are getting long in the tooth comparatively, but Arturia is really going in a great direction with their new synths. The new DX7 synth is better than the original, and their other new synths are really, really powerful and unique.

I think overall, the UVI stuff has a slight edge in sound quality and patches, but Arturia is no slouch either and is much easier to use.

[kvotchin]

What’s your budget? If sufficient, you could even consider a hardware poly.

I hear U-He is the nuts for VA, though I haven’t tried any of theirs myself. UVI, I do have some experience with, and yeah, for softsynths, wow - very nice indeed.

Probably can’t go too far wrong with any of the respected brands, really.