KVR Audio

mxbf · Post by **mxbf** » Thu Dec 26, 2019 11:21 pm

I am kind of seeing an issue with loading between presets. It's pretty obnoxious, takes like 8 seconds between presets.

keel · Post by **keel** » Thu Dec 26, 2019 11:53 pm

I bought this, and as much as I would like to love this, the thin sounding sound is really uninspiring. At least to me, Pigment sounds quite weak. If you compare to Massive X, it sounds like 10x better, imo. Even tho this sounds thin whatsoever, I will keep it. I love all the graphics and stuff. You can make things fast. Maybe I find use for this.

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Thu Dec 26, 2019 11:58 pm

Thin? Not what I've been hearing. I installed the demo last night and it sounded amazingly good to my ears. To be fair, I haven't tried it in a mix yet, that's when I'll get a better impression. I'm a little confused, though - which sounds 10 x better, Massive X or Pigments?

EnGee · Post by **EnGee** » Fri Dec 27, 2019 12:59 am

For my taste, I like Massive X sound more (judging from presets) but ...
I was playing with Pigments for about two hours (and for about half an hour when it was only a demo). I really liked it a lot

The GUI and design are fantastic really. Excellent design! Even without a manual I could know most of the functions and modulations (there are hints showing also when mouse hover).
It has three engines which I like really. The traditional subtractive, wavetable and sample/Granular. I was surprised that all of them are not compromised in any way! I really like the subtractive with the FM option. It sounds very good.

So, in short, it is fast to program Pigments and have excellent results. The step sequencer is wonderful with the tones indication. It can produce very nice sounds. But I will use Massive X for the main sounds (the dominant) and Pigments can be excellent for effects/sequences/background sounds as it is much easier to program than Massive X. So, I'm really happy that I purchased it

p.s. CPU is not high. It is maybe less than Massive X little bit.

mladi · Post by **mladi** » Fri Dec 27, 2019 1:26 am

Beautiful instrument. Everytime i use Pigments the sound of Debussy comes to my mind, stuff like "Pelléas et Mélisande" etc.

mxbf · Post by **mxbf** » Fri Dec 27, 2019 1:34 am

does anyone else experience major loading time between switching presets?

Forgotten · Post by **Forgotten** » Fri Dec 27, 2019 2:20 am

Not here. Pretty much instantaneous for me.

EnGee · Post by **EnGee** » Fri Dec 27, 2019 2:34 am

mxbf wrote: Fri Dec 27, 2019 1:34 am does anyone else experience major loading time between switching presets?

I don't have a problem. Do you have SSD or HD?

After comparing the sound to Form, Dune 3, Massive X, Thorn CM and RePro 5, yes it is weak compared to those great synths. It's sure not for a thick sound even when using all the unison! But it's ok for background I guess. For $69 is a good value but not more!

mxbf · Post by **mxbf** » Fri Dec 27, 2019 3:36 am

i think long preset loading is just in a project i am already working on. i went ahead and bought it.

i think pigments is very good sounding, personally. i am not so sure about "weak compared to those great synths." it's definitely it's own thing, capable of a variety of sounds. i think if you want it just for bass, you might be disappointed.

but to me, Massive X can't do anything except bass and loud sounds. Pigments is more of a subtle creature.

I like both of them though. Massive X seems to shine for me on those huge, central sounds that don't have much else going on around them. bass, big chords. but it's not good for atmospherics or blending into a track with other stuff.

frankly all these synths are pretty good but for different situations. if I could only have one out of them all I'd probably go with Hive at this point as it's the most versatile and CPU friendly, but if you are a producer with the money there are clear benefits to having Dune (best sounding square wave), Massive X (best centrepiece bass design), Pigments (subtle coloration and detailed sound), and more because they all have strengths and weaknesses for any given situation.

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Fri Dec 27, 2019 4:06 am

mxbf wrote: Fri Dec 27, 2019 1:34 amdoes anyone else experience major loading time between switching presets?

Yes, definitely, and I have dual SSDs on my machine so it is super-fast when it comes to loading anything. It varies but sometimes it can take a few seconds to load. It's annoying when you are previewing patches but, overall, that kind of thing doesn't matter at all. i.e. If you need a quick patch change mid-song, you can always use a second instance.

EnGee wrote: Fri Dec 27, 2019 2:34 amAfter comparing the sound to Form, Dune 3, Massive X, Thorn CM and RePro 5, yes it is weak compared to those great synths. It's sure not for a thick sound even when using all the unison!

The thing is, you don't need every sound in a piece to be that super-dense unison monster. Quite the opposite, more than one or two of those kinds of sounds and your mix becomes a muddy mess. But what I am discovering with Pigments is that it's lack of hugeness seems deliberate. If you take both engines, use all six oscillators with a bit of detune, plus unison with detune and de-pan (stereo), you end up with 48 oscillators which makes it sound as huge as DUNE or Thorn or anything else.

But it's ok for background I guess. For $69 is a good value but not more!

That's a bit harsh. After an hour or so of making my own patches on the demo this morning, spending $69 on it is an absolute no-brainer (so I just bought it). Even at full price, I think it is better value than a few others that are around that price, simply because it is so versatile. It's the granular synth engine that makes it a bit special because it allows it to make sounds none of it's competitors can get close to. Combine it with a wavetable or analogue oscillators in the second engine and you can do incredible things with it. I am deeply impressed with Pigments. If I'd had it a couple of years ago, I could probably have saved $500 buying other synths, synths that I can see becoming quickly redundant now that I do have it.

mxbf · Post by **mxbf** » Fri Dec 27, 2019 5:13 am

truth be told PSP VintageWarmer + Kazrog True Iron and various other trickery can thicken something up pretty quick if you need that

dune_rave · Post by **dune_rave** » Fri Dec 27, 2019 5:15 am

Good to see there are other Debussy fans in this forum

If i should choose one Debussy related track to pigments i would chose this:

mladi wrote: Fri Dec 27, 2019 1:26 am Beautiful instrument. Everytime i use Pigments the sound of Debussy comes to my mind, stuff like "Pelléas et Mélisande" etc.

EnGee · Post by **EnGee** » Fri Dec 27, 2019 5:46 am

I absolutely agree with Bones that I don't need every sound to be dense or thick, so that I said Pigments can be in the background

Well, being weak, is my observation. I'm spoiled with Reaktor and u-he synths, so for me Pigments can't compete in the fine details of sound. It's like has some noticeable aliasing (not very clear).

I believe in the opposite direction that Massive X has absolutely clearer sound than Pigments, but Pigments strength is that it's easier to program and it has a better workflow, so for sounds that doesn't attract attention to details, I would use Pigments, but overall it doesn't excel in any kind of synthesis! Form is miles ahead in sample based synthesis while there are many better analogish synths than the analogue engine in Pigments.

Anyway, if I would take another synth from Arturia instead of Pigments, it would be CZ V. This has a clearer sound

but Pigments is good although not excellent in detailed sounds.

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Fri Dec 27, 2019 6:25 am

You missed the main point of my post which is that the thought that Pigments can't be as huge as anything else is wrong. Dead wrong. It will run rings around the RePros and you'd have to work really, really hard to make Hive sound bigger. If you just go by the presets, then you may not see it but if you make the effort to create your own sounds, it doesn't take long to realise how huge it can be.

I'd also suggest that the sounds you want in the background aren't the thin sounds but the fat ones.The last thing you want is for your lead to drown out the rest of the mix. I think a lot of the Pigments' patches are designed to sit into a mix, rather than to sound as huge as possible. I think it is aimed more at professional users than bedroom producers. It just has an air of "you'll know what to do with it, we don't need to knock your socks off".

BTW, what on earth is a "detailed sound"? I'd have thought that was something Pigments excels at, it being so crisp and clean, so maybe we have different definitions.

machinesworking · Post by **machinesworking** » Fri Dec 27, 2019 6:48 am

BONES wrote: Fri Dec 27, 2019 6:25 am I'd also suggest that the sounds you want in the background aren't the thin sounds but the fat ones.The last thing you want is for your lead to drown out the rest of the mix. I think a lot of the Pigments' patches are designed to sit into a mix, rather than to sound as huge as possible. I think it is aimed more at professional users than bedroom producers. It just has an air of "you'll know what to do with it, we don't need to knock your socks off".

BTW, what on earth is a "detailed sound"? I'd have thought that was something Pigments excels at, it being so crisp and clean, so maybe we have different definitions.

I'm in total agreement here. It's actually a lot of work to get fat "analog" type sounds to all sit in a mix together, but pair some three oscillator detuned bass with a thin FM high end synth and it's not hard at all. I used the old Waldorf Collection PPG a lot years ago precisely because it could cut through thick mixes, and alone of course it's thin as hell sounding.

The presets in Pigments do not do it justice though, especially the bass, you can get much much thicker base tones than anything in it's library. The thin argument IMO is because people aren't good at using Pigments really.

It mostly suffers from a weak preset library, which arturia is kinda guilty of in general, good places to start from usually without being that great on their own.

Arturia Pigments 2 (Free Update): Now it's Granular