Arturia Pigments 3 is out!

[Spring Goose]

Sorry, i got it, it's Tranzistow.

Only one of the best-sounding synths in existence (with the shittiest interface )

I'm gonna try it. It doesn't look that bad!

[Chauzou]

I've been planning to buy Falcon next. Now this comes out with a great bargain. If I do get Falcon, any reason to get Pigments 3?
I am currently trying the Pigments demo. It's good, UI is great, modulations are super easy etc. just annoyed to get more crackles then actual patch sound on some presets (EP Renegaat... )

But having my eyes on Falcon, I am just afraid that this is a redundent one. Is there something Pigments 3 does that Falcon can't do? Do you guys feel it's a complete overlap?

[zzz00m]

With Pigments, you can just jump in and have fun.

I don't have Falcon, but based on a look at it, I think that reading the Falcon manual is a must...

[Teksonik]

But this synth is on top of the game with couple of other big synths like Dune 3, Hive 2, Rapid, etc.

I own all those synths and Pigments is having a hard time finding it's place among them here. Every time I reach for Pigments I have ended up replacing it with one of those synths or ANA2, Go2, Warlock, Vital, etc.....

So what exactly is not right? There must be always a particular reason.

I don't know or can't put it into words is more accurate I guess. Something is missing when compared to other synths in my collection.

[Teksonik]

Pigments does nothing that I can't do in Reaktor, and I love Reaktor, but I still find Pigments faster and more fun for doing the things that it's good at.

You're missing the main point that "faster" means nothing. Best is the only thing that matters.

If you choose an instrument for a project because it's faster rather than best then any further discussion is pointless.

Yes Pigments is "fast and fun" but it can't find a place in my projects because it's simply beaten out by other synths in my folder.

Pigments is a nice synth and I don't regret buying it but it simply hasn't earned a place in my starting lineup.

[simmo75]

I've been planning to buy Falcon next. Now this comes out with a great bargain. If I do get Falcon, any reason to get Pigments 3?
I am currently trying the Pigments demo. It's good, UI is great, modulations are super easy etc. just annoyed to get more crackles then actual patch sound on some presets (EP Renegaat... )

But having my eyes on Falcon, I am just afraid that this is a redundent one. Is there something Pigments 3 does that Falcon can't do? Do you guys feel it's a complete overlap?

Pigments is more immediate, you’ll have to learn Falcon.
I sold it recently as I really didn’t like the workflow. There should definitely be a Falcon demo as it’s awesome on paper but not for everyone. Marmite synth

[ghettosynth]

I've been planning to buy Falcon next. Now this comes out with a great bargain. If I do get Falcon, any reason to get Pigments 3?
I am currently trying the Pigments demo. It's good, UI is great, modulations are super easy etc. just annoyed to get more crackles then actual patch sound on some presets (EP Renegaat... )

But having my eyes on Falcon, I am just afraid that this is a redundent one. Is there something Pigments 3 does that Falcon can't do? Do you guys feel it's a complete overlap?

Pigments is more immediate, you’ll have to learn Falcon.
I sold it recently as I really didn’t like the workflow. There should definitely be a Falcon demo as it’s awesome on paper but not for everyone. Marmite synth

Hallion is like that as well. It seems super powerful but it's a migraine that you didn't know was coming on.

[TribeOfHǫfuð]

Reason can show CPU load per plugin. I ran through some patches yesterday and compared to some other synths like Hive, Repro 1 and 5, TAL Uno, J8 and Noisemaker, Cherry Audio 8 voice, and Viking 2 RE. According to this litte test, I see no particular difference that matters. On all synths, it depends on chosen polyphony and complexity of modulation. No suprise to me, but I did not nitpick or test particularly systematically, was just trying to get an impression, e.g. I did not turn off effects if they had them on. On my Mac Pro 3,1 Ghz, 16 GB RAM, I mainly had Pigments about 11-13%, at best 4-5%, at worst 24-26% when playing triads. However, most synths seemed to be within this frame, though I can push their CPU usage more if I extend their patches. The overall impression is that Pigments does well enough for all practical purposes.

[Biome_Digital]

After using Pigments 3 a lot I think the new features are great. The new engines and the multiband comp are very nice.

[felis]

....Hallion is like that as well. It seems super powerful but it's a migraine that you didn't know was coming on.

I love Halion - it's by far my favorite softie.
But you won't get real far with it without spending some time with the manual.
And even then, things aren't laid out as nicely and simple to understand as Pigments.

IMO, Halion is worth the effort, and Pigments is more fun to play around with and you can get good results with it quicker.
The VA stuff in Halion (Trip, Trium, Voltage, etc.), is good enough that it could replace almost all of my VA hardware. I wouldn't go so far as to say that for Pigments.

[Fleer]

Pigments is gradually becoming a favorite in my (admittedly too large) synth collection. I’ve always preferred the more organic side of sound and Pigments 3 delivers. Kudos to Arturia.

[chagzuki]

I've been planning to buy Falcon next. Now this comes out with a great bargain. If I do get Falcon, any reason to get Pigments 3?
I am currently trying the Pigments demo. It's good, UI is great, modulations are super easy etc. just annoyed to get more crackles then actual patch sound on some presets (EP Renegaat... )

But having my eyes on Falcon, I am just afraid that this is a redundent one. Is there something Pigments 3 does that Falcon can't do? Do you guys feel it's a complete overlap?

Falcon is more for when you want to program in detail, for when you have quite specific requirements and need careful control of how things fit together. It's also very handy for percussive stuff.

[ghettosynth]

....Hallion is like that as well. It seems super powerful but it's a migraine that you didn't know was coming on.

I love Halion - it's by far my favorite softie.
But you won't get real far with it without spending some time with the manual.
And even then, things aren't laid out as nicely and simple to understand as Pigments.

IMO, Halion is worth the effort, and Pigments is more fun to play around with and you can get good results with it quicker.
The VA stuff in Halion (Trip, Trium, Voltage, etc.), is good enough that it could replace almost all of my hardware. I wouldn't go so far as to say that for Pigments.

I disagree with the VA stuff being that good. It's the same stuff that's in Steinberg's other synths. It's alright, I've used Retrologue, but I don't turn to it as a preference, I think that only Padshop is consistently useful for me. I've used Halion enough to create a couple of instruments, I just find it to be the antithesis of what Pigments is all about. Halion is tedious every time that I want to use it, unless of course, you are just using its already created instruments.

[chk071]

Retrologue is pretty lacklustre for me. If the VA section of Halion is the same, it's solid, but, nothing spectacular.

[ghettosynth]

Retrologue is pretty lacklustre for me. If the VA section of Halion is the same, it's solid, but, nothing spectacular.

Essentially. I agree, but, I will give credit where credit is due, I think the retrologue bits, the Steinberg effects, and some of the choices within Halion make it a decent, but not perfect, platform for building sample based instruments. NI hasn't done a great job with Kontakt on this front either and it's really rather irritating to me how routing into filters at the voice level works in Kontakt.

If Steinberg would free their little player instrument from the dongle and just make it a free instrument download without drama they'd have a force on their hands in terms of being a great platform for distributing sample based instruments.