Arturia Pigments 3 is out!

[pdxindy]

In MX I see instantly to which three modulations certain parameter is assigned to and I can't assign modulation by mistake like in Pigments.

Where MX is difficult, is going the other way. If I want to see what targets are assigned to a particular source, there is no way to do that except by tabbing through lots of places (18 tabs to check every possible target).

Overall, I like Pigments modulation better than MX.

In MX, lots of parameters have a maximum of 2 mod sources. The rest are 3. Too limited for me as I often put more than that. Pigments is unlimited.

Also, MX does not have MSEG's and the LFO's are weak. No LFO phase adjustment and not much shape variety.

In terms of modulation capability, I prefer Vital to both of them.

[pixel85]

In MX I see instantly to which three modulations certain parameter is assigned to and I can't assign modulation by mistake like in Pigments.

Where MX is difficult, is going the other way. If I want to see what targets are assigned to a particular source, there is no way to do that except by tabbing through lots of places (18 tabs to check every possible target).

Overall, I like Pigments modulation better than MX.

In MX, lots of parameters have a maximum of 2 mod sources. The rest are 3. Too limited for me as I often put more than that. Pigments is unlimited.

Also, MX does not have MSEG's and the LFO's are weak. No LFO phase adjustment and not much shape variety.

In terms of modulation capability, I prefer Vital to both of them.

At this point, I'm pretty sure that all KVR users and their family members and co-workers know what you don't like in MX

Ps. this is why I started my post with "controversy" - I know that everybody loves modulation section in Pigments and hate almost everything about MX

[ghettosynth]

Ps. this is why I started my post with "controversy" - I know that everybody loves modulation section in Pigments and hate almost everything about MX

I love MX, but, it was a rushed release and this shows in many of the ways that matter in terms of what we're discussing here. I agree with pxindy about the limitations of modulation in MX. Moreover, I don't think that Pigments can replace MX in the places that MX excels. Technically, MX is more interesting, but, Pigments is more fun for exploring certain ideas.

[pdxindy]

I love MX, but, it was a rushed release and this shows in many of the ways that matter in terms of what we're discussing here. I agree with pdxindy about the limitations of modulation in MX. Moreover, I don't think that Pigments can replace MX in the places that MX excels. Technically, MX is more interesting, but, Pigments is more fun for exploring certain ideas.

I find the sound quality vs CPU use of MX to be very impressive. Not so Pigments. Pigments uses more CPU than MX and to me the fundamental sound quality of MX is higher. Of course they are also very different and in some respects not comparable.

Pigments first came out about 6 months before MX. Since then Pigments has received an impressive amount of new development. Massive X on the other hand, nothing much. Perhaps you are right that it was a rushed release... but 2 years later it is still in the same rushed release state (besides a few small improvements).

[airbrush]

I noticed that Plugin Guru said something about the sound of Pigments not being quite right also. IIRC he said it was cold?
I like Pigments ok but all the movement in the gui sometimes distracts me.
James

[PieBerger]

Ps. this is why I started my post with "controversy" - I know that everybody loves modulation section in Pigments

No need to feel so lonely, I'm not exactly in love with the modulation section Pigments either

I find the animations distracting and wish there was an option to disable them, also having to click/ESC out of the assignment strip is quite tedious. Give me a well implemented mod matrix with curve/quantise modifiers and static rings/lines a la Hive or Vital, any day of the week.

[EnGee]

Personally I don't like Plugin Guru reviews and presets. Strange he's saying that and most of his presets lack life!

I have Pigments, MX, Phase Plants, Vital, etc. Pigments and MX can easily sound warmer than other wavetable/additive synths. Maybe because they are already have nice analogue filters.

[pixel85]

I love MX, but, it was a rushed release and this shows in many of the ways that matter in terms of what we're discussing here. I agree with pxindy about the limitations of modulation in MX. Moreover, I don't think that Pigments can replace MX in the places that MX excels. Technically, MX is more interesting, but, Pigments is more fun for exploring certain ideas.

Topic beaten to death I do agree that not everything in MX is as good as it should. Some basic features are still missing and I don't like Performer at all. The one in OG Massive is more playful and faster for me.

Pigments first came out about 6 months before MX. Since then Pigments has received an impressive amount of new development. Massive X on the other hand, nothing much. Perhaps you are right that it was a rushed release... but 2 years later it is still in the same rushed release state (besides a few small improvements).

Oh yes. Looking at the changelog between these two... it's like night and day. But as usual, NI has tons of excuses for a snail pace of updates. Arturia is lead by aliens from Mars so they don't have the same issues as NI
I don't expect to see any major overhaul of MX. It's rather gonna stay how it is + M1 compatibility update at some point.

[3ptguitarist]

I made a short comparison of sound between Diva, Massive X, and Pigments using the same sounding patch based on Van Halen's 1984 filter sweep. I didn't put a huge amount of effort into this, so please give me a break lol. Which do you think sounds the best?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l9y2APu_0g

[LoveEnigma18]

I made a short comparison of sound between Diva, Massive X, and Pigments using the same sounding patch based on Van Halen's 1984 filter sweep. I didn't put a huge amount of effort into this, so please give me a break lol. Which do you think sounds the best?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l9y2APu_0g

Good comparison.

Diva sounds the fattest (perhaps that's the reference preset here for recreation?). Massive X and Pigments were about the same in the low end, and while both sounded great, Pigments sounds surprisingly good for this type of sound. Massive X seems to have less resonance compared to others and still doesn't have that fatness - I wonder it is something to do with the recreation of the patch?

[ghettosynth]

nm

[pixel85]

I made a short comparison of sound between Diva, Massive X, and Pigments using the same sounding patch based on Van Halen's 1984 filter sweep. I didn't put a huge amount of effort into this, so please give me a break lol. Which do you think sounds the best?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l9y2APu_0g

Diva is the fattest indeed. Very nice 'squelch' of the filter - yummy.
Then MX - I would change the filter (Asimov is 'proud to be digital' and I think that Monark filter is much better). A bit of low-end EQ would probably get it closer to Diva's bottom.
Pigments is losing (mediocre) bottom very fast - it has the sound of an 'old vst synth' (or last-gen vst synth I should say?) - it's ok. No 'wow' effect.

it's not a big deal. Probably most people would say that they can't hear any difference or it would sound the same on a busy track. For me personally, the difference is huge enough to choose Diva and MX over Pigments for VA sound.

[E_Anderson]

So Pigments 3 came in like a breath of fresh air. Not many organic synths around, sadly. Here's hoping Phase Plant will also continue in that direction (even though it's bass-heavy too, but the Suspension sound pack is showing what it can do with organic wavetables).

What exactly do you think Phase Plant is missing in order to achieve more “organic sound” compared to something like Pigments?

The harmonic engine is the main driver for me giving Pigments any financial consideration at the moment, mostly for what the cluster mode can do in huge cliche Braaams. There’s a sound you can get modulating some of those harmonic parameters that I can’t recreate otherwise, and that’s essentially what I’d be buying. I wonder if Parsec/Razor or even Loom II can do that kind of thing.

[tactile_coast]

I made a short comparison of sound between Diva, Massive X, and Pigments using the same sounding patch based on Van Halen's 1984 filter sweep. I didn't put a huge amount of effort into this, so please give me a break lol. Which do you think sounds the best?

Interesting comparison though I note that on Diva you are using a classic analog filter where on Pigments you are using the default clean multimode filter. If you want a classic analog sound look on the filters tab, where you will find accurately modelled analog filters borrowed from V collection. You can choose from Moog ladder, SEM, Matrix, Roland Jupiter or Buchla filters. It would be interesting to see the same comparison when correctly matching the same type of filter across the synths.

[telecode]

I made a short comparison of sound between Diva, Massive X, and Pigments using the same sounding patch based on Van Halen's 1984 filter sweep. I didn't put a huge amount of effort into this, so please give me a break lol. Which do you think sounds the best?

Eddie says Diva sounds best.