Why do you dislike Arturia VSTs?

[Examigan]

Some VSTs are really good but most (such as emulation of old hardware) are not worth a money. It they were free, I might use them but I get better value for my money somewhere else.

If you wait for their sales here and there, I don't think you can find a better deal.
Even at full price the V Collection 8 is not bad at all, considering it's 28 instruments.
That's only about $21 a piece. On sale it can drop to $10-11.

[gaggle of hermits]

UVI has one file as you say (and I understand why they do this to protect their IP), but that is much more of an issue for me regarding updates/fixes. Having to download 12 Gigabytes of data and replace the whole file because they have fixed the tuning of one 300Kb sample ..... now that is crazy!

Just my 2 cents

it's funny because uvi does indeed use a ton of files: the ufs is basically a custom disk image, so it only looks like a monolithic file from the outside.

[MikeCallon]

it's funny because uvi does indeed use a ton of files: the ufs is basically a custom disk image, so it only looks like a monolithic file from the outside.

Of course, but the point is that you have to re-download the whole ufs file - they don't supply 'patch' updates to the files you have already downloaded....and World Suite 2 (for example) is 38Gb

[gaggle of hermits]

i agree, it is a bit mad that they don't try to update the filesystem with a patcher. though it may be that they have to repackage the file each time because it doesn't have an index that lets them swap sample images in and out easily – or it's designed in such a way that the data is organised to lead to more efficient reads on rotating disk drives. i guess a patcher is more prone to errors as well. but it does really notch up the download size, considering it might be for a single tuning fix.

on the plus side, they do fix sample errors, and that's not always the case with sample-library devs.

[clipnotic]

It's like their hardware, the sound is ...

[tommypiano]

Not a fan of the sound. Arturia V collection is not awful if gotten for a good price.

GUI is fine though.

[Edouard Arturia]

Hello.

I'm Edouard, V Collection & Pigments product manager .
A bit surprised by the poll, not much room for love, but I guess it's fine like this, at least I can expect to find some relevant criticism?

I jumped in to check if some useful information could be gathered to continue improving our instruments and utilities. Thanks to those who wrote constructive remarks, I'm taking good notes.

For the more vague remarks, I can't really help if someone says it sounds bad... As I don't know which instrument you are talking about, or even which parameters.
If you like wanting to share, feel free to refine your sayings if you have a precise idea of what you feel is wrong. If it's about the sound, are talking about the newer instruments or the old ones?
(note that there are 15 years since our first emulations and the most recent onces, thus the fact that we are updating the instruments as much as we can since 2019)
Do you have precise parameters on which you think it's not on the point?
Did you compare to the original machines or is it simply a guess?
Feel free to let me know
Best
Edouard

[Lectropunk aka influx808]

I think arturia are awesome!!!

[D-Fusion]

I think arturia are awesome!!!

Arturia is beyond Awesome it is just Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Pu1adx ... eakinghigh

[Introspective]

I'm Edouard, V Collection & Pigments product manager .
A bit surprised by the poll, not much room for love, but I guess it's fine like this.

Please understand that the poll was created by a single user. There's no limits on KvR about who can make a poll, so anyone can do it (and add any options they want--others cannot contribute new options).

At least I can expect to find some relevant criticism maybe? So I jumped in to check if some useful information could be gathered to continue improving our instruments and utilities.

It's good of you to ask, thanks for being brave enough to do so.

I do have some specific criticisms, if you have the time to listen. I should say: I own *most* Arturia software, but not quite all of it, and I used to own a MiniBrute 2 and one of the first-gen KeyLab, but I've since sold both (just due to limited space, not dislike).

1. Load times are universally too long. ...but it hurts the most when loading effects. Maybe it's just my own workflow, but I tend to load DAW presets one after another, NOT a specific VST and then load its presets, so for me, when a VST is slow to load, it REALLY affects my workflow, and my willingness to continue using it.

2. To my ears, most Arturia VA synths don't have enough "oomph" compared to other vendors. The benchmark is quite high, of course, but when I've A/B'ed, say, SEM-V and Oberhausen, I find the difference pronounced. So too with most other pairs, most recently the Matrix-V against Obsession... [wince] That was a stark contrast.

To soften the blow, though, someone here on KvR challenged me to A/B Jupiter-V to Roland Cloud's Jupiter-8, and Arturia actually came out ahead, to my ears. C'est manifique. Also, I do really find the digital emulations to be quite good. I'm especially enamored with SQ80-V, myself. OTOH, I do think Chiptunes OPS7 is a "better-sounding" emulation of the DX7. ...I still think DX7-V is ... good. . Okay, sorry: there are a lot of synths, it's complicated.

...Okay, I guess I don't actually have any other specific points to make. Personally, I still think Arturia has a good position in the software market both as a "bang for the buck" option (with its effects and synth packages), and as a sound-design option (with Pigments). I like that there are frequent new releases, which I look forward to. I have no problems, personally, with the installation process. I've done a license transfer once in the past, and it was pretty easy: no complaints. I don't think Arturia has proven itself as "best in class" anywhere in software, but I still think it's among the heavyweights. It always comes up in my short-list for suggestions to beginners.

Hardware is another story, of course. Arturia's killing it. . But that's not what we're here to talk about.

Anyway: my two cents. Apologies for the ramble.

[Examigan]

OTOH, I do think Chiptunes OPS7 is a "better-sounding" emulation of the DX7.

Actually it's chipsynth OPS7 not chiptunes.

[mholloway]

I like Arturia just fine. I think the SQ-80 V is absolutely wonderful.

I will +1, though, that the load times are just awful when you first load up any given plugin. It's a workflow killer to sit there watching a beachball, waiting for a plugin to appear. It definitely has more than once made me think "maybe I should just avoid these altogether..."

[syntonica]

I agree with Introspective. The accuracy of the plugins vs the original hardware is hit and miss, but they all sound quite good and usable in their own right.

My only complaint is that they are big, bloated and slow to move. It makes it very hard to work quickly when you are looking for a specific sound or something close to it you can tweak. And at around 1GB in size per plugin, they take up way too much much valuable disk space I'd rather use for my projects.

Oh,and on the Mac side, the AU components are STILL missing the PkgInfo file needed to display the file as a .component and not a folder. Been about two years now. Fix yer build script!

[pixel85]

I can only speak for Pigments 3 - as it's the latest version of Arturia plugin that I had.
For me, filters are unimpressive. They're ok but nothing spectacular. I'm a bit spoiled by analogue filters with character and this is what is missing in Pigments filters: character and depth. If I could use a colloquialism, I would say that those filters don't have balls. There's something missing that I can't really describe with words. I know that it's not the best comparison but another example where I have the same feeling are filters in Modal Cobalt8: they're ok but they can't compete with filters from Odyssey (standing right next to Cobalt8 in front of me) which are simply pleasant to listen.

Ps. I only demo some of Arturia's emulations of analogue synths in 2019/2020 and I could feel the same about filters in all of them.

[JHernandez]

I like the SQ-80 V because it's so close I don't feel the need to buy the hardware anymore and DX7 V, also very close, as a stand in for my DX7. I don't care for anything else synth wise from Arturia currently.

The emulations I've tried/have are big in size compared to other synth emulations of the same or better quality (subjectively, of course) and they do take more time to load.