Arturia V Collection 9 - Official Thread

[Arashi]

Did anyone else notice when you updated everything in Software center that they changed the name of the OB-Xa to OP-Xa?

Yes. I'm sure it's a trademark issue. Oberheim is officially back in business and just announced the OB-X8.

[teilo]

Comparing the CS-80 V4 to a real CS-80 (via careful observation of online videos), CS-80 V4 is, in my opinion, the best CS-80 emulation by a wide margin. It is really incredible. The leap from V3 to V4 is massive. At best, V3 could be described as "CS-80ish." V4 is solid enough to fall into the margins from one physical instrument to another. This is instantly evident on the panel presets. Set Strings 1 and Strings 2 and compare it to a real CS-80. V3 is laughable, whereas V4 nails it.

[mholloway]

Comparing the CS-80 V4 to a real CS-80 (via careful observation of online videos)

Is that really a meaningful comparison, though? Seems pretty murky to me, frankly. I'd rather hear from someone who actually has a CS-80, but, well.....yeah. Oh well.

[jamcat]

I think for an instrument like the CS-80, much of the performance character comes from the tactile experience of playing the polyphonic aftertouch and the ribbon controller. A VST may be able to nail the sound (and I have no doubt V4 does), but you need a CS-80 to get a CS-80 performance. Just as much of the experience of playing a piano comes from the weighted keys, double escapement mechanism, pedal action, and the hammers physically striking the strings.

[mholloway]

I think for an instrument like the CS-80, much of the performance character comes from the tactile experience of playing the polyphonic aftertouch and the ribbon controller. Just as much of the experience of playing a piano comes from the double escapement mechanism, pedal action, and the hammers physically striking the strings.

Absolutely. Also, it had extensive velocity sensitivity at a time when nearly nothing else did. So with velocity + aftertouch + ribbon + foot-pedal configurability, it was all about performance (and of course, polyphony, also a very big deal in 1977!). People think the oscillators and filters are some magic mythical beasts, and they absolutely aren't. Frankly the synth only sounds great when played through reverb (or chorus / delay, etc). The CS-80 sounds everybody knows and loves are -drenched- in Lexicon 224. Or something else, in the case of anything non-Vangelis It was certainly important that it had so much synthesis available-- meaning, two full paths, where each waveform set gets its own filter, its own envelopes, etc. It was a beast. But for these, very specific performance + power reasons. Not because of "oh god the amazing cs-80 filter" or some magic oscillators, etc (though the PWM on them does sound remarkably good....)

[gnu23]

Did anyone else notice when you updated everything in Software center that they changed the name of the OB-Xa to OP-Xa?

My guess: the name change was to avoid bumping into the revitalized Oberheim company.
See this article on the CDM website, among others.

[dumbledog]

Is that really a meaningful comparison, though? Seems pretty murky to me, frankly. I'd rather hear from someone who actually has a CS-80, but, well.....yeah. Oh well.

Where have you gone, Mister David Spiers
Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you
Woo woo woo

[Arashi]

I think for an instrument like the CS-80, much of the performance character comes from the tactile experience of playing the polyphonic aftertouch and the ribbon controller.

That's part of it, for sure, but it has a rich character even when you're just poking at it, which no (previous) emulation has even come close to.

Haven't spent much time with the new version yet, but I think this video shows how huge the gap is between the hardware and the CS-80 V3. (There's also ME-80, which I think is even worse.)

[Arashi]

Where have you gone, Mister David Spiers
Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you
Woo woo woo

That's a great video too. I could definitely see GForce throwing their hat in the ring with a CS-80 emulation at some point.

[blatanville]

So, with Augmented Strings / Voices we have what we all suspected now that we are able to edit patches. These instruments are basically versions of Pigments at their core, with both fewer and additional features.

They have their own unique sample libraries, but the familiar Sampler, Granular, Analog, Harmonic, and Wavetable engines are there, arranged as two Oscs each in two layers. You always have two synths and two samplers, but you can arrange them across both layers however you wish. Granular is considered a synth, and is not part of the Sampler engine. There are only a small selection of wavetables. The synths have fewer controls, and the Granular and Harmonic engines rely heavily on presets for the rest. Don't expect the tweakability you get in Pigments.

Each layer has its own filter, but with only six filter types. Modulation is nearly identical to Pigments, but with fewer options (2 LFOs, 2 Function generators which also serve as envelopes, two random, plus the standard Vel, AT, MW, and KBD). Macros are expanded to eight, with four dedicated to FX. FXs are split between layers, with one layer FX macro per layer, and two global FX macros dedicated to delay and reverb. The macro names cannot be changed. Each macro can only modulate parameters consistent with the macro type. The Morph control appears to be a cross fade between the two layers.

Of the 16 Pigments FX, only Multiband and Flanger are missing, for a total of 14.

Thanks for that summary; they seem like really weird additions to the V collection, to me.
In the past, people had asked "why isn't Pigments included the V-Collection?" and it was easy to say, "well, it's not a recreation of a vintage hardware device, which is the definition of the V-Collection, so it's a separate product." But now, with two instruments that aren't based on anything from the past, the concept of the V-Collection is a bit...busted?
Why NOT include Pigments, now, if you've included two (Shades and Hues?) of Pigments in the Mighty V?

[Arashi]

Prophet-5 V is way better than the old version. Similar to the leap from Jup-8 V3 to V4. Voice dispersion makes a huge difference. The filter also sounds a lot better.

Just copied one of my favorite Repro-5 patches to the new Arturia version. It's a fairly simple patch, but I could never get it to sound good on the old Prophet V3 — no amount of tweaking could fix how thin and weak it sounds. With the new version I was able to get it sounding very close to Repro-5. Not identical, but to the point where it sounds similarly good.

A few observations:

• As usual, matching knob positions doesn't work. The parameter ranges (and curves) are different, and unfortunately Repro-5 uses 0-100 for most parameters instead of actual units like ms and Hz. Have to use your ears.
• Prophet-5 V replaced the filter keyboard tracking knob with a button. This matches the hardware, but if you want to dial in a certain amount, you need to turn that off, open the Advanced panel and assign Keyboard Tracking to Filter Cutoff.
• Prophet-5 V's Detune knob only applies to unison. Repro-5's Voice Detune knob applies to all modes. In Prophet-5 V you have to use the Pitch knob in the Voice Dispersion panel.
• Repro-5 has a bunch of settings in the Tweaks view — oscillator, filter, and envelope modes, and voice panning — that have no equivalents in Prophet-5 V. Just something to be aware of when trying to make them sound the same.

Anyway, my initial impression is this was a really successful rebuild. Prophet V3 was one of the weakest links in V Collection and now it has a very respectable Prophet-5 (and still the only Prophet-VS) emulation. It looks a lot nicer than the previous version too.

[vertibration]

Another huge factor are the effects in each plugin. The new emulations are really quite a leap, and very good. Users should have a strong indication of the direction of Arturia for future updates. It seems that with each V release, they will likely address a couple of older synths that need a redo, and release a couple of new ones. That seems like a great formula. Not to mention, this new engine might be optimized for easier updates when they need to address each plugin as a whole with each major release.

[vertibration]

Prophet VS can load sysex FYI. The original bank is already included, but maybe users can search the web for other 3rd party VS banks

[JonSolo]

Not that my opinion matter much, but this update is perhaps the best one yet.

The new instruments are fantastic. The rebuilt versions are so much better than the predecessors. Adding additional sound packs makes the upgrade price (even at $199) a no brainer... And all of this, especially if you depended on the earlier pianos for your piano sound.

I was really hoping for an extended Augmented series (and we may still yet get that), but as it is, it is fantastic.

It was surprising to see a Korg instrument in there. I have not compared versions yet...but I love the sound of Arturia's, whether it is true to the original or not. I am sure it will make it to many productions.

The CS80 improvements may make this the best CS80 emulator on the market (for now).

For the Prophet emu, I have Repro as well. I try to never compare since in MOST cases I do not have the original. I view these as a new sounds source and will enjoy what they add to my sonic palate.

[blatanville]

I try to never compare since in MOST cases I do not have the original. I view these as a new sounds source and will enjoy what they add to my sonic palate.

Wisdom!