Arturia V Collection 9 - Official Thread

[Sinisterbr]

So far, I've noticed general consensus is MS-20 is a winner like GForce's OB-E. I guess we are finally getting to the age where software truly rivals hardware in sound quality.

Exactly, we're finally there !

So, which V9 synths do you Arturia fans think are finally sounding as good as hardware? Honest question.

[wilkins_micawber]

Looks like there's MPE support for all new plugins and remakes, one of the older ones also lists MPE. Good precedent, here's hoping for an update that adds mpe support to existing plugins before v10

[blatanville]

Few days ago they actually presented a design prototype for a 61-key midi controller, asking the userbase for feedback.
Estimated price $199.

https://www.facebook.com/Behringer/phot ... 4473088914

ooo...and just when I'd firmly settled on my next controller keyboard.

[Stefken]

I like what Arturia has done with the MS-20.

I always adored the character of the MS-20 and looked for years for a good emulation. I finally gave up and bought the hardware as there was no good emulation around.
This emulation is the first that i would consider a good one. I think they did a good job at capturing the (screaming) essence of the MS-20. I like what they have done with the filter.

Towards the oscillators and the overall sound; is it a 'perfect' emulation? Hmm, not really. Not like U-he has done with a few instruments where you can hardly hear any difference. There is a difference. The hardware certainly has more weight to it.

But for me they captured the soul of the machine pretty well, they added the sequencer, unison and poly, and as it is software it has the advantages of preset recall, multiple instances etc. That makes the Arturia MS-20 a really fun instrument for me, with a lot of possibilities to explore with an instrument that sounds pretty ms-20esk.
The hardware still holds its value for me and when you really want the beefy sound of it, you can use that one.
So the software and hardware versions can live next to each other for me and serve different purposes.

[beely]

ooo...and just when I'd firmly settled on my next controller keyboard.

Don't expect this to be available to buy any time soon, if they're just floating prototype designs... You'll have a good year or two with your current controller, unless you really want to wait that long...

[noiseboyuk]

But for me they captured the soul of the machine pretty well, they added the sequencer, unison and poly, and as it is software it has the advantages of preset recall, multiple instances etc.

Only when mapping with my MS20iC did I realise just how much they've added. It sounds like a great emulation, but it is almost an MS-30.

MS-25 perhaps.

[Stefken]

MS-25 perhaps.

Yes, they certainly expanded the possibilities .

[andrew71]

Possibly a long shot, but does anyone know if the MS20 is compatible with Korg's old hardware MS20 controller which the original Legacy collection shipped with?

Kind of. There's no profile set up, but you can midi learn all the controls. Maybe the jacks too, haven't tried that.

Just tried it - no, sadly no way to map the jacks. Midi-learning the rest is a cinch though.

That's a shame. Thanks for testing it though.

[zzz00m]

So, did I hear/read correctly, that the piano instrument in this now uses only physical modelling? IOW, no samples? If so, how does it compare to PianoTeq?

Also, how true is that of each instrument, out of curiosity? To what extent are they modelled, and to what extent sampled?

As far as I know, Piano V has always been modeled and not sampled, and the same goes for all the organs and electric pianos. I believe the only V Collection instruments that use samples are:

• Emulations of sample-based synths, such as Emulator II, SQ80, and CMI (Fairlight).
• Mellotron, where samples are used in place of tape loops (but processed to sound like tape).
• Vocoder, for the mode that uses triggerable samples as the modulator instead of live audio input.
• The new Augmented Strings & Voices plugins.

I can confirm this list, based on a look at the sample content folders in my Arturia VC8 samples folder, except for the SQ80 and the full Augmented synths, which I don't have (No VC9 yet). And I will add Synclavier V to the list. Also Pigments, but it's not actually part of the V Collection. I have a total of 7 GB samples installed for these synths.

[noiseboyuk]

Possibly a long shot, but does anyone know if the MS20 is compatible with Korg's old hardware MS20 controller which the original Legacy collection shipped with?

Kind of. There's no profile set up, but you can midi learn all the controls. Maybe the jacks too, haven't tried that.

Just tried it - no, sadly no way to map the jacks. Midi-learning the rest is a cinch though.

That's a shame. Thanks for testing it though.

If anyone finds it useful, I created an MS20iC profile here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dd0e7fnfe9yi3 ... xmidi?dl=0

[rh100]

I think that it's reasonable to assume that some people develop serious sensitivities to certain differences that most people don't hear.

That's definitely true. For example, in the case of lossy coding (MP3, etc.) it's known from controlled tests in formal settings that listeners can learn to "hear" the "tell-tale" artifacts.

(Not so easy at higher bit-rates.)

Also, a slightly counterintuitive aspect of lossy coding is that hearing loss can actually make you more sensitive to artifacts, because what was supposed to have been masked becomes unmasked...

[arcadia1984]

Oh very true, I haven't futzed with the CS-80 a ton since I find the Jup-8 and other subtractives a little more direct and to the point, programming anything in the CS-80 gets to feel like a chore

[Echoes in the Attic]

Not seeing improved load times over here, though that was supposed to be one of the improvements across the board. Maybe even worse.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Any opinions on how the new Prophet stacks against Repro?

I've got a hardware Prophet-10 (Rev4), RePro, and the new Arturia. It's still early days but I'll add my thoughts...

RePro and the Rev. 4 can get pretty damn close, except RePro-5 can't get quite as sloppy as the hardware. More "trimmers" for envelope, filter, PWM slop, would probably make it a perfect clone of the Rev. 3 mode in the hardware.

Today I spent more time comparing the Arturia version against the hardware so I'll focus on that versus RePro-5. The OSC's sound spot on in solo. The filter resonance is very different than the hardware running the Rev. 1/2 filter mode. On the Arturia, the resonance is way more pronounced (loud) and chunky (wider). It also oscillates in a more pronounced way. So the two sound very different there. You may even prefer the Arturia. The Arturia's tuning is way tighter by default, so go ahead and throw that pitch trimmer a hair above noon - that's around where the hardware Rev 4 sounds like at it's tightest. But when you're doing pads and brass sounds on the hardware, regardless of which Rev you're using, it sounds almost like there's still some extra chorusing or modulation happening. This is something you can approximate by messing with the pitch trimmers again, but neither RePro or Arturia quite do this the same way. If the hardware sounds magical, that's why. No chorus pedal needed (unless you want more!). The Envelope Depth on the Arturia is much deeper than the Rev4, which I actually prefer; around 7.5 on the Arturia is in the ballpark of the max on the hardware. Another area where I hear a large difference is when using the Polymod section to do FM on OSC A or the filter from OSC B. The hardware sounds less harsh (less going on in the high frequencies) and more controlled, whereas the Arturia sounds more aggressive. Again, some might prefer this but it's definitely not sounding like the hardware there. I might even be hearing some aliasing on the Arturia there.

Overall, for most patches, I'm sure I could dial them in with enough to get them pretty close. This is definitely a nice upgrade over the prior version. If I didn't have RePro-5 already, this would definitely cut into the gas for it. RePro is definitely close to the hardware in Rev 3 mode and has a better sounding FX compliment IMO.

Things I wish the Arturia version had that the hardware does:

1. Amp Level as a modulation destination
2. Polyphonic Unison
3. Round Robin voice allocation
4. 10 voices (seems conspicuously absent that it goes from 8 to 12 voices with no 10)

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Not seeing improved load times over here, though that was supposed to be one of the improvements across the board. Maybe even worse.

Yeah, I was going to edit my first post in this thread to say the same thing. The load times still take a long time the first time I load an Arturia plugin in my DAW. After that, they're still about 8 seconds for subsequent additions.