Arturia Pigments 4 has landed

[pikey]

Is there any way in pigments or analog lab of randomly selecting a preset? Considering how large the factory library is now it would be nice feature to have if it's not already possible.

[chagzuki]

I've never found Pigments very demanding on CPU, but I've not really used presets and always start with everything switched off. However, loading the GUI takes a very long time, and seems longer now on version 4.

[wilkins_micawber]

The MS-20 filter is the low cpu poly model and not the super high-fidelity, high-cpu version, right? It would be nice to change between the best version of the filter and the lower-cpu version. The low-cpu version is not nearly as good.

[Teksonik]

In Pigments a few things are active by default, maybe they need to be disabled extra?

I then created the same patch as close as possible in another synth.

I won't say the other synth because I don't want this thread to devolve into another "this versus that" argument.

You can run the tests yourself if you own other synths with the same architecture.

But I also noticed that Pigments is taking more CPU than most other synths. It also loads slower, but that's not really a real concern

That's what I find here. When compared to other similar synths Pigments is more CPU demanding and yes Pigments is slow to load and once again compared to other instruments.

[Teksonik]

I've never found Pigments very demanding on CPU, but I've not really used presets and always start with everything switched off. However, loading the GUI takes a very long time, and seems longer now on version 4.

It's not about whether we use presets or not, it's how the patch was made. Try this patch:

Contemplate Tek.zip

It can be quite demanding due to the Harmonic engine and the number of Partials. We can decrease demand by lowering the Partials but this makes a good test patch.

Sure we can make Pigments use less CPU by not pushing it to extremes but then what's the point of having features if you can't fully use them for fear of excessive demand?

Anyway I like Pigments but it is one of the more demanding plugins in my collection. Not the most but one of the most.

[LFO8]

I'm playing around with the demo.... I must be missing something obvious here, but.. No mousewheel control for any of the parameters?? Is it it like this for all Arturia's synths? Why on earth would anyone do this?

[Fannon]

I won't say the other synth because I don't want this thread to devolve into another "this versus that" argument.

You can run the tests yourself if you own other synths with the same architecture.

Good point, and now I'm really curious to compare myself.

So I started with something simple: Pigments init and disabled everything, except Engine 1 Wavetable, set to Saw. Then added simple stuff on top to see how much it would tax CPU. In the end, created typical analog plucky synth patch. Problem is, I have a very good CPU, so with staying to simple things, I could not even approach 1% FX CPU usage, but coming close with 7 voice unison taxing 0.9%. That means, the measurements are not very accurate, so take it with lots of salt.

To sum it up, Having FX sections on even when not using it makes quite an impact. Filters affect performance a bit. But overall on my machine, Pigments runs very well.

EDIT/UPDATE: Have now compared to other synth. Pigments takes maybe 30-100% more resources, but this varies on what and how much you add. Some feature will not affect performance in one synth much, but much more in another. Pigments seems to have a rather high base load when you just have a very simple patch + FX enabled. But while the other synth stayed more performant in all situations, it was loosing a bit of its headway towards Pigments when adding more stuff, and using analog filter emulations. In a realistic scenario, I assume the difference it maybe in the 30-50% slower range.

Ryzen 7 5800X
Motu M2 44100 / 64 samples with 2.0/4.6ms latency

## Pigments

Sawtooth Wavetable 0.09 idle, 0.31 4 poly
+ Filter (digital) 0.09 idle, 0.33
+ ENV 2 > Filter Cutoff
+ ENV 2 > Wavetable Position 0.09 idle, 0.35 4 poly
With MS-20 Filter + Reso 0.38
+ Wavefolding 0.40
+ FX Section on, all DRY (no effect) 0.45
+ Delay, Reverb, AUX Reverb WET 0.45
+ Distortion (Soft Clip) 0.20 idle, 0.51
+ 2 rand modulations on FX, Wavetable 0.51

- Filter to MS-20 0.51
- Filter to SEM 0.46
- Filter to Matrix 12 0.48
- Filter to JUP-8 0.59
- Filter to MINI 0.57
- Filter to SURGEON 0.50
- Filter to COMB 0.45

- Filter to MS-20, Unison 7v 0.90

[BassMasterK]

Will this ever have a paid update?

I'm afraid to buy this because of possible future paid updates.

You are joking, right?

[chk071]

The MS-20 filter is the low cpu poly model and not the super high-fidelity, high-cpu version, right? It would be nice to change between the best version of the filter and the lower-cpu version. The low-cpu version is not nearly as good.

I'm not sure what you mean by that. Can you elaborate?

They surely changed the filter in comparison to their MS-20 emulation, probably less non-linearities, like in Massive X' Blue Monark filter.

[WasteLand]

The MS-20 filter is the low cpu poly model and not the super high-fidelity, high-cpu version, right? It would be nice to change between the best version of the filter and the lower-cpu version. The low-cpu version is not nearly as good.

I'm not sure what you mean by that. Can you elaborate?

the MS-20 filter, in the Korg MS-20 V, has two settings, Mk1 and Mk2, that hasn't do anything with cpu, well Mk1 takes more cpu, a lot, but it is another emulation.
it are 2 diferent emulations... of the 2 filters, the MS-20 had, in its lifetime, no MS-20 expert.

they sound different, that's all. Mk1 isn't always the 'best'.

[chk071]

Alright.

Dunno which one of those is implemented in Pigments, but, I'm sure they did something with it, to keep CPU low.

[chk071]

By the way, isn't iot completely [mod edit: don't use that word like that here] that you have to scroll and scroll and scroll through dozens of videos just to get to the written manual? https://www.arturia.com/products/analog ... /resources

Videos, videos, and videos. And videos. And, on top of that, videos. Yeah, gimme more videos about this and that and this, and less info on the things I'm looking for.

It's not written in the manual either, by the way, which of the 2 models of the MS-20 V the filter in Pigments is.

[wilkins_micawber]

The MS-20 filter is the low cpu poly model and not the super high-fidelity, high-cpu version, right? It would be nice to change between the best version of the filter and the lower-cpu version. The low-cpu version is not nearly as good.

I'm not sure what you mean by that. Can you elaborate?

the MS-20 filter, in the Korg MS-20 V, has two settings, Mk1 and Mk2, that hasn't do anything with cpu, well Mk1 takes more cpu, a lot, but it is another emulation.
it are 2 diferent emulations... of the 2 filters, the MS-20 had, in its lifetime, no MS-20 expert.

they sound different, that's all. Mk1 isn't always the 'best'.

I would say that from my experiments the MK1 is always the best.

[T-CM11]

By the way, isn't iot completely [mod edit: don't use that word like that here] that you have to scroll and scroll and scroll through dozens of videos just to get to the written manual? https://www.arturia.com/products/analog ... /resources

Main page -> Support -> Downloads & Manuals* -> Ctrl+F Pigments

*Here you can find ALL Arturia manuals.

[chk071]

Thanks, that's much better. Although I remember they had a quick menu on that page, which let you browse through the products, which isn't there anymore either... so, searching for Pigments is the only way obviously if you want to go quickly where you want.