KVR Audio

killmaster · Post by **killmaster** » Sat Mar 18, 2023 4:45 am

I'm looking forward to hearing a K-2 in person. In the meantime, I tried the Arturia demo and was surprisingly impressed with it. I thought there was enough authentic sounding growly noise artifacts to make it sounds really good to my ears. I'm almost afraid to try the original for fear of being dissatisfied

So I bought the Arturia Collection 9 bundle for $150 which includes the MS-20 V and the Synthi V and Buchla Easel V! I feel happy about this cause the newer Arturia instruments are implementing MPE (and some polyphony for the mono synths, which are interesting in their own right) which is a huge plus for me! I really appreciate everyone's thoughts and insights about this. Really helped a lot!

pdxindy · Post by **pdxindy** » Sat Mar 18, 2023 7:10 am

I was disappointed with the K-2

Some people have also praised the MS-20 filter in the Korg Wavestate. Haven't tried it myself. It just dropped $100 in price. There's also the software version. (I wonder if you get the software version for free if you buy the hardware?)

jamcat · Post by **jamcat** » Sat Mar 18, 2023 7:32 am

Stefken wrote: ↑Fri Mar 17, 2023 3:54 pm I don t think that Cherry Audio is very good at authentic emulations. I would pass on their emulation.

I’m interested in picking up an authentic Polymoog and ARP Quadra model, so I checked out the Cherry Audio plugins.

I went in with an open mind about them. I had read some opinions that Cherry Audio isn’t very good, but this being KVR you’ll see just about everything slagged (unless the dev is a regular), so I took those criticisms with a grain of salt.

Well, my own tests more than confirmed the negative opinions of Cherry Audio. If anything, they’re too kind. Cherry Audio’s Polymoog is not only worse than the Xils Lab model on an order of magnitude, but it actually sounds nothing like a Polymoog. Any amount of money seems too much for it.

The Cherry Audio Quadra, likewise, sounds bad on a fundamental level. These plugins sound like plugins from 2003, not 2023.

Echoes in the Attic · Post by **Echoes in the Attic** » Sat Mar 18, 2023 8:12 am

killmaster wrote: ↑Sat Mar 18, 2023 4:45 am I'm looking forward to hearing a K-2 in person. In the meantime, I tried the Arturia demo and was surprisingly impressed with it. I thought there was enough authentic sounding growly noise artifacts to make it sounds really good to my ears. I'm almost afraid to try the original for fear of being dissatisfied So I bought the Arturia Collection 9 bundle for $150 which includes the MS-20 V and the Synthi V and Buchla Easel V! I feel happy about this cause the newer Arturia instruments are implementing MPE (and some polyphony for the mono synths, which are interesting in their own right) which is a huge plus for me! I really appreciate everyone's thoughts and insights about this. Really helped a lot!

Arturia V Collection 9 was an excellent choice. Though I think there are often alternatives that are better when it comes to analog modeling, there are a lot of gems in the collection. And even when sometimes there are more accurate alternatives, the arturia version can sometimes still be worth having for it's own character. For example I have several minimoog emulations that I think better capture the mini vibe. However I do like the Arturia one as well for it's specific character.

If you like MPE and hte MS-20 the Arturia one is extremely cool because I think it's the only plugin (other than Cypher I believe) that can do duophonic mode with mpe where each oscillator can be modulated independently. Makes for some really cool effects with fm and ring mod.

ghettosynth · Post by **ghettosynth** » Sat Mar 18, 2023 8:21 am

killmaster wrote: ↑Sat Mar 18, 2023 4:45 am I'm looking forward to hearing a K-2 in person. In the meantime, I tried the Arturia demo and was surprisingly impressed with it. I thought there was enough authentic sounding growly noise artifacts to make it sounds really good to my ears. I'm almost afraid to try the original for fear of being dissatisfied So I bought the Arturia Collection 9 bundle for $150 which includes the MS-20 V and the Synthi V and Buchla Easel V! I feel happy about this cause the newer Arturia instruments are implementing MPE (and some polyphony for the mono synths, which are interesting in their own right) which is a huge plus for me! I really appreciate everyone's thoughts and insights about this. Really helped a lot!

I like the Arturia Buchla, just sayin.

Echoes in the Attic · Post by **Echoes in the Attic** » Sat Mar 18, 2023 8:40 am

Good comparison of the K-2 and Mini:
https://youtu.be/fMpZApFVGMQ

Also good overview of K-2 with a demo song that sounds lovely:
https://youtu.be/7AEa5E2x-8Y

Arturia is close but I still think both hardwares above have the edge.
Not a bad software hardware comparison here:
https://youtu.be/3LiRgw7-73I

Constructed Identity · Post by **Constructed Identity** » Sun Mar 19, 2023 9:20 am

yul wrote: ↑Fri Mar 17, 2023 5:44 pm PWM Malevolent...most energy

Yes, this sounds scary good! Worth saving up for.

kritikon · Post by **kritikon** » Sun Mar 19, 2023 12:42 pm

pdxindy wrote: ↑Sat Mar 18, 2023 7:10 am I was disappointed with the K-2

Some people have also praised the MS-20 filter in the Korg Wavestate. Haven't tried it myself. It just dropped $100 in price. There's also the software version. (I wonder if you get the software version for free if you buy the hardware?)

Wavestate MS20 filter can definitely get high ear-piercing resonance but I haven't got it make the archetypal raucous growls you get with mid-res filter use yet. But I suspect I've not really set it up properly & with appropriate wave sources (too many other goodies to spend time trying to tease out analogueness from it). There are various filter input-level options that affect how much headroom the filters get to scream, which affect it hugely. Must admit I've managed to get hints of proper MS20 out of it so far, but keep getting distracted with choir/vox pads, tinkly wavesequences, pianos that turn into bells and that kinda crap

No, you don't get the sw free. It was initially 2/3 discounted for hw owners ($50), but AFAIK that's finished now. Actually I found I recently really like the Native version, initially barely touched it. I'm still kinda scratching my head with the hw but managed to dive straight in on sw, and normally I hate sw synthery.

audio/fault · Post by **audio/fault** » Sun Mar 19, 2023 11:24 pm

T-CM11 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 17, 2023 1:44 pm I've never owned an original, so I can't compare it directly. Comparing the 2 emulations (Diva isn't - it just has the filter), I like the Arturia one the most.

that’s not completely true. diva also has an ms20 (inspired) oscillator and the highpass-filter. while that of course doesn‘t make an ms20 it should get nearer in the ballpark than expected.

gentleclockdivider · Post by **gentleclockdivider** » Mon Mar 20, 2023 12:56 am

Arturia ms 20 is the best of the bunch +some handy extras ( separate osc output )
The korg collection is from 2005 and while not sounding bad it really shows it's weakness when using feedback , they should really update it since the oddisey sounds marvelous .

greententacle · Post by **greententacle** » Mon Mar 20, 2023 4:04 am

arturia ms20 does scream. the drop filter does this also very nice.

Funkybot's Evil Twin · Post by **Funkybot's Evil Twin** » Mon Mar 20, 2023 6:03 am

Of the Arturia, I recall Andy from Cytomic saying something like 'it only took someone 10 years to release an MS-20 filter on par with The Drop, but their oscillators are dark'. Something like that. That qualifies as high praise in my book.

kritikon · Post by **kritikon** » Mon Mar 20, 2023 4:21 pm

I just had a proper listen to Echoes' posted vids, the first 2 I've seen before. But several things:

1. Once Starsky washed a load of FX over and just played, I have to say it made me really quite moist. I haven't sat down with my MS20 for a while to do that, and fuctifino why because that is one of life's biggest pleasures. f**king superb. I used to play into the wee hours of the night doing stuff like that and I need to start doing it again. That to me is the original true pleasure of making music and what got me into it in the first place. Did that with an MS10 33 years ago, then an MS20 and who needs tunes when you can just make wonderful noise that echoes into eternity? That really moved me (sad old bastard...

)
2. Subtle differences between the K2 and MS20. But so close in flavour it's no big deal to anyone. I'd happily play with the K2 alongside my MS20 or instead of. Confirms my need to buy one.
3. The K2 filter 2 is generally not as juicy or interesting as rev1 (same as the later rev2 Korg filter) but it definitely has advantages for highpass filter work, and another reason I need to buy the K2 even though I have a real rev1 Korg.
4. All the demos of the Arturia make quite nice sounds and have an MS20 character, but some of them have mixing/tweaking/production that shows off what it does. When you take all that off, it's quite a way off. That last vid was very audibly tamer to me. No bite/growl/nastiness at all in the Arturia compared to either the K2 or Korg. It sounds stable, it does what you expect it to - K2/MS20s sound like they're going to explode in smoke at any minute, they sound unstable and quirky. I knew that already, but it confirms my original thoughts about the Arturia. Great for s/w and you can do some nice sounds with it, but it's like a wet splat of a cowpat against the real thing. As are most other sw emus.

To me, it really shows in the true character synths. Anyone can make a Juno plugin that sounds like a Juno. But get an MS20 and it just fails. I can worship tasty old classic synths and I can worship brand new classics too, that aren't scratched, rusting and failing, and I can even buy decent sw if I can't afford the real thing - what a great time to be into synths.

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Mon Mar 20, 2023 5:46 pm

Keep this running while you're spacing out and save the best bits:

https://www.birdsthings.com/

kritikon · Post by **kritikon** » Mon Mar 20, 2023 8:38 pm

That looks quite handy. Used to be (when I partook of the herbal medicine years ago) that I'd play some amazing stuff and be too munted to either record it or remember WTF I did the next day. A little tool like that would have been great. Still useful, because although I'm not munted nowadays, I still can't remember WTF I did yesterday because of old age. I could see me having snippets of audio 250GB long though...

I want to get MS-20, which has the most energetic sound?