So expensive though.
Arturia FX collection is simply the best
- Banned
- 3197 posts since 23 Jan, 2022
Yeah, a lot more expensive, but so efficient and amazing, they lack the pretty pictures in the UI but top notch quality stuff.
From Arturia i love Coldfire and Fragments though, amazing plugins

From Arturia i love Coldfire and Fragments though, amazing plugins
aliasing plugin owner

- KVRAF
- 8037 posts since 28 Dec, 2015 from Atlantis Island
Everybody should have bought it!
https://sonograyn.bandcamp.com/music Experimental Ambient
https://martinjuenke.bandcamp.com/music Alternative Instrumental
https://martinjuenke.bandcamp.com/music Alternative Instrumental
- KVRAF
- 25035 posts since 12 Jul, 2003 from West Caprazumia
Buy now
(And Fabfilter too while you fap it
- KVRAF
- 7713 posts since 2 Sep, 2019
It’s not that difficult to understand. Preamps have literally one job: when you turn up the gain, it gets louder.
UAD, Lindell Audio, IK Miltimedia, NoiseAsh, Shattered Glass Audio, to name a few, all have preamp models that work like real preamps and get louder as you turn up the gain.
Lindell Audio has an autogain button that you can turn on or off (it’s OFF by default), so you can choose if you want it or not. But Arturia gives you no such button. Autogain compensation is always active on the Arturia preamps, and there’s nothing you can do about it. This is a deal-killer for me.
THIS MUSIC HAS BEEN MIXED TO BE PLAYED LOUD SO TURN IT UP
- KVRAF
- 25035 posts since 12 Jul, 2003 from West Caprazumia
This literally makes absolutely ZERO sense from any angle you might look at it - you really must have lost your mind completely now.
- KVRist
- 352 posts since 24 Aug, 2017
People buy plug-in preamps to get the sound of a preamp, not to turn up the volume.jamcat wrote: Tue Sep 12, 2023 8:28 pmIt’s not that difficult to understand. Preamps have literally one job: when you turn up the gain, it gets louder.
UAD, Lindell Audio, IK Miltimedia, NoiseAsh, Shattered Glass Audio, to name a few, all have preamp models that work like real preamps and get louder as you turn up the gain.
Lindell Audio has an autogain button that you can turn on or off (it’s OFF by default), so you can choose if you want it or not. But Arturia gives you no such button. Autogain compensation is always active on the Arturia preamps, and there’s nothing you can do about it. This is a deal-killer for me.
- KVRAF
- 18470 posts since 26 Jun, 2006 from San Francisco Bay Area
True, but it's way better than how a real preamp works. You can control the amount of drive you want and then separately control the output.jamcat wrote: Tue Sep 12, 2023 9:57 amThe preamp plugins are gain compensated. No matter how much you turn the gain up on them, the output volume doesn't change. That's not how a real preamp works.jens wrote: Tue Sep 12, 2023 9:53 amjamcat wrote: Tue Sep 12, 2023 9:40 am I think they really screwed their 3 Preamps with autogain compensation that can't be turned off. What a stupid design choice.
HUH???
They all have a clean output-gain control, so what on earth are you on about?
(Talking about stupidity of all things...)
Zerocrossing Media
4th Law of Robotics: When turning evil, display a red indicator light. ~[ ●_● ]~
4th Law of Robotics: When turning evil, display a red indicator light. ~[ ●_● ]~
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- KVRAF
- 3959 posts since 10 Sep, 2010 from A shit hole (Ireland).
Indeed, they are not exactly comparable.
I will take the Lord's name in vain, whenever I want. Hail Satan! And his little goblins too. 
- KVRAF
- 7713 posts since 2 Sep, 2019
*I* buy preamp plugins, and I buy them for the complete operation of a preamp, which includes (but is not limited to) the THD side-effects of the transformer. I use them to turn up the volume, with a little natural harmonic distortion as a result.mixtur.se wrote: Tue Sep 12, 2023 10:56 pm People buy plug-in preamps to get the sound of a preamp, not to turn up the volume.
Except that I have a whole chain of dynamically controlled plugins that follows the preamp... compressors, tape, etc. I use the preamp plugin to drive the level into the plugins that follow. I don't want the volume and harmonic distortion decoupled. I want it to behave exactly like a preamp without any guesswork.zerocrossing wrote: Tue Sep 12, 2023 11:49 pmTrue, but it's way better than how a real preamp works. You can control the amount of drive you want and then separately control the output.jamcat wrote: Tue Sep 12, 2023 9:57 am The preamp plugins are gain compensated. No matter how much you turn the gain up on them, the output volume doesn't change. That's not how a real preamp works.![]()
I essentially use preamp models as volume knobs, which is what a preamp is. Transformer distortion is a side effect of increasing the volume. So I want the appropriate amount of distortion that accompanies the volume increase, for the sake of end-to-end analogue signal-chain authenticity.
When you use a gain compensated preamp plugin just for saturation, you end up saturating way too much, since that's all it's doing and you want to hear it making a difference. If you have volume increasing as well, you're going to be much more in tune with how much gain you're actually adding.
This is how I work, so this is how I need my preamp plugins to work. It's how UAD and Lindell Audio preamps work, which is why I can use them but not Arturia preamps (which I also own.) Personally, I don't think UAD and Lindell Audio are the ones who are doing it wrong.
THIS MUSIC HAS BEEN MIXED TO BE PLAYED LOUD SO TURN IT UP
- KVRAF
- 18470 posts since 26 Jun, 2006 from San Francisco Bay Area
I don’t think anyone is doing it right or wrong. Arturia just decided that you could have added flexibility by decoupling the gain (distortion/drive) and the output volume. I find it works for me better, because I few a preamp plugin as an effect, basically just a saturation plugin.jamcat wrote: Wed Sep 13, 2023 12:45 am*I* buy preamp plugins, and I buy them for the complete operation of a preamp, which includes (but is not limited to) the THD side-effects of the transformer. I use them to turn up the volume, with a little natural harmonic distortion as a result.mixtur.se wrote: Tue Sep 12, 2023 10:56 pm People buy plug-in preamps to get the sound of a preamp, not to turn up the volume.
Except that I have a whole chain of dynamically controlled plugins that follows the preamp... compressors, tape, etc. I use the preamp plugin to drive the level into the plugins that follow. I don't want the volume and harmonic distortion decoupled. I want it to behave exactly like a preamp without any guesswork.zerocrossing wrote: Tue Sep 12, 2023 11:49 pmTrue, but it's way better than how a real preamp works. You can control the amount of drive you want and then separately control the output.jamcat wrote: Tue Sep 12, 2023 9:57 am The preamp plugins are gain compensated. No matter how much you turn the gain up on them, the output volume doesn't change. That's not how a real preamp works.![]()
I essentially use preamp models as volume knobs, which is what a preamp is. Transformer distortion is a side effect of increasing the volume. So I want the appropriate amount of distortion that accompanies the volume increase, for the sake of end-to-end analogue signal-chain authenticity.
When you use a gain compensated preamp plugin just for saturation, you end up saturating way too much, since that's all it's doing and you want to hear it making a difference. If you have volume increasing as well, you're going to be much more in tune with how much gain you're actually adding.
This is how I work, so this is how I need my preamp plugins to work. It's how UAD and Lindell Audio preamps work, which is why I can use them but not Arturia preamps (which I also own.) Personally, I don't think UAD and Lindell Audio are the ones who are doing it wrong.
I guess it just depends on how far you take the “virtual studio technology” thing. Can your DAW be used in a 1:1 way with a traditional physical studio? Of course, but you can also look at things from another angle. There’s no actual reason to use a preamp plugin for the same reason you’d use a preamp, but as an effect processor, sure. The way Arturia does it makes sense to me because I’m not thinking of it as a preamp, I’m thinking about it as an overdrive effect. But you do you. As you’ve mentioned, you already have your preferred solution.
Zerocrossing Media
4th Law of Robotics: When turning evil, display a red indicator light. ~[ ●_● ]~
4th Law of Robotics: When turning evil, display a red indicator light. ~[ ●_● ]~
- KVRAF
- 7713 posts since 2 Sep, 2019
I get that other people want to use plugins in a different way than I do. That’s why I think Lindell Audio in particular get it right, by letting you turn autogain ON when you want it, and OFF when you don’t. That’s what I wish Arturia had done.zerocrossing wrote: Wed Sep 13, 2023 4:23 am I don’t think anyone is doing it right or wrong. Arturia just decided that you could have added flexibility by decoupling the gain (distortion/drive) and the output volume. I find it works for me better, because I few a preamp plugin as an effect, basically just a saturation plugin.
THIS MUSIC HAS BEEN MIXED TO BE PLAYED LOUD SO TURN IT UP
- KVRAF
- 4089 posts since 24 Oct, 2000 from A Swede Living in Budapest
Own it and never use it, which is a bit weird because I am a big Arturia fanboy.
What's your favourites in the collection? The filters?
What's your favourites in the collection? The filters?
J60 Heatwave for Omnisphere 3 - Juno-60 Inspired soundbank
HARDWARE SAMPLER FANATIC - Akai S1100/S950/Z8 - Casio FZ20m - Emu Emax I - Ensoniq ASR10/EPS
HARDWARE SAMPLER FANATIC - Akai S1100/S950/Z8 - Casio FZ20m - Emu Emax I - Ensoniq ASR10/EPS
