Pigments 6

[Download SOphist]

after the update I can't find the presets I´ve made with earlier versions. can't also seem to find soem sound banks I was offered when buying pigments a couple of years ago (can't say their names as I didn't use them). anyone else experienced this?

[trusampler]

After the rescan of my presets I’m finding some pretty juicy gems I never realized I had. I love the new browsing experience n hope all Arturia plugins moving forward share this technology. Very impressive update, great job Arturia !
Next step is to bring us a native polybrute with its sequencer

[Touch The Universe]

I could not get past the sound of pigments, v. hard, just did not work for me that seemed to be the over arching impression. Glad others are loving it though.

The updated filters help a lot bringing anemic sounds to life.You can now put the multimode filters in Analog mode and drive them. I still don't see pigments being my go to for simple V.A sounds but with the Modal, grannular, additive and wavetable engines this synth as quite an impressive range of timbres. And also the sequencer is so damn good...

Yeah, the wavetable, VA, granular, and sampler engines are the most useful.

Nice, didn't know there were filters too.

Here is a full list of the updated features, possibly again

New Modal physical modeling engine
New Cluster and LoFi filter types
Streamlined filter selection via hierarchal menu
New Vocoder effect
Voice Modulator Random value generator
Granular mode in Sample engine can now Scan backward and forward through graintables
Streamlined Filter menu and section
Easier browsing for Spectrums in Harmonic engine
Envelope follower Combinator type
100 new factory Presets
Real-time Preset recommendation as you search
53 new wavetables and 97 new samples
Cleaner looking browsers for sequencer patterns, Function types, and other menu-driven choices across Pigments
Numerous user interface and workflow improvements

[swilow11]

Amazing update, so much great stuff to explore.

Love the direction Arturia took. A new synth engine, new filters, and lots of housekeeping. But my favorite new feature might be the Voice Modulator, it opens up completely new avenues. Love it.

Tell me more about the voice modulator- I've yet to fiddle with this. What are you doing with it?

[swilow11]

It's funny because so many people praise Pigments for being intuitive and easy to use. And it should be, but i just don't have that experience. Its not complicated and makes sense but I find myself having to constantly relearn it after stepping away for a few months. I've also never really been able to wrap my head around the combinate things. I get they are modulation remapping (I think) but it's never felt as easy to use as Vitals or Phase Plants remap functions.

Current otoh is just a breeze. Granted, I've spent more hours with Current but even when I was new to it, it just flowed. But still, both Serum and Vital are something of a gold standard for usability in my books...

Agree wholeheartedly

The combinators are pretty much doing what it says in the name. Their main function is to combine modulation sources and process them accord to the function you've selected. Multiply, sum, divide, crossfade etc. You can see the exact order and operation of the function when you hover your mouse cursor over the 'Amount' knob (in all the ones that combine two signals).

Combinators can also do remapping but that's just one function of many. I do hope that in Pigments 7 remapping is done at the modulation level. It's such a useful function for pretty much all modulation sources when fine tuning things. This is one area where Vital, Avenger, Falcon etc is far more powerful.

Clearly, I need to spend more time with the combinate modules. Can you give me an example of how you use them? Or any factory patch that uses them well? I guess I just need to start patching stuff and see what happens...

But yes indeed. I think Vital probably implements modulation remapping the best- it's just always an option with every mod source. Phase Plant is also great but it's just a few more clicks away. If you don't assign a remap initially, it can be annoying to have to go back and reroute stuff. It would be great if there was an option to always create a remap with every modulation course creation.

But anyway, gonna head upstairs to the workstation and start putting Pigments through its paces.

[muki]

Nice, didn't know there were filters too.

if you click the burger menu at the upper left
(or the cogwheel on the upper right)
you'll see a tutorials chapter
the tutorial introduce the "what's new" of v6
chapter 2-4 cover the new filters for example

imho those small little arturia tutorials within their plugins are quite useful and informative

[Morty-C-137]

It's funny because so many people praise Pigments for being intuitive and easy to use. And it should be, but i just don't have that experience. Its not complicated and makes sense but I find myself having to constantly relearn it after stepping away for a few months. I've also never really been able to wrap my head around the combinate things. I get they are modulation remapping (I think) but it's never felt as easy to use as Vitals or Phase Plants remap functions.

Current otoh is just a breeze. Granted, I've spent more hours with Current but even when I was new to it, it just flowed. But still, both Serum and Vital are something of a gold standard for usability in my books...

Agree wholeheartedly

The combinators are pretty much doing what it says in the name. Their main function is to combine modulation sources and process them accord to the function you've selected. Multiply, sum, divide, crossfade etc. You can see the exact order and operation of the function when you hover your mouse cursor over the 'Amount' knob (in all the ones that combine two signals).

Combinators can also do remapping but that's just one function of many. I do hope that in Pigments 7 remapping is done at the modulation level. It's such a useful function for pretty much all modulation sources when fine tuning things. This is one area where Vital, Avenger, Falcon etc is far more powerful.

Oh I get what they are for. It's just that for me, Pigments is one of those synths that 'looks right' on paper but just in operating never feels right for me. Does not flow for me. Even Logic's Alchemy flows better for me. I experience the same thing with G-Force synths. So merely a matter of personal preference and they way my brain likes to do things.

And I tried, I really wanted to click with Pigments, because the value proposition is there with them offering it to me for €69 every three months or so.

[nanostream]

Tell me more about the voice modulator- I've yet to fiddle with this. What are you doing with it?

You can use it to give every note/voice a distinct character, predictably or randomly. That’s great for modal synthesis, as some parameters do not lend themselves to modulation that much, but work fine with VM. It doesn’t stop there, of course, you can use it to completely transform every single voice very easily, and as long as you construct your patterns carefully, in a predictable manner.

I’m still experimenting, though, I’m sure there’s lots of stuff you can do with it. Come to think of it, I haven’t tried to modulate FX parameters with it yet. Is per voice FX modulation even possible with Pigments? Will have to try that later today.

[Synthman2000]

I may try the demo again, this update is a real hypefest, I succumb to test again, rare to change mind though after initial impressions. I just recall it being a very, very hard/harsh sound but not in a redeeming way like Rapid/Harmor and other glassier crystaline synths. Just a bit too untame-ably cutting and hard.

I don't really have much interest in granular which I gather is good for pad/textures commonly so maybe this is why I overlook that side. WT I love for obvious reasons, fast/flexible great sounds quick, easy movement generation etc.

Looks like it has a bit of a NI Razor thing going on in the GUI, another super hard sounding synth in the main. I recall not being too impressed with workflow of Pigments either for making your own sounds.

[swilow11]

Tell me more about the voice modulator- I've yet to fiddle with this. What are you doing with it?

You can use it to give every note/voice a distinct character, predictably or randomly. That’s great for modal synthesis, as some parameters do not lend themselves to modulation that much, but work fine with VM. It doesn’t stop there, of course, you can use it to completely transform every single voice very easily, and as long as you construct your patterns carefully, in a predictable manner.

I’m still experimenting, though, I’m sure there’s lots of stuff you can do with it. Come to think of it, I haven’t tried to modulate FX parameters with it yet. Is per voice FX modulation even possible with Pigments? Will have to try that later today.

Don't think FX are per voice. CPUs worldwide would be begging for mercy.

Was also fiddling with the voice mod today- assigned to simple stuff like wavetable position and panning. Especially nice to use the random option. Good suggesting re: the modal stuff, will have to habe a crack at that tonight. Thinking it will be interested the additive engine and applied the voice mod to the window modulation source. Thinking inharmonic spooky bells...

The revamped analogue filters sound good too, the drive parameter was much needed. Granular scan is cool too, super time stretchy stuff possible...

[jules99]

I could not get past the sound of pigments, v. hard, just did not work for me that seemed to be the over arching impression. Glad others are loving it though.

The updated filters help a lot bringing anemic sounds to life.You can now put the multimode filters in Analog mode and drive them. I still don't see pigments being my go to for simple V.A sounds but with the Modal, grannular, additive and wavetable engines this synth as quite an impressive range of timbres. And also the sequencer is so damn good...

Yeah, the wavetable, VA, granular, and sampler engines are the most useful.

Nice, didn't know there were filters too.

Here is a full list of the updated features, possibly again

New Modal physical modeling engine
New Cluster and LoFi filter types
Streamlined filter selection via hierarchal menu
New Vocoder effect
Voice Modulator Random value generator
Granular mode in Sample engine can now Scan backward and forward through graintables
Streamlined Filter menu and section
Easier browsing for Spectrums in Harmonic engine
Envelope follower Combinator type
100 new factory Presets
Real-time Preset recommendation as you search
53 new wavetables and 97 new samples
Cleaner looking browsers for sequencer patterns, Function types, and other menu-driven choices across Pigments
Numerous user interface and workflow improvements

Just to complete this: there are three new and one overhauled modulators: they re-worked Function, and besides Voice Modulator (which is a bit like the Voice Map Modulator in Diva), and Envelope Follower, they added a Random Modulator. Sample & Hold, Turing, and Binary, were only able to output random absolute values, not random curves, which this one does.

Something, I initially missed, and already love to death is the "Suggest Alternative Preset" function, the little note symbol next to the preset name.

The drag and drop workflow for modulators modulating modulators has been improved and is such a breeze.

To me, when you use a sidechained signal of, say, a percussion loop or a drum loop, as the basis for an exciter or vocoder, Pigments truly goes to a new place sonically.

[Caine123]

im still with Pigments v1 or v2 and I fear a bit that my projects will sound different i didnt complete yet in v6.
is there a way to install v1/v2 after upgrading to v6 if i notice something?

[fmr]

im still with Pigments v1 or v2 and I fear a bit that my projects will sound different i didnt complete yet in v6.
is there a way to install v1/v2 after upgrading to v6 if i notice something?

I don't know any way to keep older versions of Pigments together with the newest one, since it is basically the same (the new features are add-ons that don't change the base instrument). But you may freeze or bounce the tracks you have in your old projects, in order to keep them safe, and then try the new version and check for yourself. That's what I do when in doubt.

If needed, you can always download earlier versions, and install them: https://www.arturia.com/products/softwa ... /resources

[nanostream]

Don't think FX are per voice. CPUs worldwide would be begging for mercy.

Well, I just tried, and it doesn’t seem to work. Bit of a bummer, that’s what new CPUs are here for, after all! But I’ll survive, I guess.

[n9research]

Well done Arturia!

Modal and Lofi are truly excellent implementations.

Pigments now sits firmly in my go-to device list, after sitting unused since it was first released. It might even become my main sampler.