Arturia V Collection - Development to Version 12

[Hyperbole]

I got Pigments for $49 in 2020 and have still never used it.

I bought Pigments mostly because of its UI, which I like. But I, too, have never used it. Pigments sounds bland and uninteresting to me. I have admittedly not spent a lot of time programming my own sounds. But if the presets are ALL lackluster, that usually tells you something about a synth. How can so many professional sound designers come up with so little?

[Hyperbole]

So many people will just keep upgrading. I'm sure that they think this through and choose the route that nets them the most profit. They make public statements about what they will do and then change their mind, probably when they need a cash infusion. At one point they stated that they will never do a $99 upgrade, and then, it's happened.

I wish them well, but, the more you have, the less time each tool is used.

I am helping a new friend work on a few of her tracks that she has created in FL Studio. I didn't realize that, as of 2018, there has been a Mac version of FL Studio. (Hell has frozen over.)

So, I downloaded the latest 2024 "Producer Edition" version of FL Studio for the Mac, which I had originally purchased for Windows back in 2003. I got all the upgrades from the past 20+ years for no charge. THAT is the way to handle upgrades!

But for me to get the latest version of the Arturia SEM V, I have to pay $299 for the entire V Collection upgrade. (Or buy the SEM V plugin again for $149.) I have other SEM plugins that sound as good if not better. Again, Arturia needs me (and customers like me) way more than we need them, given that there are good or better-sounding alternatives for most of their plugins.

[LoveEnigma18]

Thanks for all the replies to my $199 pricing question earlier.

I realized that the pricing is indeed correct/normal and it is indeed V Collection and any individual V Collection instruments that would count towards the discount, as this is an "upgrade" offer.

Discount based on owning other products, like FX Collection 5 and Pigments, is what Arturia calls a "crossgrade" pricing, which is usually a better deal than "upgrade", but it comes around occasionally.

So, $199 upgrade isn't bad but I am not sure if it is worth spending right now. Hopefully we will get a better deal after a few months and certainly during Black Friday 2025.

[wintoid]

For me the best synth they make is the Synclavier V as it has the exact code that Cameron Jones the original programmer wrote for the original synth, then ported over to the C programming language by Cameron Jones and licensed to Arturia

I agree with this. I bought the V Collection second hand and have barely used it as most synths have better options elsewhere, but the Synclavier is really special. I fell in love with it and ended up getting a Regen.

[noiseboyuk]

Pigments sounds bland and uninteresting to me. I have admittedly not spent a lot of time programming my own sounds. But if the presets are ALL lackluster, that usually tells you something about a synth. How can so many professional sound designers come up with so little?

It's a funny old thing. I could have written that word-for-word about Massive X. Yet Pigments has a lot of sonic appeal to me (even though, in practice, I don't often reach for it as I'm generally an analog-head).

[Hyperbole]

It's a funny old thing. I could have written that word-for-word about Massive X.

LOL. I do say the same things about Massive X and especially the original Massive. Very underwhelming, IMO. Which is a bit strange. Both Pigments and Massive (and Massive X to a lesser degree) have excellent UIs. And yet, to my ears, they just don't make very compelling sounds (except for maybe good-sounding filter FM in Massive X). That's just one man's opinion, of course.

[SebAV]

Perhaps you prefer « analog » sounding synths over « digital » sounding synths ?

[Fernando Carvalho]

I use pigments a lot for granular sounds mainly, I like the new modal engine a lot too, but I have to work a little more to adopt it fully. As a VA maybe is not the more appealing synth, but for other kind of things it is very good, at least for me.

[felis]

For me the best synth they make is the Synclavier V as it has the exact code that Cameron Jones the original programmer wrote for the original synth, then ported over to the C programming language by Cameron Jones and licensed to Arturia

I'm sure all V collection owners have their favorites. Mine are the Matrix 12V and the Synclavier V.
I use those the most, by far.

[Examigan]

If they really wanted to get crazy with the cheese whiz, they could let us pick and chose oscillator types, filters, and envelopes from the entire collection. That'd be fun.

Similar to Diva... that would be cool.

[Vocalpoint Studios]

Arturia seems to think I am the one who needs their products when it is Arturia who needs my business. And they have lost that business by overcharging for underwhelming upgrades.

Couldn't have said it better.

An upgrade of $299.00 (Euro/USD) considering I have already purchased 6 prior versions of VC - is simply a non-starter.

And I could have sworn my v9 -> V10 upgrade price was just $199.00. But instead of making even the slightest bit of effort to at least try to "reel" me in - they add another $100 to the upgrade price and figure that is going to work?

These guys need a new slide rule over there in the accountiing and marketing department.

VP

[rolandcs]

I hope Arturia team is reading this forum. I just came here to say that the V11 collection is a bit underwhelming. There is no "fear of missing out" by not upgrading this year. I really hope they are working on a Polybrute 12 V to include in their next collection (conveniently named V12) that would mean an instant buy from me.

[FarleyCZ]

The only reason I have kept my Arturia bundles up to date was the option of paying them in 4 installments. I can do 50 bucks each month. But I can't do 200 at once. Unfortunatelly that's not happening. This time around that option seems to be limited to France residents only. So eventhough I love JP8000 kinds of music, I think I stay with JP6K and the digital oscillator in Diva.

[sempondr]

To save some time for those who don't want to read all 26 pages, here's the gist of it:

[pepelogu]

I got Pigments for $49 in 2020 and have still never used it.

I bought Pigments mostly because of its UI, which I like. But I, too, have never used it. Pigments sounds bland and uninteresting to me. I have admittedly not spent a lot of time programming my own sounds. But if the presets are ALL lackluster, that usually tells you something about a synth. How can so many professional sound designers come up with so little?

Agree, almost all of Arturias synths has mediocre at best presets. Most are downright awful. You have to dig in to appreciate the synths sounds.