Arturia Memory V - Memorymoog Emulation out now

[PAK]

DX7 Harp preset was used for the main melody

Ah. Memorymoog definitely used for the pad though Either way, curious why that 09 Harp preset is so far off in that video if the hardware is representitive.

[beely]

It's the same old thing - people's vintage synths, especially unreliable ones, are going to be in various states of condition/calibration. The plugin is likely to be most accurate to the specific unit/s they modelled from (which were hopefully calibrated well before modelling), but also, because these plugins have variable "condition"-related parameters, a given preset might be set to be using for example a brand new factory perfect condition, and being compared to a notoriously unreliable vintage synth that might not have been calibrated well, or recently. It's possible that messing with the condition parameters and/or exactly knob positions etc would have brought things closer.

One demo randomly picking presets and comparing them quickly can be useful but shouldn't necessarily taken as reliable evidence one should make sweeping definitive conclusions from. You really want to see a few different comparisons, especially by people who have made the effort to explore when there are differences and be able to give some cause, and what they have to do to make it more closely match their particular synth, before deciding for yourself how good an emulation is, imo...

[ReiKru]

I think i wait for V Collection 12 Pro

[PAK]

One demo randomly picking presets and comparing them quickly can be useful but shouldn't necessarily taken as reliable evidence one should make sweeping definitive conclusions from. You really want to see a few different comparisons, especially by people who have made the effort to explore when there are differences and be able to give some cause, and what they have to do to make it more closely match their particular synth, before deciding for yourself how good an emulation is, imo...

Of course. It’s just something I thought to highlight when I noticed. With enough different hardware examples (of that preset) it should be possible to figure whether it’s just a difference with that particular unit.

Since the difference is greater, on the lower octaves, it could just be a case of different key tracking, so that’s the first place I’d look. Memory V does allow you to adjust the key track curve in its advanced section, if anyone wanted to investigate further. Since it can modulate multiple synth controls, with this, it should be possible to get closer with the software. Such features serve as a good example of how Arturia's synths can more closely match specific hardware units than some people give them credit for, because they simply never dig in to the deeper features which allow for it

[noahrbc]

Just when I thought Arturia was stepping their game down... this really does sound pretty phenomenal.

[kritikon]

Opposite for me. Listened to every demo around and found it totally uninspiring and bland, especially Arturia's own demos (you'd think they would try to make it shine). Mind you, I tend to find most Moog filters similarly bland, not what I'd call aggro or characterful. I might demo it at some stage as I'm sure it must be capable of making something interesting if it's driven and synced, but TBH I really can't think of what I'd use it for . I'm sure it'll sell bucketloads though...

[teilo]

This is the first enticing Arturia synth in a while. Perhaps there is hope for a Modular V rebuild.

I've been hoping for that the last three Collection V releases. Fingers crossed.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Hardware will vary somewhat. For example, in the above video, the hardware voices are less in tune, and the envelope release time is shorter on some voices vs the emulations settings. Differences like this are often settings based Vs quality of emulation. It also starts with faster modulation - where (like high resonance) you can normally expect to hear more differences.

What I heard was:

1. Audible digital clipping on everything. Watch those levels when making YouTube content, folks!

2. Hardware was way less in tune in a good way.

3. Envelope times could feel slightly to very off. Filter response a little off (listen to the Voices example).

4. The hardware "gets bigger" as you add polyphony where the software sounds really small. I think this is more than just the hardware being out of tune. I suspect Arturia's VCA is probably pretty where the issue lives. There were a few times where I wanted to yell at the guy to stop playing single notes, but listen to any instance where he adds polyphony and isn't using a slow attack and slow release in the high registers. The software will sound pinched and small. The hardware will be bigger and punchier. The 08 - Synth (Sync) patch demonstration is a good example, you hear it in the brass examples too.

I did a quickie playthrough with the demo of the plugin and heard the same thing. It sounds small to me. With single notes, it's less of an issue, but once you start adding voices it's just missing something. Then I took Diva, put the Jupiter oscillators (not the same), into the Moog filter (I know, I know, I'm not trying to do science here) and did some comparisons and Diva gets big as you add notes. With individual voices, it's harder to discern. But play something with relatively fast attack and short-to-medium decay with polyphony (like Brass style patches or Sync) and I think the difference is pretty large.

[machinesworking]

Hardware will vary somewhat. For example, in the above video, the hardware voices are less in tune, and the envelope release time is shorter on some voices vs the emulations settings. Differences like this are often settings based Vs quality of emulation. It also starts with faster modulation - where (like high resonance) you can normally expect to hear more differences.

What I heard was:

1. Audible digital clipping on everything. Watch those levels when making YouTube content, folks!

2. Hardware was way less in tune in a good way.

3. Envelope times could feel slightly to very off. Filter response a little off (listen to the Voices example).

4. The hardware "gets bigger" as you add polyphony where the software sounds really small. I think this is more than just the hardware being out of tune. I suspect Arturia's VCA is probably pretty where the issue lives. There were a few times where I wanted to yell at the guy to stop playing single notes, but listen to any instance where he adds polyphony and isn't using a slow attack and slow release in the high registers. The software will sound pinched and small. The hardware will be bigger and punchier. The 08 - Synth (Sync) patch demonstration is a good example, you hear it in the brass examples too.

I did a quickie playthrough with the demo of the plugin and heard the same thing. It sounds small to me. With single notes, it's less of an issue, but once you start adding voices it's just missing something. Then I took Diva, put the Jupiter oscillators (not the same), into the Moog filter (I know, I know, I'm not trying to do science here) and did some comparisons and Diva gets big as you add notes. With individual voices, it's harder to discern. But play something with relatively fast attack and short-to-medium decay with polyphony (like Brass style patches or Sync) and I think the difference is pretty large.

This sums it up, I spent some time with the demo vs the Memorymoog here and it's not just that the filter has been messed with, the oscillators themselves sound thinner than the real thing. One of the defining differences with the Mini and Memorymoog is three oscs, with a real analog synth the tuning is drifting enough to sound huge, with this it hardly sounds any different. This is really noticeable with unison mode, I'm going to have to look into it because initially instantiating it it's the weakest sounding unison I've heard. So far 10+ year old Diva sounds bigger.

This is 100% the reason why I mentioned Atomika as being one of the better emulations, just tossing both in a set and listening to the sound of the oscs with the filter wide open etc. and Atomika sounds big compared. I can't speak for the new Moogs but the old ones sound massive without any work, same with the Polivoks, Oberheims, etc.

It's not terrible, the voice modulation section isn't too bad, and that's the part I expect every emulation to fall short on (it does fall short but it's an attempt), but it's thin, the classic complaint people make about emulations, and IMO thickness is a defining feature of a real Memorymoog.

[IvyBirds]

Hardware will vary somewhat. For example, in the above video, the hardware voices are less in tune, and the envelope release time is shorter on some voices vs the emulations settings. Differences like this are often settings based Vs quality of emulation. It also starts with faster modulation - where (like high resonance) you can normally expect to hear more differences.

What I heard was:

1. Audible digital clipping on everything. Watch those levels when making YouTube content, folks!

2. Hardware was way less in tune in a good way.

3. Envelope times could feel slightly to very off. Filter response a little off (listen to the Voices example).

4. The hardware "gets bigger" as you add polyphony where the software sounds really small. I think this is more than just the hardware being out of tune. I suspect Arturia's VCA is probably pretty where the issue lives. There were a few times where I wanted to yell at the guy to stop playing single notes, but listen to any instance where he adds polyphony and isn't using a slow attack and slow release in the high registers. The software will sound pinched and small. The hardware will be bigger and punchier. The 08 - Synth (Sync) patch demonstration is a good example, you hear it in the brass examples too.

I did a quickie playthrough with the demo of the plugin and heard the same thing. It sounds small to me. With single notes, it's less of an issue, but once you start adding voices it's just missing something. Then I took Diva, put the Jupiter oscillators (not the same), into the Moog filter (I know, I know, I'm not trying to do science here) and did some comparisons and Diva gets big as you add notes. With individual voices, it's harder to discern. But play something with relatively fast attack and short-to-medium decay with polyphony (like Brass style patches or Sync) and I think the difference is pretty large.

This is where sometimes not being 100% accurate to a specific example of a specific piece of hardware isn't a deal breaker

When I use a polysynth plugin I don't want it to get bigger as I add notes as I want it to stay in it's lane in the track and not begin to stomp all over everything else

When playing live you also need to avoid stomping all over your other band mates

There are multiple ways to make sounds get bigger if you want, and multiple other plugins that get bigger as you add notes

Now maybe getting bigger is something the Memorymoog hardware does, don't know, don't care as I will never own one. That is a behavior I am happy didn't get emulated

[dayjob]

would prefer another weird digital synth instead of this analog emulation. ymmv of course.. analog emus have their place.. but i guess we are all spoiled for choices these days. Z3 is endless depths.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

This is where sometimes not being 100% accurate to a specific example of a specific piece of hardware isn't a deal breaker

When I use a polysynth plugin I don't want it to get bigger as I add notes as I want it to stay in it's lane in the track and not begin to stomp all over everything else

When playing live you also need to avoid stomping all over your other band mates

There are multiple ways to make sounds get bigger if you want, and multiple other plugins that get bigger as you add notes

Now maybe getting bigger is something the Memorymoog hardware does, don't know, don't care as I will never own one. That is a behavior I am happy didn't get emulated

Respecfully, I disagree.

I want the emulation to behave like the synth it's emulating. Not like a 'we shaved some stuff off to make it easier for you to drop in the mix' type approximation. I'm over-simplifying in that description, I'm sure that wasn't their intent even if it's how I feel about it.

And it's harder to add something that ain't there than it is to remove. This isn't a "just boost some low end and the bigness is back" thing (i.e. it's not purely frequency response). This is a, "it sounds kind of wimpy where it shouldn't" thing, which could be frequency response, phase, transient behavior, harmonic saturation, etc. That's harder to fix.

When it comes to fitting things in the mix, it's much easier to subtract fullness and punch than add it when it's missing IMO.

[Choikdoi]

This is a, "it sounds kind of wimpy where it shouldn't" thing

That sums up Arturia though. I thought they were making improvements in that regard with the likes of MiniBrute and the recent Pigments update. Not to the level of the competition still, but this one feels like a step backwards again.

[dayjob]

i find that the arturia synths i’ve used sound great once i get away from the presets which have a sort of sheen to them. it’s totally possible to make great sounds w/their synths once ya get into them.. but there’s some i have never even used. shrug.

[exmatproton]

This is a, "it sounds kind of wimpy where it shouldn't" thing

That sums up Arturia though. I thought they were making improvements in that regard with the likes of MiniBrute and the recent Pigments update. Not to the level of the competition still, but this one feels like a step backwards again.

how are minibrute and pigments not on the level of the competition?? Especially Pigments has some tricks no other synth has...i mean,,you can actually use the grains (of the granular mode) as a trigger source for the envelopes..It is actually one of the most capable all round instruments in vst-land. Minibrute just sounds brute..like it should