Arturia synths version 2

[David Polich]

Just thought I'd post my impressions of the latest version 2 releases of Arturia's synths. I've spent some time over the last month putting them through their paces (finally).

The first thing I'd like to point out is that the sound quality for all V2 synths is much improved. Almost all of that "paper" VI sound is gone now.
This is the closest to a hardware sound I've heard from Arturia's products.
In fact, it's good enough that I have dropped my plan to get a Minimoog Voyager because I feel that Arturia's Minimoog V2 is up to that task.

The envelopes across the board are all snappier now, for every product.
The filter sound for every product has been improved.

Sadly, there are 3 problem products remaining. Jupiter 8V suffers from two things - it's still thin-sounding on the bottom end, and it launches with a truly lopsided stereo image (it's "left-heavy").
Second, Prophet V still doesn't sound anything like a real Prophet, and it is still sluggish to browse through presets. Third, Brass features a good trumpet and trombone, but the saxophone is still terrible, and Brass V2 is not out yet.

If I had to vote for the MVP's of this bunch of products, I'd go with the Minimoog V2 and the ARP 2600 V2. ARP 2600 V2 is now almost identical in quality of filters and oscillator sound to WayOutWare's timewARP 2600. And Arturia's includes the extra sequencer (nice) and a truly imaginative and well-done set of factory presets.

[mhschmieder]

Interesting that the two best are the ones I consider most redundant.

I've been very successful with TimewARP 2600 running on my system, as long as I avoid the heavier patches. I've done a few of my own as well, and intend to use that soft synth to recreate some polysynth sounds that haven't been emulated very well yet. It is nice that Arturia includes the extra features from the side products that A.R.P. made. And nice to hear they got the sound right this time.

Shortly before getting the Voyager, I had put a lot of time into making custom patches on the Creamware Minimoog (I've already forgotten what they called theirs). It was polyphonic and I intend to port the poly patches to the ARP 2600 emulation at some point. The mono patches didn't all port as successfully as I would have liked, but most did quite well and sound much deeper on the real analog hardware synth.

I found the previous rev of Arturia's Minimoog to be weak in the bass department, and the GUI to be quite fiddly and hard to control with precision. This is a problem with minimoogs as the slightest breath on a knob can change the sound dramatically. Do you know whether the Mac versions have better GUI's this time, or are you still using just the Windows versions?

So far I have the updates to Moog Modular and CS80. The latter is hugely different from the earlier version and much more pleasing to my ears, even though some say that it is less accurate in some (but not all) regards. I am able to get closer now to the sounds for which the CS80 is famous, and that is what matters most.

My re-order of Jupiter arrived last week, but I didn't see V2 posted yet. Sorry to hear it still needs improvement, but at least it looks like, aside from Brass, that Arturia has regained their footing. Perhaps lessons learned from the Origin hardware platform, re-applied to the standard Intel processors?

[David Polich]

The GUI for the Minimoog V2 is the same on both Mac and PC. I have it on both.
Seems to work fine on both.

[Armageddon]

I have no sound or performance issues with either ARP 2600V 1.2 or CS-80V 1.6 ... they both, in fact, sound pretty beefy to me and work well either in standalone or in DP 6.03. As for the MiniMoog, I opted for the GForce Minimonsta over the Arturia version, just seemed closer to the real thing, to me. I also snagged their ImpOSCar, which sound great, though, if you're shopping, avoid their ARP emulation. It's terrible.

[David Polich]

I have no sound or performance issues with either ARP 2600V 1.2 or CS-80V 1.6 ... they both, in fact, sound pretty beefy to me and work well either in standalone or in DP 6.03. As for the MiniMoog, I opted for the GForce Minimonsta over the Arturia version, just seemed closer to the real thing, to me. I also snagged their ImpOSCar, which sound great, though, if you're shopping, avoid their ARP emulation. It's terrible.

You mean the "Oddity"?

[n2mpujack]

Just thought I'd post my impressions of the latest version 2 releases of Arturia's synths. I've spent some time over the last month putting them through their paces (finally).

The first thing I'd like to point out is that the sound quality for all V2 synths is much improved. Almost all of that "paper" VI sound is gone now.
This is the closest to a hardware sound I've heard from Arturia's products.
In fact, it's good enough that I have dropped my plan to get a Minimoog Voyager because I feel that Arturia's Minimoog V2 is up to that task.

Dave (and others):
I have both the Voyager Rackmount and the Arturia minimoogV (original) and have to say they are as different as night and day in capabilities and sounds. There are routings that are possible in each that aren't available in the other. On the Voyager you can morph continuously between oscillator waveforms which can't be done on the Arturia. The Arturia has delay, chorus & arpeggiator that Voyager doesn't. Each has their uses but for a more pleasing sound I tend to use the Voyager.

I do like Arturia stuff, mainly the CS80 and MMV. It's just that the minimoog isn't the beast I'd hoped it was. And on the pc it's a computing power hog. Don't have it loaded up on my Mac though.

[mhschmieder]

Best minimoog emu is still the one from Creamware called Minimax, which I had for awhile in its latest incarnation from Use Audio, before buying the real deal last year (Voyager).

The Oddity is truly awful. I prefer a 2600 anyway, but if going for an Odyssey, the one from Creamware is fantastic. Also available for Plugiator from Use Audio.

Of course, the Creamware stuff is hardware with software editors so probably isn;t fair to compare. They blur the lines with some of their form factors though, including the upcoming Xcite1 DSP rack module.

[bzfoto]

Honestly Arturia synths are like the Frankensteins of analog.
They look at sound great at first glance but in the mix they turn into something ugly.
They are stiff sounding with a weird indescribable sound, sort of like what Frankenstein was to a human. If you can't get your hands on a real analog, maybe consider playing the part on a guitar before Arturia. It's freaky sounding in the final mix unless you are doing something techno, then it will fit in.

[David Polich]

Dave (and others):
I have both the Voyager Rackmount and the Arturia minimoogV (original) and have to say they are as different as night and day in capabilities and sounds. There are routings that are possible in each that aren't available in the other. On the Voyager you can morph continuously between oscillator waveforms which can't be done on the Arturia. The Arturia has delay, chorus & arpeggiator that Voyager doesn't. Each has their uses but for a more pleasing sound I tend to use the Voyager.

I do like Arturia stuff, mainly the CS80 and MMV. It's just that the minimoog isn't the beast I'd hoped it was. And on the pc it's a computing power hog. Don't have it loaded up on my Mac though.

I get your point, but my post was about version 2 of the Arturia synths. There's a significant sonic difference between Minimoog V 1.0 and Minimoog V 2.0. Plus new features (like the vowel filter and the
soundmap) that aren't on the original version.

Honestly Arturia synths are like the Frankensteins of analog.
They look at sound great at first glance but in the mix they turn into something ugly.
They are stiff sounding with a weird indescribable sound, sort of like what Frankenstein was to a human. If you can't get your hands on a real analog, maybe consider playing the part on a guitar before Arturia. It's freaky sounding in the final mix unless you are doing something techno, then it will fit in.

I have to disagree. I have a DSI Prophet 08 and a Mopho. I'm very familiar with what real analog sounds like. The V2 Arturia synths have come a lot closer to the real analog sound. Seriously, I've been playing synths for
35 years and owned plenty of analogs - in a busy track, I don't think anyone
could tell whether it was a real minimoog or Arturia's minimoog.

The first versions of te Arturia synths definitely left something to be desired in the authenticity department. But as a sound designer and synth nut, I have to give them their props for improving their product.

Todd Rundgren once said that wasn't anal enough to give a crap whether it was a real minimoog or a virtual minimoog on a track, and I'll go along with him on that. I think the differences between the best analog VI's and their real counterparts are things only us "purists" can even distinguish.

[bzfoto]

I'll have to download the newer demos and give it a second listen.

[mhschmieder]

Oh, that hadn't occurred to me, that we can try the V2 demos even if we previously owned the V1 versions.

The fact is, the Voyager doesn't sound like an original minimoog (of which there were several versions anyway).

What matters is whether the results can be musical and can sit in a mix with reasonable effort.

The Prophet '08 doesn't sound like the Prophet V either (in fact, that wasn't even the model Dave Smith was aiming for, as he was going for a bit of a hodgepodge approach of a little bit of this synth, a little bit of that, with the visual look patterned most closely after the V).

The thing that usually is most distinct about a good analog synth is its filters; with enough tweaking, one can come pretty close to reproducing almost any analog synth sound on a properly-specced analog synth otherwise.

It is the filters that have improved the most in Arturia's V2 soft synths, from what I've heard of the ones that I have so far. Much less aliasing than before, which means they are more musical.

[n2mpujack]

Oh, that hadn't occurred to me, that we can try the V2 demos even if we previously owned the V1 versions.

The fact is, the Voyager doesn't sound like an original minimoog (of which there were several versions anyway).

What matters is whether the results can be musical and can sit in a mix with reasonable effort.

The Prophet '08 doesn't sound like the Prophet V either (in fact, that wasn't even the model Dave Smith was aiming for, as he was going for a bit of a hodgepodge approach of a little bit of this synth, a little bit of that, with the visual look patterned most closely after the V).

The thing that usually is most distinct about a good analog synth is its filters; with enough tweaking, one can come pretty close to reproducing almost any analog synth sound on a properly-specced analog synth otherwise.

It is the filters that have improved the most in Arturia's V2 soft synths, from what I've heard of the ones that I have so far. Much less aliasing than before, which means they are more musical.

Very true on all accounts.
As I said in my previous posts the Voyager & Arturia minimoog (either version) are entirely two different beasts. Each good for different things, but I found the Arturia a bit off-putting. And now that they went to a dongle for all version 2 of their synths - I ain't nuts about that either. Which is a shame considering I love the CS80 and the MMV.

As for the Prophet 08 - I've seen a review in one of the mags (think it was Electronic Musician) wherein the comment was made by the reviewer and by Dave Smith himself that he was going more for the Oberheim sound than trying to emulate the old Prophet 5. Which is a shame as I would have liked to see a true hardware remake of that machine. Think I'll stay with the PolyEvolver rack mount.

[mhschmieder]

The licenses for the older synths are soft eLicenser keys vs. hard eLicenser keys, so I'm not sure if you even have to have an actual dongle for them to work.

One caveat (if true -- this was on a forum after all): if you resell Jupiter or Prophet (which came with hardware dongles), you apparently have to include the dongle that came with it originally, and not some other spare dongle you might have at hand.

Apparently the license is tied to a specific dongle ID (at initial install time; not at upgrade time or run time, as I already transferred mine to my main dongle).

[mikebeckmotu]

FYI: When I installed the Arturia Prophet (the first version) a while ago, I immediately transferred the license to another Syncrosoft dongle so I wouldn't have to use multiple Syncrosoft dongles. I downloaded Prophet version 2 yesterday, and it linked up with the existing license that I had transferred to the other dongle and it works fine. No new authorization needed or anything.

[mhschmieder]

Right; that's what I meant about upgrading working on a transferred license with the same owner.

I was referring to stated problems if you sell the Prophet or Jupiter to someone else and include a different dongle than the one Arturia shipped.