The Sound Board

A new version of Arturia's V Collection is out.



https://www.arturia.com/v-collection/details

New instruments are - DX7, Fairlight CMI, Buchla Easel V and a Clavinet V.









There have been other updates too, Analog Lab 3, major updates to the pianos (hugely improved I hear).

RRP 399 euros, or 199 euros upgrade.

Oh oh, hugely tempted for the first time on this. The new additions look good, and I don’t remember their pianos sounding this good before... Just purchased their MatrixBrute a couple of weeks ago and must say, I am liking Arturia more and more as a company, especially with their ideas on the hardware front. Maybe I’ll wait to check out Analog Lab 3 before deciding on this.

You have the previous version Guy, yes? How are you getting along with it?

Yes, I have v5 and it's largely pretty good. Much has been made of their analogue emulations not being up to, say, u-he standards and it's true there's a difference, but its not always in-your-face apparent. There's a richness about repro-1 and 5 that Arturia don't quite nail along with the precise authenticity of the filters, but as often the way, depending on the sound and the context it can be pretty subtle. I like that they don't rigidly stick to the original limitations, with extra polyphony, arps etc that the originals didn't have but everyone would have loved at the time if they did. Their overhauled browser and scalable UIs are a massive improvement over v4 ("New feature! You can now see what you're doing!"). Their more recent Synclavier got lots of praise for its authenticity, and I think that's a reflection that their modelling is improving over time.

Since I have FM8 and a bunch of old DX7 sounds, and Darklight from UVI, this isn't an instant buy for me, but I'll likely pick it up in the inevitable half price sale further down the road.

Thanks for that, Guy. Yes, Repro is a beast that puts a smile on my face. Some of the UVI stuff is great, the UVS3200 comes to mind, along with their Synthex, though it is all based on samples and so besides tweaking the existing presets, there is not much one can do from scratch. That’s why I’m hoping the V collection is an improvement over v4.

I also dipped my toes into IKM’s Syntronik, getting their Polymorph and SEM modules, and liked them more than expected. But I know Arturia has good pedigree. Both offer functions beyond what the originals had, thankfully.

Guy Rowland wrote:Since I have FM8 and a bunch of old DX7 sounds, and Darklight from UVI, this isn't an instant buy for me, but I'll likely pick it up in the inevitable half price sale further down the road.

Similar thinking.

Guy Rowland wrote:Y Much has been made of their analogue emulations not being up to, say, u-he standards and it's true there's a difference, but its not always in-your-face apparent. There's a richness about repro-1 and 5 that Arturia don't quite nail along with the precise authenticity of the filters, but as often the way, depending on the sound and the context it can be pretty subtle.

Actually, now that I own some U-he synth emus, I think it is more obvious when you A>B them than I would have believed. I doubt that I will ever use my Arturia Moog Modular or Mini V again.

It depends what you're after really Jay. u-he really are the masters of exact specific details of a model. And with repro-1 / 5, they are just gorgeously rich. But of course that's just one model of one synth. Personally I don't so much care that its an exact emulation, but I do care that is sounds great, and it really does.

And guess what - Arturia do have some great sounds too of a gazillion different shades. I hear stuff out of their modular I don't have anywhere else, so I might use it from time to time (and in all candour, can't program the beast to save my life, it takes me hours just to tweak a preset roughly to my will). If I want basic warm / analogue / rich / subtractive I'll likely reach for u-he first (and partial to the o-px II as well), but Arturia certainly has its place for other sounds and shades.

Guy Rowland wrote:It depends what you're after really Jay. u-he really are the masters of exact specific details of a model. And with repro-1 / 5, they are just gorgeously rich. But of course that's just one model of one synth. Personally I don't so much care that its an exact emulation, but I do care that is sounds great, and it really does.

And guess what - Arturia do have some great sounds too of a gazillion different shades. I hear stuff out of their modular I don't have anywhere else, so I might use it from time to time (and in all candour, can't program the beast to save my life, it takes me hours just to tweak a preset roughly to my will). If I want basic warm / analogue / rich / subtractive I'll likely reach for u-he first (and partial to the o-px II as well), but Arturia certainly has its place for other sounds and shades.

I was just kind of shocked at how much more, for want of a better term, hi-fi the u-hes sound.

Just wanted to add that I’ve had a few minutes to play around with the v3 upgrade of Analog Lab, which I keep getting for free due to having bought controllers from Arturia. Very nice. They’ve managed to make it clean and simple, with tons of useful presets begging to be tweaked. If it’s any indication of how the new V collection sounds, I am quite impressed. I’m even liking the pianos. While I won’t employ them for anything Neo-classical, they sound like they’ll fit right into a Pop production.

I'm curious about their piano too. I'm notsure I've ever liked their emulations.
The Buchla sprung as a good new for me but then I realised The Easel is all about hands-on approach to making noises albeit musical ones.

Spent a little time today with Analog Lab 3. I dunno.... the new stuff didn't really light my fire. The hardware DX7 has its place but its never been my favourite sound by any means and FM8 has me covered for when I do. The Fairlight seems riddled with clicky loop points (presumably period accurate but sheesh) and a lot of most classic sounds I couldn't find and I quickly lost interest. Again, I have little enthusiasm for programming and I don't really feel the need to mine that 8 bit sound, so Darklight will carry on doing me well really. The Buchla is new to me, but I didn't much like the presets so again... ho hum...

The pianos seem perfectly good to me, but I'm not a connoisseur of pianos, I'd be interested to hear what those who are make of it. I had a problem with the sustain pedal not working which is a known glitch. What fixed it for me was to install the demo of the full version of Pianos V2, then it woke up Analog Lab 3 too. Tonally they seem most suited to bright, there was nothing like the soft warmth of an Emotional Piano I could find.

At the end I played with the release candidate of the u-he Repro 5, which thrilled me beyond words in comparison. Blimey that thing sounds gorgeous.

Thanx for the report, Guy.
EDIT :not a fan of the DX7 sound - I never quite use FM8 and what I like in it is mostly better done by some other VA.Do not dig the Fairlight crunch and apart for some funny re-enacting of 80s' for some cheesy hommage piece of muzak I cannot wrap my head around the use I could have out of it.
Indeed,Pro5 is so where I'm at, I could take the plunge - if only I didn't spend the few remaining cash I had in Spit'Chamber Strings & Symphonic Evolutions. And the FX "pedalboard" included is very well done and useful.

If the videos below give a good indication of what the new Arturia pianos sound like, I have to say I’m slightly surprised by the positive responses (especially in light of the ongoing indifference and even negativity that Pianoteq keeps meeting with).

The piano in both these videos appears, to me, to have no attack — the impact of the hammers hitting the strings — whatsoever and, dynamically/timbrally, it sounds as if it’s limited to go no further than a weak-ish mezzoforte: there’s not a hint of the blooming energy, increased resonance and complexity of timbre that occur when a piano is played with some force. The instrument, in these videos anyway, seems to be completely without power, snap and bite.
And that’s just two of the most ear-catching flaws. (That the timbre also has a rather synthetic character needn’t be pointed out, I hope.)

Something wrong (to my ears) with the sustain/decay too in the first video, though I suppose that’s easily adjusted.

I would need to download and test the demo for a bit, to get a better idea of what these Arturia pianos are capable of, but based on what I’ve heard in these and other videos, these instruments — though certainy much better than the V1 version — still offer little more than a very dull, lifeless, generic, synthetic, vaguely-piano-like timbre.

Plenty of unique and exciting creative possibilities with these sounds (as there are with Pianoteq’s, by the way), I’m sure, and the Piano V software definitely adds value and appeal to the Arturia V Collection, but I just don’t hear anything here that’s close, let alone ready, to be taken seriously as a virtual piano.
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Not even CLOSE to a virtual piano? As a self-confessed non-pianophile my thoughts are to be a taken with a sack of salt (I'm not even playing on a weighted keyboard), but sheesh.

I wouldn't be in the slightest surprised if when you try it you are underwhelmed Piet, but there are definitely pianos with a different timbre, and more aggressively bright characteristics than the presets displayed in those videos, especially the first. Oddly they don't mention which pianos they are using - there is no generic Concert Grand, you get American, German and Japanese. Under my fingers the American seems sprightly enough, plenty of bite but hey this isn't my (piano)forte ha ha.

It’s rather surprising in relative terms, Piet. It’s obviously not going to replace Vintage D or probably even Pianoteq, but in terms of where it was and where it is now, it is a marked improvement to my ears. Some of the presets are going to be right at home in a pop or rock production, where you scoop out and hype certain ranges to tailor it to a mix, and to me that is a very good thing. I like finding a preset that fits my vision of the mix without having to start with a great sampled piano that I can’t bear to massacre with an EQ. The key being that they are almost never exposed in such a production.

But don’t go playing the Goldberg Variations on it.

Half price til Nov 5, but no upgrade discounts for existing owners of the V series.

EDIT - filters and preamps also on sale - https://www.native-instruments.com/en/s ... ffer-2018/

Not every emulation they do is spot on that's for sure, however, some of the new ones like the NED are dead ringers. I think they have improved their skills in emulation but are not spending time with much updating of the old ones. I'd love to see an improved sound to the CS80 and the Matrix 12.

I was disappointed, although not surprised, that upgrades were not part of the sale. I have V5, and I really do like several of the emulations. Of the ones I use regularly the only one I wish they'd tweak is the Matrix 12. Although I like what they did, so who know???