Arturia V Collection 5

[Guy Rowland]

Hmm... this does look interesting now. Redesigned and scalable UIs, looks like tag preset browsers, remodelled filters etc and some new instruments including the Synclavier:



https://www.arturia.com/products/analog ... n/overview

$399, discounts from the usual resellers.
(EDIT - this is an intro promo, RRP $549)

[Luciano Storti]

Looks and sounds very nice, instant nostalgia! For as much as I want to like Arturia's products, and I have a few, both hardware and software, I must admit to being a bit underwhelmed by their stability on my system, and by their build quality. Reminds me a little of French cars in the 80's. Great electronics that would break down over time :-)

[Guy Rowland]

Looks and sounds very nice, instant nostalgia! For as much as I want to like Arturia's products, and I have a few, both hardware and software, I must admit to being a bit underwhelmed by their stability on my system, and by their build quality. Reminds me a little of French cars in the 80's. Great electronics that would break down over time :-)

I think it'll be wise to wait and see how these new incarnations do, won't it? Their support has drawn a lot of criticism. Definitely like the look of the changes, here's hoping it's more solid all round.

Here's some more videos of the new additions:






(modelled pianos)

[Piet De Ridder]

Dear me, who did they ask to do these demos?? Sounds like someone who lost seven fingers in a tragic mayonnaise accident and is since stuffed to the gills with benzodiazepine cocktails.
The sound of all these new additions isn't very exciting either. (And in the case of the acoustic and electric pianos: pretty bad even.) Maybe that's what's causing the sleep-inducing playing?

_

[Guy Rowland]

Dear me, who did they ask to do these demos?? Sounds like someone who lost seven fingers in a tragic mayonnaise accident and is since stuffed to the gills with benzodiazepine cocktails.

Well that sounds like a description of me, but I can promise you it wasn't.

I didn't pay too much attention to the pianos, though they sounded diverse at least. Synclavier sounded pretty good to me though.

[woodsdenis]

Dear me, who did they ask to do these demos?? Sounds like someone who lost seven fingers in a tragic mayonnaise accident and is since stuffed to the gills with benzodiazepine cocktails.
The sound of all these new additions isn't very exciting either. (And in the case of the acoustic and electric pianos: pretty bad even.) Maybe that's what's causing the sleep-inducing playing?

_

Ha classic Piet, I had to listen to the demos after that, and indeed I couldn't agree more.

[PhJ]

Ha classic Piet, I had to listen to the demos after that, and indeed I couldn't agree more.

same here

[Lawrence]

I have the previous collection, which came with my Arturia Keylab 88. Yawn.

[Guy Rowland]

I have the previous collection, which came with my Arturia Keylab 88. Yawn.

Why does it make you yawn? Sonics? UI? Faff? Anything that v5 might address?

[Lawrence]

I don't like the integration with the Keylab, it's supposed to be seamless but it doesn't save correctly and automatically. The sounds are stuff I have in various other incarnations. The basic sound doesn't make me say "ooo, creamy analogue". I used it once or twice and ignored after.

[TheUnfinished]

It's a pretty tempting price. And having a Prophet, CS80 and Synclavier emulation would be fun.

But tempting enough to put up with Arturiua's flakiness? Hmmm...

[Guy Rowland]

This is a really good 5m history and product development video on the original Synclavier, and this version. Apparently it uses the actual source code from the original model for the audio engine:



(pause to marvel again that we can now buy a $60,000 synth for $399 - and 16 other synths).

I'll try the demo when I have more time to do it justice. This does look like a very well executed adaptation. That's always been my problem with Arturia - yes it looks right and sounds sort of okish, but they never nailed a way to make it properly useable in a virtual format. That's my enthusiasm for v5 I guess, it looks like this is exactly what they've tried to address, along with some sonic changes.

In other news, at the moment v4 and earlier presets won't work in v5 apparently, but they are currently testing conversion software and will release it when ready (apparently).

[Ashermusic]

My friend Chuck Zwicky, a very good NYC based engineer, helped them with the Synvclavier, and he owns a real one, and says it is a very faithful reproduction. IMHO, the best dramatic scorer on US TV is Sean Callery and his assistant told me that he still uses his Synclavier a lot. So naturally, I am intrigued.

The only Arturia synth i presently own is the Moog Modular and I like it, however well or poorly it replicates the real deal, of which I have no clue having never played the real thing, only MiniMoogs and my all time favorite synth, the MemoryMoog.

[Marius]

I really like the Jupiter emulation (V4 Collection owner) but I find myself turning to other things instead of the Arturia synths. Their efforts to faithfully reproduce the original hardware have come at the expense of usability in the interfaces. Of the various things I could spend $100 or so to upgrade this season, I think Arturia won't be the choice, sorry to say. Glad they finally made the damn things scalable though.

[J Rod]

Sounds and Gear review of V Collection 5:

[Muziksculp]

Hi,

imho. the sound engine of all their V collection 5 instruments sound much better than the previous version. Much warmer, fuller I noticed that right away ! and even wondered about it before even knowing that they did improve the sound engine.

The new GUI and Browser systems in V Collection 5 is a huge improvement from the previous versions, just look at how much nicer the CS80 v3 GUI is compared to the older version, plus it sounds way better to my ears.

I would highly recommend the V Collection 5, especially if you have the V Collection 4. Plus you get a some cool new instruments as well.

Great Update from Arturia. I'm very happy I upgraded, and Thanks to Arturia for all the improvements.

Cheers,
Muziksculp

[J Rod]

Yep, the improved gui is very welcome, also the new preset browser is a nice upgrade from previous version. There are nice patches and good new additions like Synclavier.

I upgraded.

[Thomas Mavian]

Just checked this out. I have the ARP2600 and the Jupiter 8. Can't say that I've used them much lately but that depends in great part by the tiny GUI's. Since my upgrade price is 49,80 € I think I'm going to upgrade. The Synclavier seems worth the price alone. FM synthesis combined with Additive is very interesting. Plus, the modular has been on my wantlist for quite some time, finally with a BIG GUI!

[Guy Rowland]

I'm really very positive about it all. This guy has done a clear, very comprehensive feature walkthrough of the ARP 2600 in 5 parts



..and here's a playlist with the other 4 parts:



Just skimmed for now, but looks like a great resource. I think Arturia have really answered my main issues with their products with this version. The browser looks particularly good - I'll reserve judgment of course til I try it myself, but on paper I think they may have taken over pole position from Spectrasonics in terms of clarity and usability

It's far, far from an essential purchase and I have a ton on my plate at the moment, but I think come the inevitable silly sales further down the line, it looks like too much fun to resist.

[Muziksculp]

Hi Guy,

Thanks for the Links to the ARP 2600 Video Tutorials. These are quite detailed tutorials he has made, that's a lot of effort. (Thanks to him).

It would be nice, and very helpful to see more video tutorials for the other more complex instruments, i.e. CS80 V3, Moog Modular V3, and others.

I think the new instruments in the V Collection 5 have changed my perception of Arturia's Virtual Instruments. I would now put them on the highest tear of quality, and usability with my other favorite VST Synths, and they will surely see a lot more use in my upcoming projects. They were mostly picking up static in the past.

Cheers,
Muziksculp

[Thomas Mavian]

Been demoing most of the instruments and I really, really like what I hear, and see! I'm going in...

It would be perfect if the Analog Lab was some sort of "center" for all the patches in all the instruments. Like this: you create a sound in the Synclavier and call it "Patch A", later you create one in ARP-2600 called "Patch B". It would be so nice to have both those patches listed in the Analog Labs patchlist. Kind of, create in the instruments, play in the Lab.

[Lawrence]

My first experience with Analog Lab was this- I loaded some patches, tweaked them, wrote my piece, exported, all good. When I went back to the project, my tweaks to AL were lost. I assume this means Analog Lab doesn't save changes within a project unless you re-save the patch with a new name, which I kinda hate.

[Thomas Mavian]

Ouch, I'm such a dork! I've been reading the price totally wrong, reading the last line was taxes only, duh! Will just update my ARP and Jupiter-8. Bummer, was really sold on the Synclavier but I can't justify that price, yet...

[wst3]

If I could by the Synclavier I would. I am completely satisfied with the TimewARP 2600, and the gForce mini, so really the only other Arturia synth that grabs my attention is the Jupiter and maybe the Matrix. And I also wish someone would release a library or emulation based on the Waveframe!!!

[wst3]

Dang - I could swear the Synclavier was not listed as a separate product last time I looked. It is, I need to download that demo...