Arturia V Collection 7

The last time that we tested Arturia’s suite of virtual classic keyboards, we named it “Best Old Skool Soft Synth Collection” in The Technofile Awards. That was version 5, which included the ARP 2600 V, B3 V, CS-80V, Farfisa V, Jup-8V, Matrix-12 V, Mini V, Modular V, SEM V, Piano V, Prophet-V & Prophet VS, Solina V, Stage 73 V, Synclavier V, Vox Continental V, Wurli-V, and Analog Lab (which houses all 6000 plus patches from these synths/keyboards and enables you to quickly sort, filter & combine them). Much has happened since then. Let’s review…

V Collection 6.0 added Buchla Easel V, Clavinet V, CMI V, DX7 V; and upgraded Analog Lab and Piano V, the latter becoming Piano V2.

Buchla Easel V

Buchla Easel V

If you want 1970s West Coast weirdness, you need look no further than Arturia’s Buchla Easel V, which recreates Don Buchla’s legendary semi-modular synth. Easier to programme than one might imagine, it includes a wealth of presets that show it to be so much more than merely a weird noise generator, though it unquestionably excels at generating weird noises.

Clavinet V

Clavinet V

The Honer Clavinet is one of the funkiest keyboard instruments of all time and Arturia’s Clavinet V does a fine job of recreating it on the 0’s and 1’s. However, instead of merely modelling a Clavinet, Arturia includes a Fenderesque amp and a pedalboard’s worth of the sort of stomp boxes that would typically have been used with a Clav during the ’60s & ’70s. These include a compressor, chorus, flanger, phaser, analogue delay, wah, and most importantly auto-wah. Together this combo enables you to recreate a variety of era defining tones.

DX7 V

DX7 V

Love it or loath it, the Yamaha DX7 left an indelible mark, some would say stain, on the 1980s, with its perfect storm of obtuse interface, alien synthesis, and preset for every occasion (and indeed every function band). Instead of recreating the DX7 as was, Arturia has significantly expanded its feature set and combined it with a user friendly interface that serves to unlock the potential of FM synthesis and make the most of these new features.

Piano V2

Piano V2

Piano V is Arturia’s collection of modelled (mostly) grand and upright pianos. V2 adds three new piano models – a Japanese Grand, a Plucked Grand, and a Tack Upright; and offers enhanced mic positioning, improved EQ, and a new stereo delay and compressor. If pianos are your thing, Piano V 2 offers an excellent selection, all of which are customisable.

CMI V

CMI V

CMI V takes an accurately modelled Fairlight CMI as its starting point, then considerably enhances it functionality. Its library of approximately 300 presets includes both the Fairlight’s original library and new presets. However, unlike other virtual Fairlights we’ve seen, Arturia’s CMI V is not merely a ROMpler…it lets you import and edit your own samples…and change their bit depths and sample rates to give them that authentic Fairlight sound. The only restriction is that each sample cannot exceed 30 seconds, which means that if you want to cut up longer samples you’ll need to pre-edit them in another app. But that’s all just the tip of the iceberg, as CMI V adds an additive synth engine with resynthesis, and a spectral synth engine. Furthermore, it allows you to mix, layer, split and sequence up to ten sounds from any combination of these three engines, which, in conjunction with its user friendly interface (in Fairlight green of course) enables you to quickly come up with unique and powerful sounds that are exponential to what could be achieved with the original Fairlight.

V Collection 6.1 & 6.2

V Collection 6.1 introduced NKS compatibility and brought Analog Lab 3’s preset browser to everything in the suite, whilst V Collection 6.2 added resynthesis & playback of user samples to Arturia’s truly excellent Synclavier V…all of which brings us to V Collection 7.

Synclavier V

V Collection 7

V Collection 7 adds three new instruments – Mellotron V, Synthi V, and CZ V, updates B3 V to B-3 V2 and Analog Lab from 3 to 4 and adds over 800 new presets to the various instruments in the collection.

Mellotron V

Mellotron V

The Mellotron was, in essence, the progenitor of the ROMpler. However, unlike the Fairlight that it obviously inspired and all of the digital samplers than followed in its wake, the Mellotron was distinctly analogue. Every time you played a key it triggered a motor to play a tape containing a recording of an instrument at the corresponding pitch. There was a tape for every key and these tapes were held in a frame. In later models the frame could be changed to give different sounds, whereas early models had a fixed number of sounds. It was a beast of a machine that, like all the best analogues, was notoriously sensitive to voltage fluctuations and ambient conditions. Nevertheless, Mellotrons were far cheaper and more compact than an orchestra. Consequently they saw extensive studio use during the ’60s and ’70s by, amongst others, The Beatles, miscellaneous prog rockers, and even a certain Monsieur Jarre.

Arturia’s Mellotron V includes the best of the original Mellotron tape library, up to three sounds of which can be combined as layers/splits. The amplitude envelope of the result can be altered and flutter, tape saturation, and mechanical noise can be dialled in. The resultant patches sound superb, delivering the unique character of a Mellotron, with pristine clarity. Unexpectedly though, and presumably as a result of its developments with the Synclavier V and CMI V, you have the option to import your own samples. Oh Arturia, if you’re trying to seduce us, you’ve succeeded.

Synthi V

Synthi V

Uniquely British, the 3 oscillator semi-modular AKS Synthi and its sonically identical counterpart, the VCS3, are as unique, distinctive and eccentric as it gets. Still used to this day by Jean Michel Jarre and throughout its heyday by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, there is even a VCS3 on permanent exhibition at the Science Museum in London, so Arturia’s Synthi V has much to live up to. Not only does it do so, it goes way beyond the ‘limitations’ of the original by including a modern step sequencer, dedicated beat-syncable LFO, additional effects and…wait for it…four voice polyphony! Naturally there’s a huge variety of eminently useable presets on offer that show off this synth to its full potential, but the real fun comes with creating patches that you never could or would think of making with anything else. If you make electronic music, the Synthi V is a synth you simply can’t afford to be without.

CZ V

CZ V

When you think of the ’80s, the diminutive Casio CZ-101 may not be the synth that immediately springs to mind. At the time, Casio’s answer to Yamaha’s DX7 was snobbishly seen by many as no more than a toy and the appearance of its big brother in an Episode of EastEnders featuring a rehearsal by ‘The Banned’ (don’t ask) did little to add to the credibility of the CZ line. However, the assumption that the CZs were little more than home keyboards was manifestly unfounded. In addition to offering DX like tones, their Phase Distortion (PD) synthesis could do surprisingly warm, almost, dare we say it, Junoesque pads. What’s more, unlike Yamaha’s FM, PD was incredibly easy to understand and program. Consequently the CZs were a bridge between analogue and digital synthesis, at a price almost everyone could afford. Notable ’80s users included Vince Clarke and Salt-N-Pepa, whilst during the ’90s, the CZ-101/1000 provided the de facto organ sound for a multiplicity of house music.

Arturia’s CZ V offers all of the CZ-101’s/1000’s original parameters and even supports importing of CZ SysEx data. However, like the other instruments in V Collection, CZ V goes much further than the original, as it includes additional envelopes, filters, LFOs, effects, and extensive beat-sync-to-host parameters, all of which are interconectable via a modulation matrix. What’s more, it quadruples the polyphony of the CZ-101/1000. Programming is a breeze thanks to its intuitive GUI and there’s a multitude of presets that run the gamut from warm and brassy to cold FM-like FX. How does the CZ V sound? Completely authentic, right down to its modelled DAC.

B-3 V2

B3 V2

Arturia have totally overhauled the B-3 V’s sound engine, making B-3 V2 better than ever, as its library of 50 presets, that run the gamut from gospel, jazz, and blues, to prog, aptly demonstrate.

Synthopedia

Synthopedia

Synthopedia is a library of over 800 brand new “modern sounds” created for V Collection’s various instruments and accessed via Analog Lab 4. Although these sounds are not fully editable, they can be tweaked, resaved and exported. Like everything else in V collection 7, they sound fantastic.

Conclusion

Arturia V Collection 7 is an absolute must have. It puts realistic recreations of some of the world’s most lusted after synths, samplers and keyboard instruments, at your finger tips, for a bargain price. With these latest additions and updates, the best just got even better.

5 bagels

More info: https://www.arturia.com/v-collection/details#en

© 2019, The Technofile. All rights reserved. Moral Rights Asserted.

Arturia Jupiter-8V

Arturia Jupiter-8V reviewed in The Technofile by MC Rebbe The Rapping Rabbi

In 1981, Roland released the Jupiter 8 synthesizer. A true flagship, it offered, amongst other things, a massive (for the time) 8 voices, keyboard split and layering, a powerful arpeggiator, a unison mode…and lots of sexy multi coloured buttons. Most importantly though, it was more reliable and flexible than many of its contemporaries. Continue reading “Arturia Jupiter-8V”

© 2007 – 2017, The Technofile. All rights reserved. Moral Rights Asserted.

Native Instruments Absynth 4

MC Rebbe The Rapping Rabbi reviews Native Instruments Absynth 4 in The Technofile

Absynth is one of the best sound design tools out there. Like its brethren, ‘Battery’ (reviewed below) and ‘FM8’ (review coming soon), it has recently had a makeover.

If you’re not already familiar with this soft synth, then check out my Absynth 3 review. If, on the other hand, you already know the score, read on. Continue reading “Native Instruments Absynth 4”

© 2007 – 2017, The Technofile. All rights reserved. Moral Rights Asserted.