Well, the other day I spent a bit of money that I didn’t have. So what else is new. Arturia was running a sale on their synths that I just couldn’t pass up. So I grabbed hold of the V collection and I couldn’t be happier. I’m going to hit the high points and some of the low points in this particular article. Yeah, nothing is perfect but for the most part, this was money well spent.
Where to begin? Well, let’s begin with the amazing deal which is still available until September 8th, so there is still time for you to take advantage of it.
You get 11 of their products for just $199. That comes out to less than $20 for each product. If you think about it, in this day and age when everything costs a fortune, that’s a damn good deal and that’s why I couldn’t pass it up.
So what do you get for your $199? You get the following products.
Analog Lab
Analog Laboratory
ARP 2600
CS 80
Jupiter 8
Mini Moog
Moog Modular
Oberheim SEM
Prophet V
Spark Vintage Drums
Wurlitzer
Not bad for 200 bucks.
Let me start with the Wurlitzer. I never liked the sound of that thing when it was “popular” and I still don’t. So you can’t go by me as far as the quality of the plugin. Does it sound like a Wurlitzer? Sure does. Yuck!
Moving on.
Spark Vintage Drums. I haven’t gone through all the drum sounds but the few sets I’ve listened to certainly do sound like their old counterparts. It comes with a 122 page manual and you’re going to need it in order to use this thing. The interface is not very intuitive. As I have lots of drums, I probably won’t be using this much.
Finally, as far as the not so great goes, most of these modules are on the small side. I understand that if I was using a larger resolution (I’m using 1280 by 1024 or something like that) they’d be easier to read but then I’d have the problem of not fitting as much stuff on my screen and I use a lot of stuff. So it’s a trade off. If you can use a larger resolution, you might want to. Of course if you know the layout of these vintage synths like the back of your hand, it won’t matter. You won’t need to be able to read the description of each knob and slider. If not, you’re going to have some trouble.
Now that I’ve gotten all the bad stuff out of the way (yes, that’s all I can nit pick about) let’s get to the good stuff.
All of these modules are true representations of the originals as far as sound and look. I think they did take some liberties with the Mini Moog and added some modern stuff to it, but other than that, it’s pretty close to the original as far as look and sound.
Each of the modules comes with about 400 presets so you have plenty of sounds to choose from and most of them are just great and really show off what those instruments were capable of doing. I especially love the Oberheim SEM. Back in the day when I used to think that all synths sounded the same, I could always tell the difference between the Oberheim and the Mini Moog. The Prophet has that Prophet sound and the Jupiter 8 has that lush washed out sound that you either loved or hated.
Speaking of loved or hated, the Yamaha CS 80, which was one hell of a beast, sounds so authentic I’m not sure how I feel about it. It even comes with the ribbon controller. Truth is, I always thought the Yamaha synths were a little overpriced. The sound wasn’t the greatest in the world. But in listening to this thing again after all these years, I am starting to get an appreciation for why it was so popular. There is just something about it that I can’t put my finger on. Maybe it’s just nostalgia. Who knows? What I do know is this…you WILL feel like you’re playing a CS 80.
For the record, I never owned a CS 80 back in the day but I did own the CS 60 which was just a step down. The only thing I remember about it, other than sounding so cheesy, was that it weighed a ton. I can only imagine what the CS 80 weighed.
Let me touch on Analog Lab for a moment. This is a strange machine. Essentially it has two oscillators for lack of a better term. Each oscillator can be assigned a different vintage synth sound. So for example, you can assign a lead from the Prophet to one oscillator and a pad from the Jupiter 8 to the other oscillator.
Now, I haven’t had the time to dive into this thing in detail but I’m hoping that you can load in sounds that you’ve created from your other synths. Wouldn’t that be great? I’ll have to download the manual to see just how flexible this thing is. But it does look promising.
Finally, let me touch on the patch chord synths, the ARP 2600 and the Moog Modular. This is where I really wish the modules were a little larger in size. These beasts were always a puzzle to me. I’m pretty good with programming synths but I never quite got the hang of the patch chord thing. And running my own business, I’m not sure I’ll have the time to dive into these other than to just use the presets, which by the way sound great.
And that’s really what it all comes down to. If you loved the sound of these vintage synths then you are going to love this collection. Installation is a little tricky and I had a little trouble finding a few of the VSTs inside of Cubase because they were put in areas I didn’t expect, but other than that, I can’t complain. I’ve got 11 sounds, well 10 if you chuck the Wurlitzer, that really bring me back to when I first started doing this stuff in 1979.
If you’re an old guy like me, you won’t be disappointed.
For The Love Of Music,
Steven “Wags” Wagenheim