The Arturia stuff, in general has long been considered as the worst emulated synths in the whole soft synth industry.
They sound ok with simple patches, simple timbres. But more complex stuff and they bail out, like there is no tomorrow.

I've long used TimeaARP2600, the VAZ synths, ABL Pro, OP-X, and the most recent Xils versions to get a far better and more immediate analog sound.

The best one before Diva came along, was TimewARP2600. But it hasn't been updated for a long time. Still though, you can immediately get a great analog sound out of it, and it sounds extremely raw for the kind of sounds that analog used to be prior to the polysynth era.

OP-X II as well as the freebie OB-Xd are amazing emus for polysynths, useful right from the get g, for that sound. Another one that I love just for playing hours on end, is ME-80 version 2.


Recreating many of the famous patches from the various synths the Arturia emus purport to emulate, I found Arturia synths impossible, life-less, no matter what I did to the sound.

They are alright within the context of creating new music and new sounds and using what you got, but to go back and to try accurately to recreate patches from various songs, I've found that they barely can touch that. You'll soon find out that the entire Arturia collection is useless at true emulation. It doesn't matter how many synths they add to the collection. They haven't learned after years of criticism to improve their sound.

TAE or True Analog Emulation is a ridiculous monicker. Their synths simply have a dullness, a complete absence of rawness, grittiness and aggression to them. And some of the worst filters in VST land. This is why they updated the new Mini V filter.

 

Last edited: Jun 7, 2016

Yes,i agree.
Some of the synths in the package sound lifeless.I will eventually buy 3-4 synths from them,but the whole package,idk just so much of useless sounds,clutter.
Xils imo is a lot better,athought can get very cpu intensive.

 

I'm glad you mention VAZ in there. It gives full validity to what you say! [IMHO]

I used VAZ from it's pre-VST versions. Yes that's actually before VST's had taken off. A standalone application. I still love the way VAZ sounds and the way they made it. I love the modular design that they nailed years ago.

I wish they would release it for OSX! They wouldn't even need to change anything (even though they would probably have to write it from the ground-up on the Mac).

Basically it's never going to happen until I am resurrected onto a microchip in the future and VAZ will be a sub-circuit within my mind/thing.

I wonder what happened to the developers of VAZ?

 

Of course, but it's not exactly in the same price range...

 

@Tealla (or anybody else) have you got the OB-Xd factory patch file? The official Dropbox account has been temporarily disabled.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/ew7vogt345aizv8/Factory.fxb

Incidentally, for those who don't already know the ME-80 version 2 is included with Mixcraft Pro Studio 7. I'm using it in Reaper, just add the MPS VST DIR path. It's a very nice synth

 

Last edited: Jun 5, 2016

And it's only 6 voices too

 

Last edited: Jun 5, 2016

Not sure I 100% agree on the Arturia Synths being dead and lifeless (my overall favorite pure synth is u-he Zebra though).

I will say the new Piano and Rhodes are my favorites right now. The modeling is much better than straight sampling (my previous favorite pianos were Soundiron/8dio 1928/69 Steinway and Cinesamples Piano in Blue) and the Arturia Rhodes kicks the ass of the NI and Soniccouture EP73 and Scarbees. The tone is fuller and has more body and character with the Arturias. The ability to sometimes play very soft and get an interesting sound is my favorite feature. Also they are very easy to program, the parameters are meaningful and powerful and very relatable to recording in the real world. I am sure in a few months I'll like something else, but right now I am really enjoying using them.

Also +1 for the excellence of Aly J's instruments.

 

Price does not exist in my fantasy world, only information. The more things I know the better it is If I really wanted one (and I don't), I would find a way how to get one. What I really want is a Moog Voyager XL. I'm about $6,000 short at the moment, but this is only a minor problem

 

Last edited: Jun 5, 2016

Not all are lifeless,i did say a few are worthy buying.

The arturia Pianos are gimmicks to me.Stage73 sounds cool but their selection of pianos sounds toyishly compared to 8dio.

 

OP-X PRO II and Minimonsta are two of my go-to's for analogue-esque warmth and vibe.

 

I just recently sorted the huge preset folder that comes with OB-Xd, so it's more intelligable. It's differnt to what can be downloaded online (where you'll find a lot of duplicates and badly named/formated presets.) I fixed all that for myself.

So tell me if you want the internet download version which I've got, or my sorted version.

And yeah, I too have been downloading MPS 7 just for the ME80 2, hehehe :P
It's pretty cheap though @ 40 bucks, and well worth it. The synth is one of those few pieces of music software which when you fire it up - by the time you look up from your keyboard, the sun is setting and you haven't eaten, drank or even gone to the bathroom. Really like a world of its own it pulls you in to keep playing and creating, and that's saying a lot for an subractive analog synth emu. It works great with AAR or any of your favourite reverbs.

As to Arturia, the best ones I have found to be: CS-80V, the OBX, the Matrix, the Solina, the VoxC and the Farfisa (for the last two, Arturia bought Martinic's freeware emulations, he himself emulated those organs and was releasing them some years back. You can find them here:

Combo Model V - Downloads
Combo Model F - Downloads

 

Downloaded the demo for Mac OSX, very nice emulation, but it's buggy as hell, so a no-go for me. Will keep an eye out on further development though.

 

OK, you've convinced me try your sorted version

 

If Acustica goes into the synth department then all other companies that make analouge synth emulators can pretty much quit.

 

You got it: http://www113.zippyshare.com/v/WMtDf1G2/file.html

Just watch out which files in there are FXB banks, and which are FXP single presets. Sometimes they are alongside each other.

I am gonna continue my sorting, esp the Breeze folder, that guy made way too many presets and way too many revisions of those presets!

Btw, those AU Presets are not available in FXP, if someone can covert them, that'd be real nice.

 

Last edited: Jun 7, 2016

Thank you

 

Thank you from me too.

 

Thinking of getting this, for Mac. Just downloaded the demo and noticed there is no stand alone version, only AU. Does anyone know if the full paid version comes with a stand alone version!??

And also, it says it comes with 2500 presets, but can only see like 120 something in the demo, does it actually come with 2500 presets, lol? :D

 

i am so sick of hearing about things being flat!
I am so sick of hearing about things being lifeless!!
I am so sick of hearing about acustica!!!
Arrrggggh

Ps. only joking! I love you @Von_Steyr and thanks for the heads up on this amazing special offer

 

It amazes me how such a small synth like SQ8L (1mb) puts many bigger synths to shame.
So much character and power in this one.
I think SQ8L can compete with the best analogue emulators,so small and such a beast,im surprised.
Had this between my plugins for ages and never tested it.
And its free.


http://www.buchty.net/ensoniq/index.html#sq8l

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jun 11, 2016