Their well-implemented MIDI Learn functionality makes them easy to use with controller hardware. I love that their GUIs are all resizable now, too. Along with every synth included in previous editions, this year’s version introduces Arturia’s take on the Mellotron, EMS Synthi AKS, and Casio CZ series, as well as a revamped model of the Hammond B-3 and a new collection of presets for most instruments.Īll of Arturia’s software instruments run both standalone and as plug-ins. Every year and a half or so, Arturia bundles their software instruments in a new version of V Collection, enhances their capabilities, and adds a few new ones-all without raising the price of any of the last three editions. The Grenoble-based developer now makes synths in both hardware and software form, and they’ve continually pushed the state of the art forward in both areas.

And when it comes to cost, well, there’s simply no contest.Īrturia has long been a leader in emulating classic instruments like the Moog Modular and Yamaha CS-80. Many of them offer greater polyphony, too, and they integrate seamlessly with your DAW. Soft synths can be easier to use, store thousands of well-organized patches, and take a lot less space in your studio. From early successes like Propellerhead ReBirth to workhorse mainstays like Omnisphere and Kontakt to the latest virtual modulars like VCV Rack and Voltage Modular, in many circumstances, soft synths get the job done as well as hardware and often better.Īs vintage instruments age and become more scarce, old hardware is more expensive to buy and difficult to maintain. Even though a soft synth is only a computer-generated illusion, it often looks, operates, and sounds like a real synthesizer, but in two dimensions.

If you were wealthy, what classic keyboards would you buy? A Fairlight CMI? Mellotron? Hammond B-3? What else? Now you can own the virtual keyboard studio of your dreams for less than $22 per instrument.įrom an electronic musician’s perspective, one of the greatest inventions of the late 20th century was the software instrument.

Arturia classic synths