Arturia origin vs virus

Image 4 of 6. Image 5 of 6. Image 6 of 6. Moog Matriarch. Type: Semi-modular analogue synthesizer. Sound engine: Four Moog Voyager-based analogue oscillators with osc sync. Sequencer: step poly-sequencer and arpeggiator. Reasons to avoid - No patch presets. Image 1 of 9. Image 2 of 9. Image 3 of 9. Image 4 of 9. Image 5 of 9. Image 6 of 9. Image 7 of 9. Image 8 of 9. Image 9 of 9.

Novation Summit. Sound engine: Subtractive, FM and wavetable synthesis. Polyphony: note. Timbrality: 2-part. Keyboard: keys, semi-weighted, velocity-sensitive with aftertouch. Image 1 of 3. Image 2 of 3. Image 3 of 3. Arturia MatrixBrute. Synth engine: Analogue. Polyphony: 3-note paraphonic. Keyboard: 61 semi-weighted keys with velocity and aftertouch.

Sequencer: 64 step. Effects: Chorus, flanger, delay, reverb. Korg Prologue. Polyphony: 6-voice. Keyboard: note, velocity-sensitive with aftertouch. Effects: Distortion, chorus, phaser, delay, reverb. Reasons to avoid - No aftertouch or minilogue-style sequencer.

Image 1 of 7. Image 2 of 7. Image 3 of 7. Image 4 of 7. Image 5 of 7. Image 6 of 7. Image 7 of 7. Modal Electronics Synth engine: Hybrid. Polyphony: voice. Keyboard: 61 key, semi-weighted fatar keybed with aftertouch. Sequencer: 32 step. Effects: Optional delay, reverb and. Reasons to avoid - Empty List. Nord Lead A1. Synth engine: Digital.

Polyphony: voices. Keyboard: key with velocity. Sequencer: No. Reasons to avoid - Lacks deeper tweakability of the Nord Lead 4. Image 1 of 4. Image 2 of 4. Image 3 of 4. Image 4 of 4. Sequential Prophet X. To be honest, there's much more that I would like to discuss here, but there's no room to do so. Consequently, I must apologise for overlooking the Bode Frequency Shifter, the audio inputs that allow you to treat external audio as if it were generated by an oscillator within the Origin, the 'Stereo Filter' and 'Crazy FX' templates that take advantage of these inputs, the MIDI and System pages, the sound search facilities, the factory sounds, and much more.

I would also have a moan about the placement of the brightness and contrast controls, which are covered!

However, there's just enough room to report that, in the end, I managed to cause a problem although not a crash. I could still move around the pages and edit, but no matter what I did, no sound was forthcoming and I had to switch it off and then on again to restore things to normal.

If that's the only way to cause it to hiccup, the Origin is a remarkably stable piece of kit. The sequencer section offers three rows of virtual CVs plus an arpeggiator, each with a dedicated editing screen. The overview screen allows you to see all three sequences simultaneously, helping you to understand how they are interacting.

The Origin is not a hardware implementation of existing soft synths, and it should not be approached as such. Yes, it draws upon aspects of vintage synths, but the number and range of modules provided is much less than a complete butchery of the original instruments would produce, and it does not slavishly emulate any of them, instead allowing you to create new synth architectures and sounds using the modules as building blocks.

Inevitably, the Origin is too expensive to appeal to everybody, but the development time and effort that went into it was enormous, and this is reflected in its cost. As for me, I'm looking forward to a number of promised upgrades such as numeric readouts and greater MIDI controller capabilities , as well as the forthcoming keyboard version.

Hmm, now there's a thought These change hands for very reasonable prices, and although they make no pretence at analogue emulation, they remain superb sound-design tools. So is the Origin unique? I suspect it is. Other products overlap aspects of its operation you could even consider PCs in a box, such as the Neko 64 and the Korg OASYS but if you want to do exactly what it does, it's currently the only game in town.

If you want to create sounds on something that looks like an existing synthesizer, the Origin features a Minimoog template that offers the appropriate modules correctly configured to enable you to program and play it like the original.

As you would expect, it includes three Minimoog oscillators, and the controls appear to emulate those of the real synth. However, all is not as it seems. For example, there's oscillator sync and, while the envelopes appear to generate the Minimoog's ADSD contours, the Release knob on the physical control panel also controls the release of the sound which, of course, is wrong.

Furthermore, there's a dedicated LFO, a modulation matrix, and polyphony. Strangely, given the quality of much of the Origin software, there are two obvious bugs in the template. Notwithstanding these niggles, I'm rather glad of the additions to the template, because they defuse the inevitable question, "ah, but does it sound identical to a real Minimoog? The manual promises these for the future, but I thought that I would try to build a CS80 for myself. But by the time I had inserted all the modules, the CPU meter was reading way over percent and the Origin had muted itself.

Connecting the Origin to the computer via USB 2, I expected the software and synth to synchronise themselves almost immediately, but the delay was rather longer than I had expected.

This doesn't affect the sounds, but I think it could be tidied up a bit. Obviously, I was unable to test this, but I have no reason to believe that it wouldn't work as promised. The only thing that I would criticise about the design is the choice of an external power supply, and an odd one at that.

Rated at 6. If it fails, you're extremely unlikely to find a replacement in the local electrical store. There are currently 20 types of module from which you can build synthesizers within the Origin. Notwithstanding the CPU limit, which can be exceeded more quickly using some modules than others, there appears to be a hard limit of 20 modules that you can insert at any given time.

The Origin has space for Programs, of which are preset factory sounds, and for Multis, of which are preset. These range from relatively simple and often very usable emulations of vintage analogue synthesizers to complex soundscapes comprising multiple layers of sequenced and arpeggiated 'virtual analogue' patches.

Each dial also has its own colour in the display and each parameter selected takes on the colour of the corresponding dial to help show you what tweaks what. One major downside for tweakers and performers is that there is only one front-panel envelope.

Most people would have much-preferred two - one for the amp and one for the filter. As it stands, you have to do some menu diving and butting pressing to swap the envelope between amp and filter.

This is a pain; most synths have both on their front panels for maximum performance grab-ability. It's with great pleasure that we can tell you that the Origin sounds amazing and well worth the effort that Arturia has put into programming it.

It's everything you would expect and more and should keep you occupied for many years. Any presets that you might make can be moved between the Origin hardware version and the computer thanks to the Origin Connection software. These can then be uploaded and shared on the web. However, the option to have Origin appear in your DAW as software not yet there.

What is missing in the current release version of the software, though, are real graphical emulations of three of these instruments. The Minimoog does have a full graphical representation and is much easier to program as a result. This feature is great for the more impatient synthesists out there.

Templates for the other engines will be added in a software upgrade. Overall, the Origin's sound quality is deep, rich, earthy and wonderfully analogue with each synth engine having its own unmistakeable character.

The emulations of the ARP, Minimoog, Yamaha CS and Jupiter-8 sound very close to their counterparts of yesteryear and the Prophet VS Wavetable oscillators can produce some great electric pianos and evolving bell-like pads to boot. Downsides with the sonics are virtually non-existent, save for the filter stepping at high resonance settings.

This is the only giveaway that this is a virtual analogue synth and not a pure analogue machine. Again, though, we have no doubt that this can be improved in future software updates. The effects engine in the Origin is simple yet effective. Your purchases also help protect forests, including trees traditionally used to make instruments.

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