Arturia V-Collection 8

[Justin Havu]

Just announced. New instruments include Emulator II V, Vocoder V, Jun-6V, and also includes the OB-Xa V. Also includes updates for Stage 88V and Jup-8V.

 

I'll be upgrading as soon as I get the extra dough.

[Iconoclast]

I'm guessing the servers are maxed out as I couldn't get the software app to link up. I think it's only been out a couple of hours.

 

The Rhodes needed an update so I'm glad they got that in. Hope it's good. The old Arturia Rhodes sounded OK but felt dead to play.

 

The vocoder and emulator look interesting to me. I honestly don't use the Jup-8 for any of my stuff...can't really say why but it's currently in none of my live patches.

 

I will update as soon as the internet allows.

[jerrythek]

I worked on the update to the Stage 73, so I'll be curious to read your reaction. But the presets are not tied into any velocity curve, so be sure to set that up for your board before trying it out.

 

Jerry

 

 

I'm guessing the servers are maxed out as I couldn't get the software app to link up. I think it's only been out a couple of hours.

 

The Rhodes needed an update so I'm glad they got that in. Hope it's good. The old Arturia Rhodes sounded OK but felt dead to play.

 

The vocoder and emulator look interesting to me. I honestly don't use the Jup-8 for any of my stuff...can't really say why but it's currently in none of my live patches.

 

I will update as soon as the internet allows.

[ProfD]

D8mmit. I just missed out on the V Collection 7 half-priced sale. Maybe it will come back either President's Day or Memorial Day.

[Justin Havu]

I'm guessing the servers are maxed out as I couldn't get the software app to link up. I think it's only been out a couple of hours..

 

Yeah, I've been trying to log in to ASC for the last three hours, with no luck. I too, am interested in the Stage73 update.

 

 

EDIT--Looks like the Jup8 and Stage73 updates aren't available for VC7 owners. Shame.

[David R]

Very glad I didn't pull the trigger on V-Collection 7 or the standalone OBXa over Black Friday. For the Juno-6 and OBXa alone it's worth it for me (I'm still on V-Collection 5).

[nursers]

Their servers are certainly getting hit hard, very slow downloads etc. Glad I just picked up a Keylab 61 as it appears I've gotten the new Analog Lab version

[counterpoint]

Managed to get through earlier and things are veeeery slowly downloading. It got stuck on Analog Lab so I paused that and everything else started coming through. Just started to dabble...IMO the Stage V2 is a big improvement over the previous version but I'll let the experts decide where it ranks among the competition. Some nice presets alluding to the sounds of particular artists and/or songs.

[lsj]

I have v-collection 7. is there any discount for 8 if you have the 7.

[Steve in VA]

I have V-Collection 7 and was offered an upgrade price of $149, which I accepted. The Vocoder alone is worth the price. Lots of fun!

[Rusty Mike]

I just upgraded to V-Collection 7 a few weeks ago from Analog Lab. Still exploring it and all the wonderful things it can do. While it's too bad that the OB-Xa wasn't part of VC-7, there is still a lot to like about it.

 

I'm currently having fun with the CZ emulation. I sold a ton of them back in the day but never owned one, and I'm surprised at how easy it is to program. The instruments I really want to dig into are the Prophet, SEM and the Matrix 12. I really loved the Oberheim Xpander when it first came out and told a bunch of them as well. Looking forward to diving deep into that, and figure just these four synths are going to keep me busy and happy for a long while.

 

While VC-8 does bundle the OB-Xa, I can do without it for now. Was never a vocoder fan, and pretty much checked out of popular music by the time Emulators came into fame. That leaves the Juno. I have very fond memories of the one I owned, and programmed the heck out of it. But that's where the nostalgia ends. I had a Juno because that was what I could afford at the time. Objectively, it's a limited synth that doesn't bring anything special to the table.

 

As for the pianos, I've got a few NI pianos that I like, and bought The Famous E sample a few months back. That's in addition to the Nord Piano Library. No need to get upgraded Arturia pianos right now.

 

I'll pass on VC-8 for now and see where things are on the next go-around.

[EscapeRocks]

The new engine on the Jupiter 8 is fantastic!

[johnchop]

I have V-Collection 7 and was offered an upgrade price of $149, which I accepted. The Vocoder alone is worth the price. Lots of fun!

 

Man, it was $199 for me, right after dropping $249 on the V7 upgrade from v5.. so getting close to a full price purchase for 8 if I just held off a month.

 

I hope $99 upgrade offer in the works over Xmas, otherwise there's not much loyalty consideration in this pricing scheme.

[Al Coda]

Biggest issue for me ...

WIN 8.1 and higher !

 

My DAW machine running VERY well, is still Win7 Pro SP1 and I don´t wanna change because I´m unable bringing it on it´s knees up to now.

It´s piowerful enough for my needs.

 

I doubt VSTs need Win 8.1 - Win10,- it´s bullshit.

It´s just only the installers.

 

My Win10 laptop w/ all the tweaks needed for audio/MIDI work, introduces about 4x higher DPC latency than my Win7 Pro SP 1 DAW.

It works, but isn´t as efficient compared to Win7.

I hate Win10 for audio/MIDI,- it will always try to update even you choose the 7-day timeout and other options.

It is searching for updates always and becomes bitchy when Win10 Privacy tweaks frustrate Microsoft´s data collection and update strategies.

 

IMO, V-Collection v8 should run well w/ Win7 nonetheless because the only benefit w/ higher OS versions might be resizable GUI or whatever gimmicks.

 

For any audio engine improvements a 32Bit system were still good enough.

Nothing sounds better in 64Bit,- it´s just only for memory access, consequently an improvement for the large sample library stuff,- but not synths.

 

Now, it might be, the acoustic piano and Rhodes library stuff needs that "improvement",- but for the synths, it doesn´t.

It was all good w/ previous VCs,- but why in the world more and more Rhodes´, Hohners, Wurlitzers and BeeThree´s ?

That segment is very well covered by other software manufacturers since YEARS !

And now, that s##t forces to buy new OS and computers ...

 

WTF !

 

A.C.

[johnchop]

Win7 is in extended support. Why would Arturia support a platform that isn't supported?

[ProfD]

Biggest issue for me ...

 

My DAW machine running VERY well, is still Win7 Pro SP1 and I don´t wanna change because I´m unable bringing it on it´s knees up to now.

 

IMO, V-Collection v8 should run well w/ Win7 nonetheless because the only benefit w/ higher OS versions might be resizable GUI or whatever gimmicks

 

Therein lies the curse of running software. One advantage of hardware is a 30-year old KB might need a new battery but it still works.

 

Computers seem to be a 7-year life cycle especially when it comes to support. At some point, we are forced to upgrade. I just bought a new laptop for that very reason.

[ElmerJFudd]

Some nice surprises here: Emulator II, Jupiter 4, they"ve redone the Jupiter 8

 

Livestream event

 

[video:youtube]

 

[video:youtube]

[Iconoclast]

Spent about 15 minutes with the new Stage 73 and it's a quantum leap forward over the previous version in terms of feeling like a real instrument. Really nice, I plan on using it live this weekend to see how it sits.

 

Now they need to do the same thing with the Wurli and Piano V's. I find them almost unusable unless you want something that sounds really lo-fi.

[Al Coda]

Win7 is in extended support. Why would Arturia support a platform that isn't supported?

 

Man ... we´re musicians, not internet junkies.

 

All that "support" is related to internet security issues and graphics optimization.

Same is w/ processor upgrades.

You rarely win more than 2 - 8% of power for insane upgrade prices.

 

When you told me that´s a marketing thing,- I´d understand,- but I don´t understand when it comes to reality.

 

The reality is,- (digitized) audio signals don´t profit from 64Bit systems even when mixed/summed and Win10 is not as good for audio/MIDI as Win7 were.

In fact, with the right mainboard in use, already WinXP was great for DAW,- w/ the exception you had to collect all the "better" drivers yourself and SSD w/ trim functionality was future music.

 

I appreciate I can use pro SSDs supporting "trim" and "over-provisioning" now,- SATA and even better,- M.2 NVMe x4.

But Win 8.1 up to Win10 isn´t necessary to do this and I got it working w/ Win 7 Pro SP1 using a MS patch which really works in harmony w/ pro Samsung NVMe drivers.

 

All I criticized is usage of installers requiring Win 8.1 - 10.

It´s just only all about "driver signing".

 

For me it´s a fact, Win10 is not as good for audio/MIDI than Win7 (or even XP) was.

 

I were able to demonstrate w/ "Latency Mon" and/or DPClat Checker,- but I´m also too lazy to record and upload.

Normally I run ´em side by side while running audio files.

 

And until Arturia Vintage Collection 7, their 20 years anniversary collection and FX collection, all being sold as a "special deal" recently,- they still supported Win 7 !

I cannot believe all their plugins included in these collections don´t work anymore in Win7,- except their installers.

And I´m pretty sure I´m right !

 

rant over

 

A.C.

[Al Coda]

Computers seem to be a 7-year life cycle especially when it comes to support. At some point, we are forced to upgrade. I just bought a new laptop for that very reason.

 

That way, we´ll never get rid of hardware and even it´s the wet dream of software and computer parts manufacturers !

 

At the end of the day, I´m still not FORCED to use computers and software to make music !!!

YMMV.

For me, the attraction of software is just only they try to replicate the hardware I used myself in the past.

But when I have to upgrade computers and software versions all the time and much, much earlier that I had to do w/ hardware,- I prefer hardware.

 

A.C.

[Mark Schmieder]

I've listened to enough audio demos to not be excited by this update, unless my loyalty price is well below the expected $200. I already have the Oberheim addition, and mostly am impressed by the Jupiter update and have vacillated between Roland's and Arturia's over the past three years.

 

The Juno sounds OK but it's not my favourite synth, and I strongly dislike the Emulator plus Moog's vocoder doesn't grab me as do the emulations from XILS (modeled after my three favourite hardware modules; I just never felt Moog's late 70's vocoder had as much warmth and personality as EMS, Sennheiser, or even Roland).

[johnchop]

Win7 is in extended support. Why would Arturia support a platform that isn't supported?

 

Man ... we´re musicians, not internet junkies.

...

 

A.C.

 

 

"Be more like u-he" in other words. Fair point.

[jeffincltnc]

I feel the same way about this upgrade from V7 to V8 as I feel about Komplete 12 to Komplete 13.

 

There are lots of things to like, even if I am just going to play with them for fun.

 

I will buy it when there is a sale price. They'll wait a while for the early adopters paying full price and when it goes on a holiday sale sometime next year I'll order it.

[UnderGroundGr]

I have V collection 7 for a year and 3 week ago I bought Arturia Fx. if the upgrade price for V collection 8 will be around 100 euro, in the future, I will do it!

[RABid]

I really like the vocoder and Emulator stuff. Going to give it a hard look.

 

[video:youtube]

[Mark Schmieder]

I went ahead and did the upgrade tonight, but only had a bit of time to quickly try out the excellent JUN-6 and the huge upgrade to the JUP-8.

 

At first, I was a bit scared all my presets had been deleted, but they're still showing up in V3. I've never written down my settings as it's hard in that interface to get exact values, so I've always adjusted my individual settings by ear and then hoped I wouldn't lose them on the next rev.

 

As for the various patch libraries from Arturia and others, they're all gone; maybe they can be imported? Too tired at this hour to look at the user manual. At first, only the one default patch showed up in standalone mode, but once I opened a DAW session to load the VST or AU version, the one and only new factory bank for V4 showed up.

 

Clearly this and the Rhodes update are incompatible with the old engines and thus no old patches auto-load into the new versions. But possibly there is a converter tool or the import function works, as with previous updates.

 

No big deal if I have to create my presets from scratch, as the new version sounds WAY better and also has some welcome new features. I only have a dozen or so presets anyway, but I do use them a fair amount and don't really use the ones that came with the product (except maybe a couple that are meant to match the original sounds from the hardware unit).

 

Although I do prefer Sennheiser and EMS vocoders for most critical work, I decided the Moog 16-channel Vocoder might prove useful after all, or it might find different uses. In fact, after the excellent Eiosis ELS Vocoder plug-in stopped working in macOS Mojave or Catalina due to the breaking of 32 Lives wrapped legacy plug-ins, I think I may have had trouble getting the XILS version to exactly match my personal presets, especially for harmonizing, and the Moog emulation that Arturia are calling Vocoder V might be better suited for that purpose.

[Iconoclast]

Not liking the new midi learn implementation. Plus I'm having some issues in Mainstage where I return to a patch to find the VSTs volume firewalled when I really need it at about 50% where I left it.

 

On a separate bitch...Why do they make all the presets so loud? Not just Arturia but everybody. I thought digital stuff should peak at -18 to -15db? The first thing I do when I call up a VST is go minus 10 on the db. Makes it a PITA to audition presets.

[EscapeRocks]

Not liking the new midi learn implementation. Plus I'm having some issues in Mainstage where I return to a patch to find the VSTs volume firewalled when I really need it at about 50% where I left it.

 

On a separate bitch...Why do they make all the presets so loud? Not just Arturia but everybody. I thought digital stuff should peak at -18 to -15db? The first thing I do when I call up a VST is go minus 10 on the db. Makes it a PITA to audition presets.

 

When I load VSTs, I usually have to turn the volume up. i.e. they're usually set at about 3 out of 10 on the specific instruments interface

[Iconoclast]

So you don't look for peaks in the -15db range?

 

I've always been taught that for digital stuff you want to treat the -15to-18 range like it's peaking in the yellow. So that's how I have all my VSTs set up and it's what I use when I'm mixing. I swear I start to get some audible distortions when my digital stuff comes anywhere close to zero.

[Al Coda]

 

... Emulator II V

 

I watched a vid but cannot find any info on sample import.

 

Does it import original floppy disk images and/or orig. EII (.E2 / .Eii) programs and their dedicated samples ?

AFAIK it´s some Digidesign Sounddesigner E2 format when owning the "Universe of Sounds" and "North Star" sample sets.

 

I can use those in my 2 Oberheim DPX-1, but having a software re-creating the SSM filter(s) well and loading the original vintage data, possibly after some preparation w/ E.M.X.P. application,- would be interesting for me.

 

A.C.