Virtual Matrix 12 from Arturia

[Bucktunes]

Love Arturia or not, IMO the fact that a virtual Matrix 12 is coming out is pretty darn cool!

 

And just in time to get it on your Christmas wish list!

[johnchop]

Thanks for the heads up!

 

*Sigh* I want this to be great. My main complaints with their stuff is are stability (by far the most crash-prone plugs I own) and a "sameness" to sounds from different engines.

 

To be fair the SEM V did have its own quality, regardless of whether it emulates the original well (nor do I care, as long as I can make sounds I like).

 

Looking forward to the demo regardless!

[allan_evett]

Love Arturia or not, IMO the fact that a virtual Matrix 12 is coming out is pretty darn cool!

 

And just in time to get it on your Christmas wish list!

 

 

Want. iOS. Version....yesterday

[Dave Bryce]

My main complaints with their stuff is are stability (by far the most crash-prone plugs I own) and a "sameness" to sounds from different engines.

Agreed big time on the sameness thing - especially in the filters.

 

dB

[midinut]

I have V3 Collection and have until the 10th of Jan to upgrade for $99. I like what I hear of the Solina V and the Vox Continental. The Matrix 12 just would be icing on the cake. I do agree that the filters have a somewhat sameness about them as well. I haven't had any stability issues with mine. They are still a blast to play with. Still wish someone would create a CS80 V controller with Poly AT, a ribbon, and weighing 400 pounds (okay, just kidding on the last part). Interesting.

[mate stubb]

Listened to the demo, doesn't sound like the Oberheim to me. I worked in an electronic music studio which boasted 2 Xpanders, which is equivalent to the Matrix.

 

This demo completely lacks that silky smoothness of the real thing. That and the Chroma were the peak of analog design right before the DX7 came out and destroyed everything. They both had flexible enough filter architectures to venture somewhat into crisp high harmonic territory that was such a strong feature of FM.

[marino]

My main complaints with their stuff is are stability (by far the most crash-prone plugs I own) and a "sameness" to sounds from different engines.

Exactly. And the fact that they insist on calling them 1:1 emulations, which they are not. They all sound good, especially for the price, but if you have played the originals, you know they are no match. The Moog Modular and CS80, in particular, left me rather cold.

I have a Matrix-12 (the real one), so I don't know if I'm ready to hear this one.

 

 

[Doerfler]

I have a Matrix-12 (the real one)

[Legatoboy]

I had a an OB Expander once upon a dream . . .

Nice 'software' modular synth . . . easy axe to get lost in talk about option anxiety! Pretty much everything connects to everything else.

 

Matt is it as flexible as true Modular gear . . .

[Guven Ilter]

One problem I have with Arturia virtual synths is that they sound very similar to each other. I have the Analog Lab as well as the V-collection 3, and the 5000+ voices in Analog Lab sound like maybe 50 sounds, with minor differences. Prophet V, Mini Moog, Jupiter 8 should all sound different, a lot more different than in the V-Collection. Maybe it's just me...

[Doerfler]

Maybe it's just me...

 

no, it's not just you. This is a fairly common observation amongst the forum here.

[johnchop]

I like what I'm hearing so far.

 

And they dropped e-licenser for all the V products!

 

Now I wonder if these will finally work on my Receptor... hrm...

 

-John

[mate stubb]

Now if G-Force would do one I would be interested. Their emulations actually have individual character.

[johnchop]

Now if G-Force would do one

 

True enough. ImpOscar 2 is pretty beastly.

 

After looking at Glenn Darcy's (Arturia) videos and hearing the thing (at least at YouTube quality), it is very evocative of the "Obie" sound, at least what I remember from my Matrix 6 (apples/oranges perhaps).

 

 

[David Emm]

Now if G-Force would do one I would be interested. Their emulations actually have individual character.

 

Seconded. I use M-Tron Pro and its gratifyingly accurate, down to the warts and BBC sound FX. A friend's MiniMonsta blats and pierces like the real thing. (THERE is your best current "MemoryMoog," with a lively poly mode.) We agree that neither is 100%, but that 97% is an outstanding deal. I'll bet G-Force would readily nail those OB multimode filters. +2 for great customer service as well.

 

 

[Bucktunes]

Now if G-Force would do one I would be interested. Their emulations actually have individual character.

I'm a bit surprised they haven't, considering the loving

they've made to the original Oberheim 8 Voice.

[Doerfler]

Now if G-Force would do one I would be interested. Their emulations actually have individual character.

 

now we're talking.

[johnchop]

Just for grins I downloaded the demo.

 

Visually this is one of the better jobs they've done. It's easy to grab dials and make adjustments. Bravo there.

 

Sonically, no surprises. I compared raw Saw waves between it and SEM: identical to my ears, although to be fair if I should be expecting real-world differences, I have no clue what they should be. Ran them through Bandpass filters whilst an LFO swept the freq. Again, pretty same sounding. Added a hefty amount of resonance...and the Matrix seemed to have tad more girth. Interesting. Still, there's an inescapable Arturia flavor here, and if you just can't get with it, well, the world is not short on subtractive VSTs.

 

What is different from SEM is the crapton of LFOs and envelopes, and of course the mod matrix. There's also a massive-sounding "multi" mode.

 

My random sampling of presets found some pretty garden-variety stuff and a couple of nice swirly, sparkly surprises.

 

I just have to ask myself if it's worth $99 upgrade from V-collection 3 (which also gets me Solina V... meh). Maybe?

 

 

-John

 

PS: I never owned a 12 or Xpander. Young teenage me could only drool over them in the keyboard room at Ace Music in North Miami. Talk about GAS.

 

PPS: I'm glad they moved off e-licenser. Now they've got their own NI-like service center, which is better in that it handles downloads + updates. It requires at least Windows 7 and needs an internet connection. So much for running it on my Receptor 2 (OS 1.9).

 

[mate stubb]

Matrix had a completely different sound than previous Oberheims, whether the OBs or the SEM/4/8 Voice.

[Mark Schmieder]

Having just done a lot of tracking with Arturia soft synths last night -- in many cases replacing Real Analog tracks -- I beg to differ. But I agreed many years ago. Thus, I am wondering if those saying they all sound the same, gave up (as I did) early on and never returned? I re-bought all of their products as V2's came along. I hear a big difference between each of their products.

 

I received a loyalty offer on the two new products, but a rather short span to cash it in. Add twelve more of these "use it or lose it in the next few days" type offers AFTER blowing my wad during Black Friday sales, and I'm going to have a hard time picking which ones to take advantage of. Probably ones that aren't likely to swing back at me later on. But I need some OB sounds in a current project and would rather try Aruria's than keep fiddling with the Reaktor-based OP-X (which is always a challenge each time I haven't used it in awhile or have updated Reaktor). It's the one I heard not such good stuff about though.

 

I have several Solina libraries (including the one in G-Force's Virtual String Machine) but this would be the first emulated one. I'm a sucker for string machines. I'm a bit surprised they did this first though vs. porting over the Farfisa from Martinic to join its Vox sibling.

[Doerfler]

Matrix had a completely different sound than previous Oberheims, whether the OBs or the SEM/4/8 Voice.

I've never owned an Oberheim. Not sure (so I'll guess probably not) if I ever played one. I originally purchased G Force VSM years ago because it had OB-X and OB-8 samples. They rock. Then I purchased Sonic Force OP-X on the advice of another forum member, Al Coda. It rocks. Not sure how much different Virtual Matrix 12 from Arturia will sound from either of these, but if it is different enough I'll give it a go.

[Al Coda]

Then I purchased Sonic Force OP-X on the advice of another forum member, Al Coda. It rocks. Not sure how much different Virtual Matrix 12 from Arturia will sound from either of these, but if it is different enough I'll give it a go.

 

Sonic Projects OP-X Pro II is what you buyed I hope.

It´s my Oberheim OB-8 replacement since it covers also these features which entered the original hardware design w/ the introducton of "Page 2" software/firmware upgrade.

 

Today, the issue w/ OP-X, OP-X Pro and OP-X Pro II is,- they need the jbridge when used in a 64Bit environment.

There won´t be a native 64Bit version until Synthedit software will be 64Bit too.

There´s a lot of own code inside Sonic Projects OPX series, but some is done w/ Synthedit, especially the GUI.

 

You should also try OBX-d, which is freeware and sounds amazing.

OBXD Synthesizer

 

A.C.

[Doerfler]

 

Sonic Projects OP-X Pro II is what you buyed I hope.

 

I purchased OP-X Pro as at the time I did not have enough computer resources to run Pro II. Upgrade is easy enough when I am ready for it.

 

You should also try OBX-d, which is freeware and sounds amazing.

OBXD Synthesizer

 

A.C.

 

Hopefully will try it out also in the next few days, thanks for that.

[orangefunk]

I just watched these vids [video:youtube]

 

I also own a Matrix 12. From the brief clips it does have the same kinda character but there is something very subtle about the real thing (a slow beautiful phasing effect esp) that I wonder if is captured.

 

Would be nice to load my own sounds into this thing and do an A/B!

 

[Sundown]

Hard to beat for the price... I'm planning on picking up the bundle for Christmas. I have their Jupiter 8 software right now.

[Mark Schmieder]

I never got around to correcting my misstatement about OB-series vs. Matrix-series. Been a busy month. I owned a Matrix but could never afford a used OB or lost bids in last-minute snipe attacks and gave up. Yes, they were very different synths, and even the various Matrix models varied quite a bit in the depth of their timbre.

 

I haven't had much time with the Matrix V yet, but the latest SEM V didn't pass DP's Audio Units test so I had to switch to the VST version. There was one other that failed validation as an AU as well, but I forget which one. I was kind of surprised it was two older ones vs. the two new ones, and also that they don't quite all yet have the same patch selection interface.

 

The SEM is smooth as silk, and rough-edged at the same time. It really cuts through a mix, without dominating. I'm liking it for leads, basses, and special effects.

 

I remember the Matrix being more of a pad beast. I've been using additive synthesis for most of my pads, these past few years, so I don't really know if I'll find much use for the Matrix, just as I rarely use my Korg M1 (but when I do -- such as for reggae -- it's often the only thing that works!).