On the music software calendar, the month between October and December is named “Black Friday.” (I’ve already complained about the terminology in previous years, so…)
Arturia threw a big discount on their V Collection. Stacked with the discount they already offered me for owning a couple of individual items in the collection, they finally made it tempting enough for me.
V Collection is a ridiculously large set of software synthesizers. Originally confined to a handful or so of emulations of vintage analog synths, it has grown into a true collection encompassing analog, digital, electromechanical and even some acoustic instruments, as well as the software version of their own Minifreak synth.
It’s that last one that got my attention. As a previous Microfreak owner, the slightly larger sibling is mostly familiar territory. The hardware Minifreak is 6-voice polyphonic (or 12-voice paraphonic) vs. the Micro’s 4-voice paraphony. It also adds a stereo effects chain and a second “digital engine” which can be an oscillator or a processor. The software version is a faithful emulation of that (as well as a controller and editor/librarian for the hardware). While part of the fun of the Microfreak was its small physical form and fun controller, the synth engine can do some fun things and the Micro, more so.
With the discount it was cheaper to buy all of V Collection than just Minifreak V, so I did. That meant also getting some other great instruments, which I spent the weekend playing with:
- CS-80 V. The 200 lb. organ-like synth monster, famously used for the soundtracks of Blade Runner and Chariots of Fire, the 1980 version of the Dr. Who theme, “Africa” and “Rosanna”, “Born in the USA”, “Billie Jean” and “Human Nature”… and sadly, McCartney’s yuletide abomination whose title I shall not utter here. It’s a unique and quirky design with a ton of performance-oriented controls for things that a really detailed modern software synth might allow you to adjust deep in some menu or other, and some unusual routing options you’d otherwise have to go modular to get. The software version feels pretty ridiculous in terms of UI, but hey, it makes nice sounds.
- Jup-8 V. The one classic Roland analog synth that I actually find interesting, because of its FM ability. While I’d never buy a real one due to the hugely inflated prices and the need for expensive restoration work on most of them, to play with it in software every one in a while is fun.
- SQ80 V. An early wavetable synth from Ensoniq, it’s got a lot of limitations, but has some neat sounds I’ll find useful.
- CZ V. An emulation of the budget Casio CZ-101, which I actually have one of in the closet (but the power adapter connection is loose and it’s not the funnest interface to work with anyway). The software version adds a lot more capability, including custom phase distortion functions. Very cool.
- Mellotron V. A very good emulation of the tape-based “sampler” famous from “Strawberry Fields Forever”, “Space Oddity”, heavily featured on a couple of Tangerine Dream albums, and a bunch of 60s and 70s prog rock. It has a distinctive sound (or three) and can also be bent beyond TD’s usage into even more ambient purposes. I’ve used cheaper, more limited emulations of this before, but this is the best yet.
- Solina V. An early string synthesizer, used heavily in “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” and several songs on The Cure’s Disintegration, a lot of disco and funk tunes, and by Jean-Michel Jarre. I already have the Waldorf Streichfett, and this sort of sound isn’t too hard to emulate with any analog-style polyphonic synth and a phaser… but this does open a couple of doors (I don’t think The Doors had one though).
- Vox Continental V. A transistor drawbar organ which can get surprisingly growly, and — most fun for drone purposes for me — offers the ability to retune notes of the octave.
- Augmented Voices, Augmented Woodwinds, Augmented Piano. Based on combining sampled acoustic instruments with complementary granular and wavetable synthesis plus effects. I don’t find designing sounds from scratch particularly fun with these, but they each have several included presets which, with slight tweaks (or not at all) and maybe some external processing, are true gold for drones and ambient work.
- (I already had Easel V and Synclavier V; those are pretty great too.)
There are several other instruments I either didn’t try due to lack of interest, or tried and rejected. Like I said, it’s a big collection! Previewing and playing with all of that stuff is what I did with my weekend, for the most part. While playing with Augmented Voices, I managed to improvise something I liked so much that I’ve planned to use it as that starting point for track #9 on the next album. (But I heard so many great drones, I could have had any number of starting points. In fact I was starting to prepare to record one with the Vox Con when its demo timer expired and it stopped making sound. That was the point where I decided that I better just buy the collection.)
This cold is now about 2.5 weeks old, and I’d say that it has overstayed its welcome except of course that it was never welcome in the first place, ruining most of the vacation day when it first struck. But… I have stuff to do! I want to visit my parents, which we haven’t done since before the trip. I want to take my spouse out for her (belated by illness) birthday dinner, and I want to be okay when my own birthday rolls around in a bit. I want to walk around the lake while the weather is so perfect for it. I want to get that shrine back together and properly practice the religion I’ve come back to. I even want to do a bit of other cleanup (not too much though).
I do feel a bit better today, and have done some gentle walking around the plaza. But I’ve had other moments where I felt like I was pretty good, only to be brought down by a coughing fit, or an entire day of groggy fuzziness.