ARP2600 V available as a download demo

[Houston Haynes]

Hey gang, I commented on this in another thread (http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/showthread.php?p=233797#post233797), and thought that it deserved it's own heading. You can now download the demo version (http://www.arturia.com/en/demos.lasso?-token.product=arp2600v) of Arturia's ARP2600 V (http://www.arturia.com/en/arp2600v.lasso) online. If you're considering a virtual analog synth in the original tradition, it's definitely worth a look and listen.

[FredProgGH]

Just tell me one thing- is there a preset for the "Frankenstein" breakdown patch?? :D :D

[Houston Haynes]

That's pronounced "FRANG-ehn-schteeeeen" :D :D :D

I love it - nice callout! As it so happens, I didn't even think to look as I was going through all of the patches. I did a quick scan of the All>>FX bank and didn't see it - but I might have missed it or it might be in another folder/location. I'm going to put in a request for a "search" function to find a patch string/name. ;) There's a ton of cool stuff in there...

[Houston Haynes]

There was a thread on another forum where someone mentioned a patch that was designed to cover on particular sound for a song - but was under a different name. My guess is that the infamous "Frankenstein" patch is in there somewhere under cover.

[FredProgGH]

There was a thread on another forum where someone mentioned a patch that was designed to cover on particular sound for a song - but was under a different name. My guess is that the infamous "Frankenstein" patch is in there somewhere under cover.I would definitely buy it just to have that sound!! Does it have a polyphonic mode like the MiniMoog V does?? That would be pretty powerful... I had my heart set on the CS80V but the ARP might actually be cooler.

[Houston Haynes]

I would definitely buy it just to have that sound!! Does it have a polyphonic mode like the MiniMoog V does?? That would be pretty powerful... I had my heart set on the CS80V but the ARP might actually be cooler.Yes, it has polyphonic modes from 1 to 32 voices in steps. They have some really nice added features, including the 1601 sequencer and an extra free-form LFO section with lag processing. It's NICE! You should check out the demo and run with it a bit.

[nexus]

I would hope that this one TRUELY sounds like an ARP 2600 instead of yet another clever marketing trick with really pretty pictures of the real thing. I was quite dissapointed in the CS-80v which didn't sound or play very much like the real thing. Anyone who has been around these instruments and played them years ago will know what I mean. I'm wary of all these 'virtual analog' instruments which all sound good but all sound the same.

Only the Moog Modular V2 has the sound of the original instrument, imo.

There is another company advertising an ARP 2600 emulation which looks very interesting... ;)

[FredProgGH]

Hmmm- I never played a CS80 but I listened to a lot of Eddie Jobson and the V sounds pretty good to me. In any event, I have played MiniMoog for almost 30 years and nothing comes remotely close to the MiniMoog V. If used properly no one is ever going to know which one you used in a recording. My real Mini is currently residing in a (unused!!) bathtub.

Of course, these sims offer additional features and if you use them you will create (very cool) sounds that the original could never do. You have to stay within the parameters of the original if you want a true emulation. And heck, they're still softsynths- they aren't completely perfect.

Anyway, I think Arturia strick gold with the Moogs. I'l defer to people with more direct experience with the Yamaha and ARP synths on those.

[Houston Haynes]

I've been both in front of and under the hood of all of these instruments (particularly the Moogs, since I used to work for Bob - but I also got to put the others under the knife at Wizard Electronics - Atlanta) and have got to say that the original ARPs sounded a lot like the original Moogs to begin with, that is, until later models where they were intentionally pushing the waveforms into clipping and moding the filter and VCA for a "fatter" sound. I at one time calibrated a 2600 only to have it returned because the guy who owned it thought I had done something wrong - but in fact I had just made it match factory specs. ;)

So I think we have people listening to "their" ARP and thinking that it represents *ALL* ARPs in existance, which is far from the case (and is not the case when comparing an individual Moog Modular to the virtual version). It's the same with the CS-80, where the variance in the individual voice cards would make a huge difference in what you heard coming out of the beast.

I guess if Arturia could get 20 or 30 ARPs and do a cross-sectional analysis, to hear and emulate the various differences that you can hear in ARPs from different years, different levels of upkeep, and different modifications (both changes in design - see "lawsuit" filters - and invidual hot-rods that were done for Zawinul, Hancock and the like) to provide a wider variety of options - but then again, I don't want to pay $1000 for a softsynth just to offset the cost of collecting that much ado about not much. The reason why the ARP 2600 V sounds so much like the Moog - is because ARP spent so many years trying to knock off the Moog sound without getting sued. ;)

I think one of the main things missing is the soft clipping, which Arturia said they would provide in the next update. That's good enough for me - as they've done a lot to update each one of their synths to make them both more unique - and extend beyond their hardware counterparts - and more true to the original, such as the ribbon controller update to the CS-80V.

[FredProgGH]

WOW! When did you work at Wizard? You may be one of the guys who helped keep my Mini alive as long as it lasted... (it showed up there about every two years back in the 90's)

[Houston Haynes]

WOW! When did you work at Wizard? You may be one of the guys who helped keep my Mini alive as long as it lasted... (it showed up there about every two years back in the 90's)

Heh, I guess it would have been 95-97 or so. Anything analog that came through the door went onto my bench - both for better and worse. If you're ever in their shop, or talk to them on the phone, tell Steve Culpepper that Houston Haynes says "hello". ;)

[FredProgGH]

Cool! The Mini still works to a decent extent but it was to the point a real rebuild was in order to keep it playable for more than a month at a time. At least a total re-capping. I was balking at doing it and then the Arturia came out. So in a tub it sits...

I have a MemoryMoog also that hasn't been healthy since '94 or so. I keep promising myself I'll get it refurbished some day.

[Houston Haynes]

I have a MemoryMoog also that hasn't been healthy since '94 or so. I keep promising myself I'll get it refurbished some day.

I got my start with the Lintronics Advance Memorymoog Upgrade (http://www.lintronics.de) as Bob was the US distributer for that product. Rudi Linhard designed an incredible makover for the software - end to end - and put an incredible amount of MIDI functionality in it. Essentially it adds another Zilog processor strictly to handle MIDI data, and swaps out the main CPU for one that runs at several times the speed of the original - to handle the extra interrupts coming from the daughter board.

As far as general stabilization goes, you can get a lot of mileage out of double-checking the power supply for broken solder joints and other nefarious artifacts - a common problem with the Norlin design - as well as replacing the 723 voltage regulators and re-calibrating the +/-12V rails, which contribute significantly to the scaling of the CEM oscillators. Part of the Lintronics process is also to replace the 3/4 turn pots on each sound card with multi-turn units that allow a much greater resolution and accuracy when tuning. But the real deal is the entire Lintronics mod, as the software autotune can pull those oscillators in from "way" far out of tune. Once your Memorymoog is "on the LAMM", you'll have one of the best analog synths of all time on your hands.

[FredProgGH]

Is that the upgrade that originated in Germany?? I had heard that was the way to go but I thought I'd have to ship my unit to Duetschland to get it done :D :D
My unit doesn't even have the stock MIDI mod on it. The serial number is 2263- how many of those were made??

The last time I turned mine on one voice did not sound and the others would not respond to autotune. It's a shame because you're right, it is pretty much the sweetest thing I've ever played in my life. I think I'm on the verge of being properous enough to get it worked on.

That's part of the reason I like the Arturia so much. When you play it poly it has a definite MemoryMoog feel to it.

[Houston Haynes]

Is that the upgrade that originated in Germany?? I had heard that was the way to go but I thought I'd have to ship my unit to Duetschland to get it done :D :D
My unit doesn't even have the stock MIDI mod on it. The serial number is 2263- how many of those were made??

The last time I turned mine on one voice did not sound and the others would not respond to autotune. It's a shame because you're right, it is pretty much the sweetest thing I've ever played in my life. I think I'm on the verge of being properous enough to get it worked on.

That's part of the reason I like the Arturia so much. When you play it poly it has a definite MemoryMoog feel to it.
Rudi and I have discussed me doing the mods here in the US again, but I don't have the facilities or the time just yet. Shipping that beast cross-country (and cross continent/cross ocean) is risky business, though we had good luck with folks that sent their gear within an ATA road case. We also devised a system to box it up on dual-corrugated packaging with styrofoam buffers, air cap, and styro-peanut fillers. But after all that, it's a good percentage of the cost of a road case. ;)

Anyway, it's a long way of saying that while I'd "like" to work on your Memorymoog, I'm not geared up for it. Maybe some day I'll take a hiatus in western North Carolina, where my wife's father has a nice home shop, and you can perhaps bring it over personally and I can work on it. I'll be going back there over Christmas between Christmas and New Years - the first time in nearly two years. I'm looking forward to getting back east more extended stays in the coming year, and without waiting as long for the next trip out.

The voice card *not* sounding is *not* a big surprise, as it's probably so far out of spec that the microprocessor has shut it down. There are lots of things to look at there, and it can get ugly of the problem is more serious - as the CEM 3360 oscillator is as scarce as hen's teeth. But Rudi came up with a nice substitue from Analog Devices, so it may all work out just the same - and baked oscillators is probably not an issue. Let's stay in touch about it and see if it can be made to work.

Best,
Houston

[FredProgGH]

Hey, thanks!! That would be great!! Obviously, after ten years I'm in no real *big* hurry... :D But maybe someday if it works out, that would really be excellent.