NAMM 2010 Arturia news
| Posted in Music Technology
Analog Experience hybrid synthesisers have led a busy first day at the 2010 NAMM show for 10 year old French company Arturia, with the new three-synth range capturing visitors’ attention in California. The three models in the range are the 25 key Analog Experience The Player, the 32 key Analog Experience The Factory, and the larger 49 key Analog Experience The Laboratory.
Of the three, the Player is described by the manufacturer as the simplest of the range but also the most affordable, with a compact MIDI keyboard controller and a light version of Analog Factory software delivering an “easy to use” package and “the very best of Arturia’s signature sounds”, all aimed at mobile musicians.
One step up, however, is the Factory, a revamp of the Analog Factory Experience, which adds a dedicated keyboard to Arturia’s Analog Factory software “allowing all sounds to be dramatically modified instantaneously”.
The 49 key version, the Laboratory, is described as the professional choice within the range, and incorporates a MIDI keyboard controller alongside the Laboratory version of the company’s Analog software. According to Arturia, the Laboratory keyboard delivers the fullest access to the software, with preassigned controls.
Meanwhile, the manufacturer has also debuted a pre-series version of the Origin Keyboard, which is based on its popular desktop synthesiser. The keyboard version maintains the modular appeal of its forebear along with a full complement of modules from famous synths including the Moog Modular, the ARP 2600, the CS-80, the Jupiter-8, the Minimoog and the Prophet VS.
The keyboard’s main features include over 600 presets plus a facility for the user to create their own Origin patch by connecting independent modules. Up to 32 polyphonic voices are available, as are effects including phaser, chorus, delay, tube distortion, rotary emulation and a parametric EQ. The keyboard also boasts a 16/32 step sequencer , advanced modulation modes and joystick control, a 40cm ribbon controller, a 5.2″ TFT screen and a new duophonic aftertouch feature.
The release of the Origin Keyboard is accompanied by the introduction of version 1.1 of the Origin synth, also at NAMM and introducing a host of new features. Among them is a new ToneWheel Oscillator which, when combined with the equally new Rotary Speaker, reportedly allows the addition of vintage organ sounds.
A CS-80-inspired envelope has also been added, alongside new effects including Bit Crusher, Equaliser, Ring Mod, Tube Distortion and a Parametric EQ. The version 1.1 release allows Origin to be used as a MIDI controller, while improvements are promised to the GUI and keyboard with a new Glissando mode.
About Barney Jameson
A contributor, editor and in some cases creator of more music and pro audio magazines than he cares to remember, Barney Jameson is a veteran of writing about gear, and a pretty keen singer songwriter to boot.
Having started his musical education reading old copies of the Melody Maker while riding the tube to University in the mid-nineties, Barney once sang in a band called Sugarstone, troubling record company chequebooks not quite enough to make it a career option. Instead, he achieved his goal of starting a music magazine of his own when he founded Playmusic in the early noughties. Later on, having exploited VIP access to as many festivals as possible, he wrote about the pro audio industry throughout Europe and the Middle East, travelling to far-flung destinations such as Dubai, Doha and Muscat (nice mountains).
As the latest addition to the DV247 team, Barney has big plans. But when he’s not plotting online domination of the musical instrument world, he keeps himself busy writing songs on a battered old acoustic guitar and playing them to audiences in his home town.
Tags: Anolog Experience, arturia, Arturia Origin, NAMM 2010