As you start playing at the lower reaches of the keyboard you can hear it more clearly. Part of that, I think, is there’s more inherent instability in the new oscillator model. For one, the V4 is a touch louder, but it’s also fuller. The difference is subtle, but definitely noticeable if you load up the default template in both Mini V3 and V4 and play them side by side. It was never the reason to seek out V Collection specifically, but it was good enough that you didn’t need to go find an alternative. Mini V was also a decent enough Minimoog Model D emulation, but the world is filled with those. This was the single biggest shock of the lot, honestly. That wasn’t necessarily the case with the MiniFreak, the MicroFreak or even Pigments. Whether they were designed in house or by an artist they worked with, most felt designed to show off what the plugins were capable of musically, as opposed to technically. With MiniFreak 2.0, Augmented Woodwinds and the rebuilt Mini V4, Arturia really improved the quality of its presets. This was sort of a running theme, though. It’s basically just one gorgeous broken patch after another. There are two paid soundpacks, but also three free ones and, well, I can’t recommend that you download Deserted Lands from Oscillator Sink enough. Yes, there are plenty of weirdo sound effects and dubstep bass wubs, but there are also some lovely chilly pads and delicate keys.Īdditionally, Arturia is finally adding preset packs for the MiniFreak and MiniFreak V to its store. There are 64 new presets designed to show off the strength of the wavetable engine and there’s some real winners in there. And perhaps, best of all, they seem to be able to handle bass better than some of the other oscillators - an area the Freak line has always felt a little weak in. The 32 wavetables are pretty solid and modern sounding. MiniFreak V, on the other hand, got a major update yesterday with a new wavetable engine, new super unison effect and some improvements to the LFO. It does what you expect it to and not much else, but with about one-tenth of the headaches of the real thing. And frankly, nothing has changed with Acid V in the roughly four months since I wrote about it, so I won’t say much beyond, it’s an excellent TB-303 emulator. MiniFreak VĪcid V and MiniFreak V both launched earlier this year. Arturia seems to do an admirable job of capturing the spirit of the CP-70, but it comes close enough to sounding like a real piano, I’d be far more likely to reach for the regular ol' Piano V plugin in most cases. It’s brighter and there’s less room for shaping the sound without adding effects. The result though, is less characterful than those other electric pianos. That was definitely a huge selling point for touring acts in the ‘70s and ‘80s that wanted the sound of a grand piano, but didn’t want to lug one on the road. It also used piezo pickups instead of magnetic ones, resulting in a sound that is significantly closer to an actual acoustic piano. The CP-70 used strings like a real piano, instead of the metal reeds and tines found in Rhodes in Wurlitzers. A very specific one that hasn’t enjoyed the same level of reverence as the Rhodes or Wurlitzer, but isn’t without its merits. The other completely new instrument, CP-70 V, is a lot more straightforward. You can even completely disable the sample layers and go woodwind-less, though, you might as well use one of the other plugins at that point. They all have a suite of advanced controls where you can build almost any sound you want from its four layer engine (two samples and two synths). That’s not to say you can’t find a use for them in a pop song or jazz arrangement, but these are all about atmosphere and texture, and there’s a healthy dose of sounds that would only be appropriate in the tensest moments of a cosmic horror film. Like the rest of the Augmented series, Woodwinds, Brass and Grand Piano feel built especially with scoring in mind. (With the exception of a few presets that seem to come undone when faced with MPE input, at least.) You’re never going to convince anyone that the sounds coming out of it are from a flesh-and-blood woodwind ensemble, but the soft cinematic pads and leads you can coax out of it are compelling, especially when paired with an MPE controller like the Push or Seaboard Rise 2. Yet, Arturia pulls it off, largely by leaning into the synth side of things pretty strongly. I think Augmented Strings and Grand Piano are excellent, but have found little use for Brass and Voices so far, and woodwinds often feel like some of the most difficult acoustic instruments to get right in a sample library. I’ll admit to being somewhat skeptical of Augmented Woodwinds at first.
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