Performed by Alberto Trullu: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVSjrBFVdlXd6ZlktorviWg

download: https://www.synthonia.com/marketplace 

You’ll find three videos underneath: starting from a very basic patch, we’ll make it more complex and discover how to program this great product. 

 

VIDEO 1 - A BASIC PATCH

 

Starting from an empty patch producing no sound, we use the default cabling to produce a synth bass sound.

 

 

VIDEO 2 - A MORE COMPLEX PATCH

 

We start from the basic patch described in the video 1 and try to enrich it using the cables.

 

 

 

VIDEO 3 - USING THE SEQUENCER

 

We use the patch constructed in the first video to show how the sequencer works.

 

 

 

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION

A brief history of the original instrument: the ARP 2600 was released on the market in 1972 by the “ARP instruments” company, founded by Alan R. Pearlman, David Friend and Lewis G. Pollock. In ten years, three versions of the ARP 2600 were commercialized: The first version was called “Blue meanie” because of its steely blue finish. The “blue meanie” was quickly replaced by a second version, with a grey background finish and white silk screening (1972). This was to be more popular. In 1978 ARP decided to change the graphic chart for all of its machines: a black background color with orange silk screening was introduced.

The synthesizer was used by Stevie Wonder, Joe Zawinul (Weather Report), Tony Banks (Genesis), Jean Michel Jarre, Herbie Hancock and during seventies the ARP company was the Bob Moog’s greatest rival on the market. There has been several episodes of this competition but probably the most famous one was related to the 24 db/oct filter module adopted for the 2600 that was considered a replica of the Moog’s one: due to this fact Moog’s company threatened ARP company with legal action and so the filter module was at last changed.

The emulation made by Arturia recreates the feeling of the original synthesizer, emulating also the original step sequencer module 1601 and the original keyboard module, which was also revisited during years by the company. 

 

For those who never knew the ARP 2600 synthesizer I suggest to take a look at its history visiting this (http://www.vintagesynth.com/arp/arp.php) page.

Let’s dive inside the software version made by Arturia, to learn in depth its features. First of all, this software version offers the emulation of:

1. The main synthesizer
2. The keyboard
3. The step sequencer

It also adds the capability of managing the presets, saving and recalling them and organizing them in categories, as in the Moog Modular V. The management of the presets is possible through the main toolbar on the topmost part of the interface of the synthesizer.

 

THE SYNTHESIZER

The ARP2600 (and its virtual version made by Arturia) can be considered a semi modular synthesizer: it can produce sounds also without connecting any patch cord and acting only on the sliders and the knobs on the main interface. This is because, unlike the Moog Modular and any other full modular synthesizer, inside it has “default” connections between its main modules (oscillators, mixer, filter, envelopes and so on) that the programmer/musician can decide to use “as is” or to alter using patch cords.

 

 

Looking at the main interface, the signal path starts from the left side and ends to the right side.

 

The sound programming section contains:

• 3 oscillators, which can also be used as modulation sources (VCO)
• 1 multimode filter (VCF)
• 1 amplifier (VCA)
• 2 envelopes dedicated to modulation
• 1 noise generator
• 1 ring modulator
• 1 envelope follower
• 1 sample and hold
• 2 mixers (on the filter and the VCA)
• 1 electronic switch
• A tracking generator module
• 5 mixer / lag module
• 2 effects (chorus / delay)

Let’s take a look at each section in depth.

 

OSCILLATORS

 

The ARP2600V offers, as the original machine, three oscillators. The main tune of them spans between 4 octaves and the musician can also set for each one of them the LOW FREQUENCY mode, in order to use it as a modulation source. Furthermore each oscillator can be adjusted in tuning using a “coarse” mode and a “fine” mode. The first mode lets the user alter the tuning of each oscillator of 2 octaves up or down. The second mode lets the user adjust the tuning altering it by cents of a semitone up or down.

The first oscillator outputs the saw and the square waveforms, the other two output all the waveforms available (sine, pulse, saw, triangle). Each oscillator can be pitch-modulated by several modulation sources: 4 for the first oscillator, 5 for the other two ones. For this purpose, 4 inputs for the first oscillator and 5 inputs for the other oscillators are available. Last but not least, only for oscillators two and three the pulse width can be modulated. 

If no “virtual cables” are connected using the mouse to these inputs, the default modulation sources are specified in the little boxes below the inputs. This approach is valid for all the inputs and the outputs of the synthesizer and that’s why we call the ARP 2600 V a semi modular synthesizer.

 

FILTER

 

 

 

Despite of the original machine that offered only a low pass resonant filter at 24 db/oct, the ARP2600V offers a multi mode resonant filter (LP, HP, BP, NOTCH). The low pass mode offers the same behavior of the original filter.

The frequency of the filter can be set to a value between 10Hz and 10 KHz.

The input of the filter is the sum of five the signals taken by the inputs on the bottom most part. If no cables are connected, default input sources are used, as shown in the box near each input. The level of each signal entering into the filter can be adjusted by using its own slider.

The cutoff frequency can be modulated by three modulation sources, using the same mechanism of the default inputs and adjusting the modulation amount using three sliders.

 

ENVELOPES

 

Two envelopes are offered, an ADSR and an AR. For both envelopes, the musician can:

1. Set the input trigger. If no input is used, the keyboard gate is the default signal used
2. Fetch gate and trigger signals and route them to other destinations
3. Choose to activate the envelopes cyclically using the S/H clock

 

VOLTAGE CONTROLLED AMPLIFIER

 

 

The VCA is the last step in the synthesis path. It amplifies the volume of the signal in input and sends the amplified signal out of the synthesizer.

The VCA of the ARP 2600 V receives in input the mix of two signals. The default ones, if no cables are connected, are the output signals from the VCF and from the ring modulation components respectively.

The volume of the output signal can be modulated by two modulation sources and, again, the default ones are the AR and ADSR envelopes. A general gain slider is also offered to the musician to let the synthesizer produce drones.

 

NOISE GENERATOR

 

 

The synthesizer offers also a noise generator that is able to produce white or colored (pink, brown etc.) noise. The output of the module can be routed almost anywhere (for example to the sample and hold module).

 

VOLTAGE PROCESSOR

 

 

One of the most interesting components offered by the ARP 2600 V is the voltage processor. It acts as a sort of mixer: it receives 8 sources in input (audio or modulation signals), mixes them and outputs them, giving the musician the possibility to invert each output signal or to smooth it (for example, a square wave became a triangle one).

In details, for each of the four rows:

1. There are two input that can be mixed together
2. There is a modulation input source to modulate the mix of the two input signals
3. There is a “link” switch that merges the output signal with the one produced by the row above. The merged signal is output from the row above
4. There is an “invert” symbol that, if clicked, inverts the output signal (a bit hard to discover that the symbol is clickable)
5. There is a smooth knob, to smooth the waveform produced as explained above

 

SAMPLE AND HOLD

 

 

Another powerful module is the sample and hold, which is typically used to produce cyclic modulations starting from an input signal. The module accepts signal to sample using the top left corner input, samples it using a clock (internal or external) and outputs the sampled values from the “S/H out” output. 

If no cables are connected:

1. The default signal sampled is the output of the noise generator module
2. The default clock is the internal one

In the ARP 2600V it’s possible to sync the clock to one supplied by the external sequencer in which the synth is loaded.

Using the “electro switch” part of this component, the musician can make the sample and hold module sample two signals, connected to A and B inputs alternating the sampling process between them.

 

ENVELOPE FOLLOWER AND RING MODULATION

 

 

Using the envelope follower, the musician can generate an envelope to use as a modulation source, starting from ad audio signal connected to the “PREAMP” input. Using the slider near the out jack, the musician can modify the way the envelope is generated: the lower it is, the more closely the variations of the input signal will be followed.

The ring modulation allows the musician to multiply two signals in order to generate non-harmonic frequency components. It is useful for creating metallic sounds. If no signals are connected, the output of the module is the result of the multiplication of the saw wave with the square wave.

 

TRACKING GENERATOR

 

 

This very original module was not present on the original machine. It has been added to the ARP 2600 V, in order to let the musician modify the course of a modulation thanks to four curves which can be edited in real-time by the user. It can also be used as source of modulation to create envelope forms or complex LFO waves.

 

MIXER AND EFFECTS

 

 

The mixer module fully reproduces that the original machines offered to the musician. There are two audio inputs that are by default connected to the VCA and VCF and mixed together. These signals can be taken in output before the spring reverb module. The main mix with the reverb is available on two stereo outputs, which can also be “panned”.

In addition to the reverb, the ARP 2600 V offers a delay and a chorus.

 

 

 

LOW FREQUENCY OSCILLATOR

 

 

The ARP 2600 V offers also a low frequency oscillator to be used as a cyclic modulation source. The LFO offers 4 waveforms: triangle, saw, square and sine. It can be also synced to the external midi clock and the rate can be modulated using an external modulation source using the “MOD IN” input.

 

STEP SEQUENCER

Before closing this tutorial let’s speak briefly about the step sequencer of the ARP 2600.

 

 

This module has been programmed as a copy of the original ARP sequencer model 1601 (18). It was one of the most widely used sequencers in the 70’s and early 80’s.                                                                   

With this module, the musician can create melodic sequences or step by step variations applied to synthesizer parameters (a sequence line applied to the opening of the frequency of a filter can be very effective, for example).

It can be divided in three sections, as shown in the picture above. The first lets the musician program the 16 steps that constitute the automatic sequence started by the module. The second, named “sequencer oscillator” lets the musician control the internal LFO of the module that makes the step sequencer proceed (start, stop, repeat, clock frequency and so on). The third section, the quantizer, lets the musician control the quantization of the steps using two signals in input.

Have you had enough? As you can see, the ARP 2600 V is a very complex synthesizer that lets a sound designer a lot of room for experimentations. But it requires a bit of practice to fully master it.

In the next appointment we’ll make some practice in programming it, as we did with the Moog Modular V.

Stay tuned!!

 

 

For those who don't know which hardware synthesizer is emulated by this virtual synth, it was the Moog Modular System 55 that inspired artists as Keith Emerson and was perhaps the first modular system used in a live rock concert.

 

 

For those who want to know more about this giant of the past, I suggest to take a look at the user manual of the Moog Modular V on the Arturia web site (http://downloads.arturia.com/products/modular-v/manual/ModularV_Manual_2_5_EN.pdf) or at the dedicated web page on the Moog website (http://www.moogmusic.com/products/modulars/system-55), or at Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moog_modular_synthesizer).

Having a lot to say, let’s leave the history for now and let’s start talking about the virtual synthesizer offered by Arturia that is a "customized" version of the original System 55 due to this facts:

1. It offers a step sequencer that was not present on the original System 55 made by Bob Moog and is modeled over the type 960 module made by Bob Moog himself;
2. It’s polyphonic while the original Moog Modular was only monophonic (purists will turn up their nose);
3. It offers a noise generator;
4. It offers three filters;
5. It offers two control pads;
6. It can save presets and organize them in categories (again purists will turn up their nose).

 

First of all, let’s say that it can be used as a standalone synthesizer or hosted inside a DAW via VST, AU or RTAS protocols. The price is 99 dollars (or Euros). Let’s take a look at the main interface, in order to proceed top down.

 

 

First of all, since it’s a modular synthesizer, in order to let it produce sounds we have to connect outputs with inputs using virtual patch cords. To do this, what we have to do is to drag with the mouse from one output to the desired input to see the virtual cable connected. In order to learn what to connect to what, let’s examine the interface of the synth.

We can think about it as divided into three main parts:

 

The synthesis section

 

The core section of the synthesizer is composed by two cabinets and integrates the 33 modules necessary for the creation of sounds. Unlike the original System 55, the modules in the upper part can be exchanged via the menu that appears when their name has been clicked. It is thus possible to replace an envelope with a ring modulator, a filter with a frequency translator for an almost complete customization of the synthesizer.

 

The step sequencer and the effects

 

 

The cabinet situated at the top of the synthesizer, contains the step sequencer and 4 effects (one can choose a chorus or phaser for the right hand effect).

 

The virtual keyboard and the connections extension

 

 

Under the synthesis section we have a small extension containing the internal cables and under this last part we have the virtual keyboard and its assignable controllers.

 

Let’s start examining the synthesis section in detail, proceeding module by module.

 

OSCILLATORS

 

 

The Moog Modular V offers 9 oscillators regrouped in three as in the original machine. Each group of three oscillator is driven using a fourth “master” oscillator, the driver, which establish the main tune, the pulse with modulation and the frequency modulation settings for all the three slave oscillators. Each of this slave oscillators can be tuned independently but starting from the master tune of the driver oscillator as well.

Again each slave oscillator can simultaneously produce saw, square, triangle and sine waves and each wave can be taken and driven into the mixer to be manipulated and heard.

Last (but not least), each oscillator can be synced to another oscillator using the “sync” switch and the virtual input underneath its controls and its frequency can be modulated by two sources connected to the two input under the sync one.

 

VCAs

 

The Modular V offers two separate voltage controlled amplifiers, each one driven by its own ADSR envelope. For each one of them it’s possible to adjust the panning and the volume of the output signal.

 

MIXERS AND AMPLIFIERS

 

Sixteen independent amplifiers are offered to treat the audio signals produced by the oscillators. Each amplifier has its own volume control knob and can be modulated by a modulation source connected to the input jack near it. Using the “link” red button we can create mixes of the signals in input to each amplifier: enabling the “link” button between an amplifier and its sibling makes the first output the sum of the signals in input to each amplifier.

 

FILTERS

 

The filters section, in the upper part of the synthesis section, is composed by three modules and the user can choose for each one of them one of the four filter types offered:

• Low pass 24 dB/octave (type 904A)
• High pass 24 dB/octave (type 904B)
• Band pass and band reject 24 dB/octave (type 904C)
• Multi-modes 12 dB/octave (low-pass, high-pass, band pass, band reject, bell, shelf)

Each filter offers an input to receive the signal to filter, an output to send the filtered signal to the mixer and one or more modulation inputs to modulate the cutoff frequency and (not always) the resonance.

 

LFOs

 

Two distinct cyclic modulation sources are offered, the first in the upper part, the second in the lower part of the synthesis section.

They are identical and offer simultaneously these waveforms:

• Sine
• Triangle
• Saw
• Square
• Pulse

The pulse wave can be modulated with a distinct input source or manually using the “Manual” knob. Furthermore the user can delay the start of the LFO or “fade in” the signal produced.

 

AUXILIARY ENVELOPES

 

Near the filter section we have six auxiliary envelopes to add to the main two ones attached to the two VCAs. Each one is an ADSR envelope and can be used as a modulation source to modulate anything the user wants.

 

NOISE GENERATOR

 

It can offer both white and pink noise using two separate outputs for each type of noise, for a total of 4 outputs. In addition to this, the module offers a low pass filter and a high pass filter for filtering the two noise generators in the manner the sound designer likes.

Let’s take a look at the step sequencer section in deep, now.

 

STEP SEQUENCER

 

The giant step sequencer accurately reproduced from the original model and, maybe, the part of the instrument giving the greatest fun. It’s the most important part of this section so it’s worth to take a deep look at it. First of all we need to say that the connections to the various modules are “hidden” to simplify the programming phase to the musician: the output of the step sequencer is routed to the desired module using the mouse on the small LCD display at the bottom of it.

The step sequencer is composed by three main components:

• The low frequency oscillator: it controls the timing of passage from one sequence to another. Its speed can be set statically with the “frequency” button and dynamically with the modulation input on the first page. Two buttons, “on” and “off” respectively start and stop this generator;
• The eight-step sequence manager: each step defines 3 levels of output modulations, using 3 knobs. The manager moves from one step to another on each pulse from the low frequency generator. The 3 rows of sequence can also be chained to create a longer sequence (up to 24 steps);
• The output controller allows the management of the 4 modulation outputs for the current step. We have in fact a modulation output for each row that outputs the value of the active step. The fourth output sends, at each step, the value taken from the “active” row when we link them together in order to produce a 16 steps sequence or a 24 steps sequence. The rows are taken from top to bottom.

The description above may be a little complicated at a very first reading, I know. But I can assure it’s more complicated to explain than to use it, so in the next appointment I’ll supply some videos showing how to build patches using the Moog Modular V, with particular attention to the step sequencer. It’s a promise!

Let’s proceed further with the other modules of the step sequencer section.

 

EFFECTS

 

From left to right, this is what is offered to the musician:

• Resonant filter bank (Fixed Filter bank): it adds deep equalization to the outgoing signal coming from the 2 output VCAs according to the state of the switches “VCA1” and “VCA2”. This equalization is done with the help of resonant filters with 12 band-pass filters; each of the bands has a level (positive or negative) and bandwidth setting. This module also possesses a low-pass filter (80 Hz) and a fixed high-pass (12 kHz).
• Chorus: a chorus module whose modulation rate can be set with the “rate” knob, whose amplitude can be set with the “amount” knob, and whose width can be set by the “delay” knob.
• Stereo delay (Dual Delay): stereo delay of the incoming signal with independent left and right channels that can be driven with two control columns.
•  

Finally it’s the time to analyze the last section of the synthesizer, the virtual keyboard with all its virtual controllers.

 

 

This section offers five octaves of virtual keys and the following controls to rapidly modified the final timbre.  

1. Portamento;
2. Pitch bending and modulation wheel;
3. A section used to define the pitch bending and the filter bending ranges, to set the keyboard mode (mono, unison, poly), to enable the retriggering of the envelopes at every key pressing;
4. A section used to control 4 independent key follows, each one used as a modulation source to route to whatever modulation input on the signal path;
5. The shortcuts to the two master envelopes attached to VCA1 and VCA2;
6. The shortcuts to the master gain and master pitch;
7. Two X/Y pads to assign to whatever modulation input on the signal path;
8. The shortcuts to the cutoff frequency control of the three filters. 

 

Above the virtual keyboard we have the “Keyboard controllers” section, which offers a set of modulation outputs, each one related to what is generated by the keyboard. Using this section one can take the signal generated by the controllers on the keyboard section (for example the velocity, the aftertouch, the modulation wheel and so on) and the ones generated by the sequencer lines and use them to modulate whatever he wants.

 

 

 

Have you had enough? No? What about some videos showing some concrete examples on how to program this beast? If you want them you have to stay tuned for the next appointment.

In the meantime take a look at this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbL-dk_u8VI) showing what this toy can do.

Ciao.

 

A journey through the ARTURIA V-COLLECTION - Introduction

Hello everybody and welcome to this new series of articles dedicated to the ecosystem named V-COLLECTION created by Arturia: a set of virtual synthesizers that recreates the feeling and the sounds of some of the most famous analog synthesizers of the past.

 

 

For those who don’t know this company, Arturia is a software house that started his career programming and selling software virtual analog synthesizers that are accurate emulations of some famous machines of the past that inspired a lot of musicians in their music and which timbres are widely used also today in modern compositions. We could consider these machines icons of the electronic music.

Nowadays Arturia is a renowned company also specialized in realizing hardware synthesizers that have rapidly found a significant diffusion on the market. The Minibrute and the Microbrute are perfect examples of the skill of Arturia.

Focusing a little bit on the “software” line of products made by this vendor, what I would like to do is to propose a small journey through the characteristics of each of the software synthesizers that composes the V-COLLECTION.

For each of them I will propose a dedicated issue where I’ll focus on:

1. The main features of the product;
2. The hardware machine emulated;
3. The synthesis path;
4. The controls and the programming interface;
5. The features offered by the software that are not on the original machine (if any)
6. Tips ‘n tricks in programming sounds.

In detail, we’ll discuss about: 

• The set of virtual modular synthesizers including the Moog Modular V

and the ARP 2600 V

• The set of polyphonic virtual synthesizers including the Jupiter 8V

the Prophet V/VS

the CS-80V

and the Matrix 12V

• The set of monophonic synthesizers including the glorious Minimoog V

and the SEM V

• the set of String machines including (for now) only the Solina V

• the set of electromechanical instruments including the Wurlitzer V

and the Vox Continental V

• and last but not least the flagship drum synthesizer Spark 2

 

 

The main feature common to all these products is the TAE technology (True Analog Emulation) that is dedicated to the digital reproduction of analog circuits used in classic analog synthesizers guaranteeing authentic emulation of hardware specifications.

As we know, the hardware analog oscillators are unstable: their waveform varies slightly from one period to another. Furthermore, the starting point for each period can vary with the temperature and other environmental conditions. These are the two main aspects that contributed to the typical sound of vintage synthesizers. TAE® is able to reproduce this instability of the oscillators, bringing a fatter and “bigger” sound.

If you like all this, all you have to do is... to stay tuned for the first issue in which we’ll start our journey discussing about the father of all Arturia’s virtual synthesizers: the Moog Modular V.

 

Ciao.