![]() In isolation it sounds a little static and flat, just like most other analogue-emulating soft synths. Well, it´s pretty close and certainly isn´t disappointing, but it doesn´t have that ‘je ne sais quoi´ of a real synthesizer, let alone the ARP 2600. There are no Virus or Neuron 21st century lead sounds here. You can also coax some impressive lead sounds out of the ARP 2600V, but make no mistake - just about everything from this instrument sounds vintage. Even relatively mellow bass sounds have that unmistakable ARP growl - turn up the resonance on the fi lter and you're straight into Human League´s Sound of the Crowd territory. Just like the original instrument, the ARP 2600V excels at gritty, mid-range sounds with bite and presence. In fact, the 400 presets are excellent, with notable inclusions from Kevin Lamb (who's worked with The Neptunes) and Klaus Schultze, one of the pioneers of electronic music. It gives you instant access to a range of ARP-like sounds, from bouncing bass sequences to soaring leads. So what does the synth sound like? Initial sonic impressions of the ARP 2600V are positive. If we were navigating through a few dozen settings then okay, I´d look the other way, but we have over 400 sounds here! It wouldn´t be fair to single out the ARP 2600V for criticism, as countless products use this scheme, but it´s clunky, graceless and needs an overhaul. Arranging sounds in banks and sub banks is handy, but you still have to select them using the archaic ‘cascading menus´ system. The way you access the presets on Arturia´s whole range of synths, however, could definitely be improved. Add to that a simple and elegant MIDI learn feature, and you have a grade A GUI. Simple things like this will help the beginner grasp what´s going on. The virtual patch chords can be set to move out of your way as your mouse moves over them, enabling you to alter the settings they would otherwise obscure. For example, whenever you click on a socket to make a patch connection, the ARP 2600V highlights all the sockets you can connect to. There are plenty of small refinements that make this instrument a pleasure to use. It´s no CPU-hog either, running comfortably on a 1GHz G4 laptop alongside many more demanding plug-ins. The ARP 2600V is stable and mature, and we felt confident using it. Setting up complex patches becomes second nature remarkably quickly. It´s quite logical though, with signal fl ow moving from left (oscillators and audio inputs) to middle (VCF mixer and envelopes) to right (VCA and global pan and level settings). If you´re new to the ARP way of laying things out, the ARP 2600V will seem confusing at first. You can stack up to a whopping 32 voices in unison mode. ![]() You´ll also find settings for poly, unison and mono mode on this unit. These can be patched to control almost any parameter, so you could patch them to open a filter to differing degrees for each key depress, or for sequentially changing the level of noise in a drone sound over time. The ARP 2600V includes an emulation of the famous and extremely rare ARP Sequencer 1601, a relatively simple affair, where you can have two separate eight-step sequences running simultaneously or in series for a larger 16-step sequence. Strangely, the usually excellent manual is a little cagey about exactly how the tracker works - trial and error wins here. We found it useful for mixing together diverse sources to make unusual evolving filter sweeps and bloops. It generates low-frequency waves of its own, but it also processes incoming control and audio signals that you can then use to modulate any control input. For example, the pitch bend signal can be routed to filter cutoff for added expression.Īnother addition to the original spec of the ARP 2600 is the Tracker, an LFO with a twist. It also allows you to route MIDI signals to any control input. ![]() It responds to mouse clicks, so you can preview sounds easily without an external keyboard. Thankfully, Arturia have included some simple starting points for your patches, which you access via the Template heading in the Bank menu. ![]() There´s no limit to the complexity of your patches beyond the rule of connecting only one modulator to one input. You can expand and modify this using virtual patch leads that appear when you click a socket. The ARP 2600V is pre-wired like a typical analogue synth, with envelopes connected to the filter cutoff and VCA level, as you would expect.
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