Arturia Analog Factory Experience

OVERVIEW

Considering the wide range of virtual synths in this collection, what are the most-wanted parameters? On all presets, you can control filter cutoff and resonance, LFO rate and amount, a standard ADSR volume envelope, and wet/dry mixes for chorus and delay. In addition, four “Key Parameter” knobs change based on the preset. This isn’t user-editable, but Arturia’s choices pretty much hit the mark: the second oscillator’s coarse pitch, highpass filter cutoff on a lot of the Jupiter-8V sounds, oscillator mix on the CS-80V sounds, filter envelope amount, and so on. Only occasionally was something I really wanted to change unavailable in a preset, such as the detuning between oscillators on one brassy pad.

Under the hood, AFE uses the same “True Analog Emulation” modeling as the individual soft synths on which it’s based. That means that when you move the cutoff knob on, say, a Minimoog V preset, you’re still controlling Arturia’s best model of a Moog filter. I have all the original Arturia products at Keyboard central, and can vouch that AFE cuts no corners in terms of sound quality. The trade-offs are more in the areas of polyphony and editing, but they’re outweighed by the usefulness, diversity, and quality of its 3,500 included sounds.

You can get the software version, simply called Analog Factory, for $249. In fact, AF version 2 is exactly what comes with the hardware-enhanced “Experience.” In this review, I’ll use “AFE” when discussing the hardware or the integrated product, and “AF” when talking about just the soft synth.

HARDWARE KEYBOARD

Made by CME, this unit is a real-world duplicate of AF’s onscreen keyboard. Though its keys don’t sense aftertouch, and they flex side-to-side a bit more than I’d like, they do have substantial metal weights in the keys. This makes the play surprisingly silky, and there’s something about how the keys snap back that reminds me of an old Minimoog or Prophet. If you ask me, spending the extra $100 to get the controller (compared to the software-only Analog Factory) is a no-brainer. First, because AFE’s knobs and sliders are such a perfect extension of the software. They work as expected as soon as AF has launched, without you making a single control assignment. Second, if you’re used to the plastic construction of most compact MIDI controllers, you’re in for a treat. The fit and finish of the rolled aluminum body and wooden end caps is tight, and the thing has enough heft that if you hit a Blade Runner replicant upside the head with it, he’d yell “That’s the spirit!”

NAVIGATION AND SOUNDS

Thanks to AF’s clever browser, honing in on the sound that’s in your head isn’t like finding a needle in a haystack. You can limit which presets appear in the list by which Arturia synth they came from, then by basic type (bass, pad, lead, strings, brass, etc.), then finally by 18 subjective traits such as aggressive, ambient, complex, funky, and soft. You can’t create your own tags or edit those a given preset has, but when you find a preset you like, checking a box puts it on your favorites list. In fact, that was the only navigation task for which I needed the mouse — hit AFE’s shift button, and the level knob clicks through categories while the octave buttons step through presets; press the knob to turn a category filter on. This either reduces the number of presets displayed (e.g., if you want only ARP 2600V sounds and narrow that down to aggressive basses) or increases it (say, if you then click the Minimoog V tag as well).

 The diligence Arturia put into covering every sort of sound an analog synth (or in the case of the Prophet-VS, a digital synth) even might make . . . well, it boggles the mind. What’s even more impressive is that it’s nigh impossible to find a ho-hum preset in the bunch. This actually made it hard to get this review finished, as I lingered and improvised on almost every sound I called up — none of that “one finger on C and one on the program-up button” ennui here.

Though you can save altered sounds as user presets, in terms of what you can alter, what you see is what you get. To change, say, a preset’s oscillator waveforms, you’ll need the corresponding full Arturia soft synth. Honestly, though, between the parameters AFE can tweak, the sheer number of great sounds, and the ease of browsing them, I can’t see this being much of an issue, even for a producer in search of just the right sound for a track. Like someone used to say in a spaghetti sauce ad, “It’s in there.”

The big question about any virtual analog synth is: How analog does it sound? Since, AFE uses the same engines as the full-blown Arturia synths, it’s best to check out our reviews of them (see “V is for Virtual” below) for in-depth answers. To generalize, AFE does a marvelous job of putting the character of each classic synth right under your fingers, and of bringing out the differences between them. All the catchwords analog fans throw around apply — the Modular and Minimoog V sounds are “fat,” the Jupiter-8V’s lean towards “wet” and “lush,” the 2600V sounds have that ineffable ARP squawk, and the CS-80V stuff will make you feel like you’re Vangelis watching a hovercar touch down at Tyrell corporate HQ. Only the Prophet-VS presets are identifiably digital, because they’re supposed to be.

As for overall analog cred, two thumbs up. AFE definitely has that gooey, gluey, physically immersive quality. The sound gets into your sternum and your teeth the way real analog synths do, and that sample-based sounds certainly don’t. Okay, I suspect that if you put AFE next to specimens of the real thing, you could hear a difference, but this is damned good.

I do wish more of the sounds responded to aftertouch, though most of the CS-80V presets and a few of the Prophet-VS ones do. That’s historically correct, as the Prophet-VS and Yamaha CS-80 were the only two instruments (of the seven that Arturia emulates) that did aftertouch, not to mention velocity. Still, Arturia is known for combining vintage realism with modern amenities, so I’d like to see more of that here. Doesn’t everyone want to be able to kick in some vibrato without taking their hands off the keys?

Analog Factory isn’t multitimbral internally, so if its huge variety of sounds makes you want to set up splits or layers (it sure did for me), you’ll need to open multiple instances in a host program, in which you’ll handle the key zoning.

IN USE

I wanted to use the AFE keyboard’s controls, but play sounds from the weighted, full-length action of my Studiologic VMK-176, so I connected both to USB ports on a quad-core Mac Pro. Since the AFE keyboard has a MIDI output but no input, I wouldn’t have been able to piggyback the Studiologic on it using a plain old MIDI cable, so I was lucky that I had more than one free USB port.

Hosted in Apple Logic Pro 8 (reviewed Jan. ’08), all was well. The main level knob even controlled the fader of the instrument track where I’d put the AF plug-in, and without being assigned, at that. I wondered if things would work as smoothly in Apple’s “live rig” app MainStage (also reviewed Jan. ’08), in which you set up “middleman” screen controls that you then map on one hand to your hardware, and on the other to settings in MainStage’s mixer and the plug-ins you put there. No sweat — I only had to take this extra step for the level knob; all other AFE hardware controls drilled right through to the plug-in. Later, I learned why it’s so host-agnostic: Though the AFE keyboard sends MIDI continuous control messages for use with other software, when it’s talking to Analog Factory, it talks sys-ex (see “Jargon Jockey” below).

In standalone mode, however, I found I could only use one keyboard at a time. With both connected, AFE saw only its own unit; unplugging it, then quitting and re-launching AF, let me use the Studiologic.

I’ve mentioned the Key Parameter knobs that change per preset. Click or hover on one of these onscreen, and a balloon showing what it controls pops up. That’s cool, but it’d be cooler if that info were visible at all times in the strip of white space below the knobs, like it is for permanent controls such as the filter knobs and envelope sliders. That way, you could play with one hand, tweak with the other, and not have to reach for the mouse to know what’s about to happen to your sound. True, there isn’t enough room for, say, “Filter Envelope Amount,” but there is for “FltEnvAmt” or other abbreviations.

I did hear some stair-stepping in the treble range when I moved a hardware control that affected it — sweeping filter resonance, or slowly raising a second oscillator’s coarse pitch an octave, to give two examples. This is a factor of the AFE hardware, as it was much less pronounced when mousing the corresponding knob onscreen, and not there at all when I automated the same parameter from a sequencer.

Since some presets have sequences or arpeggios programmed in, it was convenient that the browser has a Sequence category that quickly gets to a list of all of them. Yes, these patterns sync to host tempo. Arturia’s official story is that AFE’s effects (also pre-programmed and not editable except for the wet/dry mix) don’t sync, but I heard timing changes when I clicked MainStage’s tap tempo button on presets that used a lot of delay.

CONCLUSIONS

Analog Factory Experience is such the perfect name for this instrument, as there’s no quicker, more affordable, better-sounding way to experience what it’s like to use seven of history’s most famous synthesizers. The out-of-the-box synergy of aural and tactile elements will give relative newcomers plenty of “A-ha!” moments that’d otherwise require real or virtual analog hardware. Needless to say, even one such synth costs a lot more.

Since AFE has breadth akin to a large sample library, but the audio quality of a modeling synth, even pros with other options on their hard drives will be surprised by how much use they get out of it. I’m admittedly one lucky SOB who gets to try everything, but AFE has become what I reach for first when I need great analog synth sounds in a “create a virtual instrument track and hit record” kind of hurry.

While we hate to pull out the cliché, “would be a bargain at twice the price,” it really is true here. At $349, AFE is such an outstanding value that it’s virtually a poster child for our Key Buy award. 

CLAIM CHECK

Arturia CEO Frédéric Brun says, “Analog Factory Experience (AFE) combines the hands-on experience of hardware with the flexibility of software. You can operate AFE from the included keyboard while leaving the mouse behind. At the same time, AFE offers advantages of software. First, it integrates with all major sequencers. It’s also an open solution, offering a universal MIDI keyboard. Last but not least, since the synthesis is done in the computer, it’s affordable, making it a great entry point for musicians who are new to the world of virtual analog. With AFE, we are bringing our technology to a larger audience, and yet, as an easy-to-use and inexpensive solution, we didn’t compromise on quality. The sounds are directly from our classic analog emulations and will satisfy the most demanding musicians. Likewise, we paid great attention to the quality of the keyboard chassis, which is made of aluminum with wood-capped ends. AFE is a hybrid instrument with a classic flair.”

JARGON JOCKEY

Sys-ex: Short for “system exclusive,” this refers to MIDI data that’s not part of the universal language of note and controller commands spoken by all MIDI devices. Instead, it’s exclusive to a particular manufacturer’s system, i.e. product. The AFE keyboard talks to its own soft synth via sys-ex so that the knobs always work the same no matter what host you use.

"V” IS FOR VIRTUAL

It’s no mystery that Keyboard has reviewed all the Arturia soft synths from which the sounds of Analog Factory Experience are taken. Here are the issues in which those reviews first appeared.

Moog Modular V  May 2003
CS-80V   January 2004
Minimoog V  August 2004
ARP 2600V  March 2005
Prophet-V (includes Prophet-5 and Prophet-VS emulations)  July 2006
Jupiter-8V  June 2007