Sonic LAB: Arturia The Player 25

Low cost Analog Experience      15/11/10

No flash plug


   QuickTime (MP4)  | iOS MP4
6:48 mins

Good things come in small packages, at least thats what we’re led to believe and if Korg’s recent slew of releases are anything to go by (watch-out for our microSTATION review), there is some truth to that.

 
So, here’s another small thing, the Arturia Analog Experience The Player 25 - quite a mouthful. What we have here is a 25 Key USB controller designed to compliment the Analog Experience - a software engine in both standalone, VST, RTAS and AU (Mac only) which plays patches from seven of Arturia’s analog emulations - the 2600v, CS80v, JP8V, Prophet V, Prophet VS, Minimoog V and Modular V.
 
The keyboard is 25 key full size, made by CME for Arturia. It gives the impression of quality with its wooden end cheeks and solid metal case - which is presumably why it weighs so much. The keys have a good feel to them with a better than average solidity, though no after-touch.
 
The  7 switches and 5 knobs (one also has a push action)  give you access various fixed assignment parameters. Pretty much all of them double up with two functions flipped with the backlit Shift key so you know where you are.
 
From left to right:

Function Shift Function
Octave Patch
Level Search
Cutoff Attack
Resonance Decay
Chorus Sustain
Delay Release
Snapshot 1,2,3,4 Save,1,2,3,4



In the Player Software, patches are laid out in familiar Arturia fashion with category lisings: one for each synth (seven), plus 12  for various patch categories and one for Favourites. Click on the Minimoog V, then Bass category and you get a list of bass sounds from the Minimoog V - hardly rocket science and nice and quick to navigate the 1000 included presets. No additional patch attributes can be accessed, so your stuck with what Arturia deem appropriate, which in most part is fine.

There is a wide range of sounds here with plenty to inspire and get the juices flowing, though of course, if you want to change anything outside of the given set of parameters, your out of luck, but that is the nature of presets - kind of like NI’s Reaktor engine.


Arturia claim that you can fully operate without the aid of a mouse or perhaps trackpad, and while this is certainly possible, its not completely so. Jumping categories and synths can be acheived with a combination of the select and push function, but turning a selected patch into a favourite, for quick access cannot.

Summary
Overall, we found this to be a pretty enjoyable experience, and value - I mean, some sample libraries charge this much for just 1000 patches or less, but add the useful, controller, its quite a bargain. Arturia’s synths are highly regarded by many as great emulations of some real classics, and that is what you get access (albeit limited) to.

Priced at £125/$179/€159
Available now

 

More From: ARTURIA


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10 Comments...  Post a comment    original story
Benedict Johnson    Said...

I never owned the previous Arturia 'Analogue Factory' software/controller but this new 'Player' version appears to be 100% identical. I'm curious in what ways Arturia have updated this 3 year old technology, apart from slimming down the number of presets?

(**PS Hurry up and show us the MicroStation review!!)

15-Nov-10 09:43 AM

Gustavo    Said...

Man that track really sounded great!! You are making me consider getting one of these!!

I like it because it is kind of a ROMpler, but with much better sounds. Excelent for those times you just want a common sound but do not have the time to create it or just dont feel like doing it.

15-Nov-10 10:20 AM

Tesla    Said...

Ummmmmm, Why do all of their hardware "emulations" sound the same? Seriously, their prophet VS sounds the same as their jupiter 8. If peeps want their stuff to sound "analog" then maybe they should just buy a used dsi mopho and sample it into a soft sampler if they need poly...

15-Nov-10 03:08 PM

Wilson    Said...

@Tesla: That's because you are listening to all of the different emulations via the same digital converters mate - the DA devices have a huge effect on the end coloration of the sound and what we hear when it comes out of the box.

15-Nov-10 06:06 PM

notavampire    Said...

BLOODY FINGER!!!!

16-Nov-10 06:51 AM

Janice_S    Said...

cut your nails... your creeping me out!!

A wash would not be such a bad idea as well.

16-Nov-10 11:11 AM

asa    Said...

If you want entrecot, buy an entrecot, not a burger. Easy to understand. This product is a wanna be.

16-Nov-10 01:42 PM

Marc JX8P    Said...

At the price, a great product. Limited in editing but a great sound. I do feel that they should have added aftertouch and a few more knobs to the keyboard, but at the price there's room for a nanokontrol in the budget. :-)

17-Nov-10 04:40 PM

DBM    Said...

Is there an editor for the KB ? In that you can save Midi CC's yo the knobs and such for use with hardware ?

17-Nov-10 11:52 PM

Nick BB    Said...

Editor yes. It should have been in the video no? you send the settings to the keyboard

18-Nov-10 05:31 AM

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