Arturia’s Impressively-Comprehensive “V Collection” Synths Reviewed

Have you ever wanted to own a Moog Minimoog? Perhaps an original Korg ARP Odyssey or MS-20? While these synths sound absolutely amazing, unique, and perhaps magical, most of us can’t even afford a broken one. 2000 bucks is a lot for a synthesizer; that money could be spent and justified on a car or rent.

Even if you have one synth, an element that makes different synthesizers so appealing to musicians is their distinct individual character. Even with similar design, the differing oscillators, flavorful filters, and physical circuitry produce a unique form of electrical DNA. This is a part of why we are so infatuated with ‘analog’ things, despite all the ease-of-use that digital electronics provide. So how do we get a piece of the action without selling our computer or guitar to afford a new instrument? What if we want it all and won’t be satisfied with just one synth? Well, the folks at Arturia have all your bases covered and then some.

Would the Minmoog be the perfect bass for your track? Perhaps you’d like the sounds of a Jupiter 8 for a lush pad. Now you don’t have to choose, because their awe-inspiring V Collection puts every notable keyboard you’ve ever longed for right at your fingertips, all with dependable realism. These synths sound like the real thing and go beyond that, providing additional control and features for the modern musician.

Because it’d take forever detailing all the included pieces of V Collection, we chose three of the instruments to make some sound examples for our readers and listeners. Here are three demos we made with the infinitely fun and striking V Collection.

Notice how beautiful the filters and sound quality are- these instruments rival their original counterparts and go beyond, reinventing them for future musicians. For only $499, you get so much stuff; there’s no room for disappointment. Do we have to remind you how expensive the original synths are? (An original Jupiter 8 for instance, is over 8k)

In addition to the powerful and effective synthesizer emulation, Arturia has also considerably beefed up the available features. The instruments boast more modulation matrices, new filter types, step sequencers, keyboard split/layer functions, additional effects, and arpeggiators, just some of the added bonuses. The graphical representations of the instruments are both nostalgic and comfortable for musicians of any level. No longer do you have to wallow through confusing modulation routings, tangled cords, patches, and settings; everything is neatly labeled and responsive. Each one of them has innumerable classic presets. If you’ve played the synth before, the learning curve is practically nonexistent. You can open up one of the 17 awesome tools and get right down to making impressive classic envelope-pushing sounds.

A partial assortment the synths included in V Collection (cred: Sweetwater/Arturia)

Buying the V Collection from Arturia is a decision you won’t regret. This collection provides unique reinventions of the classic instruments that will continue to make the music of the future. The excellent Mitch Gallagher has a marvelous walkthrough of V Collection on YouTube with Sweetwater that we highly recommend you check out as well.

Purchase V Collection here, direct from Arturia

If you’re looking to add other complementary tools to your collection, check out Nicky Romero & Cableguys’ plugin, Kickstart. While we reviewed it awhile ago, sidechaining and electronic music go together now more than ever. Use it to help these lush synths, dreamy keys, and fat basses fit in your mix better alongside a fat kick.

What production tool should DMNW check out next? We are thinking about some effects plugins or perhaps some physical analog or digital gear. Let us know in the comments below!