In Pigments 3, Arturia takes his sound explorers into the deep worlds of additive synthesis paired with a new filter, effects, sounds & more.
Arturia describes its multi-engine plugin as a polychromatic Synthesizer plugin. Since its introduction in 2018, it has seen many impressive further developments. Started as a competitor for Serum and others, Version 2.0 added sampler functionalities, granular synthesis, and classic analog-modeled filters, which made Pigments significantly more versatile and complex.
Not only its deep engine should be mentioned here but also the brilliant interface which is completely color-coded. With Pigments 3.0, Arturia is showing another impressive free update for its all-in-one synthesizer plugin for macOS and Windows
Arturia Pigments
The big highlight of this 3.0 update is a brand-new additive “harmonic oscillator” engine that you can now find in the oscillators.
It adds a detailed additive synthesis with up to 512 partials that can be deformed and manipulated in various ways. Then, you get a dual formant filters section in the middle that offers morphing from A to B, odd. Plus odd and even harmonic customization, and various other ways to modulate the partials. The nice thing about additive synthesis is that it introduces a completely new sound palette. From crystal clear bells, organic basses to complete harmonic chaos. A little NI Razor for Pigments but not that crazy.
This means you can now choose between virtual analog, wavetable, sampler, or additive synthesis. So you can combine them in any of the two slots, which significantly expands the sound spectrum of Pigments once again. Version 3.0 also ships with 64 new wavetables (total of 164) and a new ramp waveform for the virtual analog engine.
3rd Utility Engine
Besides the new additive engine, Pigments 3 also includes a new 3rd utility engine that features a multi-wave sub-oscillator and up to 2 noise sample layers. With these, you can make any sound even fatter and richer. Depending on which noise you use, you can give sounds a nice vintage, crackling character.
The developers have also incorporated the filter from the new Jupiter-8 V4 emulation, introduced with the VC 8 in the new Pigments version. The routing also got new routing options.
New Effects
That’s not all. Pigments 3 also features a new range of vintage-inspired effects processors which makes the plugin much more interesting for retro sounds.
- pitch delay, a clean, modern algorithm for creating exciting pitch-shifting ambiance
- multi-band compressor, a much-requested tool for creating a tight mix-ready sound without ever leaving Pigments
- BL-20 flanger, a faithful reimagining of an elusive analog studio effect
- Chorus JUN-6, one-touch analog sparkle, and stereo fatness, taken from the faithful Juno-6 emulation
Further, it ships with 300 expertly crafted presets by world-class sound designers, and new in-app tutorials. An additional soundbank with 500 extra presets is available for purchase.
A great free update in my opinion that makes Pigments even more interesting. Additive synthesis brings many new facets with it that were not previously in this synth.
Arturia Pigments 3 is available now for an introductory price of 99€/$ instead of 199€/$ and comes with the new Spectrum Sound Pack (worth 99€/$) at no charge. Please check your Arturia user account for a better deal. For existing customers, this update is free of charge and the sound pack is available for 19,99€/$ (worth 99€/$), for a limited time. The plugin runs as a VST, VST3, AU, AAX plugin on macOS and Windows. Intro offers end on May 13, 2021.
More information here: Arturia
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Sounds like a DX7