The VM2500 gives you all 18 modules, features, and the well-known sound of the ARP 2500 as an emulation for the Cherry Audio Voltage Modular Synthesizer.
There are many software emulations of classic synthesizers. There are very good but also bad ones. The US-based company Cherry Audio is currently of the big stars of the industry. The developers offer many legendary Synthesizers as super solid software emulations for your DAW for little money. A great-sounding emulation of the Oberheim 8 Voice recently hit the market for an unbeatable $29.
Today, they released another legend with the ARP 2500. Not as a ready-to-use plugin but in a modular version for the Voltage Modular Synthesizer.
Cherry Audio VM2500 Collection
The VM2500 Collection features 18 new modules for Voltage Modular, all software emulations of the original ARP 2500 modular Synthesizer. To make this project happened, Cherry Audio teamed up with Mark Barton of MRB Labs to recreate this iconic synth for their powerful software modular environment. More precisely, CA was responsible for the design, Mark Barton for the DSP coding.
They have been recreated in perfect detail, and they also some modules that were originally planned but never produced like the full-function oscilloscope and spring reverb, says CA. They also added a mixer module that never existed. To make it compatible with their Eurorack-inspired Voltage Modular workflow, they eliminated the iconic matrix and replaced all connections with standard CV jacks with bi-polar CV attenuators.
Cherry Audio says that the module offers the big analog sound and unique feature set of the original modules with a few tweaks to improve the practicality of these 50-year-old designs. Ok, this software emulation will certainly not sound entirely like the original ARP 2500, but it certainly comes close.
Standalone Plugin?
At the moment you get 18 individual modules for Voltage Modular. It is not yet known whether the VM2500 Collection will also be transformed into a standalone plugin. If you look at the last product releases, an ARP 2500 emulation as a classic synthesizer plugin can be very possible.
A stunning release and impressive work of both collaborators. I like the release a lot because you can get the sound and patch fun of the ARP 2500 for little money here. For everyone who cannot afford the Behringer replicas, this is a very nice alternative. Hopefully soon as a standalone plugin.
Cherry Audio VM2500 Collection is available now for an introductory price of $49 USD instead of $69 USD for Voltage Modular.
More information here: Cherry Audio
I’m becoming a fan of Cherry Audio more and more. Great products for extremely reasonable prices. BTW.. you can now pickup a copy of Voltage Modular Nucleus for free (previous sold for $29) -a great starting point if you are new to modular and would like to dabble. Recommended.