Arturia plays Santa Claus and gives the Polybrute users a feature-rich firmware 2.0 with new effects, chord mode, duophonic aftertouch & more.
Christmas holidays are coming soon. The time when you spend a lot with your family and have more time to play with your latest gear in your studio. Arturia thought of its hardware customers and released a new firmware for the Polybrute, their first polyphonic analog Synthesizer.
There are many new features to discover that will keep you busy for the entire holiday. I’m sure. If that is not the case, take part in the SYNTHMAS giveaway and with a little luck you can upgrade your sound arsenal for free.
Arturia Polybrute 2.0
The Polybrute got its firmware 2.0 today. As a reminder: it’s a polyphonic analog morphing Synthesizer with six voices of polyphony, two oscillators, two filters, three envelopes & LFOs, effects, and arp/sequencer. One of the highlights is the play area which, in addition to the classic keys, also has a ribbon controller and the Morphée. It’s a touch and pressure sensitive 3D controller with which you can morph sounds in a unique way. In firmware 2.0 the feature set will be expanded once more.
The new firmware intros a synth accuracy section allowing you to adjust the accuracy of controls including the OSC pulse width, filter settings, unquantized LFO rate… With these, you can add a more humanized feel to the Polybrute synthesis engine. LFO 3 has got also an update with improvement curves. You can set the Polybrute’s third LFO curve to respond differently for further modulation option. On top of triangles, bells, and spikes, you can now access exponential to logarithmic envelope-like shapes.
Then, we can also welcome new effects in firmware 2.0. The Polybrute now hosts an additional EQ stage with 7 shapes to choose from as well as a vintage-style ensemble effect for massive stereo width. Perfect for string machine like sounds or on juicy analog pads.
Expanded Aftertouch
The Polybrute doesn’t support polyphonic aftertouch, so far only monophonic. Yes poly AT would be awesome. With the update, however, the developers have expanded the aftertouch to the duphonic sphere. You can now configure aftertouch so that it applies to the last note or group of notes you press. In this case, the previously held note remains unchanged.
Further, the free update introduces a chord mode with the ability to create chords with up to 6 notes. This gives you the option to play chords with a single note on the keyboard. Users can also benefit from real-time display feedback. PolyBrute’s screen now displays parameter names and values in real-time, so you can stay on top of every little sonic tweak.
And to experience all the features in practice, the new Polybrute 2.0 firmware ships with 64 additional factory presets designed by professional sound designers.
At first glance an amazing free update for the Polybrute. I’m very curious to hear how the vintage-inspired ensemble effect sounds with the engine.
Arturia Polybrute 2.0 firmware is available now as a free download for existing customers. Polybrute Synthesizer is out now for $2699 USD/2545€
More information here: Arturia
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Steve Hunt already implemented that ‘duophonic aftertouch’ in his LFE. With this you can get improved playability implemented on other synths with monophonic AT.