Arturia Synclavier V Virtual Instrument Synthesizer, Electronic Download

The Synclavier V faithfully recreates the elite digital synthesizer/workstation that started it all, powering some of the biggest hits and film soundtracks of the early '80s with its unique rich, edgy sounds. If you were to ask anyone back in the late '70s and early '80s to name the Holy Grail of synthesizers, the most revered of them all was New England Digital's Synclavier. Its unique combination of additive synthesis and frequency modulation delivered a creative edge to the privileged few keyboardists, producers, film composers and sound designers who could afford systems that ranged from $13k to $400k. Some of those rock-solid systems are still in use today. Arturia has recreated this highly revered hit maker in partnership with original programmer Cameron Jones, delivering the immense rich textures and creative palette of this vintage instrument, while dramatically improving it to let you blaze new musical trails today with sounds never heard before. Sounds you will only find here There's simply nothing else like the powerhouse sound of the Synclavier V. No synth arsenal is complete without it There's no hint of analog or samples here-this is the sound of unabashed digital synthesis in all its glory. While it can certainly create unique mellow tones, this vintage flagship is more known for its distinctive digital character ranging from edgy to eardrum-ripping brash to intergalactic. It's especially ideal for extended pads and slow cinematic, ambient soundscapes. Plus, we've invested in significant updates that make the Synclavier V a thoroughly modern instrument with sounds that set it-and you-completely apart. Hundreds of presets from the world's top sound designers tame the unparalleled power of the Synclavier V and place it at all your fingertips for instant inspiration and easy customization. A programmer's dream While you'll get tons of love from Synclavier V's presets alone, there's a universe of sonic adventures waiting just beneath the surface whenever you're ready. The unique sound of the Synclavier V comes from its blend of additive and FM synthesis, with control over 24 additive harmonics on both the carrier and modulation oscillators. Where the original instrument let you mix four uniquely programmed Partials Timbres in a Timbre preset, Arturia's recreation has twelve, boosting your creative possibilities exponentially. The Time Slice engine allows complex evolutions of the sound over time-even several minutes if you want. Programming the Synclavier V is a study in elegance. Three different interface views let you choose the depth of control that best suits your needs. The Synclavier V lets you realize the dream of an entire stunning synth orchestra with just one plugin. A Legend Reborn Arturia partnered with the original programmer of the Synclavier to bring this synth legend back to life even better than ever. Yeah it's all that and more. Technology that's out of this world To handle the incredible amount of data required to pull off digital synthesis in the '70s, NED had to design and build their own ABLE mini-computer as the heart of the instrument, complete with a proprietary 16-bit operating system. But that's another story Totally authentic Quality also being paramount at Arturia, we partnered with original Synclavier programmer Cameron Jones-considered by many to be the Bob Moog of digital-to insure our recreation would be as authentic as possible. We remained faithful to the instrument's elegant interface design, both in reproducing the original features and adding new ones. We even used part of the original code. It doesn't get more authentic than that. A modern instrument beyond the original While the Synclavier V expertly brings this historic instrument to life, we've improved it dramatically by taking advantage of today's processing power. We've also infused into it everything we've learned over 16 years of developing award-winning software synthesizers. The result is a thoroughly modern, cutting-edge instrument that stands alone among hardware and software synths alike. Intuitive Interface What's the point of unlimited power if you can't easily harness it? Synclavier V's ergonomic 3-panel interface insures that you can put your hands on exactly what you need, whether you're finding sounds while performing, exploring and tweaking during recording or doing in-depth sound design in the studio. Standard Panel Mode Our redesign streamlines the original hardware interface, distilling into the Standard Panel Mode only what you need for exploring and performing with the generous Timbre preset library. This panel also gives you easy master control over parameters that affect the Timbre as a whole, such as envelopes and ratio for the carrier and modulation (harmonic) oscillators. Extended Panel Mode When you're ready to get more adventurous, the Extended Panel Mode lets you select and tweak one or more of the 12 Partial Timbres that make up a Timbre. Each Partial Timbre has complete discrete controls for advanced envelopes, FM amount and ratio, vibrato, stereo animation and much more. Graphic Display Mode Based on what you'd see on the original green monochrome CRT, the graphic display lets you design visually at the deepest depths of the Synclavier V sound engine. Here you work with the harmonic spectra of the oscillators and how they evolve via Time Slices. You'll also find the Partial Timbre mixer, modulation assignments, graphic display and control of envelopes, effects and more. Many controls from the other display modes are duplicated here for one-stop programming. A Sound All Its Own No other instrument gives you the sonic architecture, flexibility and character of the Synclavier V. Timbres consist of up to 12 Partial Timbres Much of the magic of the original Synclavier owed to the ability to build Timbres (presets) by creating and layering four completely different sounds or Partial Timbres to realize massive, complex sounds. With the Synclavier V, we've taken the number of Partial Timbres to 12, dramatically expanding the creative possibilities. Since each Partial Timbre is a complete sound, that means that you can stack many different sonic elements into electrifying Timbres resounding with rich complex textures brimming with subtleties. Partial Timbres are each compete synth engines Each of the 12 Partial Timbres has two digital oscillators that combine the principles of both additive and frequency modulation (FM) synthesis. Rather than using filters to subtract harmonics from simple oscillators, additive synthesis builds up complex sounds by selectively adding harmonics in this case. The Synclavier V goes way beyond that, combining these oscillators in an FM architecture where the carrier (main) oscillator is modulated by the second harmonic oscillator. The fusion of additive and FM technologies make for a stunningly diverse and unique universe of cinematic pads, epic leads, evolving bass lines and more. Time Slices animate long passages Time Slices allow you to specify up to 50 snapshots of the 12 Partial Timbres of additive and FM synthesis goodness and animate through them over time. For each Time Slice, you can set the volume, pitch, FM modulation amount and delay. The ability to set parameter crossfades of up to 30 seconds between Time Slices-over a total time of 5 minutes-makes it possible to create long evolving ambient pads and cinematic cues of incredible complexity. Improvements make a great instrument even greater We've made a lot more improvements beyond boosting the sound engine from four Partial Timbres to 12. Where the original modulation oscillator was only a sine wave, now you can also choose sawtooth, square or triangle-or graphically build your own waves comprised of 24 phase-controllable harmonics. These enhancements allow you to create outrageous textures never possible before. Each Time Slice can now even have a separate FM modulator waveform. Variable bit depth between 4- and 24-bits, on-board effects and a MIDI Learn feature are just some of the many examples of the new options available to you in Synclavier V. Unparalleled Creative Expression With the Synclavier V, digital synthesis meets total creative and performance expression. Sure, all synths have LFOs, but the vibrato section of the Synclavier V is exhaustive, giving you control over LFO attack, phase, quantizing, bias and more. Things get even more interesting when you apply the LFO to the FM harmonic oscillator that, in turn, modulates the carrier. Let that sink in for a minute! Want to take your listeners on an animated journey? Add extra energy to your pads and soundscapes with the stereo modulation section. It actually takes the form of separate linkable tremolos for each channel, making for unique spatial animation effects that will have everybody's heads spinning.