This is an official overview video for the Arturia Origin, focusing on keyboardists.

via Arturiaweb

This video, by ElectronicMusicGear, demos making presets for the Arturia Origin.

Here’s how to make a patch:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Sonic Labs does a video overview of the new Arturia Origin virtual analog synthesizer.

MusicThing’s Tom Whitwell has posted his first impressions of the Arturia Origin synthesizer, and it’s not pretty:

The Origin has crossed that line – it’s not a hardware synth, it’s a computer in a box covered in knobs.

The trouble starts when you turn it on, after first plugging it in, using the OEM external power supply that must have cost 99p. (Seriously, a £1900 hardware synth only really makes sense if you’re playing live. An external PSU only makes sense if you’re desperately trying to cut costs. If Behringer can manage a proper internal universal PSU in £70 mixers, why can’t you?) Anyway, when you turn it on, it takes 30+ seconds to boot. Because it’s a computer in a box.

No, it isn’t a literal PC in a box like an Open Labs Neko or a Hartman Neuron, so it will have taken serious R&D investment to design and build. The hardware was designed – in 2005 – by Wave Idea, a French company who make MIDI interfaces. What’s frustrating about the Origin is that it’s a computer in a box pretending to be an analog synth… and nothing more.

The Origin is a wonderful thing. It looks good, it feels good. I’m sure it’s not overpriced for what it is – a boutique, limited-run machine with a lot of custom hardware and software.

But I can’t imagine who would be willing to pay £1,900 for it. It’s too digital for an analog fetishist, too analog for a sound experimentalist. The potential of this box is immense – DSP power + screen + knobs + blinkenlights + wooden end panels. But at the moment it’s just – tragically – boring.

Read Tom’s full impressions here, and if you’re an Origin owner, I’d be interested in your thoughts on Arturia’s new hardware synthesizer.

Arturia has announced that it’s now shipping Origin, a hardware DSP system that recreates and expands on several vintage synthesizers.

“We are extremely proud to be shipping Origin”, says Frederic Brun, President of Arturia. “The project has taken much longer than we initially thought and, since we had announced the product early, Origin has been eagerly awaited by the market.”

“During the last 4 years, Arturia has been dedicated to bringing a synthesizer that would be both innovative and powerful. At the same time, the company wanted to offer a simple, enjoyable and straightforward experience to the musician. We truly believe that we have achieved that and look forward to people seeing Origin in action.”

You can preview the Origin sound below.

Price: USD 3200 / EURO 2490

Arturia’s preview for the Origin synth is a teaser, more than anything else.

Origin is the first Arturia Hardware synthesizer. It is a modular system, featuring modules based on some of the best synthesizers of all time (Moog Modular, ARP 2600, CS-80, Minimoog and Prophet VS).

Features:

• 500+ presets created by talented musicians and synthesizer specialists
• Up to 32 voices of polyphony for a typical patch
• Create your own patch or use an existing audio structures: an Origin patch made by connecting independent modules, or the minimoog V, the ARP 2600, the CS-80, the Moog Modular.
• Superb audio quality with TAE engine in a hardware chassis. 24 bits/96 kHz supported.
• Compatibility with most of the presets from the Arturia Classic virtual Analog synthesizers.
• Origin lets you open dedicated software on your Mac and PC and use it as an AU or VST plug-in. All the sounds are calculated on the machine while you work on your computer as you would do with a native application.
• Real time effects that expand on those available in our plugins: Phaser, Chorus, Delay, Reverb, Distortion, Parametric Equalizer, Compressor, Bitcrusher
• 16/32 step sequencer
• Innovative Macro, Advanced LFO, modulation modes, Advanced Joystick modes.
• Audio: 2 audio ins, 10 audio outs. Digital: SPDIF out, USB 2.0
• Built-in expression pedal and footswitch control inputs
• MIDI : In, Out, Thru or USB 2

USD 2999 / EUR 2299 – shipping in 2008

Namm Update: Arturia unveiled version 1.0 of Origin Keyboard, a new hardware soft synth that they previewed last year.

“The Origin project has proved much more demanding and complex than we initially thought,” says Frédéric Brun, President of Arturia. “The modularity of the architecture, combined with the nature of the engine, based two TigerSHARC’s, and with the ergonomic choices we’ve made, resulted in a high level of complexity. But, what is complexity for us will deliver power and ease of use for the musician. We are late to deliver, but we have made the choice to take the time necessary and to not compromise on quality.”

Main Features:

• Create your own patch by combining innovative modules and classic sound controls extracted from the Minimoog, the CS-80, the ARP 2600, the Moog Modular, the Jupiter-8, and the Prophet VS.
• Use template patches: an Origin audio structure made by connecting independent modules, or the minimoog. (The Minimoog template will be delivered in version 1 while the other recreations will come as free upgrades in later Origin updates.)
• Up to 32 voices of polyphony
• More than 500 presets created by talented musicians and synthesizer specialists
• Modular system with more than 80 modules, some new, some excerpted from legendary synthesizers from the past.
• Superb audio quality with TAE® engine. 24 bits/96 kHz supported.
• With a future update to the Origin line, you will be able to open dedicated software on your Mac and PC and use the instrument as an AU or VST plug-in. All the sounds are produced on the Origin while you work on your computer, as you would do with a native application.
• Analog: 2 audio ins, 10 audio outs. Digital: SPDIF out, USB 2.0
• Selection of high quality effects: Phaser, Chorus, Delay, Distortion,Parametric EQ
• 16/32 step sequencer
• Innovative Macro, Advanced LFO, Advanced modulation modes, Advanced Joysick modes
• MIDI: In, Out, Thru or USB 2
• High Level of Control:
  • ultra sensitive 40cm ribbon controller
  • high quality light-weighted 61 keys keyboard, with velocity response and channel aftertouch
  • Modulation and pitch-bend wheels, 3-mode Joystick, 55 potentiometers, 46 rotary encoders, 64 switches
• Ergonomic design
  • Self adjustable front panel, from 0° to 135°, giving you total setup flexibility.
  • 5.2″ TFT screen for clear visual feedback.
  • complete mobile solution, offering everything you need to perform in a single, easily transportable cabinet.

MSRP: $3499/ 2999 €
MAP: $2999/ 2499 €