Arturia unleashes Dist COLDFIRE

Arturia has introduced Dist COLDFIRE, a dual-engine distortion effect that gives users “a reactive arsenal of classic & cutting-edge ways to process and destroy their sound”.

The company says that the plugin lets users manipulate and combine various distortion types for truly unique and powerful sound design.

Dist COLDFIRE is an all-in-one distortion effect, that is capable of subtle mix-enhancing saturation, dual-engine custom crunch, or “unrestrained sonic destruction”. You can pair any of 11 distortion types, from emulated tube heat to digital bit crush, customize routing, add modulation, and create custom distortion effects.

Pricing and Availability

Dist COLDFIRE is available now for $99. Registered Arturia users can purchase Dist COLDFIRE at an introductory price, with discounts up to 50% off.

8 thoughts on “Arturia unleashes Dist COLDFIRE

  1. “a reactive arsenal of classic & cutting-edge ways to process and destroy their sound”. Yup, I’ll certainly buy this because that’s my intention every time I sit down and compose something new 🙁

    1. As a sound designer (with a down sized wife), I love stuff like this.
      Instant buy.

      Just curious, and no offense, but how is the Volca FM2 NOT worth $170???
      It’s like the other guy who posted he bought all the gazillion soft synths he
      never uses??? Um…Why do people buy stuff they either don’t need, use or like????

      1. Re: Volca FM2. No offense taken. It probably would be worth $170 if Korg hadn’t crippled it. If I had known that it wouldn’t allow MIDI transmission of patch SysEx, I never would have ordered it. The prospect of a 6-voice hardware FM synth for $170 seemed intriguing, especially considering that, in theory, all of the DX/TX7 patches I have around here could be used and tweaked for it. Once it arrived (after waiting for over six months from when I ordered it) I found that the only way to get patches into it was, serially, through the audio input. This is 2022, not 1981. Also, the analog audio circuitry is not great. Patches played using it sound duller and tinnier than when played through the same audio system using either a TX7 or Dexed running on a vanilla Win 7 PC. So, given that Dexed is free, is easy to load patches into via SysEx, and sounds a lot better even using a relatively old and under-powered PC, the Volca FM is not worth $170 to me. There other toys I might want for that kind of money that I would probably play with a lot more than I use the Volca. However, now that the “wonder MIDI cable” (RK002) that I purchased from Retrokits for about $100 has finally arrived, I might put the batteries back into the Volca and see if it can gain some practical use.

        To answer your other question about soft synth acquisition… Personally, I very seldom or never use over 70% of the soft synths I buy (of which I must have well over 200 of by now). Take the Arturia “Collection”. I use maybe two or three of those. Of the Korg “collection” I use the Wavestation, the M1, the Triton, and now the Wavestate. Often, I see a synth that sounds promising on sale for under $100 (or more likely, under $50), so I purchase it hoping it will be of some use. Sometimes it turns out great but often times it turns out to be a dud. I’m old and fussy 🙂 It’s not that I I don’t think I “like” or “need” any given soft synth when I buy it, it’s just that I may end up not ever using it once I try it out because it fails to meet my expectations. It is software, you realize, and it’s not like you can just return stuff that you end up not liking. I probably “over buy” hardware synths, too, but at least I can usually return the ones I don’t think I’ll ever use.

  2. It’s really good, sounds awesome and nicely laid out in that clean Arturia GUI way. Soundtoys are great but I couldnt stand the UI. Bailed a few days into the trial. More focus should go into UI/UX when it comes to plugins. PhasePlant-OK, Serum- Crantastic, everything is right where it needs to be and labeled.

    1. UI: not loving the random huge crossfade image in the middle, it’s a waste of space. I’d prefer a spectrum showing original and affected signal. Fabfilter UI is the best at this kind of thing.

    1. buddy, it’s like a 70% discount if you own the most recent FX collection. that’s a joke for something of this incredible quality. I really cannot recommend coldfire enough – amazing UX and the detail and subtlety in the sound is phenomenal.
      (fwiw i do think arturia’s “collection” release cycle is a little confusion but the prices are still kind of no-brainers when you have regular discounts offered).

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