5 years ago, V-Collection was something that was in my drop-downs in Cubase, but it NEVER saw use. I wish this company all the success they can handle. It's now at a level of being awe inspiring AND feels very true, not like a cheap imitation. Well now I feel like there is some super serious quality surfacing in many of these instruments, in a very real way. It was like eating at a buffet, where you might not think it's all that good, but there's lots of it. My biggest takeaway, is that maybe 5 years ago, I felt like at whatever cost the V-collection was, it was super cool to have an idea of what all of this stuff was, and to be able to interact with it in a similar way to the hardware, and be able to reproduce a flavor that leans toward the original thing. I've never played a real MS-20, but this emulation is a monster of it's own regardless. I also feel like the Augmented series is extremely cool and it seems like something that other companies would release for $100 - $200 bucks as a stand alone item. I do truly believe that it all falls short of hardware but it's getting so close that I can't imagine really caring at all. It's either worth it or not, and having come from the days paying $1100 for my first 'synth' with maybe 8Mb of Rom samples, no filter, and maybe 128 different samples to play with, this seems like I'm living in synth paradise. I know that some people are put off by the upgrade prices, but man, I've just never been one to barter about pricing. I definitely did not feel that way back on version 5 of the V-Collection. It makes me want to write with it, and play it, just for fun. I was never into it before, but now it just seems to have that, to me, dust-on-the-circuits sort of vibe to it, like it's a bit old, and the corners are rounded off. I'm playing the Arturia Prophet-5 this morning and I am really really liking it. But, as much as Repro is stellar, it can really be a little bit too big, and often.

Does their Prophet V compare to Repro as far as mojo and girth? Nope. Do I like their OB-Xa compared to Obsession? Not really. No, I am not in love with every part of it, but the things I really like, I REALLY like.

I honestly just don't feel like I can say enough good about this package as a whole.

Arturia v collection synths