Producer’s Guide: Arturia Pigments 2

While Arturia have a long history of excellent analogue emulations, plus a modern pedigree in real-life hardware synths, until the French brand released Pigments a little over a year ago there was a notable gap in their line in that they had never produced a fully original virtual synth.

Pigments, however, was worth the wait. While its wavetable elements and modulation tools borrow good ideas from Serum, Massive and Avenger, Arturia’s powersynth stood out by incorporating killer virtual analogue elements that leant on the tech behind the company’s excellent V Collection. The synth also cut its own path with its accessible approach to modulation and control. With a handy central ‘bar’ offering visualisation for its modulation routings, and a convenient bank of Macros, Pigments was accessible even for users who would feel out of their depth with its more complex tools.

Now we have v2, a free update that greatly expands the synth by adding the main thing missing from the original – a sampler engine. This impressive powersynth could become your next sound design secret weapon. Let’s explore how…