SQ-80 Not Part of V Collection 8? WTF

[artao]

Historically Arturia have ALWAYS included new instruments in the V Collection current at the time. Repeatedly. Every time.
What's going on here that the SQ-80 isn't in V Collection 8?
I sure hope this doesn't forebode a different direction for Arturia. That would be a huge let down and step backwards.

[JDoo]

I imagine, it will be included in V Collection 9.  SQ-80 released after VC8 was released.  IIRC.. same thing has happened in the past.

[MajorFubar]

Historically Arturia have ALWAYS included new instruments in the V Collection current at the time. Repeatedly. Every time.

Not with synths launched after the current V Collection. Arturia have never, ever done this.
Very likely it will be included with V Collection 9.

[artao]

Historically Arturia have ALWAYS included new instruments in the V Collection current at the time. Repeatedly. Every time.

Not with synths launched after the current V Collection. Arturia have never, ever done this.
Very likely it will be included with V Collection 9.

Ohhhhh yes they have.
V Collection 4.
Within 1 yr after purchasing it, they added: Matrix 12, Solina, Vox, and Wurlitzer. All for free, to V Collection 4.
They ALSO upgraded the engine of the MiniMoog and gave that to all owners of V Collection 4. UNLIKE what they recently pulled with the Jupiter 8 and Stage 73.
Nothing was added to V Collection 6 (nor even announced/released prior to V Collection 7). IDR anything being added to V Collection 5 either; but again, no new synths were announced or released until the next version. (I only upgrade every two versions because their single-version upgrade prices are otherwise insulting to long time customers.)

Arturia's business practices have changed and are changing. Not particularly in the interest of customers. This is a new behavior.
With all the products they have going and the popularity of them, they can't possibly be hurting for money. So it seems a bit petty to me to hold back on instruments like with the Jupiter 8 and Stage 73 engine updates and this SQ-80.

[MajorFubar]

OK your experience predates mine. By the time I bought V Collection 4 those instruments were already included. Since then they have not added any new instruments to the current V Collection, they've always waited for the release of the next. Considering that's been the case for what, 6 years since the launch of V Collection 5, I'd consider this business strategy the 'new normal' that you're just going to have to live with.

BTW I agree with you about the 'f#ck off' so-called special deals for existing customers. You may have noticed from my sig I'm still on VC6.

[artao]

This is, IIRC, the first time (EDIT: Since V Collection 4) they've released a synth without simultaneously releasing a new V Collection. So my statement that they've "historically" just added new stuff to the current collection is a bit "simplified" I guess.

I only JUST did the upgrade from V6 to V8 since they finally offered me the 100usd deal, putting each instrument at about 13 or 14 bucks each. Brand new customers get it for around 22 or 23usd per instrument. Version to version upgrades are generally around 25 to 26usd per instrument.
Upgrading every 2 to 3 version seems to be the way to go. I first got V4, then V6, and now V8. Given that they just gave me the good deal, I fully expect V Collection 9 to come out soon. However, V8 is still only around a year old, and the version upgrades seem to come about every 2 years.
I guess we'll see. But it sure is frustrating.

EDIT: Note that I'm not counting Pigments because that is not an emulation, but an entirely original product. That's fair.

[MajorFubar]

V Collection 8 was launched in December 2020 so I expect 9 is soon to be announced (maybe June?) , especially since they've just offered the upgrade deal, which historically always slightly predates the launch of the new V Collection.

Hope the new collection includes more new goodies than just the SQ-80. Trouble is, for me it's reached the point where the new synths I really want to see, such as big guns from Korg and Roland like the M1 and D50, will never appear because they'd be competing with those manufacturers' own existing emulations. OK both Arturia and Roland market emulations of the Jupiter 8 and Juno 6, but the D50 is the premium Roland product from its era, and probably a huge reason people sign-up to the Roland Cloud, so I can't see an Arturia version forthcoming. I'd like to be proved wrong.

[artao]

The V Collection really needs some drum machine emulations. SO sad they dropped Spark, which I still use regularly.

[MajorFubar]

Yeah I don't get why they effectively abandoned Spark, and excluded it from V Collection 5 onwards. They know people want it and do still use it: they've recently made it Apple Silicon compatible. Even if they don't ever add new samples and features, at least give it an interface refresh to make it look like the current crop of Arturia VSTs, and bring it rightfully back into V Collection.

[artao]

Yeah I don't get why they effectively abandoned Spark, and excluded it from V Collection 5 onwards.

During beta testing of that last "final" update I learned that one of the BIGGEST problems with maintaining Spark is that they no longer had the people who wrote it on staff. And apparently the code is kinda a mess and hard to work with. So it's unlikely they'll put any more effort into it.
Perhaps there could be hope for a Spark 3 re-coded from scratch? It wouldn't be the first time they did a total re-code. My Spark CDM controller is pre-Spark 2 and included a CD with the original Spark software. It looks VERY different from Spark 2. I never bothered to install it and try it out tho.

I think it's pretty sketchy that it's still being sold in some places, via the SparkLE hardware. And Arturia's page for/about it will help you find a dealer near you to buy it. ESPECIALLY since there's no open indication to a new purchaser that it is no longer maintained. The CDM is sadly no longer made. Gotta get it on eBay, which is where I got mine.

[MajorFubar]

That would make sense. Going off-topic but I think this is a similar reason why development of the iPad apps ground to a halt:their development was out-sourced, and the in-house devs don't know how to write iPad apps. There will probably come a point where the apps no longer work on the current version of iPadOS (we may already be there: my iPad is obsolete enough to be only able to run iOS 12, so I can't say). When that happens, Arturia will have to either pull them from the store-front or re-code them.