Hello Ben,
"Can the Origin be used like a hardware version of all these softsynths? Is there any advantage to having the software instrument versions (+computer ) over the single hardware version?"
Good questions. There are two ways to look at the Origin:
- it is a modular synthesizer offering modules taken from the synth we recreated
- is is a system hosting the synths we recreated themselves.
So to answer your first question, what you can find in the Orgin that you won't find in the Software versions:
- the modular approch taking everything we did so far a step further
- new modules, like the sequencer we added, the Macro mode or different other things. Part of the next release is also, as an example, a B3 tonewheel which hapens to be very interesting in a modular context.
- physical controllers, obviously
- the dedicated CPU -which is not only about saving CPU from your studio computer but also about having a dedicated DSP based system which is built around audio. Audio processes on the Origin DSP's are not competing with anything else. When you are using a computer, if you filled it up with lots of different stuffs, this could mean more latency and less stability in a live context. You won't find that with the Origin.
- high quality ins & outs
As for the analog synths we emulated, they will be there too. They will take benefit of some of the things I listed above. But using them on a computer will still be more interesting in some contexts and for some musicians. It is a matter of what you need. The workflow will be different, the cost is different. It is really up to what you want to do.
With the Origin, the initial goal was for Arturia to offer a properitary platform, in parallel to Mac and PC, that would address some of the issues you could face on Mac and PC. It ended up being more than that because of the modular part and the new things we added. But it is also that for people who want to use the analog classic synths and only the analog classic synths.
Frederic Brun
