Future of Origin

[Superwaldi]

I really looking for a new synth and the origin is on top of my wishlist (followed by a John Bowen Solaris, Waldorf Stromberg (where is it?)), but there are some things I have to claim about this machine:

- the €-price should be reduced about € 400,-

- there should be USB-Audio-Output. (Total VST-Integration would be nice as well.) I'm running a modern studio here and I get used not to repatch all the configurations over and over...

- I am missing a vocoder module

- the reverb effect could be improved.

- the timeline shows some overdues (about 5-6 month). Firmware 1.1 was initially announced for autumn 2009, then prosponed to end of 2009 and will be certainly presented on NAMM 2010. I'm mean such an open architecture should be feeded more frequently with new templates, modules, features.

- I don't see so much users out there. Even the preset zone is quite empty.

I see the correlation between installed items on the market and future developments. This is exactly what keeps me waiting. The concept and the sound deserve commercial success, but the price and the unknown future let me hesitate to get it.

[synthguy99]

I just managed to get my brand new Origin updated, and I was wondering about the future of the instrument too.  I don't know if the reverb can be enhanced, because a good reverb effect needs a lot of ram, like they put into the Motif and Kurzweil PC3.

But what about more synth modules, such as a Prophet 5 filter model?  Oberheim SEM oscillators and filters?  Is the team still working on template synths, like a Jupiter 8 and some version of the CS-80?  I know we can build quite substantial instruments ourselves, but it would be nice if you would make some complete Origin optimized instruments.

And bullet proof reliability would be really nice too.  I'd like my investment to last a while.  I purchased this thing instead of a PC3, put that off for later. 

[Sean W]

Is the team still working on template synths, like a Jupiter 8 and some version of the CS-80?  I know we can build quite substantial instruments ourselves, but it would be nice if you would make some complete Origin optimized instruments.

Yes, this was announced a while ago.
V1.5 (summer 2010) will include Jupiter-8 and CS80 templates (maybe one more)

[synthguy99]

Err... just three octave keyboards?? 

Just kidding, and thanks much for sharing.  Those look too hip for words!  Very sweet.  Summer can't come soon enough.

[dedmousie]

This is something I've been trying to give more thought to when considering purchase decisions as of late. Some synths already have their replacement sitting in R&D when they hit the shelves. I don't like the "dump it and get the newest thing" mentality all that much, but some makers try to force us into that. Wonder how long Coltrane played the same sax?

Kurzweil and Long Term Platform Support
At this point, I'm more more interested in investing into a "platform" that I'm pretty sure will stick around for awhile and continue to be developed. In the synth world at this point, I really believe Kurzweil has managed this quite well. Though I've seen some say "VAST is getting a little long in the tooth", my guess is that they've never actually learned to program the thing! VAST was leaps and bounds beyond anything else when it came out, and pretty much still is. Kurz still happily provides support for your 2600 and all your hard programming work on the 2600 is FORWARDS COMPATIBLE with the newer Kurz instruments out today. I can't think of another case of this anywhere!

My last major purchase wasn't a 2600 though. Just didn't have that much money sitting around at the time....

The Alesis Fusion - Good Idea Gone Bad?
I had access to someone at Alesis, and was carefully watching the development of the Fusion. Alesis led many of us to believe that the Fusion was going to be their "Kurz 2600", and would be a development platform that they would continue to upgrade and support for a very long time. It had the processing power inside to do way more than it could do, and those of us that purchased one were mostly led to believe there would be "way more" too.

It didn't happen that way for the Fusion though. Marketing forced it out the door before it was ready, the very people that were waiting for it to come out crucified it online in forums (some never even having played the thing) because of the incomplete feature set and poor initial presets (a stupid thing to base an instrument on) - and the online bickering escalated and ultimately pretty well destroyed continued development of an instrument that should have had a much brighter future and longer life.

I still have mine. Yes, it's unfinished. But looking under the hood, I still have an instrument that kicks some serious butt in the programming department, once you wrap your head around it. Physical modeling, FM, Analogue modeling - all with "near modular" modulation capabilities and higher polyphony than most anything else.  Name another synth other than the Nord Modular series that will let you call up 6 LFO's, and modulate all six with sources from EACH OTHER to create a chaos generator worthy of your neighbour's Buchla.

The Fusion isn't a perfect instrument, it has an interface that you either hate or go "uhhhhhh", but it's a very deep and versatile beast if you get into programming it. I only feel slighted because I didn't get the continued development of the instrument that many thought would be there.

I'd be remiss to not give Alesis a few nods though. They listened to those of us that would speak with reason about the instrument, quickly released a number of OS updates fixing as many bugs as they could, brought in a several noted sound development companies (especially Hollow Sun) to improve the available sound set. If you got a later model from Sweetwater, for example, you got a number of Sweetwater specific sound set, all the Hollow Suns sets - there's an astounding amount of variety in there that go far past the original sound set - if you're into presets. (I'm not).

Which, brings us to the Origin.

First admission. I don't own an Origin. Therefor, I am not qualified or technically allowed to criticize it. Nothing makes me angrier than folks willing to blast something they don't own and probably have never even played!

The Origin will probably be my next major purchase. Arturia, from what I can tell, has a long term commitment to the Origin, and there's enough horsepower under the hood for them to continue improving, upgrading, and adding new features and models for a good time to come. As I hang here and continue to read these forums, I do feel that I will be purchasing into a platform that won't get dumped next week for "the next big thing". Hopefully, if the "next big thing" is something cool, they'll figure out how to implement some of it into the Origin, put another OS update out there, and everybody with one will be happy.

For those impatiently waiting on the next OS update, hey, these things take time to get right! Better to take longer than you feel it should than go out, have bugs, and then have folks screaming about the bugs, yes? As a beta tester for several companies (I do not test for Arturia), at least I can appreciate this part of the process. Arturia seems to be making sure it's *right* before they release. That scores points in my book.

I really waiting to see the Arp 2600 emulation. And, who knows - maybe we'll get an interesting FM model, some physical modeling of some type, or granular synthesis functions in the future. The hardware seem capable of it if the software is willing...

OT: Ultimate test of "patience".
See the modular here: http://lesmizz.typepad.com/
Anybody want to guess how long it took to get the Milton Sequencer on the top row?

Comment from Arturia?
Would actually love for someone from Arturia to chime in here. Though I'm fully aware that you're probably limited by what you can say about future development, I think many of us would love to hear your thoughts (at least those you can discuss) on long-term commitment to the Origin...

[Cord]

I personally would not base my purchase on future OS releases. What you see is what you get and I am pretty happy with the package so far. As long as it is a stable form of OS everything from here on is acceptable.

ARP2600 template was promised, not sure why they say maybe now. However, there is nothing you cannot do already with connecting your modules. It actually gives you the freedom to exchange modules what is not possible when you are locked into a template.

[dedmousie]

I won't base me decision on an unknown future OS update, but I will base it on what I perceive the longevity of the product and the support the maker is giving it before they decide to dump it for something else...

 

[synthguy99]

Cord, dm has a point, as illustrated by his post above yours.  I don't know if mine is settling in or what, but it is acting a little odd sometimes.  Yesterday, I played on it all afternoon and well into the evening, discovering my inner Vangelis.    And it behaved very well.  Towards the end of the day though, I did notice the Multi I was playing, which has a polyphony of only two or three notes, was making a popping sound as it stole notes trying to keep up with my piano playing.  Someone else had mentioned it in another thread, so I knew what they were talking about.

I still wish to have a Kurzweil PC3 very badly, and I can return the Origin in another 25 days if I want.  The PC3 would be more useful to me in my musical projects.  But the Origin is just too darn good sounding, too much like an analog, and as I mentioned before, having the TAE synthesis engine under hardware control with no latency, and all those real time controls is just too awesome.  Many times, patches and multis on synths are just there to show off what it can do, and aren't necessarily the most musically useful, and so I thought with many of the Origin's presets.  But it surprised me.  Layered with another synth or played on it's own, I'm inspired to make music as I play which doesn't always happen with a new instrument.

But it does seem to have a "personality," which isn't always friendly, and the reviews I read didn't seem to indicate.  Getting reacquainted with my Roland Fantom X, which I had loaned to a relative for several months and used as a controller for the Origin, I had been scrolling through patches to get familiar with what was there, and later noticed that the Origin had crashed.  This isn't what I was expecting of a new hardware synth, but it seems to be a fairly common thing, so swapping it for another Origin probably won't solve anything.  I'm hoping this doesn't matter, but I guess I'll have to put this thing through a workout to see if it's stable enough for daily studio use.

I had made blind guesses for those templates, since I'm very new to this thing and hadn't been aware of its development history or plans.  Heck, I hadn't seriously considered getting one because the retail price is so expensive, but stumbled onto the online price this week and decided to get one.  And honestly, the sound it produces is so liquid and analog that I just can't see giving it up for anything else.  But still, you need to know that the company is going to stand behind their product, and from what I've seen here, the people are engaged from both continents.  I could really use the templates, especially the CS-80, because you just can't make one without leaving something out.  It has four simultaneous waveforms, four filters, four envelopes, two VCAs, as well as a ring modulator with an AD envelope!  If they can put this together and give us eight note polyphony, I'm going to be oh so happy.  I'm thinking the ARP 2600 "maybe" is a joke, because I'm pretty sure you can make one yourself without too much trouble.

I do know that software can't be rushed, but it would be nice to know that it won't take a year or two to see the Origin working stably for everyone, with bugs being very rare as it is with most digital instruments.  But come what may, I just can't take this thing out of my rig, even if I have a Radias and Virus, as well as an Ensoniq Fizmo in the stack.  You just don't know how good that TAE engine is until you hear it alongside some other VAs.

So, looks like I'm going to be here a while.  Late for work now, so I have to run. 

[synthguy99]

Since the potential for OS 1.5 to be off in the future a bit, I was wondering if I could beg for the CS-80 to be the first new template synth?  After all, we can make the Jupiter and ARP 2600 ourselves.  The CS-80 may require more work, but all we can accomplish with the modules the Origin will let us use at once are "Pseudo-80s." 

My attempts do sound pretty good, but I'm having trouble getting a proper pitch envelope, for instance.

Oh, and my Origin has been performing admirably now.  Still holding back on the 1.2 update, but might make the plunge if 1.3 is still months away.

[Superwaldi]

Oh, and my Origin has been performing admirably now.  Still holding back on the 1.2 update, but might make the plunge if 1.3 is still months away.

My Origin performes much better since 1.25. I recommend to make a manually backup before updating. The output volume is increased a little bit, I am facing no more crashes, the input leds are not blinking anymore and and and...