Pigments

I was super-surprised and happy about all the different ways that Pigments lets you shape and “destroy” a sound. Having all these parameters right at your fingertips is fantastic if you want to create sounds that really remind you of a plasma chainsaw on fire. The great thing is that the Arturia team also put in some of the most famous filters in synth history so that you have the chance to tame all the madness that you just created. It’s a great mixture.

As Pigments isn’t modeled after something else, I started the sound design process completely unbiased. At first, I created sounds that focused mainly on just one of the many strengths of the synthesizer like just the wavetable section or only the powerful modulators. But after a while everything kind of grew together and I constantly went back to what gave me the most fun and that was the different shaping possibilities.

The feature sets of the wavetable and analog engines complement each other superbly, giving a very broad scope to the timbres that can be achieved. This, combined with the deep yet speedy modulation workflow, multiple filter models and extensive FX section really allow you to get mix-ready and expressive sounds. A personal favourite feature is the ability to quantize the OSC Engines and use modulators to create melodies and variation.

As there is so much variation possible in Pigments I had a very open approach to the sound design process. A common underpinning principle was always trying to stretch the musical idea as far as possible within each preset. This often made use of the extensive modulation routing to try and create layered voicings within the sounds and, because Pigments is not truly bi-timbral, this was always a fun challenge that often found me in new creative territory.

Pigments is the easiest advanced synth I have ever seen. It's really musically inspiring by design. The flexibility and the visualization of its modulations are what make Pigments unique. The new sample engine is well engineered, perfectly integrated with the other features.

All of my presets were made from scratch using the "Default" one. Thanks to Pigments it's quite easy to work like this. I want my presets to be modern, wide, big and clean at the same time. Because it's what we are looking for in cinematic music branch today. For creating my presets, I've looked over recent Trailer music, and their specific sound design, to make my own sound.

For me, Pigments takes all my favorite Arturia features like Functions, filters, modulations, and macros, and puts them all in one place. It is a huge modular system, because all parameters are assignable to any modulator. In addition, it is very easy to learn, use, and master because the interface is very logical and well thought out.

When creating sounds for Pigments, I did not have a single mode of approach. For me, it's like I'm in front of my Eurorack setup. I always started with a very simple sound, and then explored my particular desire at the time. Sometimes I started with the sequencer, sometimes with the assignment of LFOs, or sometimes with a search in wavetables.

The main strength of Pigments is the ease of mapping modulation sources to destinations. As a person who tends to be fairly lazy at times, Pigments has helped me get used to producing again regularly due to its user-friendliness. Getting started a new sound from scratch is just super easy. I also find the layout simple yet intuitive.

As far as my approach to my sound design work goes, sometimes I have a specific type of sound in mind I want to go for, be it an iconic sound from a 80s hit song, or a sound effect from a popular video game; other times I just go nuts on every knob I can until it sounds good to my ears.

Pigments’ main strengths are the great range of possibilities combined with an intuitive interface, timbral scope with accessibility. I found the sound quality of the various engines and fx immediately compelling and find Pigments a very enjoyable and rich sonic experimentation playground.

The various engines in Pigments offered scope for exploring a range of ideas, from re-imagining some field recordings using the granular engine to importing audio to create wavetables. I set out also to explore the new Harmonic engine, moving through cold glassy soundscapes to inharmonic metallic clangs and on to dusty lofi organs and electric pianos. The new Noise sources in the Utility section were very helpful for adding that “dusty attic” vibe I love.

Pigments has a wonderful combination digital synthesis methods and analog-style filtering. Using only digital synthesis like FM en Phase distortion can sound cold or harsh. By running the sound through the Moog filter for example, you can obtain textures that have an incredible real-world quality. The combination of digital synthesis and analog filtering can yield a wild variety of sounds since the sonic possibilities of the wavetable synthesizer are virtually endless.

I also like the straight-forwardness of Pigments. For me, sound design is really something that happens in dialogue with the synthesizer. If I were to improvise on a piano or on a guitar, the result would be different because the physical and sonic particularities of the instrument will send me in a certain direction. The same happens with synthesizers; the particular sound, lay-out and functionality of a synthesizer invite you to use it in a certain way. So I start out with a more or less clear idea of what I want to make, and then synthesizer nudges me in a certain direction. The result will be some sort of compromise between my original idea and the influence of the synthesizer.

Pigments has always felt like an endless horizon of possibilities in terms of sound design, but I felt a bit limited when browsing the factory samples. I was really happy to help Maxime, our Pigments sound design lead, in selecting new samples for Pigments 4: natural noises, world instruments, folk guitar etc. to create warmer, more organic presets. Now you’ve got the perfect basis for lo-fi, hip-hop, and other hybrid genres to come forth!

I’m a big fan of the Harmonic Engine in Pigments, and I wanted to carefully craft the macros so that the complementary engines to the samples are there to enhance and embellish the ’real sound’. Since I haven’t made any Pigments presets since 2.0, my approach was to simply make beautiful presets that easily fit into a track, that inspire and make you want to tweak with precision and care.

I love the modulation possibilities at the oscillator level! So much great and crazy sound shaping possibilities on top of a really cool wavetable collection. The filters, partly from other Arturia products like SEM are so great, and combined with the oscillator possibilities this is a sound designer’s dream synt

I began my Pigments sound design with an early version without all wavetables, which was great to make the best out of the already existing, but limited features. Basically I wanted to create very organic, "never sounding the same" patches. My favorite types of sounds are keys and pads in Pigments, but I didn’t plan to create those specifically.

I directly clicked with Pigments, and while playing around with it I was able to make sounds that will fit perfectly into my work for movie trailers. The powerful sound engine, the clean interface, and the powerful tools, which are available to transform your own waveforms, are great. I’m able to import my own waveforms, and turn Pigments into my own instrument, allowing me to create my own unique sounds.

I don’t have a specific way of doing my sound design, to me it’s all a journey. I let my imagination run free, and let the natural flow take over.

Pigments is quite flexible, and quite frankly I'm really fond of the possibilities of the wavetable engine: exponential FM, linear FM, the multiple phase modulation modes, same for phase distortion and wavefolding. Combined with the countless modulation capabilities with the LFO, envelopes, functions and so on, it's perfect for what I like! I love the "Highlight" feature: it's perfect for beginners to see which parameters will have the biggest impact on the sound, but also when I design patches for a track, I add tips and reminders for myself… ‘remember to tweak that when you'll be arranging the track’. That way, a few weeks later, when you do the arrangement, you can still remember what you had in mind when designing the track.

While I had some specific sounds in mind when creating my Pigments presets, I also let myself "float and follow" when discovering the wavetable engine, and sometimes it was more about finding a nice preset around a particular, unique feature

We really enjoy Pigments because it combines a very easy workflow with lots of tweakability and a fantastic sound. Version 2.0 introduces even more features that synthesizer freaks like us really love! The sample engine with granular capabilities make it even more versatile than before and the addition of FM and unison to the analog engine is very welcome too, as is the undo/redo feature (thank you!) And did you hear the tape delay already? Wow!

When we created presets for Pigments, most of the time we let the synthesizer guide us. It showed us all his strengths and unique features and we build a sound around that. We do often create sounds for a specific genre, but for Pigments we decided to make all kinds of usable sounds that fit much more than just one type of genre.

Pigments is amazing, it’s such a versatile synth and everything you would want to do regarding sound design is possible. The new Harmonic engine is a great addition and the internal effects sound great. The visualization of all modulations is a great help when you want to see how a patch is constructed.

I tried to make use of a lot of the new features including the Harmonic engine, the new wavetables and the new samples. All sounds feature aftertouch, velocity and mod wheel assignments. Combined with the four macros, the user can drastically alter the original patch.