Review: Arturia Origin Keyboard
Arturia blends its malleable array of emulated synths into a keyboard for most seasons.
By Brad Watts
22 August 2011
Back in 2008, Arturia shoe-horned its ‘True Analog Emulation’ software into a hardware device. The company had an array of well regarded software instruments that formed the basis of the Origin – all classic analogue synthesisers from yesteryear: Roland’s Jupiter 8, a couple of Moog designs, ARP and Sequential Circuits classics, and my favourite, the Yamaha CS80. There had been a lot of talk about the Origin hardware synth for some months before the unit finally hit the turf, but for those looking for a synth of this nature, the wait was certainly worth it. Gone was the reliance on natively driven software synthesis, and in its place were Analog Devices Tiger Shark DSP chips. The Origin was by no means a PC in a box running plug-ins – it was real DSP hardware. The original Origin synth module delivered on Arturia’s promise, successfully combining a huge array of synthesis methods in the one box. But that was the problem. The fact that it was merely a box may have steered some away from the sound module. So Arturia now offers the Origin keyboard. It’s primarily the same Origin sound module, dovetailed with a specifically designed 61-key synth-action keyboard and some nice performance accoutrements.
KEYS TO THE BRIDGE
Let’s appraise the obvious to start with – the unique form factor of the Origin Keyboard. There are two physical sections to the Origin: the actual keyboard itself, which incorporates the keys and connectivity ports at the rear, and the editing controls that unfold to reveal 50-odd knobs, back-lit buttons, a joystick, and a colour LCD screen. It’s an impressive piece of hardware, and once the control section is opened, there’s a large blue backlit Arturia emblem to face toward the crowd, making it patently obvious where your allegiances lie.
Getting back to the keyboard, as mentioned, the synth-action semi-weighted keyboard comprises 61 keys, but also provides channel aftertouch – this in itself would have hindered accessing the aftertouch features in the Origin module with an external keyboard controller, as many control keyboards won’t transmit such information. The Origin Keyboard has another performance feature up its sleeve that was unavailable in the module version: duophonic aftertouch. This takes an extra bite at the performance cherry, allowing pressure information to be transmitted with one hand, while keeping the other hand’s ‘pressure’ stable. The pressure applied affects only the lowest, highest, or last note played, depending on the setting. Duophonic aftertouch is exclusive to the Origin Keyboard – and it’s a very nice touch (boom boom). The keyboard itself feels very good, and is certainly the quality of key-bed you’d expect to see on an instrument in this price range.
As you might also expect, there’s the more commonplace modulation and pitchbend wheels, along with up/down octave buttons to stretch the keyboard’s pitch range across two further octaves in both directions – all fairly standard stuff. What isn’t typical, however, is the 40cm long ribbon controller above the lower half of the keys. The ribbon controller has made a solid comeback in recent years, and it’s difficult to understand now why the concept disappeared for so long. Ribbon controllers are an awesome modulation tool, and frankly, the longer they are the better. There’s more room to aid precision modulation sweeps with your finger, nose, ear, or whatever other body-part you care to swipe and prod along its length.
Apart from these features, the upper portion of the Origin’s playing surface is devoid of knobs or sliders – it’s a very clean and concise layout, nicely trimmed with wooden ‘ye olde worldy’ end-cheeks.
NEED TO KNOW
HANDS ON
Getting back to the control panel and its array of knobs and switches, everything about the Origin is about hands-on performance. The layout has certainly been well planned, with the most often used performance-oriented parameters – like filter settings, oscillator, LFO, envelope settings, volume and input level – all located on the left-hand side of the control panel. If you’re winging away on a lead line with your right hand you won’t be reaching across yourself to access these important parameters. The extreme left of the panel also houses the multi-talented joystick. The far right of the panel houses mixer and effects parameter controls, a numeric keypad for patch/sound selection, along with a large indented parameter knob that also acts as a pushbutton for navigating and selection of editing parameters. This same knob will also cycle you through patches when the unit is in the usual performance mode.
Across the bottom of the control panel are 16 rotary encoders and 16 buttons for editing the 16/32-step sequencer. The sequencer offers all the old-school tricks such as slide and accent, and is edited using the traditional step sequencing format of selecting a pitch for each step using the knobs, and whether an event occurs at a step using the buttons. It’s fast and intuitive if you’re used to this style of editing.
The centre of the panel houses a colour 13cm TFT display, surrounded by eight assignable rotary encoders. These can be assigned to any parameter the Origin serves up, giving performance access to parameters that aren’t already addressed via dedicated control pots. As for what you can cobble together sound-wise, the Origin’s sole purpose is modelling analogue synthesisers. The concept allows for combining up to four Arturia virtual synth designs into the one Origin patch. For example, you could use the oscillators from a Minimoog, filters from the CS-80 and the ‘Bode shifter’ from the Moog Modular V to create a sound. Emulated synth options encompass the Minimoog and Moog Modular, ARP 2600, Yamaha CS-80, Roland Jupiter-8, and Sequential Circuits Prophet VS. That’s a lot of synth on tap. The 32-note polyphony should cover you for most patches (or ‘Programs’ in Arturia-speak), but that polyphony quotient may begin to suffer when you combine up to four Programs into a layered ‘Multi’. Storage of both Programs and Multis is adequate for a sizeable collection of sounds, with 400 factory and 600 user ‘programs’, and 256 Multis (100 factory and 156 user).
Editing on the Origin does have the feel of a software engine bolted into hardware, and it’s quite apparent once you begin unfolding menus within the operating system. While I wouldn’t say it’s the easiest system to navigate, like any synth of this complexity, a few hours at the controls will get you into the swing of things.
CONNECTIVITY
Just popping around the back of the lower keyboard section of the Origin for a moment and looking at some of the hardware aspects of the unit, you’ll notice plenty of I/O for shunting your sounds out to various channels. No less than eight auxiliary outputs complement the main left and right outputs, along with a digital S/PDIF coaxial output. Plus there are stereo input channels for introducing other sound sources to the synth engine – with the input level control on the control panel accompanied by a four-segment LED meter. Interconnectivity comes courtesy of MIDI In, Out and Thru, along with USB, which also speaks to the freely downloadable patch librarian software, Origin Connection. This application also takes care of Origin firmware updates. It’s rare to find such an abundance of I/O in today’s synth market.
THE PUDDING EATEN
Analogue aficionados will certainly have the Origin Keyboard on their list of must-haves. To pack this amount of emulation smarts in one box is an awesome proposition – especially for live performance work. If you’re even slightly familiar with Arturia’s range of emulation plug-in instruments then you’ll know just how true to life they can be. And while Arturia is renowned for creating instrument plug-ins that visually represent the hardware they emulate, the plug-ins are also remarkably close to the original hardware instruments sonically. Remember, the Origin uses DSP to create its sound, and this is reflected in the ‘stability’ of the instrument’s sound output. What I’m attempting to point out here is the subtle difference between emulated ‘analogue’ synthesis, and real analogue synthesis hardware. While ‘merely’ DSP-based, the Origin does a brilliant job of emulating the original hardware. From searing analogue-esque lead-lines to podgy basses, the Origin delivers. But perhaps its most pertinent gift to synthesis is the ability to combine so many emulations of classic synths under the one roof. If synth emulation is where you’re headed, the Origin is worthy of some very close scrutiny.
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