Review: Arturia Analog Factory Experience 2.0 (Mac/Win)

Aug 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Marty Cutler

           
 

THOUSANDS OF CLASSIC SOUNDS AND A KEYBOARD TO CONTROL THEM

BONUS MATERIAL
Bonus Material: Analog Factory Revisited

Don't look for anything fancy in the FX Mix section. All you can do there is dial in the amount of chorus and delay you'd like for a patch.

Four sliders in the controller's upper right corner control the patch's amplitude ADSR. As noted in EM's review of version 1.2 (see the March 2007 issue, available at emusician.com), the lack of access to the filter's envelope generator is a bit of an impediment to more powerful sound shaping, but in general, the Key Parameters are sensibly assigned. It's important to remember that Analog Factory Experience emphasizes simplicity.

To the Rear

FIG. 3: You can choose an optional 12V DC adapter to power the AFE keyboard, or draw power from your computer’s USB connection.

On the rear panel, the power switch sits within easy reach behind the pitch-bend and modulation wheels. A jack for an optional 12V wall-wart power supply is to its right. The USB 1.1 port provides bidirectional MIDI communication as well as a power alternative to the wall wart (see Fig. 3). A pair of jacks accept sustain and expression pedals.

Capping off the rear-panel connectors is a single MIDI Out jack. I wish that the controller had an In and a Thru port, as many keyboards do. Anyone wishing to switch to an alternate controller, such as a MIDI guitar or drum pads, would need an additional MIDI interface to accommodate the extra inputs.

Wish List

I found a couple of other missing ingredients in the controller's MIDI capabilities. It currently offers no way, either through a hardware switch or SysEx messages, to change the unit's transmitting MIDI channel. That can be a problem when the keyboard needs to address multitimbral hardware or software instruments. For me, this was particularly problematic in Apple Logic 7.1, which does not normally rechannel incoming MIDI data (without tinkering with its Environments). To be fair, most other sequencers let you easily redirect MIDI input to other channels.

When I'm working with synthesizers, I often change the Pitch Bend range; unfortunately, AFE offers no facility — hardware or software — that lets me do that. To complicate matters, the range varies from one preset to the next — sometimes a whole step, sometimes a minor third, and sometimes a couple of octaves. Such issues may never be a problem if you want to use AFE as a standalone controller-and-sound-source system, but the larger issue is the controller's integration into an existing MIDI and sequencing setup.

Arturia is really on to something with its combination of vintage synth emulations and a specialized controller. I do wish the hardware's MIDI implementation were a bit deeper. Despite the fixed MIDI-channel transmission and unalterable Pitch Bend values, though, the package strikes a terrific balance between sonic flexibility, control, and value, which is well nigh impossible to beat. I love the patch-selection filters and the way the keyboard integrates with the onscreen browser. You may never play all 3,500 sounds, but they'll be available when you need them. Combine AFE with a laptop, and you have a worthy batch of authentic-sounding vintage synths at your fingertips. Download the demo software from Arturia's Web site and see for yourself.

Marty Cutler's favorite vintage instrument is David Grisman's Gibson Granada Mastertone banjo; he's still waiting for the software version.

PRODUCT SUMMARY

PROS: Solidly built keyboard. Nice keyboard action. Convenient shift functions for patch selection. Addition of Jupiter-8V offers more timbres.

CONS: No MIDI In or Thru ports on keyboard. No user-programmable Pitch Bend. Fixed MIDI-channel transmission.

Arturia
arturia.com