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If you don't have room for the ARP 2600, but want that classic sound, then the 2600V is for you.

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There's no doubting the ARP 2600’s place on the roll-call of fabulous synthesizers. It was designed back in 1970 by ARP’s founder Alan R Pearlman as the successor to his huge modular synth, the ARP 2500.

Now Arturia has released the ARP 2600V, a software emulation of the classic unit that follows on from their Moog and Yamaha emulations.

The ARP 2600V is divided into three distinct sections - the synthesizer, keyboard and sequencer. You can show or hide the various sections to rationalise your workspace, which is handy for those working on laptops, as this instrument can occupy a fair amount of screen space.

Synth specs

The synthesizer includes three VCOs, a multimode filter, two envelope generators and a VCA. Being a modular synth, it also has a noise generator, a sample and hold section, various control signal mixers, a reverb unit and, diverging from the original ARP 2600 spec, a chorus and delay unit.

The ARP 2600V is pre-wired like a typical analogue synth, with envelopes connected to the filter cutoff and VCA level, as you would expect. You can expand and modify this using virtual patch leads that appear when you click a socket.

There’s no limit to the complexity of your patches beyond the rule of connecting only one modulator to one input. Thankfully, Arturia have included some simple starting points for your patches, which you access via the Template heading in the Bank menu.

The keyboard section is far simpler. It responds to mouse clicks, so you can preview sounds easily without an external keyboard. It also allows you to route MIDI signals to any control input. For example, the pitch bend signal can be routed to filter cutoff for added expression.

Another addition to the original spec of the ARP 2600 is the Tracker, an LFO with a twist. It generates low-frequency waves of its own, but it also processes incoming control and audio signals that you can then use to modulate any control input. We found it useful for mixing together diverse sources to make unusual evolving filter sweeps and bloops. Strangely, the usually excellent manual is a little cagey about exactly how the tracker works - trial and error wins here.

The ARP 2600V includes an emulation of the famous and extremely rare ARP Sequencer 1601, a relatively simple affair, where you can have two separate eight-step sequences running simultaneously or in series for a larger 16-step sequence. These can be patched to control almost any parameter, so you could patch them to open a filter to differing degrees for each key depress, or for sequentially changing the level of noise in a drone sound over time. You’ll also find settings for poly, unison and mono mode on this unit. You can stack up to a whopping 32 voices in unison mode.

In use

If you’re new to the ARP way of laying things out, the ARP 2600V will seem confusing at first. It’s quite logical though, with signal fl ow moving from left (oscillators and audio inputs) to middle (VCF mixer and envelopes) to right (VCA and global pan and level settings). Setting up complex patches becomes second nature remarkably quickly.