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The Origin hooked up to a keyboard forms a new performance heavyweight.

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The Arturia software synthesizer emulations have become classics in their own right. In 2008, the company rolled the essential elements of these emulations into a single unit: the Origin.

Grafting it onto a keyboard has taken almost two years and added 15kg along with five octaves of keys, pitch and mod wheels and a ribbon controller.

The Origin firmware has also undergone a series of updates over this time, further expanding the performance and programming capabilities. Though these capabilities remain ostensibly the same the emphasis has shifted from a mainly studio-based tool to a complete synth performance solution.

"You can treat any external source to the filters and effects just like an oscillator and it sounds amazing."

The most noticeable aspect of the Origin keyboard is the weight, which at 23kg is considerable. It needs a sturdy keyboard stand and sizeable flight case to take the extra height provided by the fold out control panel/synth brain.

This does, however, lend it a professional feel that it well deserves, though a couple of design elements detract slightly. Firstly the keys aren't weighted as we would expect from a keyboard of this price and calibre, though they aren't the flimsy type either.

Secondly it draws its current from a 6.5v external PSU which is an odd value that cannot be easily/quickly replaced - a standard IEC cable and internal PSU would be so much better.

Despite these two grumbles the build quality is excellent throughout. The pitch and mod wheels on the keyboard surface are sturdy while the large ribbon controller is gratifyingly sensitive, allowing the user to indulge in a more complete CS-80 emulation experience.

Grumbles about weighting aside the keys are responsive with plenty of travel for the aftertouch. The velocity scaling is fully user configurable and the aftertouch has a 'duophonic' function wherein control can be set to only affect the key in question allowing individual note pitch modulation, for instance.

There are easily enough controllers on board for most performance needs, from the joystick to the four possible key mapping splits.

Hands on

In programming and performance, the Origin Keyboard is surprisingly easy to work with and the tilting display/control surface allows for a range of working heights (for the stand and the user). It seems easier to use than the rack/desktop unit because the issue of mounting it by the controller keyboard is already solved.

The screen, as with all the controls, remains unchanged and will still challenge those who have neglected the opticians! There are frankly too many controls to list in any detail here, but suffice to say the sheer depth of synthesis available is very well catered for by the inputs to hand.

The essential operating system is biased towards the jog wheel and cursors but there are a whole host of dedicated knobs and switches to prevent the menu-page-based editing becoming too frustrating - short cuts soon become second nature.