Vox Continental V (which we've previously awarded five stars) draws on the model 300 and includes two four-octave manuals and a one-octave bass pedal board. So SolinaĪrturia's instrument range includes classic keyboards as well as synths, and two of the V4 newbies - Vox Continental V and Solina V - fall into that category. Matrix-12 V is very good at generating rich, textured sounds but not quite so adept at more punchy, edgy stuff - much as you'd expect from an 80s analogue polysynth. Understandably, the presets based on those of the original synth use none of the additional effects, and thus sound a bit dull by modern standards. There are also plenty of basses, but with a few exceptions these tend to fall into 'pad-like' territory. On the subject of presets, Matrix-12 V comes with a sizeable categorised library, the vast majority of which comprises characterful (as opposed to generic) leads, pads and effects. This feature regularly crops up in the preset patches, providing textural interest in some cases and full-on arp style pitch and panning variations in others. Like the Oberheim, there's per-voice Detune, Transpose, Pan, Level and key Zone assignment (for setting specified note ranges to play assigned voices), and the Zone mode can be set to step through the voices as you play, with each note triggering the next voice (complete with all its individual settings) in the list.

Arturia 5 4 collection