Arturia FX Collection 3 Released, Bundling 26 High-Quality Effects!

Arturia Is Strong in Effects Too! What Is FX Collection 3?

Arturia has a strong image as a synth maker, but it also sells high-quality effects that make full use of modeling technology cultivated over many years.
When you actually use them, the famous classics are well covered, and they are high in quality yet reasonably priced, so every one of them deserves more attention.

"FX Collection," which bundles these Arturia effects, has been updated to 3.

Products included in FX Collection 3 (26 types)

Bus Force: an original channel strip combining classic gear
Comp DIODE-609: Neve 33609 Diode Compressor Limiter
EQ SITRAL-295: Siemens Sitral Console
Chorus DIMENSION D: Roland Dimension D
Phaser BI-TRON: MU-TRON BI PHASE
Flanger BL-20: Bel BF-20
Chorus JUN-6: the chorus built into the Roland JUNO-6
Comp VCA-65: dbx 165A
Comp TUBE-STA: Gates STA-Level (RETRO Instruments Sta-Level)
Comp FET-76: Urei 1176
Delay TAPE-201: Roland RE-201
Delay BRIGADE: Electro-Harmonix Memory Man
Delay ETERNITY: an original delay
Rev PLATE-140: EMT 140
Rev SPRING-636: Grampian 636
Rev INTENSITY: an original reverb
Pre 1973: a Neve preamp
Pre TridA: a Trident preamp
Pre V76: a Telefunken preamp
Filter MINI: the Minimoog filter
Filter M12: the Oberheim Matrix-12 filter
Filter SEM: the Oberheim SEM filter

★ Newly added ★
Dist Tube-Culture: Thermionic Culture Vulture
Dist OPAMP-21: TECH21 SansAmp
Tape MELLO-FI: a tape effect inspired by the Mellotron
Efx FRAGMENTS: an original granular effect

Just seeing the names is exciting, but this time we review the four newly added products in particular.

Intro Sale Underway

To celebrate its release, Arturia FX Collection 3 is on intro sale until Thursday, July 7, 2022.
The price is 39,600 yen, probably about 25% off the regular price.
It also says quantities are limited, so buy soon!

Newly Added Effects

Dist Tube-Culture

A distortion effect modeled on Thermionic Culture's tube processor, the Ultra Vulture.
Controlling distortion in digital mixing has become even more important in recent years, and it is no exaggeration to say that "whoever masters distortion masters the mix". Dist TUBE-CULTURE covers everything from subtle saturation to heavy distortion with four functions and can be used for a wide range of purposes, such as adding harmonics to the mix bus and creating dirty sounds.

I have used UAD's Culture Vulture, a similar product, and this one is just as good, with pleasant distortion and very high convenience. Advanced mode has a stereo mode, input filter, gate/comp and output EQ, so it seems you could complete your sound design with this alone.

Dist OPAMP-21

A distortion effect modeled on Tech21's SansAmp, a pedal especially famous among instrumentalists. Unlike TUBE-CULTURE, it is a solid-state distortion unit.
True to a compact pedal, you can design sounds intuitively with five simple knobs, and with four modes from MODERN to BASS, you can quickly reach the sound you want.

Even more noteworthy are the eight character switches. Besides the frequency characteristics of the distortion, there are interesting ones such as removing distortion and mic simulation, and it is simply fun to tweak. Of course, the sound is of genuinely practical quality, reminiscent of the hardware. The parametric EQ in Advanced mode is also handy.

Tape MELLO-FI

An effect inspired by the original tape-based sampler, the Mellotron. It adds vintage warmth and a lo-fi feel to sounds. In other words, it is a product with the fun concept that any instrument can be made "Mellotron-like".
I thought it might be a novelty, but at first listen it turned out to be a very striking and usable sound, and it immediately gave me creative inspiration. It makes me want to write all kinds of songs with this sound.

With highly flexible controls such as distortion, tone and noise, you can create all kinds of variations, and it also reproduces tape degradation. Also, the tape stop effect takes just one button, which is handy when you want to add a little quirk to a performance.
It can be called an effect that broadens not only sound design but also composing and arranging.

Efx FRAGMENTS

A product that lets you apply granular synthesis to all kinds of sounds as an effect.
Besides tricky glitch-like effects, it is invaluable whenever you want to create impactful sounds, such as dense, vast spatial effects and inventive, chaotic sounds.

It is not a gimmick but has quite serious specs, letting you adjust many parameters such as the granular characteristics and movement, sequences and built-in FX, so original sound design that existing synths cannot do also seems possible.
Because of that, it can be called a somewhat more difficult effect, but just browsing the presets lets you encounter unexpected sounds. It is a truly Arturia-like product.

That concludes our review of the newly added effects, celebrating the release of FX Collection 3.
Note that besides what we have covered here, this update also brings various refinements, such as switchable oversampling, A/B comparison and a revised GUI.

Through my work I have tried products from many manufacturers, and Arturia's effects were better than I expected: not only is the sound quality high, but I felt that consideration for users' convenience and creativity reaches every corner.
If they were not on your radar, please take this opportunity to try them.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. What kind of music production is FX Collection 3 suited to?

It covers a wide range of genres, such as rock, pop, electronic music and film and game music. It is especially effective for production that needs distortion processing at the mixing stage, the pursuit of vintage sound, and creative effects processing.

Q2. Isn't it difficult to master all 26 effects?

Each effect comes with presets and can be used intuitively. The newly added effects in particular let you learn step by step with Advanced mode, and they are designed to suit everyone from professionals to beginners.

Q3. Is the price reasonable compared with similar products from other companies?

The intro sale price of 39,600 yen was about 25% off the regular price. It is reasonable compared with competing products such as UAD, and considering it includes 26 effects, it offers high cost-effectiveness.

Q4. Is "Tape MELLO-FI," modeled on the Mellotron, limited in its uses?

It works as a general-purpose effect that adds vintage warmth and can be applied to any instrument. Rather than a novelty, it is a tool that broadens your creativity and can be used from the composing and arranging stages.