CZ V vs Virtual CZ.

[Creativemind]

Hi All!

Arturia CZ V vs Plug-in Boutique Virtual CZ.

Been looking all over You Tube for a comparison video of these 2 but no joy as yet.

Anyone have both and can tell me which they think is best or most authentic.

My gut (as I have trialled both but Virtual CZ was months ago & CZ V was a month ago so hard to say) says the Arturia one is probably the best.

Incidentally I did come across (on You Tube) a video by Benedict-Roff-Marsh (who comes on here sometimes) whilst searching who was comparing Arturia CZ V and Thor's Phase Modulation Oscillator (using the mod matrix too) which was interesting.

Thanks!

[Micha1973]

Both are Individual. CZ is a rompler but very good. Arturias is a thing u can make Sound from the ground up for you. Both are very good for 80s music like retrosynth or spacesynth.

[raymondh]

Incidentally I did come across (on You Tube) a video by Benedict-Roff-Marsh (who comes on here sometimes) whilst searching who was comparing Arturia CZ V and Thor's Phase Modulation Oscillator (using the mod matrix too) which was interesting.

Thanks!

Yes great video from Benedict, a very deep analysis of the product. It's very interesting to watch.

[Boombastix]

Both are Individual. CZ is a rompler but very good. Arturias is a thing u can make Sound from the ground up for you. Both are very good for 80s music like retrosynth or spacesynth.

Neither is a rompler. They both do PD synthesis.
VCZ has better patches, but no FX section.
Arturia has FX and a filter (nice filter), different envelopes - graphic drag - nice digital/linear envelops. Option to use a custom waveform "shaper" as . Unfortunately the patches are bit too many meh...washed in reverb.

VCZ has those lovely CZ old school sounds. But besides the MSEG and unison, Thor pretty much does the PD oscillators just fine (and you can mix in one more osc for custom sounds and simple filters). $99 for those VCZ presets, hmmm. I did not buy it.
Arturia is PITA to program, to dial in the filter, adjust the cutoff on the FX page, adjust the env mod intensity on the mod page, to adjust the envelop go to the frickin mod page... Aaarg. Presets are many but underwhelming and programming it makes you irritated. You have to jump through pages like you're driving and old Citroën ! There are interesting modulation features, FX sounds good, but the the mod combination is rarely used in the patches. Potential is there, sound is there, but no fun to work with, unfortunately. I wanted soooo much this to be the PD synth that just hit the home run... I have not bought it. Maybe in the future because PD is one of the best sounding synthesis methods in my opinion.

[pothole]

seems they share lots

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/showpos ... tcount=231

[Boombastix]

Guys! I spent some time comparing Thor CZ oscillators vs VirtualCZ and Arturia CZ V.
The winner: Virtual CZ.

* Thor can get some CZ sounds fairly well, but it all sounds a bit muffled and then you do not have the right envelopes. Also no way to buy patches, and the layout makes PD programming less than ideal. We have it for free, so nothing to complain about. It is Thor, not a CZ clone.
* CZ V - It is too clean and way too much high end, you need to use the filter (nice filter) to tame it, but then it doesn't sound like a CZ, more like some virtual analog. And like I said before, programming a filter with envelop and mod matrix is horrible, really bad implementation. I', sure you can dial in many nice sounds with the Arturia, but they will be more generic VA probably, using filters etc, and not THAT CZ sound. You need to overcome the issue of multi page jumping too. That was another no-no for me.
* Virtual CZ has a nice chorus and unison, but unfortunately no more FX. BUT, I gets the CZ sound right. Every parameter is on one page, so even if the MSEG are not the most intuitive, they are in front of you. I'll probably use it in a Combinator with a few optional FX that are fast and easy to turn on when needed.

Since they just have it on sale for another two days for $29, I was a no-brainer:
https://vstbuzz.com/deals/70-off-virtua ... -boutique/

Also, PB have several patch packs for around $8 (on sale) for more patches. Can be handy when you want to pickup a PB freebie plugin.