Arturia Polybrute

The Lounge Other Gear
#443

After living with my PolyBrute for a few glorious weeks now, I find myself hoping and dreaming that Arturia could take the PolyBrute format, merge it with Pigments and make the PolyPig or PigBrute, or maybe the PolyFreak??.. so a VA/Wavetable/Granular/Harmonic synth engine powerhouse.
Take my money now. Please.

I keep thinking that maybe the Korg Modwave is this… but I just adore the workflow and layout of the PolyBrute so much, that if there was a Pigments style HW synth like this, I could happily get by with just those synths.

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Superbooth 2022
#444

I do hope Arturia makes more synthesizers using the same design principles. The interface is so intuitive that things just seem to happen automatically.

The person who designed the MatrixBrute (which is where a lot of the ideas for the PB started) also designed the Hydrasynth. I’ve heard a lot of praise for it’s interface too. Worth looking into if you’re after a digital synth next to your PB.

For me I’m using it with the Digitone, which compliments it very nicely. Those two plus an Octatrack right now. Everything else is boxed or sold.

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#445

Some patches inspired by the Rain World OST, one of my favourite games.

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#446

Very nice stuff!

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#447

LFO 3. :heart:

That is all. (And a bump for the PolyBrute).

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#448

This is great - lovely sounds, really like that game too!

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#449

Here’s a love letter to the magical preset that is Cassette RFI:

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#450

Lovely playing! It’s a great preset, and really plays to the strengths of the synth. The ladder filter with a touch of resonance and cutoff around 300-600hz range often gets you this sort of soft transparent sound that works very well on keys and pads.

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#451

Since the PolyBrute has been out for a while and as it’s 2.0 firmware, how are people liking them? I tried one in person and fell in love with the user interface and expressiveness. Any pain points?

Any thoughts with using PolyBrute Connect within a DAW? It looks like an Overbridge lite kind of experience, which is a selling point for me.

#452

Polybrute connect is nice. It won’t send audio but it’s otherwise very useful. I like the ability to have multiple copies so I re-record a part I sequenced in my DAW.

Things I don’t like after one year:

  • keybed is really bad. Legit my biggest complaint. It’s synth action which I dislike, but it also feels a bit flimsy. On a 300 euro midi keyboard I wouldn’t complain but it’s a huge detractor from what otherwise feels like a premium instrument.
  • output is quite noisy. You kind of always want to have the oscillators at a relatively loud volume as a result.
  • the filters and oscs need to warm up for a good 10 mins before they’re in tune.
  • often wish it had an Osc > Filter 2 FM. Filter 1 is a lot more unstable. In general wish it had more modulation involving the oscillators.
  • it’s got a tone thats very nice but won’t always sit right in a mix immediately.
3 Likes
#453

That is super helpful! I also noticed the keybed when I tried it in store. Felt oddly light. The aftertouch worked well at least.

Reading your feedback, I think I will still go with it, since I can’t think of a poly synth that is as comprehensive, simple to use, and expressive (expression is one of my favorite aspects of my Nord Wave 2, for example). I’m selling a Peak, so I wouldn’t want to move to another FPGA, and options like the Prophet 6 and OB6 end up exclusively taking center stage in a mix, so they are too specialized, as this will be my primary poly-synth.

Thank you so much!

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#454

Yeah the OB-6 and P5/6 feel like centerpieces, the Polybrute is more of a workhorse. It can get quite rowdy though. The Peak is a lot smoother and imo one of the easiest synths to mix. I sometimes miss my Peak but the really annoying menu system it has keeps me away.

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#455

I would agree with @Norb on most of his points.
Keybeds are subjective, but the PolyBrute is a very light and fast synth keybed. When I get into playing it I don’t notice after a while, but it’s really noticeable if I swap to it from one of my other synths.

I don’t find the PB noisy tbh.

It’s very impressive sounding on its own, but often too stereo to use in a mix.
I also think it’s missing some form of saturation/drive, and running it into my Analog Heat when tracking helps it a ton.

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#456

I personally think it’s a breakthrough instrument. There are a lot of bells and whistles, but it’s so well-designed that none feel like an afterthought or aren’t useful on nearly every patch I program.

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#457

@CCMP yeah keybed is 100% personal preference. That said it’s the same keybed as found on the 250 euro Keylab 61 I believe. It feels a lot less solid than the keys on my Matriarch (which are Fatar) and it is one of the things that sometimes keeps me from playing it. Mine is noisy but now I wonder if that’s a quirk with my unit. I think you’re right about why it doesn’t always sit right immediately. You can definitely dial it in to do very bread and butter type sounds too, but it’s not as ‘instantly pleasing’ as the Peak or Nords I’ve had.

@Diefenbaker I agree. It’s a strange synth in that it’s got an analog rowdyness to its sound but the depth you can achieve makes it feel almost digital.

1 Like
#458

The mod matrix / UI of the Polybrute is exactly what initially caught my eye. I don’t program interesting patches on my Peak because of the annoying menu diving of the mod matrix. I also don’t like the fact that the same mod sliders are used for 2 envelopes with a button to switch between them. The Peak still sounds great though!

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#459

Got the Polybrute and couldn’t be happier! Thank you all for your help!

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#460

Hi people, I can’t tell if my Polybrute is having tuning issues. VCO1 and VCO2 in unison has a very strong detuning effect, and seems like its 1 or 2 voices in particular. I’ve tried calibrating several times. Could someone please lend an ear and tell me if this sounds like an issue or if this is to be expected? This is an init patch with one note in the sequencer

#461

Here’s mine… doesn’t sound like a tuning issue to me, just two sawteeth fighting it out.

#462

I think it might be the lack of oscillator reset. The filters and oscillators have a tiny amount of drift as well, even after a bit of warmup.