Arturia Pigments 6: Modal Synthesis, Workflow Upgrades, and a New Era for Digital Sound Design

The headline addition in Pigments 6 is the modal engine, a physical modeling synthesis module designed to simulate the behavior of real-world objects. This engine leverages two independent exciters—collision and friction—each offering multiple modes, including sample-based, real-time synthetic, granular, and external audio input. The collision exciter brings percussive energy, while the friction exciter enables sustained, evolving textures.

Central to the modal engine is its resonator section, which uses banks of resonating bandpass filters to emulate string and beam behaviors. Controls like decay, brilliance, harmonic morphing, stereo width, and bass level allow for nuanced shaping of timbre and response. The video demonstrates how these parameters interact, emphasizing the organic, responsive qualities that physical modeling brings to digital synthesis. Arturia’s approach here is both flexible and approachable, with a UI that makes complex synthesis accessible to a wide range of users.

Pigments 6 introduces a suite of new and enhanced features aimed at broadening its sound design capabilities. The classic filter receives a significant update, now featuring a drive control for added harmonic richness and an analog mode that maintains resonance without sacrificing loudness. The new cluster filter stacks up to five filters at once, while the lo-fi filter delivers consistent degradation across polyphonic voices, with key tracking and jitter for added character.

A major highlight is the addition of a vocoder in the FX section, enabling cross-modulation between internal engines, filters, effects, and external audio. The vocoder offers three modes and a range of controls for shaping its robotic timbres. Meanwhile, the granular engine gains a scan feature that enables time-stretch and sample-style playback effects, further expanding Pigments’ palette for experimental and modern production workflows. The video’s demonstrations make clear that these tools are designed for both subtle enhancement and radical transformation.

Pigments 6 debuts several new modulators that open up fresh avenues for expressive sound design. The Envelope Follower, now found in the Combinate container, allows parameters to be modulated by internal or external audio signals, making dynamic, audio-reactive patches more accessible. The new Voice modulator introduces per-note variation, with up to eight distinct values that can be randomized or edited for each voice, echoing the organic imperfections of vintage synths.

Further enhancements include an upgraded Random module with Ditter, Distance, and Smooth controls, and revamped function generators with improved play modes, grids, tracers, and visual preset browsing. These additions encourage users to push beyond conventional modulation, fostering a spirit of experimentation. The video underscores how these tools can inject life and unpredictability into any patch, whether for studio production or live performance.