Arturia are constantly working to better their flagship soft synth, Pigments, and people all around the world are creating their own custom presets and sharing them online.
What isn’t obvious at first glance is how to import custom user presets into Pigments. You can open a whole new world of musical inspiration with an expanded preset bank.
Something to note that you might run into. If you download presets from the two websites I suggested (PresetShare.com or PresetPatch.com), you’ll have to load each individual preset in manually. That means:
- Click Menu Button
- Import
- Select Individual Preset To Upload
- Repeat
If you purchase and download new Pigments presets, they’ll likely come as a bank – meaning you’ll only have to import the bank once and not for every individual preset.
FAQ
Here are answers to common Pigments questions we’ve seen.
Where Can I Download Pigments Presets For Free?
The best two sites to download Arturia Pigments presets for free are PresetShare.com or PresetPatch.com. You can also check out this post from BetterBeatsBlog.com for a round up of a bunch of different places that offer free Pigments download.
Does Arturia Pigments Ever Go On Sale?
Yes. Black Friday and Cyber Monday usually feature a sale by Arturia on it’s Pigments synth.
Arturia also has been offering deep discounts when they release a new version.
For example, their version 3 to version 4 promotion saw the synth for 50% off and even greater discounts if you’re already a registered Arturia user (you have registered on Arturia software center). Sometimes by up to 70% off Pigments.
Where Can I Learn How To Fully Use Arturia Pigments Synth?
Arturia – the makers of Pigments – have a good series of tutorials for Pigments. Check the Arturia Pigments tutorials on YouTube.
Another good way to learn how to use Pigments to its fullest is to find a preset that you like and reverse engineer it to figure out how it’s made. Some times learning by trial and error can be the best way to learn. I’d check out the YouTube videos first then dive in and start clicking things!
Is Arturia Pigments Better Than Kilohearts Phase Plant?
Both Arturia Pigments and Kilohearts Phase Plant allow you to create sounds from scratch.
They have different ways of doing it.
Some people say that Arturia Pigments is easier to use if you’re not experienced in sound design – just because Kilohearts Phase Plant is so unbelievably deep and capable. You almost have infinite possibilities to create sound with Kilohearts Phase Plant.
My advice is to download both trials and test for yourself.
See which feels more comfortable and easiest to get a good sound out of. Just to give you an idea of how they differ – when you open Arturia Pigments it starts off with all the sound generators, oscillators and filters and envelopes ready set up.
Kilohearts Phase Plant on the other hand starts with absolutely nothing. A completely blank slate. You have to figure out every step – what sound generator you’ll use, how that will be altered with LFO’s or envelopes, how the effects will be routed and more.
Is Arturia Pigments Worth It?
Arturia’s Pigments is an audio playground and made for people that want to create custom one-of-a-kind sounds. You will get a bunch of presets to use right away, but to get the full potential out if it you’ll have to learn how to use it.
This won’t be something you’ll get fast, but it will grow with you if you put in the effort and learn it. If you can score a copy of Arturia Pigments on sale, I’d say go for it.
Sometimes Arturia will throw in preset packs for free as a bundle AND have Pigments on sale.
Arturia Pigments has a lot to offer and you probably won’t even know it’s full potential until you’ve sat down and seriously used it.
Just know that both Arturia Pigments and Kilohearts Phase Plant are capable of creating almost any sound you can think of. Pigments does have a more analog-y type sound, while Phase Plant can be more electronic and digital…but they both are excellent soft synths with a TON of potential.
Does Pigments Come With Arturia’s “V Collection”?
No. Pigments is on its own. There are some pigments presets included with “Analog Lab” – but you won’t have much option to customize them. You could look at it a different way and say can Pigments recreate the sounds from Analog Lab – or get very close to them.
Check out more information on Pigments on the Arturia website here.
