Less than a year after Pigments 6, Arturia is back with a new version of its versatile software synth. And I’ll admit it: it’s one of the most frequently used synthesizers in my productions. Nevertheless, I’ll approach this review with complete honesty.
When Pigments first appeared a few years ago, I was impressed by its wavetable synthesis, featuring an advanced wavetable engine and highly efficient visual modulation. From the start, Arturia laid the foundation for a modern, flexible, and remarkably clear instrument. But with each successive version — thanks to the addition of new engines, extra filters, expanded effects, and an increasingly inspiring sequencer — Pigments evolved into a true Swiss Army knife among synthesizers. It now ranks among the few synths that combine power, versatility, and ease of use without falling into unnecessary complexity.
Version 7 is not a massive update, but rather a series of additions and refinements.
Envelopes, New Presets, and Wavetables
The core of Pigments also benefits from a series of subtler but important improvements. Optimization of the amplitude envelope reduces unwanted clicking and ensures sharper attacks. The result: more precise percussive sounds and tighter, punchier basses. While this may seem minor on paper, it quickly becomes noticeable in practice.
The included content has also been expanded: 150 new presets, 50 wavetables, 30 samples, and 20 noise sources, complemented by integrated tutorials that guide users step by step through practical sound design scenarios.
Filters and Effects
Pigments 7 expands its palette with three new filters and one new effect.
The Rage filter introduces a type of saturation that was previously missing. It combines resonance with multiple forms of distortion, offering different modes (Diode, Distortion, Soft Clip, Tape, and Transistor), allowing for both subtle and aggressive coloration. On basses and leads, this filter delivers a noticeable energy boost that will especially appeal to fans of modern electronic music.
The new Ripple filter, available in three types (Subtle, Medium, and Hard), allows you to explore phase- and frequency-shifting phenomena. It produces oscillating timbres that go beyond simple cutoff variations. This highly original filter can vibrate or pulse in intriguing ways and functions more as a textural sound design tool than as a traditional filter that simply “cuts into” the material.
The Reverb filter is somewhat unusual. You need to experiment with it to truly understand how it works. It generates resonant textures strongly reminiscent of reverb, with a particularly wide range of applications. It’s useful in various situations, but especially interesting for sound design and noisy or experimental textures. Skilled programmers will undoubtedly extract highly original sounds from it.
Finally, Pigments 7 introduces the Corroder effect. It may not sound particularly exciting on paper, but in practice it quickly proves its worth. It’s designed as a controlled degradation tool, capable of ranging from subtle to extremely destructive. The addition of noise is a major plus, creating beautiful textures and added depth.
Particularly interesting is the ability to choose a modulation source from standard waveforms (sine, square, saw), but also — and this is where it gets exciting — from generators, filters, the FX input, or even the Audio Input. As already demonstrated in Pigments 6, this opens the door to creative applications, but applied to an effect specifically focused on sonic degradation, it gains an entirely new dimension. Your voice — or even the sound of your washing machine — can serve as a modulator for Corroder. That’s pretty cool.
Additionally, the “Classics” filters now benefit from FM modulation, enabling even more complex interactions between oscillators and filters. This significantly enhances Pigments’ ability to create metallic or unpredictable textures.
A New Play View
The redesign of the Play View is undoubtedly one of the most visible changes for anyone opening Pigments 7 for the first time. Arturia chose to modernize the interface, drawing inspiration from what we already know from Analog Lab, and adding a dynamic visual layer on top. The window is now largely occupied by an animated visualization: each sound category has its own animation that reacts to the shape and color of the audio signal. The macros, more prominent than before, are layered over this animation, while editing commands are grouped at the bottom of the screen. The overall result looks clean, efficient, and visually impressive.
That said, there are some caveats. Although this new Play View is undeniably more modern and perfectly suited for real-time performance, it also shows limitations when it comes to fast sound editing. Nearly all the previous parameters are still there, but direct access is less intuitive and more tab-based. Personally, I don’t find that it adds much.
Conclusion
Pigments 7 clearly follows a path of continuity. Less spectacular than some previous updates, it is aimed at refining an already highly mature instrument. In that sense, this version feels more like a 6.5 than a true V7. At the same time, Pigments has reached a level of maturity where adding radically new features without introducing unnecessary complexity becomes increasingly difficult. And since the update is free, there’s certainly no reason to complain.
The revamped Play View is more modern and readable, clearly geared toward performance, even if that sometimes comes at the expense of fast editing. The new filters and the Corroder effect add substantial sonic value, pushing Pigments toward rougher and more experimental territories. Corroder in particular stands out as a creative effect that cleverly leverages the synth’s rich modulation system.
Improvements to the internal engine — especially the envelopes — deliver a punchier sound, although they may slightly affect the behavior of older presets. Finally, the CPU optimization deserves special mention: Pigments 7 is noticeably more efficient, making it more comfortable to use in large projects.
Do I still have wishes? Perhaps a new FM-based generator. Pigments already offers powerful frequency modulation, but a dedicated engine with deeper control would make sense.
All things considered, it would be unfair to criticize this software too harshly: it is already remarkably complete, enjoyable to use, and continues to receive free updates.
In short, Pigments 7 offers an excellent price-to-quality ratio. It may not be the most spectacular update in the synth’s history, but it is a coherent and well-executed step forward.