Pigments 3.5 is a “supercharged” synth plugin, says Arturia: new version promises to take it into “a new era of sound”

Since its release in 2018, Arturia’s Pigments has established itself as a major player in the power synth plugin game, and its reputation is only likely to be enhanced by the release of the new version 3.5 update.

Promising an “evolved synthesis spectrum,” this introduces several notable new features, starting with CrossMod. Offering cross modulation between engines 1 and 2, this enables you to use either one as a modulation source. Parameters can be customised so that you can create “wild harmonics, unusual waveforms and extreme sonic results”.

There’s also a new distortion module - this gives you 16 modes with built-in filtering - and an expanded comb filter.

On the compatibility front, Mac M1 users get native support, and there are also new wavetables inspired by everything from molecular structures and mineral textures to aggressive modern timbres. The enhanced sample engine browser offers subfolders and one-click sample preview, and the interface as a whole has been streamlined slightly to speed up the workflow.

Pigments 3.5 also comes with 150 new factory presets that are designed to show off the new features, and there are three new add-on preset packs (available for introductory prices until 6 January) that contain 150 patches each. These go by the names of Bass Thermal, Trap Chemical and EDM Kinetic.

The v3.5 update is free for existing Pigments owners, while new users can currently purchase the synth for the special price of $99/€99 (regular price is $199/€199). This offer applies until 6 January.

Pigments 3.5 runs on PC and Mac in VST/AU/AAX formats. Find out more on the Arturia website.