Regarding Multi Mode, the CS-80 V4 manual says this on page 5:
Multi mode, the ability to assign a different sound to each of the polyphonic voices, an
onboard effects chain to supplement the original’s built-in effects, independent keyboard
management, positioning in stereo space and controllable detuning and circuit
characteristics – all lead to a new presentation of this unique keyboard’s presence and
sonority.
But V4 doesn’t have Multi Mode. And nowhere in the manual is the choice to remove Multi Mode addressed. We have lost free allocation of voices between up to 8 different patches on multiple MIDI channels; panning, detune, transposition, and portamento on/off per voice; the choice to disable portamento per voice; some of the VERY best V2 and V3 patches — it has all gone down the memory hole.
Failure to port a feature so critical to the CS-80 V sound implies, at best, incompetent programming or perhaps laziness — and at worst, Arturia is gearing up to sell us a GX-1 V with its main draw being an awesome feature we had for the first three CS-80 V releases and then lost without warning.
I agree the manual should be correct. It’s a mess it even mention the Multi.
That said, then the Multi is’nt a original CS-80 behavior. I think it was very clumsy to use when using multiple sounds, and i don’t think many did. So the Multi is’nt critical for the originals sound, as it was an added part.
CS-80 V4 have a Voice Dispersion.
CS-80 V4 have other features for panning.
You now have a new dynamic modulator section.
CS-80 V4 perhaps need a sequencer that with step modulation could replicate some of the old Multi behavior.
But a problem when using the Multi for sequences was for example you could’nt retrigger to note number 1. And the old had static settings in the Multi.
You have other options now.
Even though i like adding new relevant functionality to the originals, then i think it’s okay to not have the Multi, just like i think it’s good Prophet now is two applications. Just my opinion.
I totally get that Multi mode isn’t present on the original CS-80 and I do agree that Multi isn’t critical for the classic CS-80 sound. — That said, to me, the most evocative CS-80 V1-V3 presets were almost always Multis.
The new V4 features you mention perform useful functions, yes; but they cannot fully replicate the behavior of Multi mode. My “other options” you describe do not include multi-MIDI channel voice allocation in one CS-80 V instance. Now, my “options” require instantiating CS-80 V4 eight times, and using my DAW to allocate MIDI notes between them, which is an immense hassle.
Again, Arturia should address their motivation for this decision, because totally divorced from the hardware CS-80, Multi has become a defining feature of Arturia’s CS-80 V legacy, and V4 is not a net improvement.
