Older presets (preset packs) not supported?

Lab AstroLab
#1

I know that some presets can’t be transfered to AstroLab because the onboard software doesn’t support it yet. But I thought that was only for newer presets?

A few years ago I bought the two Vangelis preset packs for V Collection (I don’t remember which version, perhaps v9). A lot of these presets are not supported on the AstroLab. How come? I thought these engines were at least backward compatible(?)

So, does it mean more and more of the older presets will stop working as AstroLab gets updated?

#2

“So, does it mean more and more of the older presets will stop working as AstroLab gets updated?”

In short, yes. You can find details of instrument and patch compatibility here:

As you can see, older versions of instruments such as CS80 V3 for example are not supported. Hence, older sound banks such as the original Vangelis which use CS80 V3 and not V4 will not work on the Astrolab. See:

There are several instruments and hence many older sound packs that will be similarly affected. This is due to Arturia doing major rewrites of the synth engine for better faithfulness to the actual synth and in so doing creating an incompatibility between versions.

On a side note. Those incompatible patches will continue to work in Analog Labs as long as you have “Include Legacy Sounds” enabled and have the older version of the synths installed as well.

2 Likes
#3

Thanks for the reply. I hope that Arturia will consider updating the sound packs as well. Otherwise they quickly gets useless as you upgrade (and like me don’t have the space for keeping old versions installed).

#4

No!
All the versions that were compatible with AstroLab at the time of its original release (April 2024 / V-Collection 9) will remain compatible.
When completely new versions of the existing instruments are released, they are gradually added to AstroLab, but the previous versions remain compatible.
Since the original release, the following instruments now have 2 versions, both compatible with AstroLab:

  • Mini V3 and V4 (VC X)
  • Wurli V2 and V3 (VCX)
  • SEM V2 and V3 (VC 11)

Unfortunately, versions that were not included in VC9 are not compatible, and won’t be. These are CS-80V3 , Prophet V3, Jup-8V3, Piano V2, Stage 73V and earlier versions of those, that were replaced by CS-80V4, Prophet 5V & Prophet VSV, Jup-8V4, Piano V3 and Stage 73V2 by the time VC9 was released.

For the newest instruments/updates, it can take a few months after their release before they are added to AstroLab (currently, Pigments 7 and MiniFreak V4 are not yet compatible; until then, AstroLab supports Pigments 6 and MiniFreak V3).

When you visit the Arturia Sound Store on the website, you can filter the soundbanks by compatible instrument. If you select AstroLab, there are currently 233 fully compatible soundbanks.
Of course, if you use the AstroLab Connect app to visit the Sound Store, it will only show AstroLab-compatible soundbanks.