Arturia VOX Continental-V [Review]

Arturia are becoming a huge name in the software instrument world, releasing some incredible products over the years. Recently, they announced the availability of their new VOX Continental-V organ simulator, and today we have a review of the new software. The plugin emulates the VOX Continental 300.

The first thing to notice when opening up the software is the user interface, which is really very simple to use. There are four tabs at the top of the window, the first allowing you to toggle between “extended mode” (with more stops and controls) or “normal mode”. The second tab allows the organ to be “opened” and tuned, the engine to be tweaked, and vibrato to be controlled. The third tab toggles the pedals on and off, and the last tab does the same for the amp.

The stops for the organ are located towards the top of the screen, with the keys located right under that. On and off switches for the reverb, tremolo, and vibrato, and percussion controls are located around the keys. Users can change effects pedals underneath, as well as the amp being used and the mic being used.

One of the great things about this plugin is how many options it has. There are five output options, including a Leslie speaker and four amps: Fender Deluxe Reverb Blackface, Fender Twin Reverb Blackface, Fender Bassman, and a Marshall Plexi. On that amp users can choose between three microphones, the Shure SM57, the Sennheiser MD421, and the Neumann U87. There are also a number of effects pedals that can be used, which is a great addition. The effects include a flanger, phaser, chorus, analog delay, overdrive, and wah. While the effects pedals are nice, it’s a little unfortunate that only one pedal can be used, and it would have been nice to have more than one pedal slot.

The sound of the plugin is top-line. The goal of it was to capture that classic organ sound of the 60s, 70s and 80s, and Arturia really did a good job with that. It’s very easy to tweak the sound to taste, but if users don’t want to do that there are tons of presets to choose from. The reverbs are top quality and add a great atmosphere to the organ.

The Arturia VOX-Continental-V organ simulation is a great new plugin, which sounds amazing. If Arturia’s goal was to capture the organ sound of the 60s, 70s and 80s, then they’ve done a great job. The plugin is easy to use, very flexible, and it looks great. While it would have been great to have more effects slots, the fact that it doesn’t is not a big deal and can be remedied by using other effects outside of the plugin. Overall Arturia has made an awesome plugin that many will find very useful.

8/10