Sound Like Your Idols for Less! – Sounds and Presets
Arturia Software Season: Get 40% Off Virtual Instruments and Effects · Source: Arturia
Whether you’re in a tribute band or just a real die-hard fan, capturing the sound of your musical idol is something we have all tried to do. With Arturia’s Software Season, you can get close for a lot less!
Arturia’s software sale has almost become an annual event, and 2025 is no exception. Whilst they have discounted a vast amount of their software instruments and FX, they’ve also slashed prices on a wide range of sound banks. This week, I thought I’d pick out some of their artist tribute packs.
Sound Like Your Idols for Less!
_Burial Tribute
Little is known about William Bevan, more commonly known as Burial, the man behind some of the most atmospheric and innovative British electronic music of the last 20 years. His sparse, intricate, minimalist sonic creations mostly defy description.
There is a dark intensity to his work, and if much of what we read online about him is true, a lot of his work is mostly sonic collages, created not in DAWs but is simple audio editor software. This makes his work even more remarkable. I can, hand on heart, state that he is definitely one of my musical idols.
So, if a man who creates outside of the traditional methods doesn’t use conventional instruments, how does one approach a tribute sound pack? Well, sound designer 3ee has had a go and made a very good job indeed, using three of Arturia’s synth plugins.
Naturally, there’s a sampler in there and 3ee has plumped for Emulator V for that distinct grittiness and atmosphere. They’ve also used Pigments 6 and Arturia’s version of the legendary SQ80, the SQ-80 V, for that vintage analog/digital hybrid feel.
Whether you’re looking to create minimalist two-step or maybe fashion a dark, brooding soundtrack, this bank of 30 presets is a must-have. It will also work on Analog Lab and AstroLab too! Pick it up for just €6.99 until August 3rd 2025.
_Toto Tribute 2
Classic era Toto were some of the finest session players that L.A. had to offer, writing and performing on some of the greatest pop songs ever created. Locking in around a rhythm section of Jeff and Mike Porcaro, their two keyboard players inspired a generation of synthesists with hooks, riffs and solos that still blow our minds.
Steve Porcaro (a personal idol of mine) and David Paitch complemented each other so well and made use of some of the finest and most expensive gear of the era. Polyfusions, CS-80’s, GS1’s, they had them all and sometimes multiples thereof! Luckily, we don’t need the money or space to try and emulate these idols!
Making use of eight different V Collection plugins, the Toto tribute bank contains 32 presets, covering synths, pianos and organs, all of which can be used individually or as part of an Analog Lab playlist, whether you want to play Rosanna, Africa or any of their seemingly never-ending list of classics.
Designed by the legend that is Katsunori Ujiie (another idol!), this bank is a Toto fan’s wet dream. You can grab this for just €6.99 until August 3rd, 2025!
_Stevie Wonder Tribute
If Stevie Wonder isn’t one of your musical idols, I’d be staggered. He is one of the greatest musicians and songwriters of all time, without question. Maybe everything isn’t to your taste, but there’s no denying that his five-album classic period is one of the greatest and richest veins of form ever to be committed to tape.
Stevie was, and still is, a proper synth head. He’s bought, owned and used almost every synth imaginable, most of which were serial number 1! He is, of course, most closely associated with things like the Clavinet and T.O.N.T.O., that incredible creation by Bob Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil, but he was a big fan and user of things like the Fairlight, ARP 2600, Kurzweil K250 and DX7.
This preset pack contains 64 patches for Analog Lab and, therefore, by extension, Arturia’s brilliant AstroLab stage keyboard, which recently grew to a full 88-key version. Covering many of Stevie’s numerous styles and sounds of his illustrious career, there’s plenty here to evoke his signature sound and inspire your own jazz, funk, soul and R&B compositions.
Idols don’t come much bigger or more important than this man. The Stevie Wonder Tribute bank is on sale as part of Arturia’s Software Season for just €9.99
_Zimmer Tribute
When it comes to film scoring of the last 30+ years, there is no greater idol than Herr Hans Zimmer! He is, without question, Hollywood’s go-to guy for great movie soundtracks, no matter what the subject matter. He’s also scored numerous TV shows and tours the world with his band, sharing that music in a live situation.
Hans has never shied away from mixing and blending the classic with the contemporary when it comes to his instrumentation, using synthesizers heavily throughout his career. His score for Rain Man, which many consider was his career breakthrough, was composed and, in many parts, performed on a Series III Fairlight CMI.
His studio is virtually a synth museum and contains some of the best restored synths of all time, including a massive ARP 2500. He has recenlty been involved with a consortium that acquired the former BBC studios at Maida Vale that was once home to the BBC Symphony Orchestra, with plans to turn it into a global hub for music making.
Arturia’s tribute to Hans is an extensive one that, just like his music, blends the acoustic with the electronic, leaving very little evidence of where one ends and the other begins. Created by Ukrainian sound designer Histibe, it is littered with Zimmer-esque sounds and sonic tricks that are unmistakably his.
The Hans Zimmer Tribute bank is on offer until August 3rd, 2025, for just €9.99.
_Tame Impala Tribute
Our last idol and Arturia sound bank inspiration is the marvellous and uber-talented Kevin Parker, who is more commonly known as Tame Impala. This sickeningly talented Australian multi-instrumentalist has forged his own unique path in the world of pop and has rapidly become a hugely respected artist.
His brand of psychedelic pop has found purchase in the charts all over the world, and he is as respected by listeners as much as fellow musicians who spend inordinate amounts of time trying to figure out how he does what he does.
Watch any documentary on Kevin’s work, and you’ll see that he uses any and everything, with infuriating competency. It’s enough to make you want to chuck the towel in and admit defeat! But equally, his work is inspiring and can have you diving down numerous rabbit holes.
So for those of us who may never achieve his degree of brilliance and success, we can at least get some starting points with the Tame Impala Tribute pack. This makes use of a staggering 14 V Collection instruments, including the Vocoder V, Prophet VS, Vox Continental V and Synthi V. Of course, Analog Lab and AstroLab fully support this bank.
This bumper pack of the weird and wonderful crams in 64 presets and, like the rest of our featured packs today, is on offer for Arturia’s Software Season at just €9.99.
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