For a start there’s a new, common interface system for the apps themselves, regardless of the instrument. Many instruments have been carried forward from the previous collection (with the exception of Spark 2 which is no longer included), but all have had upgrades. The collection still runs in standalone and plug-in mode in all major formats on Mac and PC, and you can manage installations, demos and updates using the Arturia Software Centre app.
With so many instruments included there’s not space to go into each one in great detail so we’ll concentrate on what’s new.
So if you had planned to buy four or five separately, you’ll almost certainly get far more bang for your buck by getting the whole collection. In this case the bundle deal represents a huge saving over buying even a smaller selection of the included instruments. When developers get a large enough stable of instruments they often choose to offer bundles at a significant discount to buying them individually. So it was with some excitement that I got my hands on V Collection 5, the very latest release that includes practically every software product the company makes.
The ASC is now M1-native and can run smoothly in both M1 and Rosetta mode.