Arturia Pigments vs Surge XT
Specs, price and the Dubspot Score, side by side — with our verdict on which synth to buy.
Which should you buy?
On the Dubspot Score, Arturia Pigments comes out ahead (9.1). That said, the right pick depends on your workflow and budget — read both reviews before deciding.
Specs compared
| Arturia Pigments | Surge XT | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $199 | Free |
| Dubspot Score | 9.1 | 8.7 |
| Formats | Standalone, VST, VST3, AAX, Audio Unit (AU), NKS | VST3, AU, CLAP, LV2, Standalone |
| Synthesis engines | Six engines: Modal, Granular, Wavetable, Sample, Harmonic, and Virtual Analog (plus a Utility engine) | — |
| Filters | 19 filter types and 68 filter modes | — |
| Effects | 20 effects, with 3 FX slots per bus across two insert buses and one send/return bus | — |
| Presets | Over 1,700 presets | — |
| Current version | Pigments 7 | — |
| Platforms | Windows 10+ (64-bit) and macOS 11+ (incl. Apple M1); 4 GB RAM, 3 GB disk space | Windows, macOS (Intel/Apple Silicon), Linux |
| Type | — | Open-source hybrid synthesizer |
| Version | — | 1.3.4 (stable) |
| Oscillators | — | 3 per scene; 12 algorithms (Classic, Modern, Wavetable, FM2/FM3, String, Twist, and more) |
| Factory content | — | 2800+ patches; 700+ wavetables |
| Scenes | — | Two full synthesis scenes for layer/split patches |
| Formats | — | VST3, AU, CLAP, LV2, Standalone |
See the full plugin database for more comparisons.