KVR Audio

mark77 · Post by **mark77** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 4:35 am

well ive just downloaded the demo of OPX and i think its sounds lovely but i have never played/seen the original hardware version so i dont know how accurate is it... can someone with some experience shed some light on this????

vurt · Post by **vurt** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 4:37 am

not that i know the original but...
does it actually matter if you like the sound?

blortblort · Post by **blortblort** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 5:31 am

sonic project site has a comparison page and while they are not mirror images of the original ob examples, both the vst and reaktor version examples compare startlingly similar to the original....
but ultimately- vurt's spot on: what's it matter if you like the sound and can work with the plug? I really dig it

Spratman · Post by **Spratman** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 6:12 am

Well I think it sounds nice to. I guess in part the question would be whether or not this is "The Emulation" or whether or not one should wait for the next one. The other feeling that is often felt is that the word "emulation" is not always applied so realistically. It's reasonably easy to make something LOOK like something similar to an original hardware device, but whether it's really similar in terms of sound is another question. Sounding nice is one thing but whether or not something IS an emulation as claimed and how close to the original it is is another set of questions again! Dare I say another question again? Probably not

Maybe one avenue of comparision someone might like to try if possible is comparing some of those growly "hard synch" type sounds with OPX and comparing with the original [first we have to find someone with one that works properly and is willing to sample etc]. Personally I'm not really sure if it compares well in that category. It's always so hard to know how much of what you hear from sample cd's and other sources is actually representative of the real hardware and how much of it is about having a "polished" tone/sound for consumers...

Spratman

Spratman · Post by **Spratman** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 6:13 am

Oh and of course anyone nice enough to send me the hardware version....

Spratman

DaveSmom · Post by **DaveSmom** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 6:25 am

Like blort said, there are some A/B's here: http://www.sonicprojects.ch/obx/comparison.html

I don't entirely trust them, tho... The emulation ones seem to be mastered, whilst the originals are not

You can hear some differences, esp. on the brass (attack)

Peter999 · Post by **Peter999** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 8:26 am

I don't entirely trust them, tho... The emulation ones seem to be mastered, whilst the originals are not

They are not mastered at all - no eq - no effects - just recorded dry as dust

the setup:
real ob-x: stereo or mono out directly to apogee rosetta, sample rate 44.1 khz, 24 bit to cubase

the op-x: direct dry export from cubase, 24bit 44.1 kHz, then encoding to mp3 320kbps in wavelab; no mastering

in reality the op-x sounds even much bigger - the mp3 encoding unfortunately takes a lot away from this

Peter
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Peter999 · Post by **Peter999** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 8:38 am

by the way: there was first the sound in this "emulation" - I had no guy at all at the beginning - the user interface has only be done to attract attention - of course I don't say that I don't like it myself - but I could have done without it

this might help you too: although I have a real ob-x in excellent state here in the studio I mostly use the op-x - for fat solos I even like it more than the original - sync-sounds seem to be a tad bit grainier on the original - of course the real ob-x has a great feel to it and is an awsome looking piece of gear - and it's still more sexy to play the original of course - but it's an expensive fun

I have a little riddle for you: these are two filtersweeps - one of it is the original ob-x, the other one the op-x. which is which? who finds out?

http://www.sonicprojects.ch/obx/isat/file1.mp3
http://www.sonicprojects.ch/obx/isat/file2.mp3

--------

DaveSmom · Post by **DaveSmom** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 8:44 am

Peter999 wrote:
I don't entirely trust them, tho... The emulation ones seem to be mastered, whilst the originals are not
They are not mastered at all - no eq - no effects - just recorded dry as dust

the setup:
real ob-x: stereo or mono out directly to apogee rosetta, sample rate 44.1 khz, 24 bit to cubase

the op-x: direct dry export from cubase, 24bit 44.1 kHz, then encoding to mp3 320kbps in wavelab; no mastering

in reality the op-x sounds even much bigger - the mp3 encoding unfortunately takes a lot away from this

Peter
----

Actually, I think it sounds pretty darn good, I just think you should make those mp3s all closer in overall level (RMS), if you can, to avoid the suspicious

re: The test.... 1 is the emulation ... maybe... LOL... Don't answer yet, let others have a turn too

lebaron · Post by **lebaron** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 1:00 pm

I agree, I think the 1st one is the emulation.
The second one almost sounds like capacitors warming up.

8-bitter · Post by **8-bitter** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 1:45 pm

Yes that second one must be the real deal,the first sounds little bit brighter to me.
Maybe making the oscillators darker sounding on the vst-version would bring the sound closer to original.

Peter999 · Post by **Peter999** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 9:17 pm

who else? other opinions?

fred-hal · Post by **fred-hal** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 9:20 pm

I really don't know or care who's who.. All that matters is if it sounds great, and it does..

Frippertronix · Post by **Frippertronix** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 11:00 pm

Peter999 wrote:who else? other opinions?

According to recordings (yours and some others I found on the web), I think OP-X is a very good emulation, but I think it sounds noticeably more grainy. The real Oberheim sounds "sweeter" somehow to my ears. There is that elusive analog warmth really present in the OB-X, even moreso than what I've heard of the OB-Xa and OB-8, and the highs are smoother than the digital version.

But I don't mean any of that as a specific criticism to you---my consistent opinion is that digital just has a long way to go in really capturing the warmth and smoothness of high-end analog audio gear (and I consider the OB-X to be high-end). Within the limits of digital (and the limits of processing resources for plugins), it does quite a good job, IMO. The price is great, too. I'm probably the only person on KVR who will say that as good as yours is, I will still most likely hold out for a real OB-X (if I can ever find one).

One more thing: Peter999---what is your opinion of the OB-8 compared to earlier Oberheims? They seem to be the most common on eBay and most of them already have factory MIDI.

Peter999 · Post by **Peter999** » Tue Jun 06, 2006 1:17 pm

yes it's cool to have the real deal - but be aware that you will have to spend a lot of money to keep it running - and it's not any more that easy to find a one in good state - I bought mine sixteen years ago and have spent lots of time and money on this synth - but it was worth it - nevertheless I mostly use the op-x instead of it because it's way more flexible and faster to use it - but sometimes I nevertheless want to have the real deal on the track just to know that it was the real deal (which is more sexy of course...)

OP-X its nice but how faithful is it???