u-he

mwalthius · Post by **mwalthius** » Mon Jul 21, 2014 9:13 pm

FYI, over on Gearslutz, there is currently a "is it Diva or an OB8" poll going on:

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/electron ... -test.html

Like several others, I cannot tell the difference. And as of this writing, the votes are evenly split.

Erkenfresh · Post by **Erkenfresh** » Mon Jul 21, 2014 10:12 pm

Ahh, very cool idea there. I would vote except I have no idea. They sound identical to me.

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Mon Jul 21, 2014 10:46 pm

Hehehe, I guess I don't need to buy an OB-8 then

GruvSyco · Post by **GruvSyco** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 2:22 am

I'm sure there's a few that never even listened before voting... just run it through a spectrum analyzer. Isn't there supposed to be some kind of shelf inherent to VST I forget the term... band limited or some shit. I thought his clip sounded good, I think that's the important thing.

Erkenfresh · Post by **Erkenfresh** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 3:21 am

That might be true but does it matter if there's 30 kHz sound data if you can't hear it anyway?

Aiynzahev · Post by **Aiynzahev** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 4:18 am

Yeah it's pretty impressive.

Gamma-UT · Post by **Gamma-UT** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 7:35 am

It took two, maybe three listens to begin to discern a difference – and that was knowing when the transitions were meant to be.

Some people have already pre-emptively posted their excuses. The front-runner looks to be "I was listening to earbuds through a wall in the toilet so I might miss the nuances"

Followed by "it's the wrong sort of sound, post some other sound that I'll nail instantly [except I won't]"

Then "Your converters suck"

I expect that the subtle differences will turn into night-and-day differences once the results appear.

FTR, I voted Diva first, OB8 second.

core · Post by **core** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 8:19 am

I "think" I am hearing a little more "punch" in the first, and I would guess that's Diva. Regardless, it's close, and to me in the mix it would certainly be fine with one or the other. Thumbs up for Diva

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 8:27 am

Well, there's differences. The funny thing is, many people *want* the analogue synth to sound better. But I don't think this is what they're gonna get.

suthnear · Post by **suthnear** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 11:18 am

It also took me awhile to figure out where the transitions are. Last night I ever so slightly preferred the first entry, but would very happily use either (and I know that if I listened again, I could easily prefer the second). But I knew that would be the case before I listened and the poll bears this out: there's no discernible difference. Analogue synthesiser sound fetishists increasingly sound like oenophiles or audiophiles (and we know how those worked out). Loving an analogue synthesiser as an instrument is another matter entirely, though, and I totally understand that.

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 11:33 am

Oh... it came out as I had hoped - Diva first, Obie second. Certain people who wanted the Obie to sound better got it wrong

coincidental · Post by **coincidental** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 11:46 am

Yes, very entertaining, thanks for pointing this one out.

However, whether people can or can't hear a difference, whether they do or don't know what an OB8 should sound like, whether or not they have a preference for one sound and a strong opinion as to what they think that sound should be, there's one thing everyone agrees on: there's zero difference in the mix. Add that to nearly 50/50 in the poll and I would say - case closed, well done Urs!

For what it's worth, I can hear a difference, even on crappy earbuds (didn't try it from the toilet, sorry) and even have a mild preference, but it's close enough that I'm not sure I see the point in worrying about it. Whichever is Diva (if I had to guess, I'd say the first), it could probably be tweaked very slightly to make it sound like the other, and either could have some processing applied to make it even more indistinguishable from the other.

And this is the point at which the debate becomes more about sentiment, usability and ergonomics rather than audio tone and character. Which is not to say those first three things aren't important, but....

EDIT: And yes, I did write this an hour or two before remembering to click Submit. Not that the point was whether I was right or wrong - in fact, the opposite!

SWAN808 · Post by **SWAN808** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 1:35 pm

Urs wrote:Oh... it came out as I had hoped - Diva first, Obie second. Certain people who wanted the Obie to sound better got it wrong

Hi Urs. I did the test - glad you found it - and got it right

Big thanks for adding the Uhbie filter - I think it makes a tremendous difference. I will probably be doing a part 2 to these tests - further investigations - but I pledge to make fair tests...

ghettosynth · Post by **ghettosynth** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 4:15 pm

suthnear wrote:It also took me awhile to figure out where the transitions are. Last night I ever so slightly preferred the first entry, but would very happily use either (and I know that if I listened again, I could easily prefer the second). But I knew that would be the case before I listened and the poll bears this out: there's no discernible difference. Analogue synthesiser sound fetishists increasingly sound like oenophiles or audiophiles (and we know how those worked out). Loving an analogue synthesiser as an instrument is another matter entirely, though, and I totally understand that.

Don't be so hasty to dismiss analog fans as audiophiles. It is often the case that there is no usefully discernible difference, as in this case. What is very common about these examples, however, is that the filter is not being pushed in any way and the oscillator is not being modulated in ways that matter. You don't need Diva to reasonably emulate most basic Oberheim sounds as many satisfied customers of a very popular Oberheim emulation will tell you. The reality is that this has been true for years. For most audiences this has been true for almost two decades. My audiences were quite satisfied with the sound of the Nord Modular filter in 1998.

I'm not a purist, at all, and I think that Urs really has pushed the envelope, I'm a satisfied customer. There is still some actual value in real analogue circuitry, however, and tests of simple sounds doesn't refute that.

ghettosynth · Post by **ghettosynth** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 4:23 pm

Gamma-UT wrote: Followed by "it's the wrong sort of sound, post some other sound that I'll nail instantly [except I won't]"

But it is. Look, I'm not an analog purist, but, we don't need zero delay filters for many sounds. Plugins have been able to replace hardware for a long time for some sounds. The better that software gets, the more sounds that are covered.

Then "Your converters suck"

Yes, this is nonsense.

u-he

KVR Audio

Entertaining "Diva or OB8" poll happening on GS