Diva - classic synths that deserve emulating?

[Bronto Scorpio]

I would LOVE to see an emulation of either Roland JX-3p or JX-8p. They might not be as rare and expensive as some of the older synths, but they have a very strong character. Lots of smooth funk and soul. And the JX-8p and 10p has the most wonderful pads. To me the JX series is the true Roland sound.

[PeWe]

1300€ was a good price for an MKS-80 rev 4. They are raising in price lately, too.

Shame I couldn't grab it

Well, it's gone since half a year because I tried to get rid of all the synths w/ too much CEM chips inside and for an acceptable price.
The CEM3360 are very expensive now and these are the ones which blow 1st, simply being overdriven in the cross modulation path.
And the MKS80 rev.4 has "white dot" (Roland selected for low end) 3360 inside.
I had the luck blowing only one of these chips in all the years and more luck Roland germany sold the last one to me years ago,- they are 20min away from my home.
So, be carefull what you buy for the future.

Oberheim Xpander is relatively easy to service and has 12 CEMs only.
The 3372 are available always and not expensive,- the 3374 are a problem, but you kill a filter chip earlier than a oscillator.
I have a 3374 in spare but never had a failure.
For the displays, there's a solution in the UK which fits all US made Xpanders, but there are probs in a Matrix-12 because of replacement board design and in all the japanese models of Xpander and Matrix-12 these display replacements don't work.
There are also rotary encoder replacements available and the switch-replacements come from the original company.

It's worth to think about which synths to keep and which not before opening a synth museum which turns into a electronic nitemare one day.

PeWe

[EvilDragon]

Good thoughts, PeWe.

[rumba_codex]

+1 SH 101

It would fit into the DIVA paradigm perfectly. I was working with one a few weeks back (some of the time via a SEM Pro) and it was a delight to revisit this machine again. It's strength is that offers such a great range of textures from a limited palette.

Oh, and a SunSyn Mk2 would be fun ...

[Prunesquallor]

Probably something for the Berlin Modular, but have you thought of emulating a Moog Modular? Just to complete the set...

I'm sure HZ wouldn't mind a small part of his 'wall' being preserved for posterity.

[Urs]

I'm sure HZ wouldn't mind a small part of his 'wall' being preserved for posterity.

He offered.

I will spend some time with his stuff in LA in January. Howie will be there too, so we can discuss a lot of these things.

[DirkJ]

Hey Urs,

so we also get the OB emulation (at release or later)?

cheers,
Dirk

No worries. That Matrix 12 has arrived and passed the initial function test. The panel is a bit eroded and pale. I wonder what made them use that strange rubber type of finish. I thought of making a new one if it's possible to detach the LED displays from the foil, and integrated them with a fresh one. I thought of maybe a sleek metal casing with black labels.

I'll try to spend a couple of hours with it tomorrow maybe. This time I'll have access to every parameter, and it won't play six voices at once all the time

[osiris]

I think the Matrix does 6 voice poly , 12 voice mono.

[electro]

I would LOVE to see an emulation of either Roland JX-3p or JX-8p. They might not be as rare and expensive as some of the older synths, but they have a very strong character. Lots of smooth funk and soul. And the JX-8p and 10p has the most wonderful pads. To me the JX series is the true Roland sound.

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... sc&start=0

[Prunesquallor]

I'm sure HZ wouldn't mind a small part of his 'wall' being preserved for posterity.

He offered.

I will spend some time with his stuff in LA in January. Howie will be there too, so we can discuss a lot of these things.

Woo hoo!!!

Just a quick question about how you go about things - do you take comprehensive notes of the synths, so as CPUs catch up, etc, you can implement better methods of emulation without having to go back to the originals?

[PeWe]

I think the Matrix does 6 voice poly , 12 voice mono.

Not that simple !

In single patch mode, a Xpander does 6-voice poly and a Matrix-12 does 12-voice poly.
In addition, the Matrix-12 can be played in a dual mode, both voiceboards layered, depending on MIDI and voice assignment configurations.

In single patch mode both synths offer a global MIDI zone incl. all the adjustments and a global vibrato LFO.

In multi patch mode, Xpander offers 3 polyphonic MIDI zones, each separately adjustable (see parameter list in the manual), and the Matrix-12, because it comes w/ 2 voiceboards doubling the voice count, offers 6 polyphonic MIDI zones,- but in both the synths, in multi-patch mode and each voice set to mono, these mono "synths" can be controlled separately over MIDI too.

The voice assignment to MIDI zones in both the Xpander and Matrix-12 is up to the user and the keyboard play modes are related to these being offered in the old SEM based Oberheim 4-Voice and 8-Voice synths.

I opposite to the Matrix-12, the Xpander offers 6 CV and Gate inputs,- 1 for each voice,- so there's the ability to run a Xpander like 6 separately controllable monophonic synths via CV/GATE input.
CV/GATE received will be converted to MIDI Out on separate MIDI channels.
That's what you cannot do w/ any Matrix-12.

Look at this feature as a simultaneously working MIDI and CV/GATE bus system for each voice.

There are single analogue outputs for each stock Oberheim Xpander, for the Matrix-12 these came as a option later,- so most Matrix-12 you can buy used today won't have these built in.

For the hardware synth enthusiast, the Xpander is the better buy.
For the common synth user, Matrix-12 might be a better decisison because it's much easier and less preset memory space consuming, creating layered poly detuned and detuned unison mono patches.

In a Xpander, if you want 6 equal patches in multi-mode w/ unison key assignment and detuned,- you need to store 6x the same patch in "single-patch" preset memory incl. the different tunings,- then load into the desired multi patch slots, set the volumes and pan and store as a multi-patch.

In a Matrix-12,- you simply put the same patch into the multi patch slots, detune w/ help of the detune page (which doesn't exist for the Xpander), set key-assignment and store as a multi-patch .
Saves 5 single-patch preset memory locations.

PeWe

[osiris]

JD-800. Oh, those filters!

[hakey]

JD-800. Oh, those filters!

Really?

[Urs]

Hey Urs,

so we also get the OB emulation (at release or later)?

cheers,
Dirk

Well, we currently calculate 2 months per model.

Nevertheless, Diva will stay as she is for a while. This thread is strictly hypothetical, I will not make any decisions about future models or products at this time. I'll be happy if we get the current lineup out before christmas.

Also, we have big plans for next year. Berlin Modular and Zebra cross my mind. Thus I think it's better not to promise anything w/respect of Diva.

[rockin1]

JD-800. Oh, those filters!

Really?

Oh, yes!