Diva vs Analogue - a real world test

[penguinfromdeep]

Tsk tsk tsk...
So many golden eared people here and looks like no one noticed this.
2 possibilities.
1. The OP recorded some analog noise and pasted this on Diva.
2. The OP recorded Diva through the same outboard gear as the Oberheim.
Turn up the volume to hear the noise between notes.

Of course this needs to be done because Diva doesn't have noise, so you need to add same noise as from the OB8 (maybe just recording the output silent) to the Diva clips. Otherwise it would be easy to tell which is which.

[EnGee]

The sound is a bit of a red herring. The true differences between hardware and good soft synths are a) cost; b) size / weight; c) versatility; d) convenience and e) how tactile they are. Always fun watching people confidently claim totally different things from each other when it comes to sound though.

I agree with you.

But it depends on the synth we compare to.

For me in NZ dollars:
Price
-------
Diva $267
Korg Volca Keys $229
Korg MS-20 Mini $799
Pulse 2 $899
King Korg $1299
and
Prophet 12 $4699


I would take Diva over Prophet 12 (simply because I can't afford it and I prefer to buy a small used car instead of the prophet!). Now, for MS-20 Mini, Pulse 2, King Korg (although it is not analog) and Volca keys, I prefer them than Diva.

Pulse 2 is 3.367 times the cost of Diva and this is in my opinion is a great value for money. It is a portable and light enough to put it in your bag. You don't need a computer to hear it (although you still need a midi keys to play it with a midi cable). And most important point, when you record it has almost 0 cpu usage in your DAW! For me, I would pay happily 3.367 the price of Diva and get the Pulse 2 (or pay 3 times only and get the MS-20 Mini). For others, it might be completely different comparison.

btw, I also find Blofeld (both desktop and keys) is much better value than Largo! I believe current prices for some hardware are very reasonable and affordable. I don't think it is the golden age for software synths anymore

[Lotuzia]

A=Diva
B=OB8

Almost indistinguishable to my ears.

@Ltz - what's your guess? You didn't say.

If you read my last post careully you should know my answer. ( Aka 'sometimes we can share the same analysis' )

Besides that I think that the OP choose the most easy to match patches.( Maybe I'm wrong on this, but this was my first impression) No sync sweep ? The Oberheim was quite famous for its sync sounds. That reminds me again of the 64 A/B clips that I made for the Jupiter 8 VS another soft synth. If I had choosen only the 10 best clips, people would have been wowed and saying the two synths were nearly *identical*. ( Wich they are not, even in the 10 best clips, but very close ) I choose to make 64 clips, to make the most possibly honnest comparison, and knowing perfectly that some of the clips will show some bigger differences. ( But I wasn't expecting big profits from my soundbanks, it was more a challenge for me, and to answer questions I asked to myself)

Same thing here, the clips, whatever other people might think, are clearly not identical to my ears, I can spot numerous details that differ. Some details that one can find *rather important*, or less. Also the parts played, wich are very short and cover each time few playing situations, help to reinforce the 'similarity' feeling.

I think that longer clips, complete phrases playing more sophisticated/different styles of music, would exhibit more differences.( Once again based on my experience when I was performing *similar* tests)

But all in all, I certainly won't blame the author, because I think he put some big efforts into doing his soundset, and the comparison clips. And hard work should always be rewarded, especially hen done right like in this case.( Though I differ from the op for some of its proactive claims, but well, we're all sometimes a bit biased )

And it also demonstrates -imho- something important that I defend for a long time : One can make good music with either of the synths. Simply put, not exactly the same music, and I would not personnaly use the A or the B synth for this or that part : They are, and sound different, and could find their place in a composition depending on what character you ned at a precise moment in music writing. Hw an Sf still sound different. Both can sound good. It depends on one's taste - and possibly wallet and space- to choose one or the other. Or both. And well, that's all

[Lotuzia]

Tsk tsk tsk...
So many golden eared people here and looks like no one noticed this.
2 possibilities.
1. The OP recorded some analog noise and pasted this on Diva.
2. The OP recorded Diva through the same outboard gear as the Oberheim.
Turn up the volume to hear the noise between notes.

Of course this needs to be done because Diva doesn't have noise, so you need to add same noise as from the OB8 (maybe just recording the output silent) to the Diva clips. Otherwise it would be easy to tell which is which.

Yes some noise was probably added. Wich makes the comparison a bit flawed, but more fun for those who want to play. Ime the analog synths *provide* more noise than the mix console. Depends on the units perhaps, but most of mine or at least a bit noisy.

[OutCider]

A=Diva
B=OB8

Almost indistinguishable to my ears.

@Ltz - what's your guess? You didn't say.

If you read my last post careully you should know my answer.

Ok, as i'm bored (and a bit drunk), here's the intermediate result: 13 people voted, 11 voted that OB-8 is synth A and Diva synth B, 2 voted that Diva is synth A and OB-8 synth B. Would be pretty humiliating if Diva was synth A now.

Not necesseraly if you consider that few people who voted have real experience with an OB-8, and that some folks might prefer the more in your face sound of A (Wich is not really the thing for wich the OB-8 was famous btw)

At the very least I'd say that it might be the sign that people seem to think that the synths sound different one from each other.

Yeah, not picking up the vibe. Please do a 'for the record' definitive post and make it clear.

[SWAN808]

I do every time I play. I did this, this afternoon, before I made that post, except without the blind part, but the difference was so audible there was no way it could be some sort of bias.

you are preaching to the choir - I am retaining real analogue hardware AS WELL as using Diva.

But I repeat - its no good just fiddling and thinking 'this is so much better'. You need to make the analogue sound thats replicable on Diva (architecture). Then sit with Diva for a while and really tweak it so it is an accurate representation of the analogue sound. Its really easy to not match the sound properly with minor parameter differences and think 'this is so inaccurate' or not get the best out of Diva...once you have really fairly matched it - level match it - and ABX it.

[Z1202]

Then sit with Diva for a while and really tweak it so it is an accurate representation of the analogue sound. Its really easy to not match the sound properly with minor parameter differences and think 'this is so inaccurate' or not get the best out of Diva...once you have really fairly matched it - level match it - and ABX it.

This is one of my main problems with many VA software products. Exactly what I have been complaining about, that you regularly have to restort to the fine-tuning mode, hunting for the sweet spot. With some other synths the sweet spot is usually quite wide, maybe you don't get a 100% reproduction of the sound, but it works very well functionally in the mix.

So, one thing is convincing reproduction of the analog sound, the other one is how easy it is to dial the desired sounds. This is absolutely critical if you doing the sounddesign during songmaking. Minutes vs. hours to create a desired sound (or randomly stumble across an interesting sound) is a huge difference.

[Ogopogo]

analoguesamples909, did you add noise or anything like that that these people are talking about?

[aciddose]

If you're comparing specific things you ought to name the thread that.

"Diva vs. OB8"

Naming it "vs. analog" is moronic. It just makes you look stupid.

[penguinfromdeep]

What is your guess aciddose?

[Ogopogo]

Naming it "vs. analog" is moronic. It just makes you look stupid.

No, chill.

[aciddose]

What do you mean no? I'm telling you, you look stupid.

Rename the thread or continue to look this way.

[aciddose]

What is your guess aciddose?

My best guess is that your methods here are so far from scientific that it makes me laugh.

What are you attempting to prove? What this "test" proves is that given two entirely random bits of data, it isn't possible to accurately identify one or the other.

It's random chance.

All you've done is used your outstanding brilliance to reproduce a coin flip in an amazingly obtuse way.

[penguinfromdeep]

Take some acid maybe? LOL You have a point but It's just fun little test, at least I don't take it too seriously but i find it interesting nonetheless

[aciddose]

The problem is it isn't interesting and a lot of people might take it seriously even if you don't. It's a bad test, it claims to demonstrate something when it demonstrates nothing.

I can create an equally valid test:

Here are two strings. One was with my left hand and the other with my right.

We'll call this test "left vs. right".

1. jtfyesui6fuf
2. tjfhdrthtyjd

See if you can identify which is which.