I own an Xpander and a Memorymoog. The filters sound absolutely nothing alike. I'm surprised they could use the same chip? doubt it really. Moog is a moog ladder filter with extra noisy feedback, shaping etc. and the Oberheim is something like 15 filter types. The oscillators are probably the same, but even then, the built in preamp section for the outputs is 100% different, the Xpander is the quietest synth I own, and the Memorymoog is LOUD, that has to ad some color. Plus the Xpander has at least 5 LFOs, digital ADSRs lag filters etc. It's not half as good as doing FM type noise as the moog, but it's amazing at doing odd evolving sounds.nevernamed wrote:There is a lot of overlap between them yes. I think this guy is just stating a preference for Oberheim sound over the Sequential stuff. I have a prophet 5 rev 2 at the minute and there is a lot of overlap with that and the rest of the IC based Oberheims. You could get by impersonating one with the other for certain sounds/situations if you had to. There is a lot of emphasis on differences but there are similarities too.Richard_Synapse wrote:Interesting, I would expect a certain similarity in sound here as they both used Curtis filter chips. Perhaps the way the chips are used makes a difference in sound though.machinesworking wrote:IMO anyway a huge portion of the Oberheim sound is the filters. There's a cream to them that I don't hear in Moog or Sequential etc. synths. Playing pads on the Oberheim Xpander just sounds to me better than Sequential etc.
That's the reason, the scarcity coupled with the high price. Emulations of rare synths keep popping up all the time, but only if the vintage originals are somewhat affordable.machinesworking wrote: I'll never get whey there hasn't been a solid cross platform Memorymoog emulation though. That's a truly unique sounding synth that's hard to upkeep or get ahold of a working version of.
Richard
I suppose with an OBxa or the like you could make the argument that there's some overlap, but even then I would say the Memorymoog just doesn't sound like the others, it's why I would like a great emulation, it's 35 years old and will get expensive at some point maintenance wise.
Oh, and owning V Collection, the Matrix 12 from Arturia is cool, but it's not 100% more like 80%. The oscillators are too stable, and the filters are too perfect. It still sounds great, just not as dirty as a real Xpander/Matrix 12. A/B-ing factory sounds it sound like they got it right, but upon looking at the settings of the actual filter, Osc, etc. they moved a lot around to get close, dry oscillators sound synced without sync on, on the real Xpander they sound chorused even in tune.
(ouch head).
