Upcoming Synapse OB-Xa: Obsession

[PAK]

The only A/B testing I'd consider of any 'value' would have to be with fairly complex patches with lots of character and movement.

With that in mind, I'd ask anyone involved with testing to consider posting many PWM examples. It's areas like this where there's still room for audible improvements over the existing Oberheim / OB inspired plugins. If you're thinking basics like "Jump sound", the likes of Diva already cover that pretty well.. soo...

[revvy]

No, what makes a great emulation is that it goes way beyond the original without losing the spirit of what it was. That "extra 1-2%" means nothing in a mix.

First nail the basics. The sound. Make it great. For most folks, making it as great as the original is the goal.

After that, sure, extra bits are nice. TAL 101 is polyphonic, original wasn't, nice extra bit but secondary to having nailed the sound and as far as it can go, the expected user experience.

[digitalboytn]

Does it really matter if it sounds exactly like an OB-X ?

If you want to get the sound of an OB-X,you should buy one...

Like I said earlier,we've travelled down the road a bit further than the stone age,so why should we always keep trying to dig up the past ?

If it sounds good,then it is good...

It's that bloody simple

[revvy]

No, if an emulation sounds great but sounds nothing like the original, it fails . If it sounds like the original and sounds good, it is good. It's that simple.

No wink as people who think different just think differently, not from the stone age. If there's no need to drag up the past, don't brand the synth with a name from the past. It really is that bloody simple.

IMO, of course.

[BONES]

That's just marketing, it doesn't need to hold the product back. Take Korg's PolySix VSTi for example. Why hobble it with all the limitations of the original? Why not take that great oscillator and amazing filter and put them in a synth that is more full featured?

It’s not always about the mix.

Of course it's always about the mix. You can't use these things on their own, they are plugins and the thing they plug into is a virtual studio.

You want an instrument that can stand out in its own and do convincing solos, which is where that extra 2% comes in.

When you play your solo, do all the other instruments stop playing? No, they don't, so even your solo is just one part of a mix. And even if it's really prominent in the mix, nobody is sitting on the bus listening to it through their Air Pods, saying "I don't think that's a real Oberheim, it's missing that 1-2%", are they? Especially after you've run it through a couple of insert effects and dialed in some sends.

With analogue synths and a decent analogue mixer, you can get a full sounding arrangement with just four or five tracks.

As I have been doing for the last 20 years ITB to far more devastating effect that I was ever able to manage in 18 years of hardware before that. The song I am working on at the moment, for example, is probably the most full-on on the album and there are just three synth parts active in it's most full-on part (the chorus, naturally). There are also three percussion tracks and two other synth parts that come and go but never more than three synths playing at the same time. Even more interesting is the fact that there are no inserts or sends in use so I haven't even had to resort to beefing up any of the parts with external effects. It sounds absolutely monstrous all on it's own with just DUNE x 2 (bassline and strings) and VG-Carbon, plus Battery x 2 for the drums.

If you’ve been mixing in the box all your life you’re going to be accustomed to layering sounds on top of each other

I never layer sounds. Layering sounds is an admission that you can't find the right sound for the job. It's completely unacceptable.

and generally using lots of tracks to create a full sounding arrangement. But that’s a byproduct of two decades of making music on computers.

I generally use fewer layers now than I used to in my hardware days. About the same number of tracks overall but I don't feel the same need to stack on the parts to fill out an arrangement when I can load up one instance of ArcSyn and bring 384 sawtooth waves to bear on just one part.

First nail the basics. The sound. Make it great. For most folks, making it as great as the original is the goal.

After that, sure, extra bits are nice. TAL 101 is polyphonic, original wasn't, nice extra bit but secondary to having nailed the sound and as far as it can go, the expected user experience.

101 is a poor example, the original sounds very average so I can't imagine nailing that sound would be beneficial. Still, it was less than $500 brand new so I don't regret having bought one at the time but it couldn't hold a candle to my ARP Axxe for bottom end and it's filter wasn't nearly as good as the one in my Korg Delta.

[revvy]

More full-featured than the HW original is fine, as I said. Even for my (ex) beloved 101.

"Hi everyone, welcome to my review of Synapse Audio's new OB-Xa. And I know the question on everyone's lips, 'what extra features over the original HW does this emulation bring to the table?'"

Said no reviewer, ever.

[digitalboytn]

The best review is to use something in your own music and find out how it works for you

We know that there have been a few key "influencers" making lovely comments about certain products around these parts recently...

It's best to make up your own mind about things

[JHernandez]

You want an instrument that can stand out in its own and do convincing solos, which is where that extra 2% comes in.

When you play your solo, do all the other instruments stop playing? No, they don't, so even your solo is just one part of a mix. And even if it's really prominent in the mix, nobody is sitting on the bus listening to it through their Air Pods, saying "I don't think that's a real Oberheim, it's missing that 1-2%", are they? Especially after you've run it through a couple of insert effects and dialed in some sends.

Not here to argue about accuracy, or anything really, but yes, sometimes instruments are soloed, as in by themselves. Sometimes a song will have one instrument and a singer on top, that's the mix, with plenty of time to listen to that one instrument by itself. Sometimes it's just an instrument all by itself and that's the song or instrumental if you like. It's not unheard of at all.

[AnX]

Does it really matter if it sounds exactly like an OB-X ?

it does if you are marketing it as an emulation

If you want to get the sound of an OB-X,you should buy one...

or an emulation of one

If it sounds good,then it is good...

but that doesn't mean its an accurate emulation, so shouldn't be marketed as such

don't panic tho, I'm pretty sure SA wouldn't release something that wasn't as close as they could get it sound wise to the original

[V0RT3X]

I thought the point of using these plugins was to make good sounds.

Not break out oscilloscopes and analyzers and nitpick whether its 100% accurate.

Correct me if im wrong..

[kmonkey]

I thought the point of using these plugins was to make good sounds.

Not break out oscilloscopes and analyzers and nitpick whether its 100% accurate.

Correct me if im wrong..

Not correcting you but i believe that's wrong.

If people want to have OB-X in plugin form, or at least a product which claim to be that - then they expect it every bit 100% accurate. 1:1 clone, indistinguishable etc.

Moreover if this product will deliver OB-X sound (and we have every reason to believe it will because it's Synapse) then "point of using these plugins was to make good sounds" will be delivered by this product. It isn't coincidence that OB-X is keeping a mark in synth history.

IMO of course

[AnX]

I thought the point of using these plugins was to make good sounds.

Not break out oscilloscopes and analyzers and nitpick whether its 100% accurate.

Correct me if im wrong..

using the plugins is not really the point

if you buy a bottle of red wine, and it turns out, when you open it, it's water, you have been misled. Trading Standards would be all over it.....

if a company is marketing a plugin as an emulation, it should be exactly that.

if its a plugin that is inspired by, thats a diff story.

Of course, you or anyone may not care if its accurate, you may just like the sound, buy it and use it. But that's not relevant, you cannot expect ppl to trust you if you release something labelled as an emulation, and it turns out to be "fairly close". Bad for business.

[revvy]

AnX

[Cinebient]

I thought the point of using these plugins was to make good sounds.

Not break out oscilloscopes and analyzers and nitpick whether its 100% accurate.

Correct me if im wrong..

using the plugins is not really the point

if you buy a bottle of red wine, and it turns out, when you open it, it's water, you have been misled. Trading Standards would be all over it.....

if a company is marketing a plugin as an emulation, it should be exactly that.

if its a plugin that is inspired by, thats a diff story.

Of course, you or anyone may not care if its accurate, you may just like the sound, buy it and use it. But that's not relevant, you cannot expect ppl to trust you if you release something labelled as an emulation, and it turns out to be "fairly close". Bad for business.

Of course that makes sense. I also guess Synapse Audio will add things on top which the hardware does not have (like with The Legend) so we might get both here anyway.
I also guess its less than 10k

[Ingonator]

I also guess Synapse Audio will add things on top which the hardware does not have (like with The Legend) so we might get both here anyway.
I also guess its less than 10k

Yes there will be additional/advanced features not included in the real thing.