Upcoming Synapse OB-Xa: Obsession

[tony10000]

Actually, I would rather see an multi-instrument like Diva capable of emulating features of a wider range of Oberheim synths like the SEM, OB-8, Matrix 6, Xpander, Matrix 12, etc. I will wait until it comes out and then decide.

Dune3 come with filters emulation for Prophet600, Oberheim, juno alpha, Jupiter-8 and Moog

Very true...That is why I am wondering what OB-Xa brings to the table--especially if it costs more than $100.

[e-crooner]

Actually, I would rather see an multi-instrument like Diva capable of emulating features of a wider range of Oberheim synths like the SEM, OB-8, Matrix 6, Xpander, Matrix 12, etc. I will wait until it comes out and then decide.

Dune3 come with filters emulation for Prophet600, Oberheim, juno alpha, Jupiter-8 and Moog

Very true...That is why I am wondering what OB-Xa brings to the table--especially if it costs more than $100.

Probably a much more inviting user interface, and more musical features, including a lack of unnecessary stuff.

[tony10000]

Actually, I would rather see an multi-instrument like Diva capable of emulating features of a wider range of Oberheim synths like the SEM, OB-8, Matrix 6, Xpander, Matrix 12, etc. I will wait until it comes out and then decide.

Dune3 come with filters emulation for Prophet600, Oberheim, juno alpha, Jupiter-8 and Moog

Very true...That is why I am wondering what OB-Xa brings to the table--especially if it costs more than $100.

Probably a much more inviting user interface, and more musical features, including a lack of unnecessary stuff.

Not sure if I want to pay more for less, but we'll see.

[BONES]

Yet tons of musicians and producers used a Moog ladder in a bajillion of records and it sounds great.

No, it doesn't and it never did. That's my whole point - a MiniMoog sounds great because it has some of the best oscillators ever, so when you make sounds that don't use the filter too heavily, you get great sounds, but as soon as you start to push the resonance, that starts to go away. Everyone can hear it, it is really obvious, but for some reason people are happy to put up with it because "Moog", even though it was Bob Moog himself who first explained to me exactly what it was I didn't like about his ladder filter (in a video, not in person). If Dr Moog was happy enough acknowledging the limitations of his design, I really don't understand why anyone else feels the need to defend it. OF course, in the OB-Xa's 24dB LP filter it is even more pronounced but, fortunately, the 12dB filter is a different design and sounds OK. Still, you're not going to be using either for your big, squelchy basslines.

And each one of us wants what's best for us not what some lone clueless idiot wants.

Exactly! Which is why every softsynth is different and we each have our own list of favourites. If Serum, for example, was everybody's perfect synth, no-one would bother with DUNE or Diva, would they? But there is no one, perfect synth, there is always something one synth does better or more easily than the others, so we keep looking and we keep adding to our collections.

Since resonance means increasing the volume at the cutoff frequency relative to the remaining frequency response, it can be done by actually increasing the volume there and leaving the rest of the range unchanged, or by reducing the volume everywhere except for the cutoff frequency.
I think the latter makes more sense, else the global volume become too loud. Even if it might not have been intended on the Minimoog, it is not a bad solution in my view.

Except that's not how it works, is it? Why not? I'm glad you asked. When you use and envelope to control the filter cutoff, the cutoff frequency starts at zero, then rises to the max value of the ENV MOD control, then falls away to the sustain level. In the case of a bassline, you want the envelope to be fairly snappy so it will rise very quickly and fall away to zero (or a very low value) in something like half-a-second. So at the start and end of the envelope cycle, the resonance should be boosting the very lowest frequencies coming from the oscillators. Therefore, in a well engineered filter design, increasing the resonance in this state should boost the bass frequencies before and after the squelchy bit. Of course, it will happen quickly enough that you don't really perceive each part of the cycle but the bass should absolutely appear to get louder as the resonance increases and in a well designed filter that is exactly what will happen.

A good example is the wonderful Korg MS20. If you've got the Legacy Collection you can test it out for yourself. Start with the Init patch (Version 2), set the LP cutoff to 2, turn the MG modulation all the way up to 10, turn the MG shape fully to the left (saw) and set the frequency to 0.5. Hold down a bass note and start to turn up the resonance. You can almost immediately hear the whole sound start to get louder and by the time you get to a value of 5 you can hear that fat, squelchy sound in full. Keep turning and it gets all squealy in the high end but you can still hear it boosting the bottom end as the filter closes again.

Now repeat the same exercise in The Legend, but keep your modulation levels to about half (the MS20's mod range is pretty small without patching), turn Osc 1's pitch to 8' and turn the Init patch's volume down to 1.7 to match out MS 20's inital output. Slowly turn up the resonance and see how much less dynamic the sound is.

If nothing else, this should show you that the MM is all about the oscillators and the MS20 is all about the filter. You put up with the ladder filter because of the oscillators, it's not a filter you'd actually want to use if you had a choice.

[revvy]

..for making resonant bass sounds when you want to keep low end. Apart from that, peachy, no?

Or does the MM filter hamper the production of other types of sounds, in your opinion?

[tony10000]

I think the Minimoog filters are great. On Legend, if you turn up the drive to 10, the resonance up to between 4 and 5 and then sweep the filter, you can get some gnarly sounds!

[mi-os]

I emailed them seven days ago, but haven't got a reply yet. Should i wait longer or try another way to contact them?

[Hink]

45 posts deleted...here's the deal so hear my words clearly...if you had more than a couple of posts deleted in this mess YOU ARE NOT POSTING IN THIS THREAD AGAIN...EVEN IF YOU ARE A BETA TESTER...EVERY POST IN THIS THREAD YOU MAKE WILL BE DELETED...keep it up and I suspend you until this thread is no longer relevant.

[Echoes in the Attic]

Whoa, wha' happened... well "There is no such thing as bad publicity"!

Once the demo comes out I have no doubt that the impatient bickering will turn to talking about the actual synth. Until then we can discuss the merits of the minimoog filter!

[wagtunes]

Whoa, wha' happened... well "There is no such thing as bad publicity"!

Once the demo comes out I have no doubt that the impatient bickering will turn to talking about the actual synth. Until then we can discuss the merits of the minimoog filter!

The truth is, there's really nothing to talk about.

Nobody knows when it's being released so we can't talk about a release date.

Because of the NDA, we can't discuss any of the specs of the synth.

Nobody's even allowed to post any sound examples.

So what's left?

Maybe the thread should be locked up and opened up again when the demo is released. Then at least we can have something to talk about.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

i wouldn't mind a brand new thread once it's actually out. I'm not a big fan of threads that are 50 pages of pre-release speculation, then around page 51 all of a sudden the conversation turns to the product being out. It's very easy to miss the news about the release, or find out where the good info about it begins. Example: the Korg thread. Didn't realize that 2.0 versions were released for several days because the conversation was happening in an old thread.

So...yeah, not much to talk about now. Hopefully it gets released soon. But when it finally does, let's let this thread die and start a new one about the actual product without dozens of pages of pre-release speculation and bickering preceding it.

[Echoes in the Attic]

Whoa, wha' happened... well "There is no such thing as bad publicity"!

Once the demo comes out I have no doubt that the impatient bickering will turn to talking about the actual synth. Until then we can discuss the merits of the minimoog filter!

The truth is, there's really nothing to talk about.

Nobody knows when it's being released so we can't talk about a release date.

Because of the NDA, we can't discuss any of the specs of the synth.

Nobody's even allowed to post any sound examples.

So what's left?

Maybe the thread should be locked up and opened up again when the demo is released. Then at least we can have something to talk about.

Do you really think a forum should be moderated to the extent that every thread is monitored for relevance and be judged on whether there is legitimately "something to talk about" yet? Who is to decide whether people have the right to talk about something? The mods use their discretion to make sure things stay reasonably civil and meet the guidelines, they are not there to decide if people have something worth talking about. Do you think the imposcar 2 thread should have been locked for the nearly two years it took for the synth to be released? How about threads speculating on the next Spectrasonics release? You can not say what "we" have to talk about, you don't decide what others want to talk about. If you have nothing to talk about, you need not participate in the thread.

Anyways there's plenty people could talk about with respect to the actual OB-X line, it seems people just got distracted for a minute and it got appropriately cleaned up.

[Echoes in the Attic]

i wouldn't mind a brand new thread once it's actually out. I'm not a big fan of threads that are 50 pages of pre-release speculation, then around page 51 all of a sudden the conversation turns to the product being out....

Never! I'll never let it die!!!!

Just kidding. An official announcement thread is usually a good way to go, because as you say it marks the beginning of the conversation where people are actually using it. I'm sure there will be an official announcement thread.

[Ingonator]

What i can already tell is that the plugin will not be called "Synapse Audio OB-Xa", the same way the Minimoog plugin was named "Synapse Audio The Legend" and not "Synapse Audio Minimoog".

So when a new thread is started this can be named with the actual name of the plugin once that name is officially known and/or when the plugin is officially released.

[chk071]

As long as it's not called Oberhausen, it's all good.