Arturia OB-Xa V

[functionform]

It's very sad for me that Arturia continues to prioritize new synths and products over improving fidelity of their existing software line. I don't think I can continue purchasing their products.

[Vectorman]

The OB-X was the first Oberheim synth to have voices on cards, but the Xa had voice cards as well. Which is why you would sometimes see 4-voice or 6-voice OB-Xa's for sale, depending on how many voice cards were installed.

[alpicat]

Here's my demo of it, it does sound quite nice!

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

I'm going to wait until Synapse Audio's comes out before making a decision. Either way, there is no way this doesn't cut into Synapse Audio's sales. Those who buy Arturia's aren't going to need 2 OB-Xa synths. At least I know I don't. And as much as I love Synapse's stuff. I can't see spending money on a synth that I already have and, going by the sound demos posted, is good enough to my ears.

At least you know the Synapse one is "coming soon," so you're ahead of the game. Arturia has a huge mailing list, huge customer base, and I'm sure the vast majority of them aren't even aware there is another version in the works from Synapse, and I'd bet a huge chunk of that list doesn't even know who Synapse Audio is. I do feel a little bad for Richard, but I'd be surprised if his isn't the better product.

Gave the Arturia a quick listen, and I'm not particularly impressed with it personally. I know a Synapse tester said the Arturia sounds like 15 year old tech, and I mean...I don't have the Synapse to compare too, but I'm definitely getting that "they went for low CPU over sound quality" vibe to this one. That said, I'm only judging based off a few minutes with some presets. I'll get to know it better in coming days.

So I'll also wait. I'd only be interested in which is the better product, and honestly, maybe the Arturia is damn near spot on and the Synapse version won't sound much different. In that case, I'd likely pass on both if first impressions don't improve. But until the Synapse version is out, at least there's a demo. If I were Richard though, I'd get a demo, or some functioning demos out there ASAP to try to cut into Arturia's launch.

[chk071]

I wish I liked Arturia's sound more. It's fine for pads and softer sounds, especially higher frequency stuff, but it just doesn't do the punchy attack that Analog synths have, or good emulations for that matter.

Yeah. Even though in this case, I don't think the original synth really has much snappy-ness to it. Actually, the Arturia emu does that "smudge" on the attack of the filter envelope quite well, which I also hear on the sound demos. Still miss some of the details other analog emus have though.

Well... the original was known and famous for its great strings (probably the best string sounds I ever heard coming from a synth), brass, pads, etc. Not for beefy bass.

I hear a lot of bass in sound demos of the OB-Xa.

Yes, as you can also hear in the original. But I was talking about "beefy" bass. That kind of aggressive bass the Mini was known for (or else I misunderstood the previous comments)

I hate when people start comparing ANYTHING with the Mini, as if there was never anything else in the face of the earth.

Fair enough. The OB-Xa seems to be a lot less snappy than the Minimoog, if that's what you mean. Rather sluggish attack. Which is well captured in the Arturia, I think. What I miss is a bit more bottom end, in general, and that the resonance goess a bit "higher". I'm no expert, but, I think I noticed that in the gazillions of sound demos I've watched about the synth.

Anyway, will be very interesting to compare this to the Synapse emu.

[fmr]

The OB-X was the first Oberheim synth to have voices on cards, but the Xa had voice cards as well. Which is why you would sometimes see 4-voice or 6-voice OB-Xa's for sale, depending on how many voice cards were installed.

I stand corrected. Apparently, the architecture was based on two-voice cards. So, different from the OB-X (which, AFAIK, had one card for EACH voice) but still card-based architecture.

[zerocrossing]

I wish I liked Arturia's sound more. It's fine for pads and softer sounds, especially higher frequency stuff, but it just doesn't do the punchy attack that Analog synths have, or good emulations for that matter. I like the feature set, the GUIs are good and totally touch screen friendly which I love, but every time I buy it I end up a little underwhelmed. Many demos sound good and sometimes I convince myself to try again, but end up selling. Most other good emulations have the opposite effect on me. I don't use them for a while and then get blown away all over again when I go back to them.

To me, their emulations started getting good around v6. I’m not talking about precision of emulation, I’m just talking about quality of the sound. I remember when I made a move to go 100% ITB (long story) and I demoed a lot of software to see what was up, and there was so much, I made a spreadsheet and took notes. When comparing Mini V to Minimonata, I wrote something like, “Mini V sounds lifeless and dead in comparison.” Even their supposedly “improved” SEM V and Matrix V emulations have a sort of “dead” sound that always causes me to pass on using them. They can be improved with effects, but without them... meh.

However, when they came out with the new crop, the DX7 V, Synclavier V, CMI V, Selina V, Buchla Easel V, in V 6, we definitely saw a jump. I happily paid for a V 6 upgrade. Hell, it would have been worth it for Synclavier V on it’s own. Fantastic. But the quality difference between those and something like CS-80 V is stark. I’m not sure what their issue is. Obviously they have talented people, but time and time again, they ignore their legacy synths and offer up new emulations like this one. Maybe overhauling those old synths is too hard. I think they lost their main guy when he left to become XILS. Maybe they could try to do a partnership to make it happen.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

However, when they came out with the new crop, the DX7 V, Synclavier V, CMI V, Selina V, Buchla Easel V, in V 6, we definitely saw a jump. I happily paid for a V 6 upgrade. Hell, it would have been worth it for Synclavier V on it’s own. Fantastic. But the quality difference between those and something like CS-80 V is stark. I’m not sure what their issue is. Obviously they have talented people, but time and time again, they ignore their legacy synths and offer up new emulations like this one. Maybe overhauling those old synths is too hard. I think they lost their main guy when he left to become XILS. Maybe they could try to do a partnership to make it happen.

I generally agree with you here. Arturia's more recent emulations actually sound pretty darn good. The Buchla and Synthi (for analogs), and all the digital synths (DX7, CZ, Synclavier, CMI) sound great IMO. I still think their presets are generally bad, and their FX do the synths a disservice, but hey, they can be turned off.

But the OB-Xa feels like a step back IMO. At least on first [quick] impression.

[andrew71]

My upgrade price was $49, but I have the V-Collection and Effects collection too.

[SonicDimension]

When I play Synapse Audio The Legend, I feel really inspired by the 'aliveness' of the sound. I do not have the same experience with the Arturia Mini V. I think that Synapse (along with u-he and TAL) has really nailed the analog sound. If the Synapse OB-Xa has the same high quality as The Legend, then I think that it will be the one to get.

[Echoes in the Attic]

I wish I liked Arturia's sound more. It's fine for pads and softer sounds, especially higher frequency stuff, but it just doesn't do the punchy attack that Analog synths have, or good emulations for that matter. I like the feature set, the GUIs are good and totally touch screen friendly which I love, but every time I buy it I end up a little underwhelmed. Many demos sound good and sometimes I convince myself to try again, but end up selling. Most other good emulations have the opposite effect on me. I don't use them for a while and then get blown away all over again when I go back to them.

To me, their emulations started getting good around v6. I’m not talking about precision of emulation, I’m just talking about quality of the sound. I remember when I made a move to go 100% ITB (long story) and I demoed a lot of software to see what was up, and there was so much, I made a spreadsheet and took notes. When comparing Mini V to Minimonata, I wrote something like, “Mini V sounds lifeless and dead in comparison.” Even their supposedly “improved” SEM V and Matrix V emulations have a sort of “dead” sound that always causes me to pass on using them. They can be improved with effects, but without them... meh.

However, when they came out with the new crop, the DX7 V, Synclavier V, CMI V, Selina V, Buchla Easel V, in V 6, we definitely saw a jump. I happily paid for a V 6 upgrade. Hell, it would have been worth it for Synclavier V on it’s own. Fantastic. But the quality difference between those and something like CS-80 V is stark. I’m not sure what their issue is. Obviously they have talented people, but time and time again, they ignore their legacy synths and offer up new emulations like this one. Maybe overhauling those old synths is too hard. I think they lost their main guy when he left to become XILS. Maybe they could try to do a partnership to make it happen.

Yeah I think they did a pretty good job with their digital emulations and Buchla was ok but for me I preferred similar sounds out of Reaktor Blocks and some other things. I had V6 for a short while and then sold it. As cool as the Synclavier and CMI were, I just didn't enjoy the complex design of them.

Also, with Pigments, I feel that it covers quite a bit of the Arturia sounds with several modeled filters from other products in there. I'm surprised that Pigements is fully MPE and they didn't add that to the OB-Xa. I figured they'd add MPE to their others synths now as well.

[AnX]

do you have access to each of the eight individual voice cards, or is it not modeled like that?

The OB-Xa didn't have individual voice cards, AFAIK. That was the OB-X

yes it did, 8 of them

[fmr]

DELETED

[pdxindy]

If I get an OB-Xa emulation, it will be from Synapse

[Whywhy]

If I get an OB-Xa emulation, it will be from Synapse

+1