Obsession Vs OB-Xa V Poll

[AdvancedFollower]

This poll needs an option that says "only a complete idiot would make a decision without having had the chance to try them both out first". That's the option I'd vote for.

Thats putting it bluntly, but ultimately true because in the end (unless youre simply collecting) there are only 2 things that really matter:

- Which of the 2 is more accurate/true to the original synth
- Can or can i not do the same with something i already have

If the answer to the second question is no, and only a dedicated OB-Xa emulation will do, then the answer lies in question 1.

Seems pretty obvious to me, so thats how i would approach this if i wasnt sure what to do.

To be fair at this point most are probably just collecting plugins. Given the number of analog emulation plugins that are already out there, I can't imagine any type of OB-Xa-style sound that would be impossible to create using a combination of synth plugin like Diva, Repro, OP-X Pro II, Arturia SEM, Oberhausen, PolyKB and countless others. I don't think there's any USP to the OB-Xa as such, it's just a slightly different flavor of analog synth.

[ENV1]

Youll get no argument from me.

With all this stuff we have available today a synth has to have some pretty darn special properties for it NOT to be replacable by one or even multiple alternatives. Thats exactly why i brought question 2 into the equation, because if you can already do the same with something youve already got, what good would another plugin do you with regard to sounds?

Not that i have anything against collectors, im just speaking from a purely pragmatic point of view here.

[wagtunes]

So that distinctive sound I hear in Oberheim synths, that's all in my head?

[TheMaestro]

This poll needs an option that says "only a complete idiot would make a decision without having had the chance to try them both out first". That's the option I'd vote for.

Thats putting it bluntly, but ultimately true because in the end (unless youre simply collecting) there are only 2 things that really matter:

- Which of the 2 is more accurate/true to the original synth
- Can or can i not do the same with something i already have

If the answer to the second question is no, and only a dedicated OB-Xa emulation will do, then the answer lies in question 1.

Seems pretty obvious to me, so thats how i would approach this if i wasnt sure what to do.

Who does this really matter to?
Most people buying one of these, including me, couldn’t give a rats ass about how close to the original it is.

[TheMaestro]

So that distinctive sound I hear in Oberheim synths, that's all in my head?

Probably. I bet you couldn’t pick an Oberheim, hardware or software, out of a handful of comparable synths.

[wagtunes]

So that distinctive sound I hear in Oberheim synths, that's all in my head?

Probably. I bet you couldn’t pick an Oberheim, hardware or software, out of a handful of comparable synths.

Well I'm really glad to know that you know what I heat better than I do. It must be really amazing to be able to get inside my head. To have such mystical powers.

[TheMaestro]

So that distinctive sound I hear in Oberheim synths, that's all in my head?

Probably. I bet you couldn’t pick an Oberheim, hardware or software, out of a handful of comparable synths.

Well I'm really glad to know that you know what I heat better than I do. It must be really amazing to be able to get inside my head. To have such mystical powers.

It’s not just you, so don’t be so suicidal. But you made that claim.

[recursive one]

So that distinctive sound I hear in Oberheim synths, that's all in my head?

I think people who are deeply familiar with this or that hardware synth have a specific image of its sound in their heads, and for them no emulation will ever be good enough.

You probably know what it that hardware synth in my case, however for real life tasks (writing tracks), almost any sound from that synth can be emualted or approximated in software and the missing 5-10% accuracy don't appear to matter really that much.

I was browsing various real OB-Xa demos lately and while it's definitely a very good sounding synth I don't think I heard any sound I'd badly want but couldn't get in a passable form from what I already have.

[wagtunes]

So that distinctive sound I hear in Oberheim synths, that's all in my head?

I think people who are deeply familiar with this or that hardware synth have a specific image of its sound in their heads, and for them no emulation will ever be good enough.

You probably know what it that hardware synth in my case, however for real life tasks (writing tracks), almost any sound from that synth can be emualted or approximated in software and the missing 5-10% accuracy don't appear to matter really that much.

I was browsing various real OB-Xa demos lately and while it's definitely a very good sounding synth I don't think I heard any sound I'd badly want but couldn't get in a passable form from what I already have.

Passable form? Sure. And after you EQ everything to death to get it to sit in the mix, you pretty much can't tell one synth from another. But that pure sound, just playing presets, that's something else. Having owned 2 Oberheims in my day, I can tell.

But it's all moot, meaningless, irrelevant, pointless, and most of all, nobody really cares anyway.

Ultimately, I may only get OB-Xa V because it's going to be part of V8 (I'm still on 6) and will get a whole lot of new stuff for very little money.

As for Obsession, depends on when it comes out and how much it costs.

And who knows? I may end up getting neither of them because in the grand scheme of things, I don't need anymore synths.

[urosh]

So that distinctive sound I hear in Oberheim synths, that's all in my head?

Nope

[Reefius]

This thread seems to go in the same direction as many other threads started by wags... He starts an argument, and when he can't win that argument, he's gonna say how much he hates this place and that he will never post again in the Instruments forum, then lock the thread.

This poll is pretty pointless as long as Obsession is not released. Nobody (except for a few beta testers) can actually compare both synths.

I presonally don't care which synth is closest to the original. I tried the demo of the Arturia OB-Xa V and liked it, so I bought it.

[Ingonator]

So that distinctive sound I hear in Oberheim synths, that's all in my head?

Probably. I bet you couldn’t pick an Oberheim, hardware or software, out of a handful of comparable synths.

The SVF 12dB LPF of the OB-Xa is for sure different from it's own 24dB LPF (at least this seems to be the case in the real thing and in OBsession) and also different to e.g. a Prophet 5 Rev3 24dB LPF even if all 3 are using the same CEM 3320 chip.

The filter of an OB-X is different as it uses a discrete SEM based 12dB LPF circuit and the OB-8 uses one filter chip for both modes while the OB-Xa has independent circuits and chips for the 12dB and 24dB filter.

[TheMaestro]

So that distinctive sound I hear in Oberheim synths, that's all in my head?

Probably. I bet you couldn’t pick an Oberheim, hardware or software, out of a handful of comparable synths.

The SVF 12dB LPF of the OB-Xa is for sure different from it's own 24dB LPF (at least this seems to be the case in the real thing and in OBsession) and also different to e.g. a Prophet 5 Rev3 24dB LPF even if all 3 are using the same CEM 3320 chip.

The filter of an OB-X is different as it uses a discrete SEM based 12dB LPF circuit and the OB-8 uses one filter chip for both modes while the OB-Xa has independent circuits and chips for the 12dB and 24dB filter.

Maybe I wasn’t clear enough, or you think these differences will make you hear something, but I meant a listening test.

[Ingonator]

So that distinctive sound I hear in Oberheim synths, that's all in my head?

Probably. I bet you couldn’t pick an Oberheim, hardware or software, out of a handful of comparable synths.

The SVF 12dB LPF of the OB-Xa is for sure different from it's own 24dB LPF (at least this seems to be the case in the real thing and in OBsession) and also different to e.g. a Prophet 5 Rev3 24dB LPF even if all 3 are using the same CEM 3320 chip.

The filter of an OB-X is different as it uses a discrete SEM based 12dB LPF circuit and the OB-8 uses one filter chip for both modes while the OB-Xa has independent circuits and chips for the 12dB and 24dB filter.

Maybe I wasn’t clear enough, or you think these differences will make you hear something, but I meant a listening test.

The OB-Xa 12dB LPF will keep all the low end even at full resonance which is not the case with the 24dB LPF (OBsession has that filter behavior too) and also not with the 24dB LPF in the Prophet 5 Rev3 (and FWIW also not in the Minimoog).

Of course there must be some low end in the synth or plugin to hear a difference...

The OB-X has a SVF 12dB LPF like the 12dB filter in OB-Xa but they are based on a different design/circuit and should have a different resonance behavior.

[urosh]

Maybe I wasn’t clear enough, or you think these differences will make you hear something, but I meant a listening test.

In blind listening test I've easily picked Matrix 1000 vs. Diva. And I can prove it if you are willing to go with your bet.

That being said, such tests are dumbest thing on the planet. Only thing I care about is how synth sounds and works when I use it. I'm quite sure that sophisticated enough additive synth could make near perfect recreations of any synth, but that will not make me dump other stuff and go with such hypothetical additive chameleon.