Arturia OB-Xa V

[Jet Set]

Got it tonight for 49 bucks

Really enjoying it so far...

[TheMaestro]

But can it scream?

[LoveEnigma18]

https://www.arturia.com/images/newslett ... sd-49.html

nice one, I hadn't noticed they made some comparisons with the hardware

Yeah, nice way to respond to critics.

[Arashi]

Did anyone notice this new preset browser design by Arturia?

Looks like they have not rolled it out yet, but I saw it on this page: https://www.arturia.com/products/analog ... ils#modern

https://medias.arturia.net/images/produ ... rowser.png

That's actually the older browser design from V Collection 6. It was replaced across all instruments in the V Collection 7 UI refresh.

[LoveEnigma18]

Did anyone notice this new preset browser design by Arturia?

Looks like they have not rolled it out yet, but I saw it on this page: https://www.arturia.com/products/analog ... ils#modern

https://medias.arturia.net/images/produ ... rowser.png

That's actually the older browser design from V Collection 6. It was replaced across all instruments in the V Collection 7 UI refresh.

Are you sure? I don't remember seeing that browser in the short period of time I had V Collection 6 before I upgraded to 7.

[Arashi]

I think Arturia did an amazing job on this new plugin. I've never had the chance to play a real OB-Xa (or the OB-X, or OB-8), so I can't comment on the emulation accuracy, but it seems to be pretty close, and more importantly, it just sounds good…really good. I've been comparing it with other software and hardware synths over the last week or so and it really holds its own. I'm not trying to get them all to sound exactly the same…just making similar kinds of patches and seeing if it can produce the same level of depth and character as the others, and indeed it can.

For lack of any old school analog poly synths, I've been comparing it with my OB-6, System-8 (native engine and plugouts), Repro-5, and Diva, by making similar patches from scratch on each of them. These are my favorite and best sounding instruments, and at the end of the day the thing I care most about is: does it have a sound that makes me want to just sit, play, tweak, and lose track of time? The answer is yes. Crucially, it sounds good with no effects, which is not something I can say about many of Arturia's older emulations.

Arturia has gotten a bit of a bad rap over the years as a maker of mediocre emulations that are lifeless, digital, and lack the character of the original instruments. To some extent they've earned this reputation by always adding new instruments to the collection but rarely going back and updating the existing ones in any significant way. It's hard to fault them for that, because it would be a tough sell to ask existing users to pay for an update that doesn't have at least a few new instruments. But at the same time I think they need to start making it a priority to completely overhaul at least one important instrument with each release, because the older ones are really dragging down the perceived value of the whole collection. It's gotten to the point where there's an expectation that any new Arturia emulation is going to be mediocre like some of the older ones, and indeed many people jumped to that conclusion about the new one.

IMO any speculation about OB-Xa V lacking depth or details for the sake of reducing CPU usage can safely be put to rest. It uses a lot of CPU — as much as Repro-5 and Diva. But does it sound as good as those? I'm gonna go out on a limb and say yeah, it's at least in the same league, which is a pretty big deal, as I consider those to be two of the best software synths ever made. The Legend is up there too, so I'm very much looking forward to Synapse Obsession. But I think anyone who hasn't actually tried OB-Xa V yet should grab the demo and take it for a spin, because you might be surprised.

[Arashi]

That's actually the older browser design from V Collection 6. It was replaced across all instruments in the V Collection 7 UI refresh.

Are you sure? I don't remember seeing that browser in the short period of time I had V Collection 6 before I upgraded to 7.

Yep, that's definitely an older version of the UI. Maybe it was V Collection 5. I remember using it, and IMO the current version is much nicer and more refined.

[Arashi]

As for the rest of V Collection, I've been playing with a bunch of the older ones lately and most of them are better than I remembered. There's no denying some of the oldest ones like Mini V and Prophet V are basically obsolete (though you can still get some good sounds out of them if you throw out any expectation of them sounding anything like the real things). But I think most of the other ones still hold up pretty well if you actually spend the time exploring what they can do.

At this point I don't think they should bother updating Mini V or Prophet V, because Synapse and u-he (respectively) have already eaten their lunch. If I was Arturia, I'd put my best team on building a brand new CS-80 emulation from the ground up. Currently there is no good CS-80 emulation. Arturia's is just okay, and the guy who made the other one (Memorymoon ME-80) recommends the Arturia one over his own. This is one of the greatest synths ever made, and most people will never even see one in person, much less use or own one. If they made a new CS-80 V that's sonically on par with OB-Xa V, that alone would significantly increase the value of the collection, IMO. The current one is not even close:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV3qDUTVsNo

The other one that I think could use some love is SEM V. It's not bad, but it sure doesn't sound like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNQfzF2LvSs

[WatchTheGuitar]

I don't know how exactly Arturia builds its plugins, but presuming there's some sort of circuit emulation then the CS-80 must be a nightmare. I've seen a few breakdown vids on YouTube and the cabling alone resembles a rat king.

IK went the sampling route with Syntronik's take and that's as unsatisfactory in a different way so maybe a blend of sampling and scripting is what's needed to produce something approaching the real sound?

I was hoping Dave Spiers from GForce was teasing a CS-80 plugin seeing the real hardware behind him on Sonicstate Live, but after this long I'm guessing it's probably just something he loves to play in his own studio.
Again, it's another synth Behringer are working on cloning.

[anomandaris1]

The current one is not even close:



The other one that I think could use some love is SEM V. It's not bad, but it sure doesn't sound like this:

You are very wrong, the whole point of CS80 was that it was a great synth for keyboardists that actually could play (big part of modern edm crowd won't get much out of real CS80, because of this). Arturia and Memorymoon are completely adequate for most sounds that don't involve extreme filter action, but you already can make the actual CS80 timbres with most vst synths without problems. It doesn't have anything special going on. Fxpansion vst are probably the best for this job, because presets are already premapped for MPE usage and there are plenty of CS80 inspired patches or basic timbres that can be tweaked to sound like it.
About this fat Oberheim synth - the only magic I hear is in the true unison and you can probably say "RIP" to your CPU, if you don't want to get it by using typical fake unison techniques. Again, nothing special going on synthwise.

[wagtunes]

The current one is not even close:



The other one that I think could use some love is SEM V. It's not bad, but it sure doesn't sound like this:

You are very wrong, the whole point of CS80 was that it was a great synth for keyboardists that actually could play (big part of modern edm crowd won't get much out of real CS80, because of this). Arturia and Memorymoon are completely adequate for most sounds that don't involve extreme filter action, but you already can make the actual CS80 timbres with most vst synths without problems. It doesn't have anything special going on. Fxpansion vst are probably the best for this job, because presets are already premapped for MPE usage and there are plenty of CS80 inspired patches or basic timbres that can be tweaked to sound like it.
About this fat Oberheim synth - the only magic I hear is in the true unison and you can probably say "RIP" to your CPU, if you don't want to get it by using typical fake unison techniques. Again, nothing special going on synthwise.

In YOUR opinion.

[Arashi]

I don't know how exactly Arturia builds its plugins, but presuming there's some sort of circuit emulation then the CS-80 must be a nightmare. I've seen a few breakdown vids on YouTube and the cabling alone resembles a rat king.

Yeah…Syntaur posted a great video of a CS-80 restoration a couple months ago. Absolute madness under the hood of that thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_poihkLM5Go

IK went the sampling route with Syntronik's take and that's as unsatisfactory in a different way so maybe a blend of sampling and scripting is what's needed to produce something approaching the real sound?

Sampling has its merits, but I have no interest in a sample-based reproduction. I'm sure it's a monumental challenge, but for me a CS-80 emulation has to be component modeled all the way down.

I was hoping Dave Spiers from GForce was teasing a CS-80 plugin seeing the real hardware behind him on Sonicstate Live, but after this long I'm guessing it's probably just something he loves to play in his own studio.
Again, it's another synth Behringer are working on cloning.

Yeah, GForce has done some pretty good emulations, but the scope of a project like this might be a bit too big for them (or maybe they are indeed working on it, and it's just the sort of thing that takes a long time).

Leaving aside whether Behringer is even capable of making a good CS-80 clone, they only announced it one year ago (with 3D rendered mockups and no prototype), and given their track I wouldn't expect it anytime soon. If they ever ship it and it's actually good, I will definitely consider it, but I think it's best to just forget about that one and maybe someday be pleasantly surprised.

In the meantime there's Deckard's Dream, but there are very few examples of it, and I haven't found any of them all that impressive. They do say it's just "inspired by" the CS-80 and not an actual clone, and for that kind of money I'd want something a lot closer to the original than that.

[Arashi]

You are very wrong, the whole point of CS80 was that it was a great synth for keyboardists that actually could play (big part of modern edm crowd won't get much out of real CS80, because of this). Arturia and Memorymoon are completely adequate for most sounds that don't involve extreme filter action, but you already can make the actual CS80 timbres with most vst synths without problems. It doesn't have anything special going on. Fxpansion vst are probably the best for this job, because presets are already premapped for MPE usage and there are plenty of CS80 inspired patches or basic timbres that can be tweaked to sound like it.
About this fat Oberheim synth - the only magic I hear is in the true unison and you can probably say "RIP" to your CPU, if you don't want to get it by using typical fake unison techniques. Again, nothing special going on synthwise.

We'll have to disagree on all of that.

[PAK]

Leaving aside whether Behringer is even capable of making a good CS-80 clone, they only announced it one year ago (with 3D rendered mockups and no prototype), and given their track I wouldn't expect it anytime soon. If they ever ship it and it's actually good, I will definitely consider it

They have several different teams, and claim to have worked on solutions for the polyphonic aftertouch and ribbon. These are important aspects of the CS80. Even if you get a good emulation, in 2020 there still aren't really any very affordable poly at controllers with a ribbon, so you'd still miss out. That's why, like you, I would look at buying the hardware in this case.

They're likely using the OB-XA project as a stepping stone for the CS-80, which will be a more complex challenge. Since the OBXA is based around the CEM chips, copying those well is half the battle (they own a company which clones the chips). They can't do that with the CS80, of course. So they have to reduce all that stuff down and still have it sound the same, which wouldn't be an easy challenge.

Whatever, the OBXA will probably be more expensive than what they've previously done, and any CS80 moreso. A lot more than $49 for sure

[Tj Shredder]

Even if you get a good emulation, in 2020 there still aren't really any very affordable poly at controllers with a ribbon, so you'd still miss out.

I would never switch my LinnStrument for a ribbon equipped CS-80 keyboard. Controllers have advanced big time, but electronic musicians seem a bit conservative. No wonder they long for old technology and can't let go those collection of black and white switches...
Btw. Doepfer made a ribbon controller ages ago, but polyphonic aftertouch in standard keyboards is almost impossible to find...
You could replace the ribbon with a continuum mini, but you might end up playing those CS-80 sounds just with the continuum...