Synapse Audio OBSESSION is now available!

[zvenx]

For a non-Arturia customer the price is a big argument in favor of the SA. I mean, 200 bucks for the Arturia?! Seems like a crazy price for what is a rather simple synth in my view.

I am sure it will go back down to $99 probably at least twice this year alone.
rsp

[abernathy]

I decided that i am now officially out from any OBsession vs OB-Xa V discussions. Others might feel free to do endless discussions about this.
I am quite based there and my own opinion on this topic is quite clear anyway (and will not change anytime soon).

I had the demo of OB-Xa V installed since it was released but i finally deinstalled it now.

I don’t blame you. Thanks very much for your beautiful presets plus the additional set! Your “Cozy PWM Strings” alone is practically worth the price of admission for me. One thing that really strikes me with Obsession is how I’ll think turning the effects off will reveal how sterile a sound really is, but then it still sounds so rich and full. I love some Arturia stuff, especially the digital emulations, but OB-Xa V has that telltale “Arturia sound” to me - maybe it’s the effects? But it just doesn’t grab my analog heart like Obsession. Between this and Repro-5 I feel like my analog poly synth dreams are met!

[eagle428]

For a non-Arturia customer the price is a big argument in favor of the SA. I mean, 200 bucks for the Arturia?! Seems like a crazy price for what is a rather simple synth in my view.

Completely agree. Although the $50 price for owners of the V Collection is much more attractive.

Regardless I think the SA version is superior

[Arashi]

This is interesting.....

Synapse Audio Obsession VS Arturia OB-Xa

This is useless. There is nothing meaningful to be learned from a "comparison" if the patches aren't matched.

[deastman]

I already bought the Arturia one, since it was only $49. Now the only question is whether the Synapse version sounds *that* much better to justify buying another emulation of the same synth. I wish someone would do a proper comparison which actually attempts to duplicate the same sounds on both synths.

[Echoes in the Attic]

I already bought the Arturia one, since it was only $49. Now the only question is whether the Synapse version sounds *that* much better to justify buying another emulation of the same synth. I wish someone would do a proper comparison which actually attempts to duplicate the same sounds on both synths.

Can’t you demo it and compare yourself?

[revvy]

So it looks like i am the only one who tried the 1984 sound on this VSTi ?
My posts from page 21 and 22 totally ignored ?

People first want a perfect emulation and then don't care when someone finds a little flaw ?

We're all replying to the same post you made on GS

[BONES]

Sorry, I do think that they section titles are different.

Yes, they are different but my point is that it doesn't matter. Nobody cares because both titles make sense and only a nit-picking loser would even notice. No-one is going to get confused, that's for sure, and that's all that matters.

So it looks like i am the only one who tried the 1984 sound on this VSTi ?
My posts from page 21 and 22 totally ignored ?
People first want a perfect emulation and then don't care when someone finds a little flaw ?

How do you know you have found a flaw? You are comparing a highly processed sound from a record with the raw sound of a synth. Of course it is going to be different. You need to compare the original patch used, do you have that?

[trusampler]

After this synth, I clearly am not a fan of Synapse Audio browsers, or lack thereof. Congrats on your synth,but I refuse to buy into a synth with such a browser, I haven't upgraded Dune, for this very reason. Good luck with this one, sounds good.

[Arashi]

I already bought the Arturia one, since it was only $49. Now the only question is whether the Synapse version sounds *that* much better to justify buying another emulation of the same synth. I wish someone would do a proper comparison which actually attempts to duplicate the same sounds on both synths.

I'm working on it. I now have the "Low Saw Bass" patch (which I matched on my OB-6 yesterday) sounding very close on the Arturia OB-Xa V. The biggest problem I've run into so far is OB-Xa V is always legato (overlapping notes do not retrigger the filter envelope), while Obsession always retriggers, and neither one of them has a switch to toggle this behavior (nor is it possible to do anything with either of their mod matrixes, as far as I can tell). The OB-6 does have a setting for this, so I can get it to match either of the plugins but not both with the same patch, and the plugins cannot match each other (though I should be able to fake the retrigger for the purposes of the comparison by just editing a MIDI sequence so the notes don't overlap).

Arturia's manual says the original OB-Xa is legato in unison mode, and I happen to prefer legato most of the time, but IMO every synth should have a legato/retrigger switch, so this is an unfortunate omission in both plugins.

Couple other challenges I've run into so far:

• The envelope ranges are very different. Perhaps one is linear and the other is exponential…or maybe it's more complicated than that. As with most of these things, you have to pretty much ignore the knob positions and just use your ear.
• Filter key tracking seems to have a very different slope in each plugin. In this specific example, the "Low Saw Bass" patch has both the key track button enabled and also uses a mod matrix slot with the "Const(ant)" source to increase the tracking slope. On the OB-Xa V, I found the key track slope using only the button is much higher than Obsession, and I needed to compensate for the difference by applying negative 100% key tracking in the OB-Xa V mod matrix (which does not cancel out the button; just tames it a bit), otherwise the filter tracking is way off across octaves.

Need to come back and give it another pass after giving my ears a break for a bit, and also try matching several other patches (in both directions).

[Arashi]

Yes, they are different but my point is that it doesn't matter. Nobody cares because both titles make sense and only a nit-picking loser would even notice. No-one is going to get confused, that's for sure, and that's all that matters.

I am a professional UI nitpicker (UI designer and developer). The labels are perfectly clear in both modes, and the relationship between the two layouts is immediately obvious as well. No problem whatsoever.

I like the 16-voice layout because it aligns the edit and mute buttons for each voice, but if you used the same layout for 8-voice mode it would leave an awkward gap. Or perhaps you could show all 16 voices but somehow indicate which ones are disabled vs. muted…but that's a distinction without a difference from a user POV, and having two different states for what is essentially "off" is more likely to cause confusion than clarify anything. If asked to improve this I would leave it exactly the way it is now — not because it can't be improved, but there's no real problem that needs to be solved here, and there are a hundred better things to spend one's time on.

[BONES]

I have put up a bank of 80 (free) patches for your delectation. Most of them are rejects from the factory bank but it also includes the few that are in there, with enhancements (to utilise features that were added later in the beta process). To plump it up to 80 I also created a few new patches using Orion's Genetics feature to get them started. That's where the weird shit happens.

Most of the leads and drones plus some of the pads, are in the darker/heavier style you might expect but a lot of the rest of them aren't at all so there should be sounds in there for everyone. Going through them this morning to level the outputs and make sure it wasn't too samey, I was surprised a few times by how huge OBSession can sound without having to use Unison. It's really quite amazing, probably a bigger single voice sound than any other synth I have access to.

Have at it - https://www.kvraudio.com/banks.php?s=one&id=3440

[zvenx]

Thanks for these Bones.
rsp

[Noumena]

Demoed this for an hour and purchased it. The MPE implementation is very good. The developer has obviously put some work in on smoothing curves and the like. The mod matrix is simple, but it is very easy to set up a patch with full after touch control of volume, it is very easy to set up the pitch modulation to be full range or less for subtler vibrato and it is easy to map cc74 to anything... all in a small but more than good enough modulation matrix.

The synth architecture is simple but good.

Is anyone else seeing all the presets coming through way too hot? In Bitwig nearly all the presets send meters into the red and need to be pulled down.

Really good work.

[e-crooner]

Sorry, I do think that they section titles are different.

Yes, they are different but my point is that it doesn't matter. Nobody cares because both titles make sense and only a nit-picking loser would even notice. No-one is going to get confused, that's for sure, and that's all that matters.

A perfectionist notices inconsistencies, precision is part of my job. I am not saying that one does not understand the way it is now or that it is a problem, but it continues to be an inconsistency. I often notice that with engineers. They are good at technology, but otherwise a bit sloppy.

Might also have to do with the fact that SA are not native speakers, "voice adjustment edit" doesn't sound like what a native speaker would come up with.