Tal J-8

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Thanks for the welcome guys!

I'll dig through and send a support email to Patrick for sure. Again, I don't want to change the way the J-8 responds, but if possible give the option of a straight rotation of voices for some patches.

We did talk about round-robin retriggering a while back in this thread so you're not the only one who'd like it. A "Poly-3" option to do round-robin voice triggering would be a definite nice to have. Particularly when paired up with the already added voice panning as you can get a more predictable spread of voices.

Welcome aboard!

[ghostwhistler]

I have been using the shit out of this synth

[zvenx]

lol.
Does that mean you like it somewhat?

rsp

[EvilDragon]

but having played 8 and Xa, I still prefer the OP-X Pro II to Obsession, even with the older tech and less cutting edge algorithms. There is an internal "slop" between voices as the old 8-Voice idea of 8 individual voices strapped together, imperfections and all, was always present in the Oberheim OB series - X, Xa and 8. OP-X Pro has built that slop in from the ground up

Dunno what you're talking about, you have much more slop editing possible in OBsession than in OP-X Pro... there's the Voice Edit buttons and you can adjust the slop offsets for almost all continuous parameters... It's exactly 8 or 16 individual voices in there. In a much easier to use UI without secret handshakes, hidden clicks and whatnot.

OP-X Pro is still very good, and the presets alone are worth it, but sound-wise, there is no contest. Newer algorithms win

[mholloway]

Am I the only one who finds it super-duper awkward that the Arp controls are divided between two completely separate areas of the interface?

[gmvstudio]

We did talk about round-robin retriggering a while back in this thread so you're not the only one who'd like it. A "Poly-3" option to do round-robin voice triggering would be a definite nice to have. Particularly when paired up with the already added voice panning as you can get a more predictable spread of voices.

Welcome aboard!

Thank you kindly for the welcome! I think the round-robin convo was what I recalled seeing, and at the time I was just getting in to the J-8 and was thinking it would be a good idea.

I emailed Patrick and got a quick response. He understood my point about how round-robin really allows you to get the best out of the per-voice panning features, and seemed interested pending further interest from others, so a big thumbs up from me on that feature (well, on anything Patrick does anyway as the features he's added above and beyond a hardware JP-8 are already incredible!), but the more interest the better I guess.

[gmvstudio]

Dunno what you're talking about, you have much more slop editing possible in OBsession than in OP-X Pro... there's the Voice Edit buttons and you can adjust the slop offsets for almost all continuous parameters... It's exactly 8 or 16 individual voices in there. In a much easier to use UI without secret handshakes, hidden clicks and whatnot.

OP-X Pro is still very good, and the presets alone are worth it, but sound-wise, there is no contest. Newer algorithms win

I hear you about the new algorithms, and true about the parameters. That's one reason I hold some hope that OP-X will get a ground up refresh. Agree about the UI on the OP-X as well - it's amazing what you get used to over time and the cool features are less intuitive to get at than they probably need to be. It's hard for me to put my finger on the reason I prefer the OP-X for now.... There is just something in the sound that gives me the illusion that the OB-8 is attached to the keyboard. I know.... Mystical magical fairy dust and all that.... LOL!

For now, I have an incredible tool in the JP-8 though, and do find I am using the OP-X less.

Maybe I was just expecting to be totally blown away by the Obsession (I really wanted - and WANT - to be as although I don't own it, I've played enough on the Legend to be incredibly impressed). It's a great synth, but didn't take me any closer to the feeling that I had a hardware Oberheim OB on the end. I know that's a tall, if not impossible, order to fill. That being said I've been surprised by some VIs that have done just that - the PG-8X for example truly makes me feel like I have 1/2 of my old Super JX at my fingertips.

Thanks again for the Welcome guys!

[zvenx]

I somewhat feel the same about Obsession like you do, and it was indeed my most look forward to Emulation for the same reason as you.
However a lot of it for me has to do with the factory preset and the over abundance of some which quite frankly I think hurts more than helps.
I do have a few patches from very skilled sound designers who did it more in the traditional vein (https://www.app-sound.com/software-synt ... pse-audio/ and few done by Sound Author) and one in the factory bank that BT that does take me back there....
So at least for me it is the limitations of my own programming ability (although I generally prefer the few patches I did for myself for Legend than the factory bank), and the factory bank that to me didn't take me to impressed Oberheim OB levels than the synth itself (layout not withstanding).

rsp

[EvilDragon]

Maybe I was just expecting to be totally blown away by the Obsession (I really wanted - and WANT - to be as although I don't own it, I've played enough on the Legend to be incredibly impressed)

Egh, expectation bias is a bitch!

[chk071]

My biggest disappointment about Obsession was probably that the synth it emulates doesn't really wow me. My bad as I sort of got the Oberheim portfolio mixed up, and thought the OB-Xa has to be as good as its siblings.

That said, the Synapse synths don't really wow me either. There's always something a bit off about their sound. Even when they emulate synths I love, like the Minimoog.

[zvenx]

Which of its siblings did you like/love?
rsp

[chk071]

OB-X, OB-8, 8-voice, SEM... I think they all sound lovely.

[zvenx]

Whilst the OB-8 is by far the one I have spent the most time with of the set, and I am sure ED will profusely disagree but unless you are a/b ing them I don't find the difference in sound between the OB-X/ OB-Xa and OB-8 huge.. and I know about the different filter and chip sets..

rsp

[PAK]

you have much more slop editing possible in OBsession than in OP-X Pro...

There's more adjustments. But what good are they if ranges are limited? Despite less options, on OP-X, it's possible to produce voice variations which Obsession can't do. EG Push the filter calibration / res in OP-X and let it cycle with an arp. I like the Cross Mod, in OP-X, much better too.

It's exactly 8 or 16 individual voices in there. In a much easier to use UI without secret handshakes, hidden clicks and whatnot.

I'm sure you've read enough threads, by now, to know there's been alternative GUI's for several years.

but sound-wise, there is no contest. Newer algorithms win

This slightly implies that all that matters is the algo - which, of course, is not the case. OP-X was kind of a case in point for that because, for years, it covered certain aspects of polysynths better than plugins with (arguably) "more advanced" code, simply because it paid attention to stuff like voice variation.

A lot of things come down to the musical sensibilities of the dev. I rate TAL pretty highly here. Anyway, not the thread to elaborate too much, suffice to say (in terms of "Oberheim-y" sounds) I'd choose several plugins over Obsession..

[zwhita]

As a previous owner of a Jupiter 8 with many recordings of it to compare to, and already being a harsh critic of software emulations in vst format, I can confidently say my wallet is safe. Doesn't sound more than a generation or two removed from Arturia's implementation to me, and I found its sound character to incite grandiose levels of boredom. Now their Sampler otoh, that looks like alot of fun!