Tal J-8

[mholloway]

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.

It also has, in my opinion, a really terrible UI. It's awkward, misses the spirit of the original reardless of what colors it uses, nothing is ever where you think it should be, simple processes like changing Pan position per voice requires a ridiculous amount of clicking and moving the mouse across the full span of the UI (over and over again, when working on multiple voices). Richard really should have studied a synth like Repro-5, where the UI is very true to the original, but also very functional. And on Repro-5 you can manage all the per-voice pan-pots in one single, easily accessed location, what a concept!

Lastly, I feel the envelopes are way off on Obsession. He did his usual thing (all his synths follow this pattern) where the first 40% or so of the knob is rapid-fire fast / short. This makes dialing in Decay settings especially annoying: You can barely tell the difference between any setting within the first 40% or more of the knob, then suddenly it starts getting crazy long.

[Teksonik]

Is Tal J-8 so boring you can't even talk about it in its own thread?

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Lastly, I feel the envelopes are way off on Obsession. He did his usual thing (all his synths follow this pattern) where the first 40% or so of the knob is rapid-fire fast / short. This makes dialing in Decay settings especially annoying: You can barely tell the difference between any setting within the first 40% or more of the knob, then suddenly it starts getting crazy long.

I was just reading on the Prophet Rev 4 GS thread about how the original hardware and the new rev all worked exactly as you described. Right around 5-6 on the decay and it goes from fast to very slow real quick. So the envelopes in Obsession may be spot on and just exhibit the same type of behavior as the hardware if it works like the Prophet.

[zwhita]

Is Tal J-8 so boring you can't even talk about it in its own thread?

I did not like it. When I was stationed in Korea, just outside the base they would sew on any logo you wanted to a T-shirt. This is like that. Another generic VA with a fancy label.

[mholloway]

I did not like it. When I was stationed in Korea, just outside the base they would sew on any logo you wanted to a T-shirt. This is like that. Another generic VA with a fancy label.

So what, in your opinion, is a current soft-synth that doesn't fit this description, and what makes it 'not a generic VA' ?

[EvilDragon]

This is like that. Another generic VA with a fancy label.

Well no, no it's not a generic VA at all.

[HunterKiller]

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.

It also has, in my opinion, a really terrible UI. It's awkward, misses the spirit of the original reardless of what colors it uses, nothing is ever where you think it should be, simple processes like changing Pan position per voice requires a ridiculous amount of clicking and moving the mouse across the full span of the UI (over and over again, when working on multiple voices). Richard really should have studied a synth like Repro-5, where the UI is very true to the original, but also very functional. And on Repro-5 you can manage all the per-voice pan-pots in one single, easily accessed location, what a concept!

Lastly, I feel the envelopes are way off on Obsession. He did his usual thing (all his synths follow this pattern) where the first 40% or so of the knob is rapid-fire fast / short. This makes dialing in Decay settings especially annoying: You can barely tell the difference between any setting within the first 40% or more of the knob, then suddenly it starts getting crazy long.

Excellent criticisms, but probably won't be seen by the developer.

[Vortifex]

Edited

[rezoneight]

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!

Which Arturia implementation as they have 2

[Yorrrrrr]

The J-8 sounds incredible to my ears, definitely not your run-of-the-mill VA. I've never played a real Jupiter so I can't comment on authenticity, but in terms of sound quality it's up there with Repro and The Legend IMO.

Confirmed here.

[zwhita]

The J-8 sounds incredible to my ears, definitely not your run-of-the-mill VA.

Enough praise such as this shattered my previous confidence in its banality and warranted me giving this software another look. Add a few enhancement plugins and the lovely details come to the fore. Decided this was worth spending some time with. Purchased!

[Super Piano Hater 64]

The J-8 sounds incredible to my ears, definitely not your run-of-the-mill VA.

Enough praise such as this shattered my previous confidence in its banality and warranted me giving this software another look. Add a few enhancement plugins and the lovely details come to the fore. Decided this was worth spending some time with. Purchased!

I guess it's (a model of) a Roland synth after all, and those do tend to need some help. What kind of effect stacks helped change your mind? Asking mostly because I'm not yet convinced myself.

[AnX]

So the envelopes in Obsession may be spot on and just exhibit the same type of behavior as the hardware

let's not start throwing facts around eh....

[mholloway]

So the envelopes in Obsession may be spot on and just exhibit the same type of behavior as the hardware

let's not start throwing facts around eh....

Are you asserting that the envelopes are, in fact, the same as the hardware?
If so, can you back that up with any actual info from the developer, or someone who owns the hardware or...anything?

Or are you just being smug for sake of being smug, as usual?

[EvilDragon]

Well, Synapse DOES have an OB-Xa they based OBsession on, so of course they would be able to match it, including envelopes.