Diva vs OB-6 Blind Test

[Amram]

So , which is A?

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

I gave it a quick listen and I'm going to say:

1. I preferred the sound of Synth A in examples where I felt there was a decent difference between the two. It was pretty consistent.
2. I believe Synth B is the hardware.

At first, I thought I was hearing a decent amount of envelope slop for each voice in Synth A, which I thought was the Sequential vintage knob, but then I heard some voice stealing in Synth B that I didn't think was Diva. And then I remembered that Diva has an envelope variance parameter that could be accounting for what I thought I was hearing on synth A. So yeah, based on that very unscientific set of assumptions about what I think I was hearing, I say Synth A is Diva. Synth B is the OB-6.

If I'm wrong and Synth A is the hardware, then good on Sequential!

[JHernandez]

No I idea which is which and I've never played an OB-6, nor ever payed attention to how it sounds but most of the time I preferred A.

That could be just because it was first.

[MitchK1989]

the other thing to keep in mind is that diva doesn't try to emulate the modern Sequential OB6, but rather vintage analogs, so I would not be surprised if Diva emulates vintage synths better than the modern synth does.

[zerocrossing]

I’m saying A is the OB-6. It sounds a bit more “open” in the way my Prophet 6 sounds more open than RePro. You know, before you EQ it to fit in the mix.

[Teksonik]

Hello U-he groupers...does anyone wonder how Diva (and effects) sounds next to an OB6?

...well now you can find out...!

Please oh please someone do one of these tests and then lie about which is the software and which is the hardware.

I just want to watch people fall all over the one they think is the hardware....

[zerocrossing]

Here’s the thing. There is a consistent difference in the two examples, eh? We all hear it, don’t we? Even on my AirPod Pros, it’s pretty clear. So… is this a “they can sound the same!” No. They sound different. They are different. I suggest using the one that fits your needs.

That said, I wonder what this test would be like with BX_Oberhausen instead of Diva.

[zerocrossing]

I also like A better. The sound is a little bit more gritty and edged; B sounds a little bit more dull in direct comparison. But difficult to say, which is which. Since I am not a believer in HW sounding waaay better, I think one can get easily fooled. Take some subtle EQing and Saturation and B is going to sound better then. Nevertheless, let's follow the common scheme and assume the better sounding is the HW, thus:
A = OB6
B = Diva

Could that just be the filter cutoff being different? Hitting the audio interface input a bit hard?

[fakemaxwell]

Pretty sure A is Diva, knew immediately from the first patch without needing to hear B.

I could be completely wrong but wanted to go on record before it's revealed haha.

[SamDi]

I also like A better. The sound is a little bit more gritty and edged; B sounds a little bit more dull in direct comparison. But difficult to say, which is which. Since I am not a believer in HW sounding waaay better, I think one can get easily fooled. Take some subtle EQing and Saturation and B is going to sound better then. Nevertheless, let's follow the common scheme and assume the better sounding is the HW, thus:
A = OB6
B = Diva

Could that just be the filter cutoff being different? Hitting the audio interface input a bit hard?

Of course it could. That‘s why I don‘t think HW beats SW anymore in terms of sound quality. Making one sound „better“ or „nicer“ than another is easy: give it more beef, highend, saturation, chorus, compression, vibrato or other life, whatever et voila, psycho-acoustics works.
I just play the game, but wouldn‘t be surprised, if my estimation is the other way around.

[hakey]

A is Diva

[40watt]

I think so too, A

[kylie]

My guess is

A for OB-6
B for Diva

Can't exactly say why, but when A started it was OB-6 for me, and after B chimed in there was no groundbreaking thing that made me swap...

[Captain]

Then you have a complete lack of imagination. It’s pretty trivial to make two similar sounds on two different synths and have one sound a bit better. Could be something simple, like keeping the filter a bit more closed on the hardware synth. It’s nearly impossible to get two different synths to sound exactly the same on a wide variety of patches anyway, so you’re going to have to approximate. I don’t buy that the decisions of how that approximation are made are without bias.

But wouldn't that be true only if the vast majority of people thought that A is Diva and B is hardware (or vice versa)? If I counted correctly, the vote is currently pretty much even (five people think A is Diva, six people think B is Diva). This tells me that that there can't be any super obvious bias in the patch design that makes Diva sound "better".

[mholloway]

Friendly reminder: last time he did one of these videos and there was a general consensus that most people preferred one of them, it turned out that was Diva and not the hardware.

Preferred the sounds as presented, not the actual synthesizers. The fact that the sounds are a commercial product makes the comparison not really fair.

Huh? Why ? Commercial or otherwise, it was a blind test of fairly standard synth patches -- strings, keys, bass, etc. If people preferred version X to version Y and version X was Diva, that tells you a lot about Diva and the hardware synth in question, regardless of whether the patches also happen to be sold commercially.

What are you suggesting would be necessary for a blind test to be "fair" ? I can't imagine your reasoning behind this assertion, tbh.

Then you have a complete lack of imagination. It’s pretty trivial to make two similar sounds on two different synths and have one sound a bit better. Could be something simple, like keeping the filter a bit more closed on the hardware synth. It’s nearly impossible to get two different synths to sound exactly the same on a wide variety of patches anyway, so you’re going to have to approximate. I don’t buy that the decisions of how that approximation are made are without bias. That said, the last time we did this I thought I got it wrong for the longest time but then I checked and I did indeed get it right. I’ve gotten others wrong, though.

I’m not saying Diva doesn’t sound great. Of course it does. I wouldn’t own it if it didn’t, but it also has limitations and if you push things a bit, the parts where it doesn’t quite sound analog become pretty obvious. Hell, even RePro sounds a lot closer to an actual analog than Diva does. Anyway, I don’t own an OB-6 but I’m 100% sure that I’d prefer it in a lot of different types of sounds, just like I prefer my Prophet 6 to RePro. That said, I do sometimes choose RePro because I find it sometimes works better, especially if there’s a lot going on.

You still haven't said what a "fair" test would be...

also, even if he can trivially "make two similar sounds on two different synths and have one sound a bit better," it's still a blind test.... so your assertion that it's not a 'fair' test still doesn't make any sense. But go ahead, blame my "lack of imagination" instead of doing a better job explaining yourself.