best 303 emulation

[El°HYM]

There's a couple of things that are somewhat unique to 303 (and clones). First there's the sequencer that produces slides and accents that change how the rest of the circuitry behaves. Slides are nothing too special, it's essentially just a one-pole lowpass filtering the 1v/octave pitch control signal when slide is active, but what is more interesting is the accent that is very dynamic and can even be activated half-way through a slide.

Accents boost volume, but it's the filter control side of accents that is quite unique, because it sort of smooths out the accents depending on resonance, making the filter produces a rather unique "wow" sound at high resonance. It's also not reset between notes, it's a simple circuit, so if you have multiple accents at high tempo each accent sweeps the filter a bit higher than the previous one, up to a point.

The filter itself is a diode ladder with a very gradual slope at low resonance and much higher amount of feedback is required to bring it close to self oscillation compared to say a Moog-style transistor ladder and it distorts in quite a unique way. It's not necessarily very obvious distortion with the simple waveforms produced by the single oscillator, but the distortion affects the resonance behavior and the filter has quite excessive "DC coupling" to the point where it's actually sort of a band-pass filter with significant drop in the low range; this is why the waveforms coming out of the thing look so heavily curved.

There's also a lot more volume drop with increasing resonance compared to a transistor ladder, but this is partially compensated by the circuitry feeding more of the filter output to the VCA at higher resonance. The VCA itself is not necessarily totally linear either (it distorts a bit), though I guess it mostly distorts the attacks, especially those of accented notes. Overall though, without an external distortion unit the thing sounds quite tame.. but it does produce waveforms that tend to produce nice distortion when put through a distortion unit.

Finally there's the square wave. The saw wave is about as standard as they get (though not necessarily the highest quality), but the "square" shaper is quite funky. It produces a sort of half-pulse half-saw type of waveform that is dynamic such that the pulse width varies both by frequency (in steady state) and also by short-term history of what the frequency was previously.

There's also a few other minor things, like increasing envelope depth also turns down the base cutoff so that you are much more likely to stay within the sweet spot if you just tweak the knobs at random while it's playing, which is great for performance, but .. overall the unique square, the unique variant of a not that popular diode ladder filter and the unique accent circuitry are probably the most obvious things that give 303 it's "special" status in acid.

This needs to be published.

#kvr pro content here for sure.

[gentleclockdivider]

There's a couple of things that are somewhat unique to 303 (and clones). First there's the sequencer that produces slides and accents that change how the rest of the circuitry behaves. Slides are nothing too special, it's essentially just a one-pole lowpass filtering the 1v/octave pitch control signal when slide is active, but what is more interesting is the accent that is very dynamic and can even be activated half-way through a slide.

Accents boost volume, but it's the filter control side of accents that is quite unique, because it sort of smooths out the accents depending on resonance, making the filter produces a rather unique "wow" sound at high resonance. It's also not reset between notes, it's a simple circuit, so if you have multiple accents at high tempo each accent sweeps the filter a bit higher than the previous one, up to a point.

The filter itself is a diode ladder with a very gradual slope at low resonance and much higher amount of feedback is required to bring it close to self oscillation compared to say a Moog-style transistor ladder and it distorts in quite a unique way. It's not necessarily very obvious distortion with the simple waveforms produced by the single oscillator, but the distortion affects the resonance behavior and the filter has quite excessive "DC coupling" to the point where it's actually sort of a band-pass filter with significant drop in the low range; this is why the waveforms coming out of the thing look so heavily curved.

There's also a lot more volume drop with increasing resonance compared to a transistor ladder, but this is partially compensated by the circuitry feeding more of the filter output to the VCA at higher resonance. The VCA itself is not necessarily totally linear either (it distorts a bit), though I guess it mostly distorts the attacks, especially those of accented notes. Overall though, without an external distortion unit the thing sounds quite tame.. but it does produce waveforms that tend to produce nice distortion when put through a distortion unit.

Finally there's the square wave. The saw wave is about as standard as they get (though not necessarily the highest quality), but the "square" shaper is quite funky. It produces a sort of half-pulse half-saw type of waveform that is dynamic such that the pulse width varies both by frequency (in steady state) and also by short-term history of what the frequency was previously.

There's also a few other minor things, like increasing envelope depth also turns down the base cutoff so that you are much more likely to stay within the sweet spot if you just tweak the knobs at random while it's playing, which is great for performance, but .. overall the unique square, the unique variant of a not that popular diode ladder filter and the unique accent circuitry are probably the most obvious things that give 303 it's "special" status in acid.

This needs to be published.

Been documented numerous times on different sites .
Here's one from the creator of the devilfish mod ( Robert Whittle ) , from 1999
https://www.firstpr.com.au/rwi/dfish/303-unique.html

[mystran]

This needs to be published.

Been documented numerous times on different sites .
Here's one from the creator of the devilfish mod ( Robert Whittle ) , from 1999
https://www.firstpr.com.au/rwi/dfish/303-unique.html

Yup, there's nothing new and a lot more detail can be found on KVR forums too.. but I figured I'd give a quick recap that there are indeed certain aspects of 303 that are not commonly found in other synths.

[_leras]

I think the MO included some of the mods that people had made to the TD3. (At least I think I read that).

I think it sounds a bit closer, if you can keep it in the 303 range.

[ghettosynth]

I think the MO included some of the mods that people had made to the TD3. (At least I think I read that).

I think it sounds a bit closer, if you can keep it in the 303 range.

The MO is the Devilfish mods. You can hear 303 vs TD-3 in the link that I posted above. I'm not hearing any differences that I'd care about. I have no idea what VCA they used in the TD-3 which is really the only part of the circuit that relies on recreations, per se. I suspect that they are using the Cool Audio recreation that Rob from AMSSynths helped design. I vaguely recall from the x0xb0x heyday that the sound is somewhat sensitive to the fet in the VCO and perhaps one or two other active components.

https://amsynths.co.uk/2018/01/07/all-a ... a662-chip/

I find these kinds of comparisons a bit funny TBH. The internet swore up and down and right and left that Josh Wink used an MC202 in Higher States, he says he's never owned one. So, if we can't tell the difference between an IR3109 filter and a Roland diode ladder filter on a famous record that has been heard countless times and analyzed to death, I'm not convinced that we can tell a TB-303 from an RD-303 on a recording. For that matter, I don't think that even a properly built x0xb0x will stand out as being much different.

https://mixmag.net/feature/josh-wink-te ... sciousness

[Uncle E]

That Josh Wink thing is confirmation bias from him using a red SH-101 in the video. Pretty obviously isn't one. Of course, the wayback machine has plenty of examples from 20 years ago of me arguing about it being a 101.

[ghettosynth]

That Josh Wink thing is confirmation bias from him using a red SH-101 in the video. Pretty obviously isn't one. Of course, the wayback machine has plenty of examples from 20 years ago of me arguing about it being a 101.

What happens on the internet, stays on the internet, oh wait, that's not quite it amiright?

Both of these videos are from the end of 2019. The first shows very little difference.



Loopop definitely shows some differences, but, even he admits that it could be knob positioning. Also, it could have been his unit. I have no idea how these are calibrated.



Behringer responds

The thing with this comparison is that it's using knob positions to compare the sound and not by ear (as loopop states at the end to give him credit), after playing with the TD-3 here and hearing the sound of the original if you simply dial back the filter and use ears to match the sound it will be a much more realistic comparison. Let's see the other comparisons that come out in the next months. Cheers Loopop for a nicely done video though.

To which, I agree. But, if you want a pure clone, then maybe your fingers know just where certain points are, or whatever, the $130 TD-3 probably won't work for you, better get the real thing. I think a bigger part of replicating the experience, rather than the PITA sequencer, is having the knobs in the same place as well, of course, as having knobs at all. At any rate, there you go internet, decide for yourself.

[Uncle E]

The Behringer definitely nailed that accent sound at 1:32. That right there sets it apart. My Syntecno does that but most others I've tried don't.

[pekbro]

Bit of a fun 303 type bass plugin from Japan. A surprisingly good bassline generator actually, imo...
I like it

https://www.dotec-audio.com/deeacid.html

[Frank_Kreuzberg-Audio]

Full disclosure, I'm the dev behind the KA-303, so feel free to ignore me. But you said acid that evolves over a track, and that was the whole reason I built it.

The core nails the classic sound. It's a component level model of the diode ladder filter, so the squelch actually moves and reacts the way the hardware does instead of sitting flat. Slides and accents accumulate the way they do on the original, so longer lines build tension on their own.

Where it goes further is that I didn't build it as a straight clone, more as an acid synth that takes the 303 as a starting point. There's a Morph knob that blends between saw and square that you can ride with MIDI CC, so the timbre breathes across a track, plus an Angel Fish mode (nod to the Devil Fish mod) with overdrive and filter FM when you want it dirtier. That extra range is really what helps a line evolve instead of looping the same way for eight bars.

That said, Phoscyon 2 and ABL3 are both excellent and you can't go wrong with either if you want a more classic, focused emulation. There's a full demo, so the honest answer is just run it next to them and pick the character you like. VST3, AU, Standalone, no iLok.

https://kreuzberg-audio.com/en/download ... nthesizer/

Cheers
Frank

[Funky40]

Full disclosure, I'm the dev behind the KA-303,.......

Sorry to play the self entitled DIY-cop here. Usually it`s germans in that role,...*cough*:

This thread is NOT for product placement !
You can open at any time your own thread and show your product to the world, there *. That would help to keep the discussion vs. your product in one place,....rather than risking now to pester this thread with -here unwanted- product release related discussions.

This thread IS about user opinions vs. "what`s the best" 303 emu.
In this thread, we the users hand out the "is Best" batches........and NOT the devs themself.



* nobody hinders you here to do that. Just open your own thread ! In fact, "that" is the etiquette here. And will serve both sides best. win-win.

[Paul_Pulsonix]

Gotta push back a little here. Frank opened with full disclosure, and then actually recommended Phoscyon 2 and ABL3 as the safe picks over his own thing. That's not product placement, that's a dev being more honest about the competition than most users in these threads.

Speaking as a dev myself getting people to even try your stuff is the single hardest part of this. And the honest ones, Frank included, put out free fully functional demos exactly so nobody has to take your word for it. Run it next to Phoscyon and ABL3, decide for yourself, no money down. That's not a sales pitch, that's the opposite of one.

The thread asks "what's the best 303 emu." Someone who just built one weighing in with how it compares is useful context, not spam. As long as it's transparent, I don't see the problem.

[cdbaksu]

For a cheaper alternative to those mentioned, I quite like the sound of Imaginando TV3.

[Uncle E]

Run it next to Phoscyon and ABL3, decide for yourself, no money down. That's not a sales pitch, that's the opposite of one.

Beatforge 303 engine when?

[Paul_Pulsonix]

thought about it, but there are so many good ones already.