Gforce Oberheim OB-X

[Frantz]

it's a rather unobtrusive, yet gentle reminder to actually purchase the product, if you like using it enough to where that issue could become 'bothersome', right?

As such, surely can be tolerated while demoing the product, safe in the knowledge that you can at least continue to demo the plugin without the stress of it suddenly expiring. And as a bonus, fully in the knowledge that, such 'minor annoyance' will no longer be present, should you decide to purchase a licence.

You gotta realize, different people perceive things very differently. When I am listening very intently, any extra undesired noise created by the plugin is going to be instantly irritating to me even if it is no big deal to you. After 5 minutes of crackles, I need to close the plugin. I'm sure I'm an edge case but that is how I experience things.

Yes, I meant Colour Copy.

[Sound Author]

I heard that GForce plans to release an OB-X soundset with the original factory patches? Any truth to that?

[felis]

I heard that GForce plans to release an OB-X soundset with the original factory patches? Any truth to that?

Haven't heard that, but I think it's a great idea.

[felis]

After doing some comparisons, I think I like the basic sound of the OB-E/SEM a bit more.
But after tweaking the OB-X a bit I can come up with sounds that I like just as much or more.
OB-X is definitely a lot more flexible with the options available.

Could be my imagination, but it seems like the OB-X filter seems a tiny bit shrill when wide open. Passes more high frequencies or something. Could be my hearing is a bit off too though.

I've also been messing a bit more with Minimonsta2 and have really come to appreciate it.
Excellent! Very ballsy and punchy.

[Examigan]

I heard that GForce plans to release an OB-X soundset with the original factory patches? Any truth to that?

IIRC, OP-X Pro has a bank like that, so it would be great if GForce created one too.

[Sound Author]

So far I've read dozens of complaints about the demo limitations, and, while I don't really have much of a problem with the 6-hour time limit, being limited to a few dozen "alpha" patches and locking the rest of the patches in a plugin you can only use for 6 hours anyway makes ZERO sense to me from a marketing perspective. Sure, there are lots of people who are going to buy this plugin without even hearing a demo, but I'm sure there are quite a few potential customers who might not be as familiar with the original hardware and just want to see if this is something they can use in their music, and locking them out of the vast majority of presets makes it difficult for them to make that decision.

[RPH]

Why does this plugin have about 460 samples or 9.6ms latency by default?
Tested in Reaper and FLstudio 21.
VST3plugintesthost reports no latency, but it's definitely there.

Gforce-ObX.png

[fisherKing]

So far I've read dozens of complaints about the demo limitations, and, while I don't really have much of a problem with the 6-hour time limit, being limited to a few dozen "alpha" patches and locking the rest of the patches in a plugin you can only use for 6 hours anyway makes ZERO sense to me from a marketing perspective. Sure, there are lots of people who are going to buy this plugin without even hearing a demo, but I'm sure there are quite a few potential customers who might not be as familiar with the original hardware and just want to see if this is something they can use in their music, and locking them out of the vast majority of presets makes it difficult for them to make that decision.

the thing is... we don't know the facts. gforce alone knows how many demo downloads there have been, vs how many purchases. and it's their plugin! they can do what they want, and we adapt... or don't (& sometimes complain a lot).

[Odd Fella]

A lot of people LIKE the sounds of the Minimoog.

Yeah and a lot of people buy Justin Bieber records, too. It proves nothing other than people are idiots.

The only things I would not like about it are the incomplete envelopes and the fact that it is not polyphonic.

So you don't care that the bottom end drops out as you increase the resonance? Really? Because that shouldn't happen with a Low Pass filter.

I remember trying Dune a long time ago, and I did not like it much. The operation did not match my taste and I don't like synths with knob-based envelopes.

Then I must conclude that you have no taste because most people would agree that it is one of the best sounding synths money can buy. You obviously didn't spend enough time with DUNE to discover it's MSEGs so, again, your opinion on the subject doesn't seem to be worth much.

You are contradicting yourself:
First you say people are idiots because they like Bieber, then you use my argument to promote Dune, by saying that most people agree that it is one of the best-sounding synths. Are those the same idiots?

Also, I did not even say anything about Dune's sound. I hardly remember it, but it certainly did not impress me much, else I would have considered buying it. I was thinking about the exaggerated unison structure and such things. Dune is strangely unappealing to me. Just looking at the GUI makes me want to close it.

And your view on the Minimoog filter is odd. Ask yourself why you use resonance in the first place. It is used to stress the cutoff frequency. That you can do in two ways either by increasing the signal around the cutoff frequency, or by decreasing the signal below the cutoff frequency (in the case of a LP filter).
The bass is certainly there, all you need to do is sweep through the lower frequencies with a lot of resonance and you will pass the bump.
There are no laws saying a filter has to work this or that way.

The Minimoog is monophonic. Ironically, one of its main uses is synth basses, including bubbly ones with resonance used on lots of albums. If you want a lead, i.e. the stress on mid and higher frequencies, why would you want a lot of bass in it, which would only interfere with the bass of the song?!

[BONES]

You are contradicting yourself:
First you say people are idiots because they like Bieber, then you use my argument to promote Dune, by saying that most people agree that it is one of the best-sounding synths. Are those the same idiots?

Even a broken clock is right twice a day and some things are much harder to miss than others.

I was thinking about the exaggerated unison structure and such things.

Nobody forces you to use such features and it's not something that gets in your way while you work. It's a stupid reason to be dismissive of the instrument, especially when there is plenty of more substantial things to be critical of. It's not exactly one of my favourite synths either, but it is impossible to deny the sound quality it offers.

And your view on the Minimoog filter is odd. Ask yourself why you use resonance in the first place. It is used to stress the cutoff frequency. That you can do in two ways either by increasing the signal around the cutoff frequency, or by decreasing the signal below the cutoff frequency (in the case of a LP filter).

You are thinking statically, when one of the key uses for a synth's filter is to modulate it with an envelope. When you do that and your envelope decays to zero, the emphasis should be on the very lowest frequencies but that doesn't happen with a ladder filter, except at low settings.

The bass is certainly there, all you need to do is sweep through the lower frequencies with a lot of resonance and you will pass the bump.

Except it doesn't work with a ladder filter. Try it and you'll see. And the other thing it does is it causes the resonance to feel like a separate sound, rather than the unified whole you'd get from something like an Oberheim filter, where the resonance seems to decay more deeply into the base timbre. So with a ladder filter, you end up with horrible squeaky sounds, where you want something full and rich.

There are no laws saying a filter has to work this or that way.

So you'd be happy with an EQ that attenuated the bass frequencies when you were trying to boost the highs, would you? Or would you see that as the shittiest EQ ever made?

The Minimoog is monophonic. Ironically, one of its main uses is synth basses, including bubbly ones with resonance used on lots of albums.

It is effective over a far narrower range than a lot of much better filters. Its fat oscillators make it great for certain types of bass sounds but that is not the advantage in this day and age that it might have been in 1970. e.g. bx_oberhausen is a SEM that allows you to stack 32 voices in Unison. and you can have a proper Oberheim 8 voice for the same price as the most popular MiniMoog emulations.

If you want a lead, i.e. the stress on mid and higher frequencies, why would you want a lot of bass in it, which would only interfere with the bass of the song?!

Why would you want something that sounds thin and weak? Minimoog was popular because it was the first properly portable synth, with a big sound, that people could afford. But I started going to see bands in 1979 and I have never in my life seen anyone use a MiniMoog on stage, because by 1979 there were better options. To be fair, I've never seen a SEM in my life, either, but I think that might be because nobody ever sold them in Australia. OB-Xa was probably the first Oberheim synth I ever saw in a shop and they were about three times more expensive than my car. And today I am complaining that 60 quid is too much! We are so lucky!

[perpetual3]

Things never change at good ole’ kayveearggh

[Uncle E]

Hooked up GForce OB-X with an Oberheim OB-X8 tonight. Great fun, I didn't expect the OB-X to hang as well as it did. Sometimes it even sounded better. It's a little tough to compare head-to-head because the controls don't correlate perfectly (OB-X has bigger range for resonance, modulation, and osc2 detune) but I'll make a comparison video once I've got it sussed out.

[zvenx]

I assume in OB-X mode?

Interesting about the bigger (wider) range.
rsp

[Uncle E]

Yes, although I bounced around different modes because the OB-X presets are boring. The OB-X8 bank of presets are more interesting (their Alphas, I guess).

[simmo75]

Is the Virtual String Machine worth a punt at $39?