GForce OB-1

[iamneorev]

I gotta say, this synth sounds pretty darn good. I never really heard the original though.

[BONES]

I don't get the how software's not as immediate as hardware thing, especially when GForce has such great midi mapping features. If your not mapping your midi controllers, I could see it, if you had to use a mouse that'd be weird

Why? I use a mouse 12-18 hours a day, every day. It is the most natural thing in the world and you can't beat ease-of-use features like holding down CTRL or ALT for finer adjustment or using your scroll-wheel to change a parameter value. Most of the time you don't even have to click on the control, just hover your cursor over it and away you go. Anyone who has issues using a mouse in a DAW has a serious mental problem. Turning a physical knob feels positively Paleolithic in 2024.

GROK.jpg

[Dencheg]

Tried the sequencer. I found out that unfortunately I can't gradually change the pitch with the mousewheel. Getting some weird increments instead of semitone. Dealbreaker for me.

It's a shame. Rare developer supports mousewheel correctly

[Synthbuilder]

Has anyone noticed that the pulse wave does not go from narrow to wide (as depicted on the panel and implied by the pop up X:Y % value) but from narrow to square? It's not a fault of the audio emulation since the original hardware does this too. However, on the hardware, the control knob is correctly labelled narrow to equal.

The manual says that square is in the middle (50:50%) which is clearly not true. Looks like the graphics and manual designer weren't in step with the code writer.

I've reported it to GForce.

Other than that, it's a nice sounding synth.

Dislikes:

Changing the scale on the sequencer is somewhat of a challenge.

No legato controlled portamento. Glide is either on or off.

Self-oscillation is much louder than expected. The original is maybe like this.

Some presets have an effect on the next selected preset. I haven't quite figured this one out yet. But I have found that sometimes going to the init patch after playing a preset leaves some of the modulation routes from the preset still intact but without any graphical indication of it doing so. That is, you can hear the effect but not see it on the panel.

[Dencheg]

Tried the sequencer. I found out that unfortunately I can't gradually change the pitch with the mousewheel. Getting some weird increments instead of semitone. Dealbreaker for me.

It's a shame. Rare developer supports mousewheel correctly

Upd: the pitch is incremented/decremented by major 3rd with mousewheel... Why, why?

[Synthbuilder]

Changing the scale on the sequencer is somewhat of a challenge.

Just found out that you can right click the little scale window and a simple to use drop down menu pops up. So not a challenge after all but slightly confusing that some parameters have different methods of changing their values.

Mouse wheel seems to work well too. Even on the sequencer pitch controls, each click corresponding to one semitone. I'm using a cheap Logitech mouse on MacOS.

[felis]

Reading the manual sometimes helps too.

[SoftSynthLover99]

Turning a physical knob feels positively Paleolithic in 2024.


GROK.jpg

A mouse is not a fast interface for working with soft synths. It's actually incredibly slow in comparison to hardware. I started all ITB with software synths for the first 10-15 years of producing records so I do have a soft spot for soft synths (I mean it's in my username).

However I own a Prophet 10 and a few other high end analog synths, and the amount of effort it takes to start from an init patch and get to a useable sound is almost instant within a few knob moves on hardware. With a mouse (which wasn't designed for making synth patches) it's incredible slow and uninspiring.

The OB-1 does sound pretty good though! I think GForce make some of the absolute best soft synths overall.

[plexuss]

Yeah... I've owned a P10, P5s, Moogs, Rolands, bla bla... tons of analogue synths over the years. I still have a minimoog CS15 and a Polyevolver and a PAIA Modular. I have no problem at all using mouse interfaced software synths and I find them even more inspiring than any of my analogue gear then or now. This demonstrate why one shouldn't talk about this kind of thing in absolutes - like audio itself, its purely subjective. Enjoy whatever synths and interfaces work for you!

[IvyBirds]

A mouse is not a fast interface for working with soft synths. It's actually incredibly slow in comparison to hardware.

That's why I dumped all my hardware except for my gigging Montage and went with a combination Mouse/Controller ecosystem

It blows hardware away and was a fraction of the cost

I am always amazed that the people who love hardware for it's "hands on immediacy" never take advantage of the true "hands on immediacy" a software based system offers over hardware

[pekbro]

It's not faster if you need to move that f*kn montage around, for whatever reason.
Tho I have to admit, they (Yamaha), do make good motorcycles.

[thecontrolcentre]

Tho I have to admit, they (Yamaha), do make good motorcycles.

Yes indeed. I've owned 3 different models

[BONES]

A mouse is not a fast interface for working with soft synths. It's actually incredibly slow in comparison to hardware.

Only a complete f**king moron would believe that. You only have two hands so, at most, you can adjust two knobs at once but most of the time you can only adjust one parameter at a time, just like a softsynth and a mouse. Where it gets worse is that you can't see from the position of the knobs on your hardware what the actual value of each parameter is (assuming your hardware has patch memory), so you have to go through a multi-step process to change the value, unless you have digital rotary encoders, in which case they tell you nothing at all, requiring you to look somewhere else to find the values, just like you do with a mouse. The difference, of course, is that a mouse is a single source of control, you don't have to look at it to make sure you've got your hand on the correct control. That means you can concentrate on a single area, which allows you to work more efficiently. Then there is the fact you only have to move your hand a mm or two to go from one control to the next, which means you can get from one control to another more quickly.

Then there are the simple luxuries, like the fact I can open a project in my DAW and all the softsynth controls are exactly where they need to be for that song. With hardware, you have to remember to save all the patches you're going to need, which can be a hassle because of the limited size of the patch memory in most hardware, then you have to call up those patches with your DAW's sequencer. It's multiple extra steps for no benefit that makes working with hardware both slow and painful. It ends up being hassle after hassle after hassle. No f**king thank you.

When you look further, to a production scenario, hardware gets so much worse. You can't do much with just one hardware synth and as soon as you want to do more, like maybe produce a whole song, your hardware becomes a giant millstone around your neck.

I started all ITB with software synths for the first 10-15 years of producing records so I do have a soft spot for soft synths (I mean it's in my username).

I'm the opposite - I worked exclusively with hardware for more than 20 years before I ever thought about making music with a computer. It took me about a day-and-a-half of working with Orion v1.2 to know that I would never want to work with hardware again. I still keep hardware around, just out of habit, but the last time we actually used any was in one song on our 2009 album. I always say I'll get back to using it on stage but I never do. It's probably more than five years since I played a note on my Ultranova and maybe 3 years or so for my Analog Keys. Even my Uno Pro hasn't been touched in more than a year, and I absolutely f**king love that thing, It's just too much hassle, even with the VSTi editor/librarian. I keep taking it to band practice, and bringing it home again, but it never comes out of its case. One part of me wants to use it all the time but the practical part of me can never justify the hassle.

However I own a Prophet 10 and a few other high end analog synths, and the amount of effort it takes to start from an init patch and get to a useable sound is almost instant within a few knob moves on hardware. With a mouse (which wasn't designed for making synth patches) it's incredible slow and uninspiring.

More utter bullshit. I'll guarantee that I can make a decent patch from scratch in GForce's Axxess faster than you can on your lame hardware synth. And do you understand why? It's because the process is exactly the same but Axxess is a much simpler synth, so it will be faster to work with. Of course, I could probably do it just as fast on DUNE, too, because of the way its designed, and bring 512 oscillators to bear PER NOTE, which will blow any sound you can coax out of your hardware out of the water.

Honestly, I don't understand why all this stuff isn't completely obvious to anyone with even half a brain. It's OK to love your hardware, I love mine, but that doesn't actually make it objectively better in any way - it doesn't sound better and it sure as hell requires a lot more patience and dedication.

[IvyBirds]

It's not faster if you need to move that f*kn montage around, for whatever reason.
Tho I have to admit, they (Yamaha), do make good motorcycles.

How do I gig without moving my Montage around? However thank you for your concern

My Montage sits on a stand, it uses a standard IEC power cord and I connect it to my main PC via USB and my secondary PC via DIN MIDI. USB handles Audio and MIDI

When I have to take it for a gig, I unplug everything, the cords stay with the stand. I use Velcro cable ties and pop the Montage in the hard case

When I get back from the gig, I take it out of the case and set it on the stand and plug everything back in, takes all of 15 seconds.

In my decades long career of professional gigging I have never played a better keyboard than the Montage M 88. I am a professional musician and it's a professional grade instrument

But I get it not everyone is a professional who needs professional grade instrument to gig with that can also pull double duty in your home studio

I am amazed that in 2024 people think that professional musicians moving gear around to professionally gig with is some kind of impossible task, or plugging in power, USB, and MIDI is some kind of impossibly difficult, time consuming task

Also I don't drive to the gig on a motorcycle

[pekbro]

I know a fair number of professional musicians thank you very much, none of them talk like you tbh.