New GForce Oberheim TVS Pro is here

[Hyperbole]

Rumor has it Gforce is having a discussion with Yamaha about creating a plugin version of a legendary synth. Apparently Vangelis was quite fond of that synth....

Please, for the love of God and all that is HOLY, let this be a joke. Does the world really need another CS-80 emulation? Let's see, we have ones from Arturia, Cherry Audio, Softube, and Xils Lab. Am I missing any?

A CS-80 from GForce, even if it is blessed by Yamaha (and sanctified on the graves of the original Yamaha developers,) would be a total waste of Dave Spiers' considerable talent.

Do something interesting, for God's sake!

[dumbledog]

If nothing else a new GForce Ob synth yields another video narrated by Alex Ball so I'm happy

[dune_rave]

I wouldnt be surprised if gforce changed its name to oberheim, because they release many oberheim stuff : )

[Hyperbole]

If they look at this board, I hope they get the message that's everyone's wanting an Oberheim Matrix 12 emulation.

I don't doubt that Dave Spiers from GForce is up to the challenge. But developing a Matrix 12 emulation would be quite an undertaking. If you look at almost all of the GForce synth plugins, they take the same approach:

Start with a relatively simple synth with a sought-after tone. Model the core sound as accurately as possible. Extend the synth in useful ways by adding velocity sensitivity and the like, but do not completely "reimagine" it. Add the now-standard (and very powerful) GForce X-LFO and X-ADSR and good-sounding FX.

Rinse and repeat.

A Matrix 12 emulation would completely break with this mold. Given the extensive modulation matrix on Matrix 12, there would be no need for the X-LFO and X-ADSR modulation systems. But getting all those modulations to sound right would be a massive undertaking (and is probably why the Arturia version, even the V2 version, doesn't sound 100% authentic).

But still, a better-sounding Matrix 12 emulation would be welcome. I just don't know if that's a job for a small company like GForce.

[dlandis]

If they look at this board, I hope they get the message that's everyone's wanting an Oberheim Matrix 12 emulation.

I don't doubt that Dave Spiers from GForce is up to the challenge. But developing a Matrix 12 emulation would be quite an undertaking. If you look at almost all of the GForce synth plugins, they take the same approach:

Start with a relatively simple synth with a sought-after tone. Model the core sound as accurately as possible. Extend the synth in useful ways by adding velocity sensitivity and the like, but do not completely "reimagine" it. Add the now-standard (and very powerful) GForce X-LFO and X-ADSR and good-sounding FX.

Rinse and repeat.

A Matrix 12 emulation would completely break with this mold. Given the extensive modulation matrix on Matrix 12, there would be no need for the X-LFO and X-ADSR modulation systems. But getting all those modulations to sound right would be a massive undertaking (and is probably why the Arturia version, even the V2 version, doesn't sound 100% authentic).

But still, a better-sounding Matrix 12 emulation would be welcome. I just don't know if that's a job for a small company like GForce.

Good points. There is a reason why there really is only one company that has "really" tackled the Matrix 12. (I'm not counting the UVI or IK versions here, whatever their respective strengths or weaknesses: I'm not looking to open that discussion.)

The point that sticks with me about this, however, is that for a while I was hoping that Arturia would update the Matrix 12. I guess that I still do hope for this, but I got the chance to hear the Arturia A/B'ed against the physical Matrix 12. The truly weird thing is that in almost all of the examples, I preferred the Arturia. Now, understand that I have never owned a physical Matrix 12 or Xpander. (I did own a Matrix 6 and a couple Matrix 1000's, but they were quite different beasts.) And I'm not commenting on the strength of Arturia's emulation of the real Matrix 12, per se. But I did find it very odd that in my own (perhaps slightly tired and fallible) ears, I did prefer the imitation to the original. And yes, this did leave me feeling a bit unsettled.

So, if GForce (or Arturia) do a new version (or update) of the Matrix 12, I'm sure that I will be there buying it happily (especially if it costs $33 like the Obie TVS Pro does.) Honestly, however, I'm beginning to wonder if we really "need" one.

[mh2496]

Does the world really need another CS-80 emulation? Let's see, we have ones from Arturia, Cherry Audio, Softube, and Xils Lab. Am I missing any?

Let's not forget the pioneering Memorymoon ME80.
I'm all for Gforce doing an Matrix 12 emulation. AFAIK there's only the Arturia one.

[pekbro]

I liked this, pretty much insta-bought it...

[Hyperbole]

I liked this, pretty much insta-bought it...

It's definitely cool if you don't already own the GForce SEM, especially for 33 pounds. But I already own SEM and don't need the built-in step sequencer in TVS Pro. So it's a pass for me. Not a "hard pass," mind you. I just don't need it.

[starflakeprj]

Rumor has it Gforce is having a discussion with Yamaha about creating a plugin version of a legendary synth. Apparently Vangelis was quite fond of that synth....

Please, for the love of God and all that is HOLY, let this be a joke. Does the world really need another CS-80 emulation? Let's see, we have ones from Arturia, Cherry Audio, Softube, and Xils Lab. Am I missing any?

A CS-80 from GForce, even if it is blessed by Yamaha (and sanctified on the graves of the original Yamaha developers,) would be a total waste of Dave Spiers' considerable talent.

Do something interesting, for God's sake!

ME80 from MemoryMoon

[Hyperbole]

Good points. There is a reason why there really is only one company that has "really" tackled the Matrix 12. (I'm not counting the UVI or IK versions here, whatever their respective strengths or weaknesses: I'm not looking to open that discussion.)

The point that sticks with me about this, however, is that for a while I was hoping that Arturia would update the Matrix 12. I guess that I still do hope for this, but I got the chance to hear the Arturia A/B'ed against the physical Matrix 12. The truly weird thing is that in almost all of the examples, I preferred the Arturia. Now, understand that I have never owned a physical Matrix 12 or Xpander. (I did own a Matrix 6 and a couple Matrix 1000's, but they were quite different beasts.) And I'm not commenting on the strength of Arturia's emulation of the real Matrix 12, per se. But I did find it very odd that in my own (perhaps slightly tired and fallible) ears, I did prefer the imitation to the original. And yes, this did leave me feeling a bit unsettled.

So, if GForce (or Arturia) do a new version (or update) of the Matrix 12, I'm sure that I will be there buying it happily (especially if it costs $33 like the Obie TVS Pro does.) Honestly, however, I'm beginning to wonder if we really "need" one.

I used to own an Xpander and feel that the Arturia Matrix 12 comes up a bit short in some areas. It doesn't seem quite as vibrant and rich-sounding. But it's not "horrible" or "unusable" by any stretch of the imagination. The Arturia presets are weak, though.

As an aside, I used to have a cassette tape of all the Matrix 1000 patches recreated in the Xpander/Matrix 12, which seems like the "wrong" direction to go in. LOL. But a lot of those patches were quite useful. I don't know what I did with that cassette. And I lost all my SoundDiver files when my drive failed, and I foolishly didn't have it backed up.

Does anyone have those patches in SysEx format that could be imported into the Matrix 12 V? That's 1,000 decent bread and butter patches. I would help organize them if need be.

[felis]

I don't doubt that Dave Spiers from GForce is up to the challenge. But developing a Matrix 12 emulation would be quite an undertaking. If you look at almost all of the GForce synth plugins, they take the same approach:....

Really - overall, I like the sound of GForce oscillators and filters better than those of the Matrix 12.

When I say I'd like them to do an M12, I thinking more along the lines of the 5 envelopes, 5 lfo's,
3 tracking generators, 4 ramps, the lag processor, and the ability to have them all modulate each other.

I'm especially missing release velocity as a mod source in the GForce stuff. Some of it has a work around, but it's not as straight forward or easy to use as just selecting it as a mod source like you can do with the M12.

Daunting stuff - yes. But I think they're up to it, and I also think there's enough interest in it that it would pay off for them.

[Echoes in the Attic]

Rumor has it Gforce is having a discussion with Yamaha about creating a plugin version of a legendary synth. Apparently Vangelis was quite fond of that synth....

Please, for the love of God and all that is HOLY, let this be a joke. Does the world really need another CS-80 emulation? Let's see, we have ones from Arturia, Cherry Audio, Softube, and Xils Lab. Am I missing any?

A CS-80 from GForce, even if it is blessed by Yamaha (and sanctified on the graves of the original Yamaha developers,) would be a total waste of Dave Spiers' considerable talent.

Do something interesting, for God's sake!

ME80 from MemoryMoon

And the New "Unstable" which is actually quite good.

[Hyperbole]

Really - overall, I like the sound of GForce oscillators and filters better than those of the Matrix 12.

When I say I'd like them to do an M12, I thinking more along the lines of the 5 envelopes, 5 lfo's,
3 tracking generators, 4 ramps, the lag processor, and the ability to have them all modulate each other.

I should make better use of the X-LFO and X-ADSR modulation system in the GForce synths. That essentially gives you a dedicated LFO and ADSR for almost every parameter on the interface. So in that sense, it's even more powerful than the 5 LFOs and 5 envelopes in the Xpander/Matrix 12, although you can't assign the same X-LFO or X-ADSR to multiple destinations, if I recall correctly.

Of course, you don't get the tracking generators, lag processor, etc. in the current generation of GForce synths. But other than using the tracking generator to create a custom filter keytrack response, I didn't use the tracking generator in my Xpander that often. And I can't remember if I ever used the lag processor to smooth out the transitions between modulation signals.

[felis]

Yes, x-lfo and x-adsr are really great. The majority of the GForce stuff I have has them.
Except for the OB-E, SEM, and OB-EZ, but those are more straight emulations.
It was disappointing that impOSCar 3 didn't include them.

The x-adsr is one of the release velocity workarounds I mentioned.
Imp 3 also has a sort of inverted RV that can be used to imitate the effect.
Really, if they'd just add release velocity as a direct mod source,
I would have no trouble forgoing all the other stuff in the M12.

Nothing's perfect and sometimes there's a tendency to focus on 'what could be' instead of 'what is'.
I'm really pretty happy with all the GForce stuff I've got.

[Cuauhtli]

Rumor has it Gforce is having a discussion with Yamaha about creating a plugin version of a legendary synth. Apparently Vangelis was quite fond of that synth....

Please, for the love of God and all that is HOLY, let this be a joke. Does the world really need another CS-80 emulation? Let's see, we have ones from Arturia, Cherry Audio, Softube, and Xils Lab. Am I missing any?

A CS-80 from GForce, even if it is blessed by Yamaha (and sanctified on the graves of the original Yamaha developers,) would be a total waste of Dave Spiers' considerable talent.

Do something interesting, for God's sake!

Aw c'mon! Every developer needs a CS80 in their portfolio. But yes, it was a joke in response to Gforce only making oberheims.