Arturia OB-Xa V

[WasteLand]

I’ve seen a lot of fanboys of certain developers talking about how much better their ‘80s synth emulations are, but when I compare demos to the Arturia versions, it’s always the Arturia ones that sound like they actually came from the ‘80s.

These “home team synths” all sound more like ultra-slick modern VA synths. That’s great if that’s what you’re looking for, but they just done have a legit ‘70s/‘80s vibe to my ear.

So you actually think the Arturia MIni V sounds closer to an actual Minimoog than The Legend?

What planet are you living on? And yes, I own both and there is no comparison.

The Legend sounds very good (as does Monark), but it doesn't sound like my Moog Hardware synths ...it often sounds better, as do most Minimoog VSTs!

It doesn't matter to me how close it sounds to an original or current equivalent hardware, it is just 'does the particular sound/preset fit my song in the mix and sound good'. Sometimes the beast 'emulation' isn't the best 'sound' for a mix...that even more the case with hardware!

i like the Mini V, very much, used a lot of times, in many tracks. all presets i program myself.

it is in my post above your post, why those different views?

your reaction, recalls something, in a sound on sound review about the korg mono/poly vst plugin; that it sounded fatter than the real one....

[SLiC]

I’ve seen a lot of fanboys of certain developers talking about how much better their ‘80s synth emulations are, but when I compare demos to the Arturia versions, it’s always the Arturia ones that sound like they actually came from the ‘80s.

These “home team synths” all sound more like ultra-slick modern VA synths. That’s great if that’s what you’re looking for, but they just done have a legit ‘70s/‘80s vibe to my ear.

So you actually think the Arturia MIni V sounds closer to an actual Minimoog than The Legend?

What planet are you living on? And yes, I own both and there is no comparison.

The Legend sounds very good (as does Monark), but it doesn't sound like my Moog Hardware synths ...it often sounds better, as do most Minimoog VSTs!

It doesn't matter to me how close it sounds to an original or current equivalent hardware, it is just 'does the particular sound/preset fit my song in the mix and sound good'. Sometimes the beast 'emulation' isn't the best 'sound' for a mix...that even more the case with hardware!

i like the Mini V, very much, used a lot of times, in many tracks. all presets i program myself.

it is in my post above your post, why those different views?

your reaction, recalls something, in a sound on sound review about the korg mono/poly vst plugin; that it sounded fatter than the real one....

Sorry Jamcat- It was the Wagtunes comment I was referring to (his rely to you). How close to an original is something most people will never know (or care about), and someone who tries to tame hardware and get it to fix in a mix, they may be better off not knowing!

They are all just instruments, they sound good or they don't in your hands and in your mix...Arturia stuff is all good enough (even the old stuff) for most people....but the small minority that have experience with the original synths and realy care if something is identical to the original (sometimes warts and all!) other options are available!

[PAK]

I didn't spend much time using yet, but enough to know it's far better than some people are making out.

The modulation shaping is cool. Simple, powerful, looks good - though it seems to have lost some features SEM V had. I seriously doubt the Synapse effort will be as nice here.

That said, the actual trimmer settings have been left deliberately sparse to keep it "user friendly". So you've got pans for the individual voices, but only basic LFO style "wobble" for stuff like filter.. IE You can't fully tune the individual voices filter / res variation etc, though you could try to fake some things with the modulation. Still, if you're used to / want more control it's lacking here, and both OP-X Pro II and even Diva already give more control in those regards. I'd expect (maybe not) Synapse to be more extensive here too.

As for sound.. by default, and some might consider this part of an "Arturia character" by now, in some scenarios the attack / "punch" might come across as a bit soft / gentle for some tastes. Not that you want everything spikey, thumpy or clicky, and the Oberheims aren't exactly known for that anyway. Still, if you miss that aspect in previous older Arturia emulations, you'll likely miss it here too.

That said, it doesn't take much to help matters. Take the default Jump sound as an example. (BTW For whatever reason the few videos I saw had everyone playing it about 2 octaves too high! It depends on your keyboard size / mapping but try sticking the master tuning down to -12 and play lower notes!)

In terms of volume / punch, open the top panel, change the FX routing from parallel to serial (bottom of the two) and it'll give you a volume boost. You can also try bumping the compressor dry/wet up a little bit (Having "makeup" activated makes a huge difference). By now you're pretty much on par with any of the "better" synths you'd care to name for this sort of sound - though Arturia might want to consider how they can help this "punch perception" without additional FX routing. The pre-delay on the reverb is also set to max. You might want to lower that by a quarter and bump up the dry/wet reverb level a bit. Ta-da. A more authentic "Jump" preset with very minimal tweaking.

As pointed out, it's $49 for V7 owners and, if Arturia stick to what they've been doing lately, this will likely knock $49 off your V8 upgrade price. Which is smart because it creates little/no advantage in not just getting it now - at least if you plan to go to V8 at some point..

(You ARE working on that Ensoniq / SQ80 emulation for V8, right Arturia?! )

[Niowiad]

I found that compared to the real OB-Xa and the Synapse Audio plugin the "F-ENV" button in the Osc section is missing in the Arturia plugin. This in combination with the filter envelope amount knob ("MOD" knob) could be used to do pitch envelope modulation of Osc 2 which is especially useful with typical Osc Sync sounds. It was the only way to do this in the original hardware as this did not include a mod matrix or another way to do such envelope pitch modulation.

In the Arturia plugin it seems to be necessary to use the mod matrix at the hidden panel to do Osc2 pitch envelope modulation or use one of the 4 function generators (which is how it seems to be done in certain presets of the plugin).

I started to compare the Osc Sync in the Arturia and Synapse Audio plugin and somehow there is something strange about how it sounds in the Arturia plugin. I'll try to check this further by replicating one of multiple of my Sync patches i made with the Synapse Audio plugin.

I initially thought they overlooked this, but (as you also noticed) being "FEnv" one of the very few sources included in the modulation matrix, it seems like a deliberate choice to take it off the front panel an have it elsewhere to be used in a much more flexible way.

About parameter matching... in my opinion a bit of a slippery slope as I would also tend to believe Arturia did their design based on a different vintage unit from the one used at Synapse, which can't necessarily be taken as an absolute point of reference.

[Stefken]

This is around the time that one could expect a new V collection. Anyone knows anything about that?

We only got one new instrument now. Typically a new V collection brings 3 new instruments to the table. Maybe Corona caused delays as in many 'industries' but coding software is something that can be done pretty well from home too with online sprint meetings after each sprint.
So can we expect a new V collection around summer? Better to wait and see.

There was a post early on in this thread that implied more was coming. Another post a page or so back also stated that the OB-Xa would be added into Analog Lab by the summer. Taking those hints, I think that the V-Collection will be updated later this year. I think that, as a business, putting the synths out individually gives them more bumps in income than everything dropping at the same time.

Absolutely spot on and exactly what I thought yesterday. They took this different approach for the very reason.

Example: Buy OB-Xa V now for $49. Later, probably December 2020, when V Collection 8 is out, give $99 for upgrade from your previous V Collection since discounted upgrades are always minimum $99. So, a sales advantage of $49 per sale.

Instead, I would wait and give $99 in December if I were to upgrade to V Collection 8 and get all the new synths.

But as always, pay more-get early.

In no hurry. And I quite like the OP-X Pro.
This is a synth that has been flying under the radar.

[zvenx]

One thing I am pretty sure about without even seeing the Synapse Audio (would love to be surprised) is that the Arturia Preset Browser will be miles ahead of it and way more functional.
rsp

[Ingonator]

One thing I am pretty sure about without even seeing the Synapse Audio (would love to be surprised) is that the Arturia Preset Browser will be miles ahead of it and way more functional.
rsp

At least the final version of the Synapse Audio plugin should include NKS preets which are missing in the current version of the Arturia plugin...

[WatchTheGuitar]

One thing I am pretty sure about without even seeing the Synapse Audio (would love to be surprised) is that the Arturia Preset Browser will be miles ahead of it and way more functional.
rsp

At least the final version of the Synapse Audio plugin should include NKS preets which are missing in the current version of the Arturia plugin...

They applied to get NI to approve their presets, but the whole process takes about a month.

[SLiC]

So we can pretty much guarantee NKS presets will be in he Arturia OB before the Synapse OB!
Another win for Arturia

[risome]

$49 for a OBXa .added to my collection.Sounds great.Does what is says on the tin

[risome]

So we can pretty much guarantee NKS presets will be in he Arturia OB before the Synapse OB!
Another win for Arturia

I don't see why not all the other instrument in V7 are NKS.

[Calenberger]

You really should take your medicine as prescribed!

[fmr]

I just posted this in the other thread:

I just talked with Richard from Synpase Audio and he allowed me to tell that the Synapse Audio OB-Xa plugin will include a Bandpass filter with 12dB and 24dB modes.

This is one of the advanced features that currently is not included in the Arturia plugin and that i used in several of my own patches for the Synapse Audio plugin.

Nice that you tipped Arturia off- I bet it will be in the next update in a few weeks

It may be a good sounding filter, but a bandpass filter is neither a feature from OB-X nor a feature from OB-Xa/OB-8. So, where from is it modeled? It simply doesn't belong to these synths, IMO.

And this comes on top of several posts claiming how much accurate the Synapse emulation is

[LoveEnigma18]

So we can pretty much guarantee NKS presets will be in he Arturia OB before the Synapse OB!
Another win for Arturia

I don't see why not all the other instrument in V7 are NKS.

AFAIK and can see, all are NKS, except Analog Lab 4. Doesn't make sense to have AL4 NKS compatible in my opinion.

OB-Xa V is mentioned as NKS-compatible on Arturia website. Downloading the demo now...

[4damind]

Arturia is right on time. Probably Synapse Audio will be at least as good, maybe even better. But... (sighs) Arturia has been released and can be tested, Synapse Audio has only announced their OB-Xa so far.
99€ (V-Collection user) is also a very good price.