bx_oberhausen from Plugin Alliance has landed

[chk071]

@vitocorleone123: If you have the time, means, and inclination, I'd be happy to hear some comparison demos between your OB-6 and Oberhausen. I'm always interested in stuff like that.

I won't say no. I'll make a post-it note and see if I can get to something basic this weekend.

Nice.

The core tone of the oscillators can be matched up pretty well, though the knobs are not anywhere near the same positions - I think somewhere earlier in the pages of this thread I remarked on a couple of comparative bits.

Once you start moving other knobs around, they become more and more different (even excluding effects).

Yeah, that doesn't surprise me really. It's always like that, even with comparisons with exactly the emulated synth.

Close enough is close enough.

[rezoneight]

You'd have to have rocks in your head to fork out five-and-a-half grand on an OB-6 (four grand for the desktop) when you can have this for less than Au$50. (Yes, an OB-6 costs Au$5499 here, which is Au$300 more than I paid for my brand new Trinity with the MOSS board, SCSI kit and sampling option, back in 1998.)

Except for the fact that an OB-6 isn't going to sound like this? I don't understand why people keep bringing up the OB-6 in these conversations when it's nothing like the original SEM instruments. C'mon people. From this respect you're totally right, why would you fork out thousands of dollars to get the sound of a plugin. The answer of course is you wouldn't.

Um. Because it IS like SEM? I think you're full of it when you say "nothing like" when they are like. Not alike. But clearly and definitely like. And because oberhausen sounds more like an OB-6 than any other plugin? Because they make a complimentary team? And because people are curious?

So, really, for a lot of good reasons. Thanks. I can go on.

I have both and feel I can make any comparison thereof I feel like. You're free to ignore them.

Also, people still happily fork out thousands for synths that have plugins that sound like them.

"Inspired by". Its a modern Sequential instrument. Its like Diva is inspired by pieces of vintage gear (including the SEM filter of course). Stop comparing the two. If you want a SEM and cant afford the real thing get Oberhausen, not spend thousands on an OB-6, because Oberhausen is modeled on the real thing, including all of the tolerance issues between multiple SEM modules tied together by a single keyboard. If you want a really nice synth that's built like a tank that's got the SEM filter flavor and you've got the cash get an OB-6. But nobody is buying Oberhausen to sound like an OB-6.

Also, people still happily fork out thousands for synths that have plugins that sound like them.

Yes because they want the real thing. Never said dont buy hardware.

[vitocorleone123]

OK, but

(from SOS https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/da ... uments-ob6)

---
Dave and Tom have spoken in the past of their friendly rivalry, and I recently asked them how this collaboration had come about. Tom said, “For me, it started when the Prophet 6 came out and I had the opportunity to discuss some of its design elements with Dave. I was very impressed with the approach he took to the control aspects of the machine, and I thought the voice cards were very cool.” Dave continued, “Last summer, the idea of a new version of a classic OB polysynth came up and I realised that it would be relatively straightforward if we used the Prophet 6 hardware and software architecture and then worked together on the voice card design and the front-panel layout. So, that’s what we did. The Prophet 6 had everything we needed — very precise control voltages running at audio rates, the effects engine, and so on — so we designed the SEM-on-a-board and connected the CVs. It’s easy to see if you open the unit up,” he continued, “the motherboard in both instruments is the same, but the six voice cards in each — which are basically a complete programmable monophonic synth on each card — are completely different. It’s also important to note that they are not compatible, so you can’t swap them between the two synths.”

Each of these cards contains two VCOs, a VCF and a VCA, and the oscillators and filters are described in the blurb as ‘discrete’. I wondered whether this meant that they are genuinely built of individual components. “Yes, they’re really discrete, with transistors, op amps, and lots of VCAs for full programmability,” Dave confirmed. “There are no latter-day ICs that would work for oscillators or filters in this design.”
---

The OB-6 has a SEM filter. It's "the real thing". End of story. It's not a vintage SEM. Ok. It is a real SEM co-designed by the creator of the SEM filter. Not an emulation. Are you on a vintage high horse, or what?

It's totally normal to compare things, especially things that have overlap. You can compare a vintage SEM to the OB-6, go right ahead. But that's a step removed from oberhausen, so you might start your own thread as I believe I've said enough on the topic but you can feel free to get the last word in here on this issue if you feel the need.

[XorXisT]

Demoed this, Diva & Obsession (yes, different synth & filter yada yada) and decided to go with Diva.

Oberhausen sounds good but UI is goofed & blurry in Live 10. $25 kept in my pocket.

Obsession sounds good but some design decisions turned me off (some people already described them on obsession thread).

Diva sounds pretty ob-ish to me :



And Diva can sometimes sound like a OB-6:



Anyway, if PA fix the Oberhausen UI bug in Live 10, then for $25 bucks I'm in.

[chk071]

I made a little comparison between the Oberhausen and the Diva Uhbie filter, if you're interested:

https://soundcloud.com/chk-sound/oberha ... =clipboard

There's something unique and really "Oberheim-ish" about the Oberhausen filter. I love it.

[XorXisT]

Yes Oberhausen sounds good.

Like I said I'll get it in the future, but only when and if is fixed & discounted.

[Teksonik]

Anyone else using Oberhausen with Cakewalk by Bandlab ? I get constant audio dropouts when I open the top section of the GUI.

CW 081820-1.png

The (1) shows as "Audio processing took longer than the buffers allotted time slice".

This only occurs when opening the top part of the GUI where the FX, Mod, and Arp are never when playing any patch. I never get audio dropouts with any of other dozens of synths own even when flipping though tabs on their GUIs.

Opening the top part causes the GUI to resize so I imagine that's the cause. I just got the same error on this system and no audio was playing at all. I have not yet encountered the same issue in Reaper or FL Studio but I don't frequently use Oberhausen in them.

The studio system is an i7 8700K with 16 gigs Ram, Nvidia 1050 Ti and Focusrite 616, Win 10 64 bit. But like I said it just happened on this system as well so it doesn't appear to be system specific.

So far it just seems to be a glitch between Oberhausen and Cakewalk. Not sure which is at fault yet.

Anyone else able to give it a test ?

EDIT: I just created a bunch of patches in Reaper and no error messages or audio pops when opening the top part of the GUI so it appears to be something in the way Cakewalk is handling the GUI resize issue. Maybe I'll report the issue to Plugin Alliance and they can see what's going on. Probably a better chance of getting the issue looked at than reporting it to Bandlab.

[rezoneight]

OK, but

(from SOS https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/da ... uments-ob6)

The rest of that article was far more interesting than the part you quoted. The author has a 4-voice and would choose the OB-6 all things considered so I’d have to rethink my thoughts on the subject. But...it’s still not a SEM Yes it’s got the filter for all intents and purposes but part of that sound is the interaction you’re going to get between the discrete parts which you’re just not going to get with an OB-6, individual voice cards or not. I’d expect to get more out of the emulations in that respect so back to BONES’ point: when you can get Oberhausen (or Arturia, which the guy notes is very close to the real thing) why would you spend 3 grand on an OB-6. It’s a bit of overkill. Yeah, it’s going to do things the emulations won’t (nor the original for that matter) but there is no need to drop that much cash to get the SEM sound.

Thanks again for the link tho. Very good read.

[chk071]

It depends how much you want it, I would say. With a software emulation, you'll aways have a approximation or interpretation of one or two single models of the synth, and, with software, even the unpredictable is... kind of predictable, because it's all algorithms which tell the software precisely how to behave. Of course, with the software you also get a lot which you don't get with the hardware. I'm just saying that, if you don't want to shell out thousands for the original, or you simply can't find it anymore, I'm sure there are good reasons for someone who's really into that kind of sound to pay 3k for a OB-6.

Bit of a shame that Behringer isn't on to something else than the OB-Xa (or are they?...). That would be a really affordable option then.

[vitocorleone123]

I’d like to apologize for being not nice. I had a rough morning but that’s no reason to take it out on random strangers on one of my favorite forums. I could’ve handled myself better than that. Apologies.

[canadian_moose]

You'd have to have rocks in your head to fork out five-and-a-half grand on an OB-6 (four grand for the desktop) when you can have this for less than Au$50. (Yes, an OB-6 costs Au$5499 here, which is Au$300 more than I paid for my brand new Trinity with the MOSS board, SCSI kit and sampling option, back in 1998.)

Except for the fact that an OB-6 isn't going to sound like this? I don't understand why people keep bringing up the OB-6 in these conversations when it's nothing like the original SEM instruments. C'mon people. From this respect you're totally right, why would you fork out thousands of dollars to get the sound of a plugin. The answer of course is you wouldn't.

Start at 8:25 in this video. The OB6 is compared to both the Arturia SEM and the bx. They sound very similar.

[chk071]

I think they all sound different...

I'm not a huge fan of his comparisons, TBH. 1. Comparing the raw waveforms, or very simple sawtooth patches are useless. 2. The sounds are not very well matched. 3. He uses the different onboard fx, which can have a big impact on the sound. 4. The sound selection appears a bit random, and he's not making "classic" comparisons of filter sweeps with no resonance, with 50% resonance, with 75% resonance, and with full resonance. Also, resonant sounds with fast decay time can be a good "divisor" when you do a comparison.

[rezoneight]

I’d like to apologize for being not nice. I had a rough morning but that’s no reason to take it out on random strangers on one of my favorite forums. I could’ve handled myself better than that. Apologies.

We’ve all had those days man. I probably shouldn’t have stuck my nose in the whole thing anyhow

[rezoneight]

It depends how much you want it, I would say.

Well...uh yeah I guess Want it $3k bad? I guess if you've got the cash why not. Its a beast of a synth.

With a software emulation, you'll aways have a approximation or interpretation of one or two single models of the synth, and, with software, even the unpredictable is... kind of predictable, because it's all algorithms which tell the software precisely how to behave.

Except its similar on the OB-6 because (per that article) stuff like the single LFO has its values generated digitally before being converted into CV. Its a bit of a hybrid system. That article makes it sound like its a pretty precise instrument (its modern...of course it is) so they've thrown a bit of detuning drift if you want to make it sound less pristine. Which of course is also done in the plugins.

Of course, with the software you also get a lot which you don't get with the hardware. I'm just saying that, if you don't want to shell out thousands for the original, or you simply can't find it anymore, I'm sure there are good reasons for someone who's really into that kind of sound to pay 3k for a OB-6.

Bit of a shame that Behringer isn't on to something else than the OB-Xa (or are they?...). That would be a really affordable option then.

So you'll still shell out thousands, just not thousands

Knowing Behringer they're working on something.

[BONES]

Also, people still happily fork out thousands for synths that have plugins that sound like them.

Equally stupid people, I should point out.

I made a little comparison between the Oberhausen and the Diva Uhbie filter, if you're interested:
https://soundcloud.com/chk-sound/oberha ... =clipboard
There's something unique and really "Oberheim-ish" about the Oberhausen filter. I love it.

Is that how you judge a filter? Both sound pretty generic to me. I'll render something out tonight to show you how I judge a filter. It will be particularly illuminating as to why I have such a low opinion of ladder filters and why I love the SEM filter so much.

It depends how much you want it, I would say. With a software emulation, you'll aways have a approximation or interpretation of one or two single models of the synth, and, with software, even the unpredictable is... kind of predictable, because it's all algorithms which tell the software precisely how to behave.

The same is true of the hardware - you know it's not going to stay in tune, you know it's going to break down. It's all very predictable. Algorithms do not equal predictability. Quite the opposite, they can create total chaos if that's what you want.

I think this illustrates the why of it - people are swayed by preconceptions that are wrong. They buy into this notion that hardware delivers something more than software can, which is simply not the case. If I was given a choice between real hardware Odyssey and SEM (which, to be clear, are my two favourite synths of all time), hardware recreations or bx_oberhausen and Korg's ARP Odyssey VSTi and I could have any pair for free, I would take the VSTi every time because I know I will always get better results from software than from hardware. At the end of the day, that's the only thing that matters and looking at any instrument in isolation, rather than in the context of what you use it for, makes no sense.