OP-X Pro

I bought this VST several months ago because I needed that fat Oberheim sound for some songs my band does live.

This is a good Oberheim incarnation and has all the bells and whistles that came on the original hardware version, plus a few extra. The sound is big and fat just like the Obies of the day. I can do a fairly direct comparison because I still own a Matrix 1000 and have it in my studio so I can hear the differences. The differences are there, but there not so much that this synth can't be considered a fairly faithful recreation from the sound standpoint.

The added capabilities of being able to pan and tune each oscillator individually is really nice. Where this VST lacks though is in the area of Midi implementation and EFX.

Virtually every other "decent" VST out there usually has a built-in chorus, delay or reverb somewhere. For me this is very helpful since I can store the appropriate effect with each patch. The OPX-PRO does not have any onboard EFX. While it sounds big, all the older analog synths benefited from EFX added to the patch and the Obie is no exception. I have to chain in outboard VT EFX to get the sound I need from the Obie and have to program separate patches on those EFX so that they load when I change the patch on the OPX. At $149.00 it could have it's own onboard EFX I think.

Also, no midi learn capabilities so you have to handle controller mapping in the host or on the controller board itself. If you're fine with that then this isn't a huge deal and that is in fact how I'm dealing with it myself. I've just gotten spoiled over the years with the midi learn capabilities of a lot of other commercial VSTs.

In the end, this isn't a bad VST and it sounds great and pretty darn authentic. I would highly recommend downloading the demo version and playing with it a bit to see if it suits your needs.Read Review