images via this auction
"About the Matrix 6R:
This is the rackmout version of the popular Matrix 6 keyboard synthesizer, a fundamentally superior synthesizer to both versions of the Matrix 1000:
Matrix 6 / 6R Matrix 1000
2-parts Multitimbral 1-part Monotrimbral
2 output channels 1 output channel
Edit via front panel or Sysex Cannot edit via front panel, edit only via Sysex
In addition, the Matrix 6 / 6R's oscillators produce subtle harmonic and distortion anomalies not found in the sound generated by the Matrix 1000. The Matrix 6 has a less sterile character of sound over the Matrix 1000. According to sources on the Internet, the Matrix 1000's digitally-controlled oscillators have increased tuning stability over those in the Matrix 6 / 6R, and therefore the Matrix 1000 has no Calibration feature for this reason. Around the time of the Matrix 1000's introduction, this was considered an "improvement" over the Matrix 6 design. For those of us in the 2000's hunting for more of that vintage sound, it's a bad thing! When you don't Calibrate the Matrix 6 / 6R after leaving it on for a long period of time, its overall sound contains more "chorusing" caused by ever-so-slight deviations in tuning between the oscillators and each of the 6 voices."
Hmm... This is the first I've heard of this. There have been questions regarding the M1000 vs. the Matrix-6 and 6R, but the consensus I've heard is that they are essentially the same in sound. The 6 and 6R also use DCOs. Same CEM 3396 chips.
Both the 6/6R and 1000 use DCOs and and have the Calibration feature. The Matrix-12 and Xpander have VCOs. Check your facts before raving in your auction copy. Argh.
ReplyDeleteThe matrix 6r and matrix 1000 use different variations of the CEM 3396 DCO'S. The 6r uses the wide body version of the chips. Where as the 1000 uses a more refined slim line version.
ReplyDeleteNobody knows if the chip sizing has anything to do with the sound. The one thing that does though is that in the matrix 6r each DCO is paired with it's own crystal. In the matrix 1000 there is 1 crystal for all 6 oscillators.
It's the slight differences between the crystals used in the 6r that allows for tuning drift.. and for a natural chorus in the sound.
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ReplyDeleteshe came into thru the bathroom window
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the details - and I retract the tone of my comment (the last two sentences).
ReplyDeleteStill, the auction blurb is wrong when it states that the 1000 has no Calibrate feature. The auto-calibrate function on the 1000 is Test Mode 0. It is described on p. 39 of my Matrix-1000 manual. It "auto-tunes the instrument's Oscillators, Filters, Voltage Controlled Amplifiers (VCAs), and other related circuits".
I would be interested to hear whether just-calibrated 6/6R AND 1000 units sound different, before anything is allowed to drift.
I'll have to check the schematics thoroughly as ghettosynth did, but there have to be two basic roles in the calibration - one is to calibrate the core circuits as he describes and the other is to calibrate the control voltages generated by the embedded processor and convertors. If either kind of calibration is off, you will have drift. I suspect that what justin and ghettosynth are talking about will cause "analog drift", but CV mis-calibration will cause obvious chorussing and really badly out-of-tune oscillators.
BTW, the 3396 isn't a DCO. It does all the analog processing from the oscillator waveshaping to the final output for a voice, and is driven by an oscillator. I have no idea whether different versions "sound" different".
Phew.
Many of our questions can be answered by documents at these links:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.synthzone.com/midi/oberheim/
http://www.synthtech.com/cems.html
We still would have to struggle with the documents as ghettosynth did.
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ReplyDeleteI own both a 6R and a 1000, and I can tell you there is no audible difference in the timbre of the DCOs. As far as I'm concerned, the one big advantage that the 6R has over the 1000 is that the 6R remembers and displays patch names.
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ReplyDeleteOh dear, what did I start here? All I reacted to (badly?) in the auction blurb was:
ReplyDeletea) the claim that the 1000 doesn't have a "calibrate" feature (i.e. of any kind, without regard to differences between the different Matrix boxes).
b) the emphasis about the quality of the sound when the 6/6R drifts, when both the 6/6R and 1000 should sound the same when calibrated.
c) within some limits of precision, I can add static and random detune to DCO2 in these boxes anyway. This could be measured and compared to the natural drift in the 6/6R.
Most people who read the auction won't be electrical engineers, so shouldn't we get the basic facts and the basic emphasis in the auction blurb right? I understand everything ghettosynth has written (for which, thanks), but I think we've gone way beyond the technical scope of the auction and my concerns.
OK, that's much more than enough from me. Yikes.
This is all great info, and it's what makes this site particularly useful in my opinion, better actually. So thanks to everyone that took the time out to contribute. Sometimes what's more interesting to me isn't the original point or even the post for that matter but all the information that comes out of it.
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