OP-X PRO-II vs. Oberheim OB-X

YouTube Published on Apr 30, 2012 by virtualoberheim

This one is pretty uncanny. The OP-X Pro always impresses. I would love it on the iPad.

"http://www.sonicprojects.ch/opxpro2/description.html

A dry 1:1 comparison of the SonicProjects OP-X PRO-II virtual Oberheim VSTi software synth to an Oberheim OB-X Rev.2.

The lower manual in the video is an USB midi master keyboard (an Emu Xboard 61) which drives OP-X PRO-II hosted in Steinberg Cubase 5. No effects or any other treatments were involved, both OB-X and OP-X PRO-II were recorded directly to disk, OB-X over the line inputs of an RME HDSP 9632 which has very neutral sounding converters.

The exact detunings (deviating filter settings, warm up pitch drift, etc.) and the individual pan settings of the voices of OB-X have been copied in every detail before with the voice based tuning features of OP-X PRO-II for a perfect match to the real synth.

To copy the bright sound OP-X PRO-II uses the BRL (brilliant) filter setting (DMP button, second button above voice mutes) which is dedicated to copy the sound character of the early OB-X and allows the filter to open into the ultra sound area and adds some extra shine in the heights.

The used patches can be downloaded here:

http://www.sonicprojects.ch/opxpro2/userarea.html#Newest

The patches as used in the video:

00:02 Preset 04 B3 - Slow Upsweep
02:05 Preset 03 D8 - Resonance Pad
08:01 Preset 05 D2 - Sync Unison
08:26 Preset 01 D4 - Soft Brass
09:53 Preset 06 D6 - Soft Strings
10:44 Preset 02 C7 - Fullanalog Strings

The letter number combinations are the physical memory locations of the patches in the used original synth which were copied with OP-X PRO-II for the comparison.

Since all the original's exact voice detunings have been copied in every detail too the patches sound almost 100% identical to the ones in the used device, which gives you the opportunity to have its unique characteristic sound at home too!

Some words about the OB-X:

The Oberheim OB-X was Oberheim's first fully programmable polyphonic synth and is the direct follower to the SEM based 4/6/8-Voice models. Other than the later OB series models (OB-Xa, OB-8) the OB-X still uses the discrete wirings of the SEM for the oscillators and filters and only uses curtis chips for the envelopes.

This gives the synth a very bright and open sound, quite different from its followers OB-Xa and OB-8 which are fully curtis chip based and sound a bit darker and more behaved. The OB-X is the "enfant terrible" of the OB series.

Here's some very useful info:
http://www.sonicstate.com/synth/oberheim_ob-x/

The featured OB-X is a six voice model (maximum was 8) and it has a lot of detunings going on because of all the wirings and dicreete voltage controlled components which gives the synth a very lively and organic sound.

The voices could be calibrated for a more "perfect" and even sound, but they were left as they are since it simply sounds more exciting like that, featuring some of the magic of the old SEM based 4/6/8-Voice where the never exactly even sounding voices (since they had to be programmed one by one manually) were part of the whole experience, and were the main inspirator for the Separate Voice Design (SVD) engine in OP-X PRO-II which allows to calibrate the voices for an individual sound too."