Oberheim OB-X8 & U.D.O. Super 6 similar patches brief sound battle

video upload by synthlegends

"As you might know, I have the OB-X8 only temporally in my studio. Some time ago I used to have a Super 6. Unfortunately I sold it, because I really loved the sound. So I decided to buy it again, when it was still available for the old price. So the OB-X8 will not find place in my studio anymore.
Is the Super 6 a good alternative? Well, it is like comparing oranges with apples. The OB-X8 is a full VCO based analog synthesizer with only discrete analog circuitry. The Super 6 is hybrid with NCO and analog SSM Filter. The Super 6 basic waveforms sound more static than the VCO on the Oberheim for sure. But instead of a wide stereo field like on the Oberheim, the Super 6 has it's binaural mode, which makes also very broad stereoesque sounds.
I tried to program similar sounds, which was not easy. The Pulse Bass and Triangle Piano I got quite well, but the Brass and Pad sounds didn't sound the same. Anyway the Super 6 sounds great and it is very capable to get a very broad sound palette. So, best would be to have both synths, but when I have to decide, I go for the Super 6, because it really sounds interesting and is a very creative sound designing tool.
The OB-X8 ist recorded without FX and processing. The Super 6 has some effects on board (delay and Chorus). I switched those effects off but I played all Sounds in binaural mode. So both synths are without effects and recorded in stereo.

Thanks for watching again and make some music."

Oberheim OB-X8 Sound design Tutorial on Andromeda A6

video upload by synthlegends

"As you might know I recently did a comparison video on the SEM Filter Section from the OB-X8 vs the A6. Thanks to some comments e. g. relateted of Mono vs Stereo on the OB-X8 I tried the basic sound again and tried to improve it. Here are my results an my tipps for sound design, if you have an A6 allready in your studio and don't can't or want afford the OB-X8.

The Alesis Andromeda A 6 has 16 Voices, 2 VCO plus 2 Sub-VCO, 4 LFO, 3 Envelopes and extremely wide modulation options. It consists of two Filter Sections, the Moog Ladder Filter from early Moogs and the SEM Filter from Oberheim (12 dB LO, HP, BP and Notch plus state variable). Also both filter can be mixed. In the envelope section you can choose different shapes and combine them to get a very close analog feeling of typical envelope designs of the 70/80 ies. Plus you can randomize panning by S/H or LFO. I show you some tricks how to get the great and unbelievably silky sound of the OB-X8 quite close."

Oberheim OB-X8 vs Alesis Andromeda A6

video upload by synthlegends

"A short shootout to demonstrate the SEM Filter section of the A6 vs the SEM Filter of the new OB-X8 plus tutorial how to tweak it. I made this video to justify myself that I don't need the OB-X8 because I allready have the A6. I can come quite close but it is obvios that the OB-X8 SEm Filter sounds much airer and nicer. Only the HP Filter sounds quite weak on the OB-X8 compared to the A6. What are your opinions? Please comment it. Thanks for watching again my videos."

Oberheim OB-X8 vs OB-Xa - all original factory presets

video upload by synthlegends

"In this video I played all factory presets of the OB-Xa, which are in the OB-X8 as well. I don't know, if they were accurately reprogrammed or just took as wav file into the cassette interface of the OB-X8. Most were really spot on. Here an there they are not, so it is mandatory to tweak a bit, like modulation rate, filter and envelopes. Some sounds were not equal in volume, I had to adjust.
I recorded all in Mono using the Mono out of the OB-Xa and Stereo out pair (but with mono setting) from the OB-X8. The mono out has in my unit some hum. I will check it out with the distributor or I don't know what happened here. It's not much, but it's there. My unit is only borrowed for a review I have to do for a german music magazine. I am really impressed by the OB-X8 and it's a great substitute for the very rare and expensive vintage units. The sound is around 90 to 95 percent perfect. Some minimal variances you can hear in the original, maybe due to perfect circuit of the smd-chips instead of old through hole technology with lots of calibration pots (the OB-Xa hat around 150 of them!).
Also here no FX or processing used."

Oberheim OB-X8 Magic Pads and more - no FX

video upload by synthlegends

"Here are some of my programmed Pad and String sounds with some crazy LFO, Portamento in wide stereo mostly used of SEM Filter without any FX and processing. All sounds are recorded in stereo live without any overdubbing directly into the audio interface. As you can see, I was fiddling a bit with some Page 2 functions, like stereo settings, filter, LFO and portamento tricks. Thanks for watching. Some additional videos will occur on this channel with the OB-X8. Have fun and make some music!"

Waldorf M vs Microwave 1 PPG 2.3 Presets

video upload by synthlegends

"In my last video [posted here] I compared some PPG 2.3 factory sounds reprogrammed from Wolfram Franke for the Waldorf Microwave 1. In this video I demonstrate those Microwave 1 PPG 2.3 presets in comparison to the Waldorf M. The Team from Waldorf reprogrammed all those sounds from the PPG 2.3 card, which was originally made by Wolfram Franke. I think they did a great job. Some sounds I skipped, because they did not match at all. I think it is not due to the synth, it is just a programming matter, like different modulation, envelopes and wavetable envelope. So finally here are the results of the sounds in comparison. No musical video at all, but just to demonstrate, how close can the Waldorf M sound to the Microwave 1. I this video I used the version B, with a bit of a different filter type to version A. The M uses SSM filter clones, like in the PPG. I tweaked a bit around and I recognized, that the resonance from the M Filter thins a bit out but screams more like on the Microwave. It has much more in common to the PPG Filter. So the M shall come closer to the PPG than the Microwave 1. I think that the M is a bit more comfortably sounding, the Microwave sounds a bit more aggressive and "vintage" also. But the differences are very subtle and I think that Waldorf did a great job with the M to recreate the classic Microwave. Thanks for watching and listening as allways."

PPG wave 2.3 vs Waldorf Microwave 1

video upload by synthlegends

"In this video I compare some factory presets from the PPG wave 2.3 with some recreated PPG 2.3 Programs on the Waldorf Microwave 1 Rev. B (the latter version with CEM 3387 Filter Chips). The firmware on the PPG is 8.3, the firmware on the Waldorf is 2.0.

Maybe you can reprogram the sounds more accurate, but you can listen that even in the wavetable sounds the wavetable circle is quite spot on in the microwave 1.

Anyway you can listen that the PPG has some more roughness in deeper registers and in higher registers it has the typical aliasing effect. The microwave 1 sounds much cleaner and more polished. The difference about the SSM filter vs. CEM filter is not so much prominent in my opinion. I thought there is a very big hearable difference.

The microwave 1 is quite difficult to program without programmer, like from stereoping. Sometime I think I will buy one. Nevertheless, the microwave a not a substitue for a PPG wave for purists but it has the PPG vibe in it. We will see, if Behringer is capable to get the PPG wave right. Unfortunately I haven’t got the Waldorf M, but a friend has it. I think sometime I will borrow it and also do a A/B comparision with this synth.

In this video I didn't use any processing. I just recorded the synths directly plugging in the interface and also didn't use any plug-ins. I am very curious about your comments and opimions. Thanks for watching."

Two Sequential Circuits Prophet VS in Quadro Mode

video upload by synthlegends

"The Sequential Prophet VS was the last synthesizer from Sequential Circuits in 1986, before this company became bankrupt and was sold.

Nevertheless the Prophet VS is a very sought after synth and it was used in the 80ies by France Gall, Rush, Whitesnake and Scorpions.

It is an 8 voice hybrid synth with 4 digital oscillators consisting of 98 waveform plus 31 user waveforms. You can merge the Oscillators with a vector stick called waveform mix. The Prophet VS has a curtis low pass analog filter chip, three envelopes, also with panning and a great modulation matrix with two LFO. There is also a chorus effect and a very capable arpeggiator. The Prophet VS came out as keyboard version and quite rare also as a rack version. The Prophet VS is definitely one of my favourite synths, maybe my favourite, so I also have got the rack version just in case my keyboard version brakes down sometime.

In this video I mix these two synths together via Midi. I programmed a lot of double layered sounds on both synths, so I only can play 4 tones at once. Because the synth has 4 Oscillators, you get 8 Osc at once. By merging two of them, you get in Double mode 16 Osc. If you play it in Unison mode, you get 64 Oscillators at once. That`s ultraaa fat!

I didn’t use any FX, only the internal chorus, but no additional processing, no limiter, no equalizer, compresser etc. Just pure, dry and raw. The VS is fat enough.

I hope you enjoy this video. Thanks for watching, see you next time!"

Roland JP-8000 - trancy signature sound of the 90ies

video upload by synthlegends

"The Roland JP-8000 came out 1997 as the first VA-Synth of Roland. It had the very famous super saw waveform on board, a saw consisting of 8 saw waves slightly detuned, which is adjustable with a fader in live performance. It also had a very distinctive digital delay and chorus plus equalizer, which gave the synth its typical signature sound. The JP-8000 was the style maker für trance music. Still today it is very sought after and Behringer just made a small clone named JT-4000 for only EUR 49,--.

The JP-8000 doesn't sound like an analog synth at all. The resonance of the filter sounds very cold, there is a lot of aliasing, the tone can sound quite harsh and industrial, nevertheless with the super saw and a lot of internal delay you get very powerful pads and dreamy textures out of it. This synth is difficult to compare with others. Maybe a bit with the VA engine of the V-Synth, although I find the V-Synth in this respect inferiour.

In this video I start with some own created split sounds I used in my last band, it is followed by some solo sounds and arpeggiated lines. It ends with some trancy pad sounds.

The effects are great on the JP-8000, nevertheless I used only very little of reverb of the GFI Sepcualar reverb. Beside this, there is no additional processing.

Enjoy the video and have fun!"

Roland JD-800 one of the best digital synths ever?

video upload by synthlegends

"The Roland JD-800 was my dream synth when it came out, but I couldn't afford it, because I just finished school. Now I had a great opportunity to grab one with dysfunctional keyboard, I repaired.

The Synth is an early 90ies a rompler with 112 waveforms and 4 Parts, which you can control via a sophisticated user interface. It has 2 LFO and a nice effect section.

The JD-800 is now available in Roland Cloud and also as JD-08 Boutique.

In this Demo I played some really powerful Prophet VS like Choirs, PPG like bells and Choirs, Oberheimish Pads, cutting leads and atmospheric drones.

All effects are from the JD-800, there is no additional processing or extra FX.

I hope you enjoy. I really love this machine. I used to have two times a JD-990, which has much more functions, but it annoyed me to program it."

waldorf microwave 1 polyaftertouch fun

video upload by synthlegends

"The Waldorf microwave 1 has a lot of modulation routings, like LFO 1 and LFO 2 or envelopes and Filter or Panning to polyaftertouch. I played this machine with a poly aftertouch keyboard (GEM S2) and routed panning and LFO 1 to it. In this example I used a simple SAW wave sound with two oscillators to emulate a classic string patch like from the Yamaha CS-80. The microwave sounds quite harsh and metallic, but with a bit tweaking you also can get nice typical analog 70ies string patches out of it. I used a very but of reverb for this example. Nor further processing used. Thanks for watching and listening."

Prophet-5 Analogue Renaissance Rev-1 Downgrade

video upload by synthlegends

Additional posts here

"Some tweaking and demonstrating the downgrade mode of analogue renaissance.

What I like in this mod is the boost switch, called Q-compensation and 12 dB Filter, which makes much power even with high resonance in the filter. You can listen it in the first patch in this video. The recording was made without processing, effects and just raw into the audio interface in mono. For further information go on the website of analogue renaissance.

I kept my curtis filter chips, so I can built this prophet everytime back in the original state.

Here is the description from the website of analogue renaissance:

This modification for the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 reverts the Rev 3 sonically to the earlier, much bigger-sounding Rev 2! The two Prophet 5 versions sound different due to the nearly complete redesign of the voice architecture to use Curtis’ CEM chips instead of Dave Rossum’s SSM chips for the transition of the Rev 2 to the Rev 3 model. This difference in sonics has made the Rev 2’s more desirable - and significantly more expensive. Fully working prototypes have been built and tested, and have the following features:
No mods to the Prophet 5 PCBs are required.
A REV -1 simply plugs into the IC sockets, replacing each CEM3320.
Only 1 extra wire for the -15V supply needs to be soldered.
Electronics have been added that cancel out the pollution from the CEM3320’s level shifting circuitry. The little that remains (30 to 100dB attenuation depending on frequency content and Prophet component tolerances) is also moved entirely to the filter's input. So, it get's further attenuation of 24dB per octave beyond cutoff.
Extras:
The input signal has been increased a bit, since the 2040 likes to be driven a bit harder. This is no issue for the purists as it can be attenuated in the ‘mix’ section of the prophet-5.
By design the SSM2040 is also self-limiting, so the output level has been increased a lot as ample headroom was available, and this gives a much better signal-to-noise ratio and dynamic range.
REV -1 also adds two new features not present in the original Rev 2:
variable Q-compensation that restores the loss of bass when resonance is increased (14dB is lost at the onset of self-oscillation in the original filter design).
the option to use the REV -1 as 2-pole filter instead of the original 4-pole configuration. Most non-linear effects happen in the first two filter stages, and the 2-pole mode lets you hear these effects unfiltered by the last two stages.
The combination of these two extra features will make a Prophet 5 sound absolutely monstrous!
Switches to select 2-pole or 4-pole mode and the amount of Q-compensation will be included with mouting hardware.

Thanks for watching and listening."

PPG wave 2.3 custom ambient sounds

video upload by synthlegends

"PPG wave 2.3 through my GFI clockwork delay pedal. I made some custom ambient sounds to show some untypical sides of the PPG. You have almost 2000 waves there and there is no need only to use wavetables running through an envelope. It also can be interesting just programm a pad sound with a long filter sweep and some modulation using very musical and beautiful waveforms. For string sounds for example there is wavetable 41 very ususful Thanks for watching and enjoing the video."

PPG wave 2.3 pure, dry and raw (no FX)

video upload by synthlegends

"After doing a video today with the Roland RSP-550 signal processor, I made also a video with the PPG with its raw tone. This recording is without any processing. So you can hear the unique and characterful tone of this hybrid beast. There are also some multitimbral patches and even so some with unison. Thanks for watching."

PPG wave 2.3 through Roland RPS-550

video upload by synthlegends

"The PPG wave 2.3 from the german synth pioneer Wolfgang Palm is the last Synthesizer of the PPG wave series. It is mulititimbral and has allready factory Midi. With the newest firmware 8.3 it is capable of sysex. There is so much written about the PPG, so I don’t repeat all infos on the Web. I run the PPG through the quite rare Roland RPS-550 multieffect processor.

The Roland RPS-550 was a stereo signal processor from 1991. It was a mid range cost effect unit with quite interesting reverb and delay effects. The Dimension D Chorus replica is very authentic to the original.

The summary in a sound on sound review of 1991 states following:

„The RSP550's reverb algorithms sound much smoother, deeper, and less metallic than sub-£500devices, though the tangible sense of space found on top flight units is not apparent — for that you'll still have to pay at least £3000. The delay and pitch shift algorithms benefit from the 21 kHz bandwidth, the Multi Stage Phaser and Stereo Flanger are brilliant, and the Vocoder is unique in this price range.

The MIDI control facility is also worthy of consideration, since it's so easy to set up, offers so many possibilities, and in most cases operates smoothly. As with all Roland gear, the manuals are exemplary.

On the down side, I sometimes yearned for the ability to roll my own algorithms, and the omission of a noise gate and compressor might raise an eyebrow or two. Guitar players will search in vain for the overdrive and distortion effects found on devices like the Boss SE50 and the new Yamaha FX900, but then the 550 isn't really designed for them.

At £750, the RSP550 is competing against the £599 Yamaha SPX1000, the £1100 Zoom 9010 and the £1000 Lexicon PCM70. Each has its own sound and combination of facilities, so if you're looking for a quality main reverb/delay unit it's well worth giving them all a listen before committing funds.

With the RSP550, Roland have utilised the power of the their latest generation of DSP chips to improve the realism and sound quality of individual programs and provide a wide range of effects. Quality and quantity is a rare combination at any price, and at £750 the RSP550 is currently unique.“

I didn’t use any further processing in this recording. Thanks for watching!"

ensoniq ESQ 1 - one of the best hybrids ever

video upload by synthlegends

"Demo of ESQ 1 with wether GFI soecular reverb or GFI clockwork delay. No additional processing but those two pedals (first the reverb, than delay and in the and the reverb).

I used the sounds form the PA-Decoder RAM cartridge and another multi cartridge from different sound banks found in the web. Everything is played live without overdubbing.

There are some nice pianos, later on strings, pads, bass sounds, PPG like glassy sounds, bells and leads in this video.

The ESQ-1 is a very capable hybrid synth with 32 digital waveforms, three oscillators and analog filter. There is also a very rudimentary sequencer. The ESQ-1 is very capable thanks of ring modulator, orc-sync, three LFO and four (!) envelopes. I only lacks effects, but with outboard it sounds stunning. It is possible to make great pianos, quite realistic for that tim in 1987, glassy PPG-like tones, bells, fat sync leads, brass sounds and warm pads.

It really shines and has some resemblance to the SCI Prophet VS I also own and which is my all time favorite hybrid synth.

I just got a wave expansion board with 32 additional waves from PA-Decoder, a german manufacturer, which I will install soon and maybe do another video.

Thanks for watching and see you next time. Cheers!"

Roland Jam: Juno-106, SH-101, TR-808

video upload by synthlegends

"Effects used: TR-808 mono out and SH-101 into GFI Clockwork Delay, Juno-106 inteo GFI Specular Reverb"

Korg 01/W - teaser and first contact

video upload by synthlegends

"New arrival of my new bargain for EUR 120 , a Korg 01/W fd, wich is the second Rompler and Workstation from Korg after the M1. The 01/W was very popular even under professional musicians like RIk Wakeman, Tony Bannks or Phil Collins. Even though it has no resonance on the filter, it is quit interesting because of the waveshaping section, with wich you can add some character and sonic pepper on the sound. I really love this new instrument and I exchanged the display to get more fun.

No processing in this audio file, no FX but those internal of the 01/W. It s just the raw audio file recorded stereo directly into the DAW."

hartmann neuron - cinematic soundwalls

video upload by synthlegends

"The Hartmann Neuron is one of the most sophisticated digital synths ever. It is a great synth for soundscapes and evolving textures. The potential is endless thanks neuronal algorithm and the possibility to create own models blending with two resonators. In this video I recorded only the Neuron. No processing in this video, only the raw sound, fx are from the Neuron only."

PPG wave 2.3 Sequencer and Arpeggiator Quick Tutorial

video upload by synthlegends

"The PPG Wave 2.0, 2.2 and 2.3 are legendary hybrid synthesizers with digital waveforms and SSM Filter Chips. All attempts of wavetable synthesizer later on didn't got the unique and shining sound of the original. But the Wave was extremely buggy and the GUI was a nightmare. Especially the sequencer and arpeggiator is everything else than intuitive. In this video I demonstrate the basic functions to program the Sequencer and Arpeggiator. For me its still a secret why you have to select cryptic and nonlogical numbers to set the Arp Mode and Speed,

Nevertheless I hope that Behringer will establish a new clone of the Wave which has the great sound but get a modern interface."