Next emulation (Roland VP-330 please)

[rvv22]

Hi guys,

I love Obsession. Congratulations on this VST. This is next-generation synthesis engine !

You are currently the top synth engineers on the market (ahead of other "vintage sound" manufacturers U-he, Softube, NI, Korg, Arturia, XILS, Cherry Audio, etc)

You already raised bar before in the vintage 70's / early electronica sound.

The Legend is the best Moog emulation today. The Legend VCOs and VCFs has the most VINTAGE MOJO of all Moog emulations I tried !

Now Obsession managed to capture the same MOJO for the BIG ANALOG poly-sound of the 80's era.

Just running through the presets - instant inspiration, instant nostalgia and amazing playability and so colorful and so much CHARACTER across all frequencies !

Obsession is the the NEW BENCHMARK for any "analog" emulation ITB. Period !

Hearing Obsession gives me new hope that algorithms will one day match the analog hardware (both synths and consoles and FX units).

You guys are now on the forefront of the "analog" emulation. I am so excited what will be your next product, where you will use your next-gen programming skills !

I immediately thought what synths I would love YOUR TEAM to capture next

With Legend and Obsession and Dune successfully covering the MAINSTREAM sound of 70s / 80s / MODERN synth sound I would love to have some "niche / character" machines recreated

One of the most legendary "niche" machines that seems to elude recreation ITB is Roland VP-330 string machine including its amazing VOX synth and ENSEMBLE unit. There were many attempts, but none of them succeeded in my opinion so far.

Thank you
rVv

[Christophe]

what about this VST :
https://www.xils-lab.com/products/xils-v+-p-145.html

[Teksonik]

That's just painful to listen to.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiwcYakBW20

[rvv22]

I own both XILS V+ and XILS 505 and sadly I could never make it sound like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVdSQWGm53I

[Teksonik]

You could easily do that type of sound with Dune 3 but the trick would be to make Dune 3 sound that bad.

Like you said the VP-330 is a niche instrument and there are already alternative plugins. I don't think it would be worth wasting time making another emulation.

Certainly there are other synths that haven't been emulated yet and actually sound good. Personally I'd rather they work on something new instead of recreating analog synths from the past but some emulations do sell well so I don't blame any developer for creating them.

[Richard]

Thank you for your kind comments!

About the VP-330, well, we like string machines I think the Arp Solina has a small edge in terms of sound though? Perhaps you are also after other parts of the VP-330, like its vocoder. Either way, certainly an interesting vintage synth!

[Teksonik]

My first hardware synth was a Crumar Orchestrator and at the time I thought it sounded incredibly awesome.

But now when I hear an Orchestrator it has all the sonic appeal of someone stepping on a cat's tail.

I feel that way about all the old string machines. Buzzy, raspy, harsh, and just downright unpleasant when compared to what we have at our fingertips these days.

But I get the nostalgia for old synths. I just think that some of them should be left to fade into history and since there are already emulations of most if not all the old string machines I don't see much sense in developing another....but then what do I know.

[rvv22]

Thank you for your kind comments!

About the VP-330, well, we like string machines I think the Arp Solina has a small edge in terms of sound though? Perhaps you are also after other parts of the VP-330, like its vocoder. Either way, certainly an interesting vintage synth!

I think everyone loves different string machine. They are all beautiful and delicate. But, I must admit, I am a Vangelis fan and VP-330 raspy strings, running through the onboard triple-phase BBD ensemble with a Lexicon 224 emulation, is my definition of heaven I don't even need the vocoder feature

Its true, that almost every great synth from past was already emulated in VST, by some company. But those companies didn't have the programming skills of SYNAPSE AUDIO. Many of the plugins are using 10+ years old algorithms. I pretty much gave up on VST emulations of vintage analog synths, because despite all the marketing about "faithful component level emulation" they all sound meeeh.

Thats why I think creating NEW emulations of SAME vintage synths, with better programming, is way to go. Its like saying there is no need to create more acoustic guitars, its been done before, lets move on.

There were many Minimoog VSTs long before Synapse Audio came out with their own and redefined the ITB sound of Minimoog. There was also quite a few Oberheim inspired VSTs. I tried them all, and many were pretty good (and are still considered the best OB emus). Until I heard Obsession... thats next-level emulation of OB sound. Period. The programming bar was raised.

So back to my big wish Guys give us YOUR RENDITION of Roland VP-330 or Yamaha CS-80 and you can retire for the rest of your lifes in Bahamas

[Teksonik]

I think everyone loves different string machine. They are all beautiful and delicate.

I don't like any of them. One man's "beautiful and delicate" is another man's ugly and crude.

Guys give us YOUR RENDITION of Roland VP-330 or Yamaha CS-80

Now the Yamaha CS-80 is a different story. Unlike the VP-330 it is a popular synth that has reached cult status. A good emulation would probably sell very well but then you'll still get the inevitable "it doesn't sound anything like the hardware" comments no matter how much it does. Of course a developer has to have access to any hardware unit to do a proper emulation and getting your hands on a CS80 can be a pretty pricey endeavor.

Me, I hope they don't spend any more time on analog synths of the past and focus on the future. I have lived through the analog era and have owned analog synths but to be honest those old synths are over hyped and under powered compared to what we have today. I wouldn't trade DUNE 3 for any of them....well I would but then I would sell the hardware for the silly prices they fetch today and buy DUNE 3.

But I understand why developers make emulations. Some of them are popular and there is the personal challenge of nailing an emulation....