Amazing comparison! I enjoy the slightly brighter sound, mixes these days are overall brighter, so this will help it cut through. Besides that they sound very much the same.
Great comparison - thank you very much! It confirms what‘s expected - the Xa has that bit more grid and life to the sound and the X8 is a bit more tight and „modern“ - amazing how the X8 can emulate the Xa though!
It's really not an emulation, it is actually an accurate recreation of how the original units were intended to sound. The differences heard in vintage units are due to aging, variations in servicing technique, etc. and no longer sound as the designers originally intended (even if they still sound great). The OB-X8 sounds like the originals did off the assembly line. See Marcus Ryle's video for how the OB-X8 sounds compared to the original when calibrated as originally intended.
Thanks for taking the time to do this. I love the OBX8 the only downside is volume output. I have my preamp at almost it’s lowest setting and the ObX8 at a very low setting and it’s still almost clipping. Then when I have to turn it up a tiny bit it gets really loud super fast. I find myself always adjusting the volume when changing sounds.
@@vintagesynths Lehle makes an amazing active stereo volume pedal. It's essential to me for all my live synth playing where I'm dialing in tones on the spot and can help with that kinda problem as well
Much closer than I expected. Both sound incredible! I think the OB-X8 is the closest modern recreation of a classic synth (although the new Prophet is also fairly close). On some patches I did like the OB-Xa better. But there were also patches where I preferred the OB-X8. But on many it was so close there was no real difference to speak of.
When the OB-xa was new there were slight differences between each OB-xa. I know this as an owner of a couple of On-xa's back then. It was just the way things are in analog synthesis back then, and in general. This is no different, comparing slight nuances between a patch really doesn't do the Ob-x8 justice. It is an Oberheim in every sense of the word, and in sound. IMHO
The new one sounds tighter, more controlled and the sound more closed off, where the old one sound brighter, and more open and free. I prefer the old one.
New one sounds more tight Old one sounds more wobbly which makes sense since it’s an older synth. Very very close though couldn’t tell the difference on some presets.
I’d be more interested is seeing 2 obxa’s put together so everyone can understand all the old ones will sound diff from another so…. I think the x8 is a great choice for esp for haste free usage.
I know from a project with different ob-xa users that all around 15 units were differently calibrated. Especially the envelopes and also filter settings differed. Our research was aäonly measurements of the filters and envelopes. We didn’t tried audio a/b comparison. So theoretically all units differ a bit. I also think that the OB-X8 is a great choice. I the other hand my original has some grit in low tones, especially in unison, the X8 doesn’t match perfectly. There are some variances and maybe it’s die to the building of the circuit boards, sms technology versus through hole.
Now I'd like to hear them compared to the Oberheim VST clones. There is finally an official new Oberheim OB-X VST. I'd also like to hear a comparison with these hardware versions against the OP-X Pro II or Arturia OB-Xa.
Thanks for this comparison--this confirms what I suspected, which is that the X8 is brighter than than Xa. I had done a 1:1 comparison between the X8/OB-8 and noticed that as the main difference. I imagined the Xa would be the same and it is--there seems to be a filtering cap in between the oscillators and filter on both the Xa and OB-8 (this gives them their mid-heavy sound). Other than that tho, there really aren't any other differences to speak of aside from the fact that the X8 will phase-lock when oscillators are in unison, but this is possible to avoid with slight detuning. If you don't mind the brightness the X8 is really the no-brainer choice these days.
The OB-X8 sounds just a bit brighter with a little more mids than the OB-Xa (on certain patches) but that might be due to components aging. Or perhaps Marcus Ryle did that intentionally on the OB-X8 in order to try to impress customers who forked over a LOT of money for a somewhat limited synth (for 2022)? Anyhow, they failed to include a lot more controls on the front panel, since there is room for them. Thanks for this 1-to-1 comparison.
The main difference I heard was on the Tom Sawer patch .. the X8 just doesn’t cut it like the Xa, other than that ...... well it definitely is an Oberheim, I didn’t really like the OBXa I had for a week in the mid 80’s, I preferred the Jupiter 8 and that’s what I ended up buying and working night clubs with for 5 year (along with a DX7). If your a younger guy and want to experience what we experienced in the 80’s this is it man! 👍 Myself this is a been there done that synth, and I enjoy my library of plugins much more than I did my hardware back in the day, but it’s all good .. no right or wrongs here, the OB-X8 is definitely a cool keyboard 👍
@@vintagesynths Well your original synth is close .. but yeah I agree .. me neither, it’d be interesting to know exactly how that channel was recorded back in the day.
They sound similar but not close enough to pay high price for it imho. The old one sounds more unstable ( more charming vibe) less brighter and has a bit more bottom end. Some strings patches here and filter sweep sound different from each other. OBXa still the winner!
Some people say they sound the same, some say that they prefer the old one because that’s the one which sound brighter, you say the opposite (the new one sound brighter). I think there may be psychological things happening here affecting the appreciation of some people, I wonder what would happen in blind tests. For me they are quite similar, not a big difference, they both sound equally good.
This was great; well done and thank you. I do have a question - if you set panning to 4L4R and then bring up a split or layer program is the "A" patch strictly in the one stereo output and "B" strictly in the other? (Also, is split/layer is strictly 4/4 and nothing like Polybrute where you can set 5/1 or 4/2 etc.) IF split/layer patches can each be sent to one out then to me the only thing keeping this from being a great companion to a P10 desktop (at least to those for whom the price is not a barrier) is the lack of Poly AT. Personally, I would have paid more to have that since I am already into the "big boy" synth price range anyway.
Hi, I didn’t test it yet. I will check out tomorrow, but I think that it is not like you assume. When you go in to dual mode, I think that on both sounds the voices are divided up, so you have 2+2+2+2.
@@vintagesynths Thanks for checking. To me not being able to have one patch of a dual/split to one output and the other to another when set for 4L4R panning (either by default or through a setting) would be another quite small thing keeping a great synth from absolute perfection. (IMHO if P10 had a second output for dual/split it would be a perfect "essentials only" analog poly, but since it did not ship with dual/split capability maybe they get a pass on that?) 😉
The OB-X8 sounds more like the OB-XA did back in 80's when it was new and creating its legacy. Discrete analog components change their sound over time. Adjustments to the vintage knob can apply the same general category of properties that happen with aging, but there is no magic setting that says vintage knob at setting is going to sound exactly like an OB-XA that is years old. Compare two vintage OB-XA units (or two OB-X) side by side and you'll find they are only 90-95% the same... sometimes WAY less than that because they've been serviced differently along the way. But still, great video and thank you for this comparison!
OB Xa tends to have more bite when it grows, the softer patches are pretty much identical. Despite this fact X8 leans on being despite this difference. The X8 (like at 4:58) tends to sound Wider, and I have no idea why. I tend to like the tails of the Xa a bit more (likely cuz of the digital envelopes), especially if you are cued into the very very end of notes, they just tend to sound dry. Most significant difference is at 6:40 (though I wish you would have let the sound decay completely before starting the other sounds) the Xa sounds far more nuanced but not by a crazy amount 7:51 9:57 I was surprised at how similar this patch sounded Filter sweeps teeend to sound better in Xa but not always I have not idea why 16:08 sounds better on the Xa but it does, deeper more 3D sound.
Because I'm old, I have a lot of the old synths (Prophet 5, PPG Wave, OBX, Synthex, Prophet VS, etc. I also have a lot of new synths (Waldorf M, UDO S6, Oberheim OBX-8, and I A/B'd the Prophet 10 with an original P5 (but I don't own a new P10 - just an old P5). When you A/B / Compare these synths in the room, and you're not testing static sounds as synthlegends is above, then the difference becomes even more obvious. As described, by Alex below, the New Synths aren't as open and big sounding, or as organic sounding. I'm not sure why. My gut is that it has something to do with the tolerances on the vintage chips. Also, the new SSI Filter (humbly speaking) does not sound as good as the Original SSM Filter. Now, I'm not suggesting that the diff is huge. It's not. And I'm not suggesting that you can even tell the diff in the track - because once the sound is buried you can't tell. Plus great is great. The OBX-8, the UDO S6...they still sound great - and they don't need constant servicing, and the new synths stay in better tune (which is important). I'm simply saying the diff is the diff - so don't feel like you have to start selling your old synths. Sadly, they do sound better - imho.
I am of the same opinion. The S6 is it’s own thing and is no resemblance or clone. The best test is Patch Rush rezz, the Tom Sawyer sweep. The growl in the bass inter release phase is only capable on the original. Maybe it’s smd vs through hole with all its variances in voltage
Tom Sawyer”” patch sounds a lot different. Would like to know what amount of restoration went into the Xa are there mostly 40 year old components? And how much difference under the hood is the X8 from the (much cheaper ) UB-Xa.?
Tom sawyer was also not matched on the UB-Xa. The OB-Xa voice defining in unison gets wider the deeper the notes. In high notes the detuning is sharp. The filter resonance lacks on both recreations the growl.
The main people that are gonna say the original sounds better are the ones that own it and can’t afford the new one. Plus they’ve spent hundreds on repairs so they need to justify it. Psychology 101.
I think the psychology 101 is that owners of the original OBX-a will say that it sounds better than the new X-8 whereas those with the X-8 that don't have an original will say that the x-8 sounds better. People will always champion what they own as best and put down what they don't own. It's a classic phenomenon with synths esp JP8 owners vs JP6 or MKS80. In the end they all sound amazing (all Oberheims sound amazing) and in a mix you could never tell the difference.
Great video Rüdiger. In this demo comparison I’m noticing the same as in the other demos, the OB-X8 sounds brighter. Could it be that the filter opens up more?
I have an OB8 and have compared it directly to my OB-X8 and indeed the only consistent difference I can hear is that the OB-X8 is brighter overall. I think this is due to aging components in the output section; or perhaps better components in the new Oberheim. I don’t know what the OB-X8 is using but if I remember correctly, the main output opamp of the OB8 is the lowly TL72, which is fine but there are far more high fidelity opamps available now.
I think so, the calibration and filter settings are different I found out. I think you can get the sound spot on tweaking a bit and using vintage knob more plus use an equalizer for low end.
Has your OB-Xa been recently calibrated, and I mean the full and complete calibration procedure? If not, I am thinking that could explain some of the differences you encountered. The source code is the same, so in theory, the presets should also be the same.
That’s the famous rush Rezz, used on Tom Sawyer. It’s 2 saw waves I think, deutend, unison and a filter sweep. So resonance and modulation knob open. Filter also open. Attack zero and sustain slow on filter envelope it should work.
The X8 sounds great. But the Xa has the advantage on certain patches. Especially the strings at 03:04, I much prefer the Xa. In general, the Xa just has about 10-15% more character in my opinion.
