Schmidt!

i guess i'm looking at things more as a whole instrument as opposed to whether they have this or that type of oscillator. would you have me believe that using a pair of chained mophos is an equivalent experience to using a prophet 08?

let me reverse your analogy: would a 2012 mustang engine in a 96 ford probe be any better? creamy VCOs mean shit if you can't reach your hands in and massage them. sound quality matters a lot to me, but there comes a point where i'd rather have a gallon of control in exchange for a pinch of quality.

i didnt say anything at all about whether the products are good or bad, or how well suited they are to any person's needs. i just said he has altered peoples perceptions of DCOs

there was a lot of mocking wood panels for just saying that !

The CEM 3320 filter chip is the classic one used in the Pro One, the Elka Synthex, Fairlight II, Linndrum, Oberheim OB8, PPG Wave 2.2, Prophet 5 (rev 3, the rev 2 used the SSM 2040 for the filter) and more.

The above are all amazing sounding synths and the CEM 3320 plays a big part in their sound. The problem is that the CEM 3320 isn't in production any more so Dave Smith couldn't use it in his new DSI range of synths, and the filter he did use doesn't sound as good, to my years anyway. I think this has a bigger impact on the sound than the use of DCOs instead of VCOs.

The Roland Juno 60 and Juno 106 both use DCOs and they sound great (obviously the 106 has that problem with dying voices though).

Back to the original topic, the Schmidt sounds great in those demos. People here have mentioned rumoured prices of 25k, but I've heard from nerdier more reliable sources that it'd be closer to 15k Euro than 25k. Still out of my price range though but it's cool that people are still making things like this and I hope he sells a few (although they probably take five years to build).

Schmidt sounds like a Matrix 12 to me... until it turns into a Buchla. Probably quite good value if you needed a supar polysynth and sound design workshop all in one box (and you had gigs lined up to pay for it)

  On 4/13/2011 at 3:36 AM, analogue wings said:

Nobody ever mentions "DCO" when they talk about the 08.

Obviously you missed the 50 page long threads on vse & GS "VCO vs DCO" one of the main components of that argument was how much the majority of the people hated Dave Smith stuff. It's changed a little lately, a lil more love over there.

I do agree the prophet 08 falls short in a few depts. But it's still a good analog poly synth. Just don't try and emulate other stuff on it, you'll be able to do it, but it likely won't be as satisfying.

The tetra/mopho are a lot better, but the filter still falls short for a lot of people. I for one, like the filter. I think it ha a crisp bite to it, and is very "musical" at mid to hi res settings. (Needs a res hp filter though). The crazy thing is the big difference between the 2 is sub oscs and the feedback. But they in fact DO make that big of a difference. The sub oscs bring in the bass the 08 was missing, and the feedback at certain settings can make the whole synth sound juicer and awesome.

It's just a matter of what you have, and what you're willing to work with. If a dsi product is your only analog synth, and you REALLLY are getting into analog synths, there's a fair chance you will keep feeling like you need "moar".

to be fair on Dave Smith the DCO's in the P08 do have an 'drift' feature and I for one think the DCO argument is a load of shite this side of discrete circuitry as there are lots of other factors to consider in the signal chain like op amps, filter saturation ect

the PO8's VCO's (with drift on) sounded better than the curtis VCO's on my mates Xpander (a little dull in comparison) however they didn't match the curtis VCO's in the Memorymoog however the Pro1 sound totally different to a Mopho so go figure

the Schmidt sounds nearer to the big Mememorymoog/CS80 territory to me

to be fair on Dave Smith the DCO's in the P08 do have an 'drift' feature and I for one think the DCO argument is a load of shite this side of discrete circuitry as there are lots of other factors to consider in the signal chain like op amps, filter saturation ect

the PO8's VCO's (with drift on) sounded better than the curtis VCO's on my mates Xpander (a little dull in comparison) however they didn't match the curtis VCO's in the Memorymoog however the Pro1 sound totally different to a Mopho so go figure

the Schmidt sounds nearer to the big Mememorymoog/CS80 territory to me

  On 4/13/2011 at 1:30 PM, Brandi_B said:

  On 4/13/2011 at 3:36 AM, analogue wings said:

Nobody ever mentions "DCO" when they talk about the 08.

 

Obviously you missed the 50 page long threads on vse & GS "VCO vs DCO" one of the main components of that argument was how much the majority of the people hated Dave Smith stuff. It's changed a little lately, a lil more love over there.

 

Yeah I'm more of an AH guy, and that's been full of "Prophet 08 for sale. Great synth but it just lacks a little something." for the last year or so. Weird that the AH guys seem surprised that the 08 "lacks a little something" when that is exactly how most people would describe the difference between a VCO and DCO synth. Feels like the Prophet name created a bit of a reality distortion field around the thing.

The trouble with him having a one size fits all synth voice is it's going to rock at certain price points, and matched up with the right features like cool arps etc, and come up a bit short at others. On the other hand it's got analogue poly into a lot more hands and that can only be a good thing. (on the third hand you hear the Curtis sound everywhere now and its got me craving something different)

  On 4/13/2011 at 3:36 AM, analogue wings said:

 

Also the Curtis synth-on-a-chip ICs Dave uses have been around since he 80s. This is the core of the sound of ALL his analogues and it's already been in a crapload of synths you can get for fuck all used.

 

 

Synth-on-a-chip should probably be called synth-on-one-chip, and generally refers to the couple of curtis chips where the signal path of each voice is on one chip i.e. oscillator->filter->amp all on one IC. For example the CEM3396 used in the cheetah ms6 and the oberheim matrices. Most curtis based synths have separate ICs for each part of their signal chain, and this can vary quite a bit, so although there is a 'curtis sound' it's not exactly the same for every curtis synth. I'm not sure what ICs the p08 uses, but I don't think it's one of the synth on a chip ones. List here, couldn't see it though.

I keep seeing the Dark Energy referred to as synth-on-a-chip due to a couple of erroneous reviews and the fact it has curtis chips. However it has separate chips for the VCO, VCF and VCA. You can know this for certain as the schematics are published here.

i don't know any other details, but the cem's dave smith uses were custom made for him by doug as an "update" similar to but a lil different than the classic cems.

  On 4/14/2011 at 4:44 AM, Brandi_B said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3WmDCnQxME&feature=player_embedded

dat accent. "It's a eunich sound inside..."

keyboard sounds great though !

great to hear it belting out FM shit.