Convince me to get Oberon

[Skullture]

I've seen tons and tons of love for this RE on this forum but I'm still not convinced. The UI looks great and all, but I'm more interested for this thing to produce a different soundscape than all the other available RE's like Synapse's Antidote (which is my favorite atm). So, question then.. Can you make unique sounds on this RE that you can't pull off with other RE's? All user experiences here greatly appreciated and yes, I ran out of the 30 day trial (didn't give at a lot of tries at that moment) so I need some advices from the smart guys from this forum

[synthetechsound]

It's very unique in its capabilities and sound. It's easy to program and sound awesome. It can do what no other re can do.

What's not to love?

[synthetechsound]

Iso I need some advices from the smart guys from this forum

Lol. Had I read this part I probably wouldn't have responded.

[dvdrtldg]

Do you have Zero?

I didn't love Oberon when I trialled it - I'm always on the lookout for a synth that will produce something different, especially in the way of pads & evolving sounds, but there was something about the UI (especially the fiddly way you have to drag the envelope around) that didn't click with me. I could get some interesting sounds, but it felt like a lot of work. Then when Zero appeared, it was like "A-ha... THIS is what I've been waiting for".

[Benedict]

I made patches for Oberon and it is definitely a powerful synth with a lot of capabilities. That of course means it is not always so easy onthe surface. Once you get your head around the concepts and learn to see the patch in your head then it does open up. This article may help:

http://benedictroffmarsh.com/2015/06/30 ... a-rundown/

Zero is better at immediate gratification and those typical NI VST type sounds. In reality is may not go as deep but both are good instruments.

Antidote is a good synth but not really in the same league. Parsec is more relevant and a very cool synth.

[challism]

Antidote is a good synth but not really in the same league. Parsec is more relevant and a very cool synth.

What do you mean it isn't in the same league? Is Antidote better or worse, in your opinion? I have Parsec, Zero and Oberon, and love them all for different reasons. I have read a ton of love for Antidote, but I don't have it and haven't tried it yet, so I don't understand your comment. Your opinion carries a lot of weight for me.

[eXode]

What do you mean it isn't in the same league? Is Antidote better or worse, in your opinion? I have Parsec, Zero and Oberon, and love them all for different reasons. I have read a ton of love for Antidote, but I don't have it and haven't tried it yet, so I don't understand your comment. Your opinion carries a lot of weight for me.

Antidote is a subtractive VA style synthesizer, Parsec and Oberon are additive/spectral style synthesizers, thus they offer a different timbre.

[Benedict]

What eXode said...

Sorry, "league" wasn't quite the right word. Oberon, Zero, Parsec etc are very Digital synths whereas Antidote is primarily Subtractive which IMO makes an unfair comparison as it covers different ground.

While I have never really fallen in love with Antidote, it is a very good synth that does some things very well.

[Bonkhead]

Antidote is my sylenth1 inside reason, and more. Often my go to synth for supersaws (until megasaur came along :p)
Still, antidote can to all sorts of subtractive sounds, and all sound great.

Now I'm curious to test zero, I love parsec.

[Skullture]

Do you have Zero?

I didn't love Oberon when I trialled it - I'm always on the lookout for a synth that will produce something different, especially in the way of lads & evolving sounds, but there was something about the UI (especially the fiddly way you have to drag the envelope around) that didn't click with me. I could get some interesting sounds, but it felt like a lot of work. Then when Zero appeared, it was like "A-ha... THIS is what I've been waiting for".

I own zero since black friday and I like it, but it eats my CPU so it's only useful when I resample which is something I need to get used to. (and annoying when you wanted to automate some parameters later on)
I think the UI on Oberon looks good and detailed but I didn't get the impression it was doing something better than other additive synth plugins out there.

[riemac]

At first I was very impressed by Oberon. I liked the design, the userdisplay and the unison (because I love trancy supersaws) and the very low CPU usage. But after some testing I was very disapointed because I couldn't get the sounds that I wanted. The unison and the supersaws sounds a bit muddy. And the filter is very digital. I think the filter of Noxious sounds a lot better than the one from Oberon.
In the end I bought Zero because it's filter and sound is much better. For additiv sounds I stay with Parsec.
Maybe if Zvork would implement a better analog filter I would change my mind.

[Libraquaricorn]

I'm just getting started with Oberon after getting it in the Black Friday mayhem. I had my doubts but when I tried it I could not resist. I'm not a fan of Zvork's devices but finding myself in Autechre-remixing-Nav-Katze-heaven just a few minutes in trialing it I knew I could not go totally wrong with it. After the first love has rubbed off I'm a bit overwhelmed but looking forward to go to work with it. It will take work though, and some getting used to, to master Oberon's massive potential. I've chaught myself wishing Zero wasn't released for another year so more of the skilled synth-geeks would get into bed with Oberon instead and enlighten the rest of us with their findings... I'm not put off by the filters btw...you can even draw your own frequency response curve! Or hook the Oberon up with a PMS-20 filter instead. I have yet to see someone dismissing Oberon as a crap synth so I guess all the love for it is just.

[eXode]

And the filter is very digital. I think the filter of Noxious sounds a lot better than the one from Oberon.
In the end I bought Zero because it's filter and sound is much better. For additiv sounds I stay with Parsec.
Maybe if Zvork would implement a better analog filter I would change my mind.

Neither Noxious, Oberon or Parsec (the same for NI Razor and IL Harmor VST's) use traditional filters, they use an additive synth engine which means that the filter effect is created from affecting the partials in a way that sounds like filtering.

Zero on the other hand works a little bit different (it's more of a subtractive/fm/additive hybrid), and it uses the traditional VA way of filtering.

[Dazman]

I think Oberon is a fantastic synth. At first I didn't entirely get it ... or more to the point I was missing some of the features that were more hidden. It definitely warrants a trip to the manual to unlock a lot of it's power. It's the only synth I've ever used where the filters are user defined - if you've missed that then go read the manual ... it's hugely powerful - you can get anything from formant style filters through to your standard 12/24db filters, but also you can draw how you want your frequency response to be using the 16 point drawing control! ... then on top of that morph that frequency response into another (X-Y) with an envelope or LFO or whatever - and that's just on one filter, you can double it up with another doing something similar. That alone is worth the asking price, besides all the other cool stuff you can do.

I would agree that it's very easy to get those clean digital sounds from it - especially the icey vocal type of stuff with a lot of high frequency content, but I've also managed to get some really deep basses and stuff, that sound quite Moog-like. It's a bit like FM synthesis in that you need to learn a few tricks to get the more analogue sounding stuff. Partial clipping seems like a key to getting more aggressive sounding basses and also the TB303 style stuff.

[satyr32]

Oberon is a bit a surprise synth. If I have a specific sound in my head I reach out for another synth like Antidote, Zero, Viking or Thor. But if I just want to discover a new sound without having a goal in mind Oberon is the synth to go. Most of the time something special will be created. Sometimes a bit thin, but with adding effects no problem.