Your Dream VCO

Nosferatu · Joined: Jul 27, 2007 Posts: 234 Location: Planet Rock.

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[color=darkred]site admin: Seems like there has been some erosion. Shocked

Topic title is now restored.. sort of. [/color]

Peake · Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2007 4:05 pm Post subject:

I don't have a single dream VCO. Each of the Moog oscillators sound slightly different, and I'd want multiples of each. Multiple Buchla 258Bs, a set of SEMs, etc.

None of the modern oscillators do anything for me. There is no euphoria there. No dirt, no grit, no movement, no interest in spending thousands to attempt to create it...

If the Buchla 259 sounded as large as the 258B, it would be the winner.

Nosferatu · Joined: Jul 27, 2007 Posts: 234 Location: Planet Rock.

cbm · Joined: Oct 25, 2005 Posts: 381 Location: San Francisco

With all respect to Mike, I much prefer the sound of the 259 to the 258. That's not to say that the 258 isn't great, and if I remember correctly, the FM is a little meatier on the 258 than it is on the 259. BUT, the whole timbre section on the old 259/new 261e is really wonderful.

It's nasty yet musical, in a really unique way.

For my money the current 261e, while not without its blemishes, is about the best thing being made today.

Peake · Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2007 10:04 pm Post subject:

Oh well. I still need what I've mentioned, and dislike that which offers no euphoria. I once had to ask for some modern oscillators to be turned off, as someone had left a pair droning, maintaining constant tuning offset due to accuracy and stability. Nails on a chalkboard.

The new Buchla oscillators are very interesting-sounding. What I wonder most is how they'd feel on a vintage power supply.

"Periodicity is the enemy of interest." -Paraphrasing Don Buchla

Nosferatu · Joined: Jul 27, 2007 Posts: 234 Location: Planet Rock.

Peake · Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 7:54 pm Post subject:

cbm · Joined: Oct 25, 2005 Posts: 381 Location: San Francisco

Nosferatu · Joined: Jul 27, 2007 Posts: 234 Location: Planet Rock.

Beermaster · Joined: Oct 22, 2006 Posts: 42 Location: London

I have to say that having a bit of everything in 'Fat Bastard' and playing many different VCOs old-ish and new that then going and using the SEMs that there is an amazing feeling of - for want of any other word - 'Analogue' using the SEMs - I moves me more than most of the other gear. Its hard to describe what it is about the sound and maybe its a lot to do with the filter etc etc but the core sound is so organic - love SEMs

Peake · Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 9:15 am Post subject:

mono-poly · Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 2:17 pm Post subject:

SEM lover here.
I hade some Moog 901's in the past witch are very ritch sounding to.
VCS3 ones are nice to i got some NTO's by Serge to.
And an RSF Kobol and that are basicly favorite ones to be honnest.
I got new modular stuff to but somehow i'm in love with the vintage clasique ones

Nosferatu · Joined: Jul 27, 2007 Posts: 234 Location: Planet Rock.

EdisonRex · Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 4:35 pm Post subject:

blue hell · Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 4:37 pm Post subject: Re: Your dream VCO!

Nosferatu · Joined: Jul 27, 2007 Posts: 234 Location: Planet Rock.

norman phay · Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 4:40 am Post subject:

Heh, "rusty old bleepers".

My dream VCO would have:

Good deep lin FM and bright tone like MOTM300

pleasing tickle-the-ears musical sound like ModCan 01a

pleasing serpentine rolling beating like Wiard Waveform City.

circuit board mounted flat behind panel like Plan B VCO/Cwejman/Buchla.

blue hell · Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 4:48 am Post subject:

ATOM · Joined: Sep 20, 2004 Posts: 48 Location: Norway

Very happy with my Modcan VCDO 58B.

More info on the VCDO:
http://www.modcan.com/bseries/modulesb.html
http://home.earthlink.net/~ebrombaugh/synth/vcdo/vcdo_58.html

ATOM Smile

Nosferatu · Joined: Jul 27, 2007 Posts: 234 Location: Planet Rock.

blue hell · Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 5:30 pm Post subject:

Nosferatu · Joined: Jul 27, 2007 Posts: 234 Location: Planet Rock.

Jari Jokinen · Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2007 6:13 am Post subject:

Something completely different: Ondes Martenot/Theremin oscillator, which wouldn't need filtering. (Not sine wave or modern Theremin sound - the timbre should elegantly change with frequency.)

Peake · Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 11:42 am Post subject:

Consider the benefits of simplicity. Some of my favorite oscillators use no chips and have very little circuitry after the core.

Tim Smith described the early Moog oscillators to be about "as close to listening to electrons as you're going to get".

My needs are likely fulfilled by the MOS-LABs if they are truly exacting clones, although the sawtooth wave polarity, from out of the CP mixers (inverting?) is the reverse of what I prefer. The 901bs through the mixer are fine. Likely downward saws, for a harder sound that seems to ring filters better than upward saws.

The old Buchla 158 oscillators sounded better than the 200s, but were less stable (which is getting into dangerously unstable, like the earliest Serges in the panels with lots of triangle icons and little text).

The entirety of the Putney saturates and distorts nicely and you have to factor this into quantifying the sound of those oscillators. I haven't spent much time listening to those patched straight through to the outputs.

cbm · Joined: Oct 25, 2005 Posts: 381 Location: San Francisco

I'm going to push raw sound and stability issues to the side for a moment, and talk about features. In no particular order -

I think dual oscillators a la Buchla 259/261e are really good for a couple of reasons:
- FM
- Sync
- other audio rate modulations

I think something like a Buchla Timbre section, Serge Wave Multiplier, etc. is a really good thing to have dedicated to an oscillator. Having them be part of the basic vocabulary of a VCO is better than having a free standing unit, IMO. (although free standing is good for using as a processor)

I think that PWM that goes to 0-100% is useful. Actually, it would be better if it went from .00001-99.99999 percent, but that's not really achievable in the analog domain without trimming.

Attenuators should be available on anything that can be modulated, ideally inverting attenuators (w/ 12:00 null).

Linear and exponential FM are both interesting. Having dynamic depth is ultra-good. Having to patch in an external VCA for this is a drag.

Hard and soft sync both have their place.

Having wave-morphing like the Buchla 261e Mod Osc, Plan B model 15, etc. is good, particularly if there are clean sine waves at one end of the modulation. There have been a variety of other dynamic waveshapers that have also been good.

The SMS dual osc had thumb-wheels for octave and semitone offset, which was so good for live use.

Things I haven't used, but are theoretically useful, include things like:
- sawtooth animators a la Electronotes.
- oscillator clouds a la MOTM
- self contained FM a la Modcan
- through zero FM a la Cyndustries
- and doubtless more that I've forgotten

-C