tim@fisher.UUCP (Tim Snyder) (01/30/86)
> an Oberheim Xpander or Matrix-6 (a Matrix 12 is twice the voices, but ... > do poliphony with arbitrary split/layering. The Xpander and Matrix-6 > do 6 voices (the Xpander has no keyboard of it's own). The Matrix-12 > Stephen Uitti, Purdue University. ach@pucc-j So, the Xpander is simply a Matrix-6 without keyboard? When you say "do 6 voices," do you mean six voices (patches) layered on a single key? How arbitrary is the layering and splitting: Can one split the keyboard to six sections? Can it be, say, three sections, two voices each? What are the limitations of "polyphonic" (i.e., how many keys at once?), and is this a function of the splits and layerings? What do these three items cost? Woomera, Tim Snyder
ins_adjb@jhunix.UUCP (Daniel Jay Barrett) (02/01/86)
There has been recent discussion about the various Oberheim products. I thought I'd clear up the confusion. I have no affilation with Oberheim except as a Matrix-12 owner. All of the following products are multi-timbral, i.e. every voice can play an entirely different patch, and every voice is separately accessible by MIDI. First came the XPANDER. It is a 6-voice keyboardless expander, with the most sophisticated analog voice ever devised (in my opinion). Every voice has 2 VCO's, a 15-mode VCF (lowpass, highpass, bandpass, notch, and phase-shift modes, in various combinations), 15 VCA's, 5 LFO's, 5 DADSR envelope generators (the first "D" is "delay"), a lag processor (portamento), 3 tracking generators (to produce non-linear tracking of any signal), 4 ramp generators (like envelope generators with just ATTACK), and FM. I've seen the Xpander for around $1900. You can split whatever keyboard controller you are using in 3 (possibly overlapping) places, and assign any of the 6 voices to any of the "zones", as they are called. The Xpander recognizes velocity, release-velocity, and pressure. Next came the MATRIX-12. It is a 12-voice instrument with the exact same voice type as the Xpander. It has a keyboard, however, and it is 5 octaves, non-weighted, and responds to velocity and release velocity (pressure option available "soon"). The Matrix-12 allows for 6 keyboard "zones", with any voice assigned to any one of them. Both the Matrix-12 and the Xpander are "compatible": you can send patches from one to the other. They both store 100 "single patches" (all voices on the same patch) and 100 "multi-patches" (each voice plays any of the 100 single-patches). I got my Matrix for $3700. Then came the MATRIX-6, a totally different beast. The Matrix-6 has a less extensive voice, with just lowpass filtering (maybe highpass too, I forget). It has a 5-octave, unweighted, velocity & pressure & release velocity keyboard. It lists for $1595 or so. It stores 100 single patches and 50 multi-patches. It is not compatible with the Xpander or Matrix-12. In addition, there is now a rackmount version of the Matrix-6, minus the keyboard. There is also a soundless keyboard controller, the XK, which can be used with any MIDI instrument. The strength of the Oberheim line lies in its MODULATION capabilities. Put simply, anything can modulate anything. You can have LFO's modulating the speed of an envelope's attack, while a pitch-bend lever modulates the speed of a second LFO which modulates the depth of the first LFO, which itself is modulated by................(ad infinitum). The capabilities of these instruments (particularly the Matrix-12) are much too involved to go into detail about in this posting. My advice to you if you are considering one of these instruments is: (1) Get the manual first! Oberheim will sell you one, or the store may let you borrow a copy. (2) Have a good feel for analog synthesis already. These beasts take time to tame! Anyone with questions can e-mail me. I love to talk about this stuff (obviously!!!!!). -- Daniel J. Barrett Dept. of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD 21218
ach@pucc-h (Stephen Uitti) (02/04/86)
In article <1372@fisher.UUCP> tim@fisher.UUCP (Tim Snyder) writes: >> an Oberheim Xpander or Matrix-6 (a Matrix 12 is twice the voices, but >... >> do poliphony with arbitrary split/layering. The Xpander and Matrix-6 >> do 6 voices (the Xpander has no keyboard of it's own). The Matrix-12 > >> Stephen Uitti, Purdue University. ach@pucc-j > >So, the Xpander is simply a Matrix-6 without keyboard? A Matrix-6 is (in my understanding) an Xpander with a keyboard. See my later digressions. >When you say "do 6 voices," do you mean six voices (patches) layered > on a single key? >How arbitrary is the layering and splitting: > Can one split the keyboard to six sections? > Can it be, say, three sections, two voices each? >What are the limitations of "polyphonic" (i.e., how many keys at once?), > and is this a function of the splits and layerings? What I really mean is that there are 6 voices, up to 6 sounds at once. These can be doing the same patch, or differant patches. Thus in the Xpander, you can have 6 voice poliphony on one patch, or 3 voice poliphony on two patches, or 4 voices on one patch with 2 voices on 2 seperate patches, or... You can also do unison effects, where more than one voice of the same patch layer. I'd rather not tree out the posibilities. This is a differant concept from oscillators: The Xpander has two VCO's (oscillators) per voice. It also has billions of other things per voice, more so than any other analog synth I've seen. This is more versitile than say a Prophet T-8, where you have 8 voices that can be configured: one patch with 8 voice poliphony two patches, with 4 voice poliphony either: on halves of the keyboard seperated by the split point doubled, one voice from each patch on each key. unison, all 8 voices on one patch sounding on the one key split unsion, half of the keyboard is unsion, the other half my either be unison or 4 voice poly It's differant from a DX-7 in that the split/layerings don't have to be programed into the patches (at least not the patches that make up the sounds). There are patches, called multi-patches, that allow these to be conveniently changed. It's also differant in that voice groups can be assigned seperate MIDI channels in either poly or omni mode. >What do these three items cost? I don't have prices for them all, since I was only interested in the Matrix-12. It lists (i think) for $5495. I picked mine up for around $3,000. The other machines are cheaper. The Xpander is more than half. I think the Matrix-6 is closer to half. > Woomera, > Tim Snyder My experience is with the Matrix-12, not the Matrix-6. First came the Xpander, a 6 voice MIDI only machine. Then the Matrix-12, a 12 voice machine (two Xpanders) with 5 octave keyboard. Then Matrix-6. My understanding is that a Matrix-6 is an Xpander with keyboard. The Xpander appeared when MIDI was just getting underway. It therefore has control voltage inputs as well as MIDI. The Matrix-12 doesn't have these. The Xpander also has 6 audio outputs (one for each voice) as well as mono and stereo outputs. The Matrix-12 has only mono and stereo outputs. There's a rumor that you can have the 12 individual outputs added to your Matrix-12. It's (to me) not needed, since there is considerable programable internal mixing available within the Xpander or Matrix-12. This includes 7 position panning of each voice (Left, L2, L1, Mid, R1, R2, Right), and choices on voice assignment: rotate, etc. Multipatches (patches that control groups of single patches (the sounds)) let you deal with these effectively. Besides, my Pevey mixer is running out of inputs. The Matrix-6 is a newer, cheaper machine. If anything, it has less than the Xpander, in terms of capabilities. I'm interested in the guy who said that MPS and a multitrack didn't do the job. Something about how the multitrack does MIDI? It is doubtful that this would be a problem with the Xpander. Even my brain-damaged first generation MIDI/4 from passport does multi part stuff correctly. I played a 4 part harmony (almost a hymn) into my MIDI/4 program one line at a time into seperate tracks of the MIDI/4. Later (I bought the Matrix-12) and played the four tracks to seperate MIDI channels, and had the sound play on four differant patches, each had 3 voices to work with (though never needed more than two - and only needed two because each line was played in a slurred style). Thus the "soprano" line was played on a piano, the "alto" line was played on a harpsicord, the "tenor" line was played on bells, and the "bass" line was played on trumpets. Voice volume balancing was easy to do (no patch editing - just a simple voice level control). It was easy to pan the voices to differant parts of the stereo image. It would have been just as easy to have played one line on my DX-7, one on my T-8, and two on the Matrix. The DX-7 and T-8 pan and relative volume being accomplished on the mixing board. I'd go on, but it'd just sound like "My axe is better because...", and I just wanted to mention it as a possibility for investigation. I've probably overdone it as it is. Steve Uitti