What is the most feature rich analog VCO

[Dcramer]

One of my first Oscs was an original AFG and I'll never part with it

It's not a Ruby style thru-zero but a lurvely fat analog beast

Mine has always tracked very well and given it's weird saw and pulse shaping, it's a madhouse of PWM.

[gonkulator]

The omega has fm and pm, three soft sync modes, one hard sync, a zero-cross out, two sub octave outs and that zero bias mode where the pitch follows completely the incoming signal..
If no other points are to be taken into account, price, space, sound preference which is a very personal thing, the omega plays in another league!

That's why I have two of them. But all of them mentioned so far are worthy.

[2disbetter]

That zero point oscillator looks really nice! Any idea when we can expect it?

This.

Does anyone know?

2d

[Captain77]

Back to the first post, where the criteria was:
- it must be true analog
- it has more features/options than everything else

With this criteria, I would NOT raccomand a dual oscillator module (aka complex oscillator), so I would not raccomand beasts such DPO, Furthrrr Generator, Sputnik Dual Osc., Verbos Complex VCO. So many options, that's true, but you can achieve similar sounds with different modules (external waveshapers, for example). Complex VCOs in euro world are to be recommended to those who look for a "all-in-one" approach to sound generation, imo. That's why they are equipped with modulation busses and so on...

With the same criteria, I would NOT raccomand VCOs like NTO (even if it sounds awesome!!!) or Macbeth VCO (state of the art) just because there are other VCOs on the market with more features on board.

I also assume that you're looking for VCO with 1 V/Oct response.

That's why I would concentrate on one of these 4 modules on the market:
- Schippmann CS-8 Omega-Phi
- Livewire AFG
- Mannequins Mangrove
- Intellijel Rubicon

[2disbetter]

Back to the first post, where the criteria was:
- it must be true analog
- it has more features/options than everything else

With this criteria, I would NOT raccomand a dual oscillator module (aka complex oscillator), so I would not raccomand beasts such DPO, Furthrrr Generator, Sputnik Dual Osc., Verbos Complex VCO. So many options, that's true, but you can achieve similar sounds with different modules (external waveshapers, for example). Complex VCOs in euro world are to be recommended to those who look for a "all-in-one" approach to sound generation, imo. That's why they are equipped with modulation busses and so on...

With the same criteria, I would NOT raccomand VCOs like NTO (even if it sounds awesome!!!) or Macbeth VCO (state of the art) just because there are other VCOs on the market with more features on board.

I also assume that you're looking for VCO with 1 V/Oct response.

That's why I would concentrate on one of these 4 modules on the market:
- Schippmann CS-8 Omega-Phi
- Livewire AFG
- Mannequins Mangrove
- Intellijel Rubicon

Hmm interesting. I get what you mean. The Omega is dual oscillator though.

Do you feel that you can get more sounds out of a single complex oscillator than a dual complex oscillator?

2d

[Captain77]

Hmm interesting. I get what you mean. The Omega is dual oscillator though.

Damn you're right, man! Let's go with AFG / Mangrove / Rubicon

Do you feel that you can get more sounds out of a single complex oscillator than a dual complex oscillator?

No.
I'm saying that a complex osc is "simply" a sum of different modules:
- a Carrier Oscillator
- a Modulator
- VCA (s)
- waveshaper and/or wavefolders (eventually)
Furthermore, in a complex osc., you would probably use 2 sine oscillators to get a "musical" output...
The concept of a complex analog osc is: let's take 2 simple waveforms (2 sines) and let's combine those 2 waves in every possible way.

[peripatitis]

Back to the first post, where the criteria was:
- it must be true analog
- it has more features/options than everything else

With this criteria, I would NOT raccomand a dual oscillator module (aka complex oscillator), so I would not raccomand beasts such DPO, Furthrrr Generator, Sputnik Dual Osc., Verbos Complex VCO. So many options, that's true, but you can achieve similar sounds with different modules (external waveshapers, for example). Complex VCOs in euro world are to be recommended to those who look for a "all-in-one" approach to sound generation, imo. That's why they are equipped with modulation busses and so on...

With the same criteria, I would NOT raccomand VCOs like NTO (even if it sounds awesome!!!) or Macbeth VCO (state of the art) just because there are other VCOs on the market with more features on board.

I also assume that you're looking for VCO with 1 V/Oct response.

That's why I would concentrate on one of these 4 modules on the market:
- Schippmann CS-8 Omega-Phi
- Livewire AFG
- Mannequins Mangrove
- Intellijel Rubicon

Hmm interesting. I get what you mean. The Omega is dual oscillator though.

Do you feel that you can get more sounds out of a single complex oscillator than a dual complex oscillator?

2d

The omega is not dual though. It is the same oscillator core which is first fm'ed and then pm'ed....

[The Junglechrist]

I'm surprised no one came up with the Harmonic Oscillator from Verbos. It as a lot of very unique feature, even tho is something very special.

I would love to try the Shippman one day, it seems absolutly crazy.

[2disbetter]

The omega is not dual though. It is the same oscillator core which is first fm'ed and then pm'ed....

Touche. Interesting. Seems like it really is the cream of the analog single oscillator crop.

2d

[peripatitis]

The omega is not dual though. It is the same oscillator core which is first fm'ed and then pm'ed....

Touche. Interesting. Seems like it really is the cream of the analog single oscillator crop.

2d

For me having them it is a constant dilemma because pricewise you can almost buy 4 oscillators in its place and probably spacewise as well. Now in the beginning i wasn't sold on the thru-zero stuff thinking you can't really beat digital fm implementations. The truth is that you can push the thru-zero oscillators further than a normal one and it gives you something different. But that "different" is not something you use all the time, so perhaps sticking with the basics is the better idea

[Jaypee]

The omega is not dual though. It is the same oscillator core which is first fm'ed and then pm'ed....

Touche. Interesting. Seems like it really is the cream of the analog single oscillator crop.

2d

For me having them it is a constant dilemma because pricewise you can almost buy 4 oscillators in its place and probably spacewise as well. Now in the beginning i wasn't sold on the thru-zero stuff thinking you can't really beat digital fm implementations. The truth is that you can push the thru-zero oscillators further than a normal one and it gives you something different. But that "different" is not something you use all the time, so perhaps sticking with the basics is the better idea

I use my Omega Phi at 10% of its capabilities!
I should noted my patch too...could got some AMAZING sounds from it, but can't re-do them lol.
I will buy a second any time over all the other VCO's named in this thread!

[ablearcher]

Never used an omega phi, i did get a lot of use out of a rubicon. None of the complex oscillators i have owned (dpo and sputnik dual osc) had a good hard sync, something to do with the buchla lineage i guess?

The rubicon was fun because you could sync it to a dixie then hit it with a dozen different types of modulation, play with tzfm, then listen and mix together half a dozen different outputs all while it stayed in tune.

The more advanced my patching gets the leas features i need though. A good hard sync amd multiple exponential and linear cv inputs are necessary. The NLC CEM3340 and TH 555 vcos are really excellent diy options.

Definitely pair anything you get with at least one utility vco and a wavefolder.

[CopperHydra]

+1 The NLC CEM vco

Thomas Henry's VCO Maximus is looking pretty good although it's still in development atm.

But for a lot of patches I make with VCO's, I find that having a continuous waveshape between waves is very important and it's a feature not many euro VCOs have, yet.

[Joe.]

But for a lot of patches I make with VCO's, I find that having a continuous waveshape between waves is very important and it's a feature not many euro VCOs have, yet.

Do you mean with a mixer that can operate at audio frequencies, controlled by a VCOs pulse output, and mixing 2 of the oscillators other waveform outputs? (And controlling the continuous waveshape using the pulse width modulation input?)

[philipdeman]

That zero point oscillator looks really nice! Any idea when we can expect it?

This.

Does anyone know?

2d

always a guessing game of course, but ssf said somewhere on their facebook page that they were aiming for a winter release

[chvad]

I'm surprised no ones has mentioned the WMD PDO. Sure it's got digital waveshaping but it is an analog core oscillator and with it's two expansion modules it is quite fully featured and more.

[lobra]

Any sort of complex oscillator will give you alot of options.

Maybe look into some of the noise engineering modules.

[OlivierWah]

I think that thing is insane.

[Antlerface]

The Verbos Harmonic Osc is sick as fuck, saw it suggested earlier. What a monster.

[sansnom]

My votes for featured single, analog Oscillators:

Make Noise STO
Malekko Richter Osc. II
Tip-Top Z3000

[porphyrion]

I think that thing is insane.

Totally!! The back is even crazier! Easily the heaviest euro-module I've ever laid hands on. Oh, and I just *love* PLL's-



I'm also curious about the a-110-6 and the differences with the 110-4 & Rubicon. Would have thought the 110-6 would make a bigger splash-

[Dogma]

cwejman vco6 would be getting up there- amazing VCO's

[2disbetter]

Totally!! The back is even crazier! Easily the heaviest euro-module I've ever laid hands on. Oh, and I just *love* PLL's-

Wow, that is massive...ly awesome!

How do you even rack that thing? You'd need to reinforce your rails and your case, provided you even have the depth for it.

I do wonder why the omega is so thin and this is so thick. Anyone know why?

2d

[Shledge]

One is through hole, the other is SMD based?

[2disbetter]

One is through hole, the other is SMD based?

Ok so it's not because it has like vacuum tubes or something requiring all that space. I really don't know about any of the means and methods behind how any of this is built.

2d