The Official Sequential/Oberheim Forum
OTHER DISCUSSIONS => General Synthesis => Other Hardware/Software => Topic started by: Sacred Synthesis on June 21, 2018, 11:19:11 AM
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This is an excellent detailed explanation of the design of the Quadra.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTEKD_T6sQ0
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Oh Korg…...If only....
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It's a fine synth channel overall. One can learn a ton of stuff about those old circuits.
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Oh Korg…...If only....
I think the problem or risk is that the Quadra is a bit weird by today's and even yesterday's standards. I mean in the way it combined the various engines. As a whole it's quite an usual design, as it combined a couple of previous products in one box and yet provided more than the sum of parts. Nevertheless, it contained interesting and unique functions like the trill feature or the option to modulate the Phase Shifter. What would maybe confuse today's players are the different layers with different split points as well as the fact that fader settings are not saved as part of the presets.
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Oh Korg…...If only....
I think the problem or risk is that the Quadra is a bit weird by today's and even yesterday's standards. I mean in the way it combined the various engines. As a whole it's quite an usual design, as it combined a couple of previous products in one box and yet provided more than the sum of parts. Nevertheless, it contained interesting and unique functions like the trill feature or the option to modulate the Phase Shifter. What would maybe confuse today's players are the different layers with different split points as well as the fact that fader settings are not saved as part of the presets.
I don't think a direct re-issue would for the reasons you mentioned but....if you take the concept of the Quadra and upgrade it with actual memory (including fader settings), user defined split points for each engine and a better sequencer and it would be a unique beast in the current analog synth market. I know multitimbrality is spoken about by me and others but I do believe the best possible way to approach it would be the concept of the Quadra. 2 Mono Synths, 1 Paraphonic Synth and 1 Polyphonic synth with individual engines and settings. I think getting into 10 or 16 different individual parts with voice allocation becomes reliant on menu diving and generally takes a lot of effort to program.
Nah, best way is to have everything on the front panel with access to each individual engine all at once.
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By modern standards, the Quadra is definitely an odd instrument - sort of a combination of several incomplete instruments. But it wasn't considered so odd in it's time, but more of a convenient combination of things under one panel. It's musical personality comes through, seemingly regardless of who's playing it. I'd be happy to take it exactly as it is, in the tradition of having individually unique instruments, rather than generic ones. But what I equally like about the Quadra - and what would keep it from ever being re-issued - is its size. I realize that's easy for a guy in his home music room to say. I just love large instruments, and the Quadra definitely qualifies as large, with it deep and wide panel and long keyboard. There's just something about being bent over a single large synthesizer until the wee hours of the morning, with a single desk lamp, that's full of charm and inspiration.
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For that matter, the Trident was basically a two-oscillator, eight voice Polysix with string and brass machines. I'd rather see a modern reissue of it than of the Polysix. It's not as iconic as the Quadra, but it's a great sounding beast.
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Mmm. A Korg Trident, yes. Listen to this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XimYhHii-8
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The BIG one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbUXSqqXOqQ
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The BIG one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbUXSqqXOqQ
I had a borrowed Quadra in my basement in my days as a synth teen. Loved that thing, and it was what turned me into a phase shifter fanatic! I have a softsynth version in my collection, but honestly, it's all about the size of this machine (as well as the sound). I never bother with the soft version...
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Was there an "all in one" synth before the Quadra, or was it the first real synth workstation? I can't think of a predecessor.
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The Korg Trident from 1980? Close, at least.
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Was there an "all in one" synth before the Quadra, or was it the first real synth workstation? I can't think of a predecessor.
Conceptionally, the Roland RS-505 from 1978 comes to my mind. Even the term 'paraphonic' coined by Roland upon the release of the RS-505 implies this. The prefix 'para-' was understood in the sense of 'beside' or 'alongside.' As such, 'paraphonic' signified that the RS-505 featured multiple synthesizers beside one another in one box: a bass synthesizer, a string synthesizer, and a clichéd synthesizer, each with its own controls.
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Was there an "all in one" synth before the Quadra, or was it the first real synth workstation? I can't think of a predecessor.
Conceptionally, the Roland RS-505 from 1978 comes to my mind. Even the term 'paraphonic' coined by Roland upon the release of the RS-505 implies this. The prefix 'para-' was understood in the sense of 'beside' or 'alongside.' As such, 'paraphonic' signified that the RS-505 featured multiple synthesizers beside one another in one box: a bass synthesizer, a string synthesizer, and a clichéd synthesizer, each with its own controls.
Isn't it amazing how pioneering Roland was back then? (compared to now where they are kind of pioneering in some areas like cloud subscriptions... ugh...). Although, the recent SH-4d makes me optimistic that Roland may have finally been listening to customer feedback about what the market wants.
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The Korg Trinity from 1980? Close, at least.
The Trident, right? That was definitely an early one.
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The Korg Trinity from 1980? Close, at least.
The Trident, right? That was definitely an early one.
My mistake. I meant Trident.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu3Sm_FWwhI
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Behringer is now tossing around the idea of producing a Quadra clone. Bah! Humbug!
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Behringer is now tossing around the idea of producing a Quadra clone. Bah! Humbug!
Their "might be" product announcements have become something like annoying background noise to me. At first, it get's your attention. That soon turns into "man, that noise is annoying".
But then your brain adapts and auto-ignores the noise... that's where I'm at with their clone announcements.
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Ditto.
As I'm sure you know, the Quadra was produced during the dying days of ARP Instruments, and it's regarded as a lunge that failed. It remained for the Avatar to deliver the final blow. I do wonder if a Quadra re-issue could do any better today. It's four mediocre synthesizers in one, with a nice stereo phaser added. But if you like the ARP sound, then this is the one for you. If reasonably priced, it would probably have a cult following, but I imagine that following would be significantly smaller even than the Odyssey and 2600 base. I'd love to have one myself, but I'm not the typical synthesist. Nor would I buy one produced by his highness.
I'll be surprised if a new Quadra ever sees the light of day. Personally, I would much more prefer an ARP Axe, Solus, or Omni II re-issue - each full sized, of course.