Thanks Sacred Synthesis and tumble2k! i was supposed to get my P-12 today, but UPS is now saying Tuesday. However, I started today with an oscillator test of P-08 vs. the Pro 2. Once I get the P-12 i will add it into the mix. Since the oscillators in the Pro-02 are supposed to the be the same as the P-12, we will probably see the same results.
A lot of focus of the differences among these instruments has been on the oscillators. The P-08 is a digitally controlled analog oscillator, while the Pro 2/ P-12 are full digital oscillators. Of course, the mantra has been that a VCO is king for rich sound. So, to see the differences, I brought my KARP Odyssey into this to compare. While it is a reissue, the KARP is supposed to be true to the original. In my playing and programming it, i think Korg is right.
So, I started by putting all three instruments through an oscilloscope with a single oscillator playing. I selected a saw tooth wave since it is the most rich harmonically.
The KARP, I had to back off of the Low Pass filter some to get a saw tooth wave. There are some other harmonics in the oscillator cluttering the wave without some filtering. I tuned the KARP to A-440. I played an A for about 30 seconds. While the note sounded very steady, the oscilloscope showed that the frequency was varying between 439.93 to 440.10 hz. i could not tell from my ear that the pitch was varying, but it was. i assume that this variance is typical of a full analog oscillator. BTW, the variance appeared random. There was no wave shape that I could discern of the variance.
I then did the same test on the P-08. The harmonics making up the saw wave were much more accurate than the KARP, but were not perfect. The wave sounded very steady. However, the oscilloscope showed that the wave was varying too, but to a less degree. The frequency varied between 439.98 and 440.01 hz. Again, the variance appeared random. So, based upon this test, I am making an assumption that the digital control lessened the variance, but could not eliminate it.
I then added "slop" to the P-08 oscillator to try to mimic the KARP. I found that the frequency variance became similar to that of the KARP when I put the slop to "2". Beyond that, the variance went well beyond the KARP's. Another thing I noticed is that up to "2" the overall frequency went flat. Beyond "2", the overall frequency would go sharp. These variances were nothing I could hear, but were definitely being picked up by the oscilloscope.
The same test was done on the Pro-2. The saw wave was precisely produced. Variance in the frequency was almost non-existent 440.00 - 440.01 hz. Putting the slop to "2" again made the variance similar to the KARP, with the same flat to sharp phenomenon occurring as the P-08.
I next did the same tests using two oscillators on each instrument. Both oscillators were saw tooth at 440hz. It was really tough to bring both oscillators into such close tune on the KARP. I never tried to be so accurate before on that instrument. On the KARP, the variance in frequency could be heard now, but was very minor. Also, there was no phasing sound.
On the P-08, the variance in sound was not so much in the playing of a single note. However, when I went through each of the eight voices the timbre was different for each voice which I thought was odd. I added slop to "2" and it did not really mimic the sound of the KARP. When I held down the note there would be a phasing sound that would develop.
The Pro-2 came out as the star of steadiness. Adding the second oscillator did not vary the harmonics significantly. However, when I added slop, it did not mimic the KARP. Instead, like the P-08, it created a phasing sound.
I attached two recordings. The first is the single oscillator sounds in this order - 1. KARP, 2. P-08, 3. P-08 with slop to "2", 4. Pro -2. The second recording is with 2 oscillators in the same order except I added a section on the end of the Pro-2 with slop. Also, on the P-08 section, I rotated through all 8 voices so you could hear the timbre change.
More later...