I have to reiterate something. I've been plonking along on my workstations lately, and laying the groundwork for a music project, so I've been neglecting the Origin for a while. Last night, I fired it up again, and...
Just noodling around on it, checking out the patches from Arturia and my own creations, I've forgotten just how good this little beige box sounds! Lately, I've caught the modular bug and want to buy a huge system the size of a Mg Modular III. And a poly analog, a Prophet 08 at least. Well, just getting reacquainted with the Origin has soothed that hunger greatly.
And it baffles me why some people have grown tired of this synth in its current form. This
IS a modular synthesizer. You
MAKE INSTRUMENTS on it. Virtually.
But it sounds fantastic, very analog. And programmable, and polyphonic! Something a real modular just doesn't do unless you have a small fortune to spend on a custom synth. You can make patches of just about any vintage synth you want with the building blocks in it right now. I'm looking forward to the SEM Filter of course, as it sounds different than the Origin Filter I'm currently using to recreate Oberheims, as well as Prophets and other synths. So sure, I want more modules made for it in the future, especially the Prophet OSC and Filter, the SEM OSC, the CS-80 template, whatever they can fit into it. I'm hoping it has plenty of room in the EPROM for more goodies in the future, because I want everything I can get. Except maybe the organ model which is redundant for me.
But as it is now, this is one of the BEST synthesizers on the market. Extremely flexible, fairly easy to program - yes, it would be great to have a computer editor. But my vision isn't the greatest, and I can still plow through the various blocks and their parameters quite easily. It's tedious, but tell me a modular that isn't. And again, you don't have to scribble out patch notes or take pics of your front panel, and you can play big juicy CHORDS! With effects even. No other instrument will let me create not just modular Mgs, but ARPs, Rolands, even Yamahas. And soon, Oberheims!
I don't get the whole flap over it lacking DAW integration. Does a Mg synth have DAW integration, or a Jupiter or Andromeda? A Prophet 5 or a Matrix-12? Does any guitar or drumkit?
I love all my instruments, and hate the thought of selling anything, which I might have to do to get a few choice synths this year. But one thing I'll never sell is the Origin. Even if an Origin II gets released, this thing is just too useful, and an O II would have to do a LOT of things to make me think of getting rid of my Original.
To heck with this typing stuff, I want to make some noise.