Hi LeRoi,
I'm obviously a humongoid Origin fanboy and so here comes the gushing. I used to have a modular, along with all kinds of other digitals and analogs and can honestly say that the Origin has brought back the true joy of (modular) synthesis in a way I never expected...got mine last June, and can't keep my hands off of it. Often now ideas for sounds will pop into my head and when I sit down for a session, the result is either a cooler version of that idea or something altogether different and much more interesting, because of the many happy accidents that go along with working with a true modular.
The workflow and ergonomics of creating patches is so well thought out - you can tell that the designers spent a lot of time on that aspect. Many intelligent decisions were made, on the workflow, the features as well as the limitations. The user experience when programming and tweaking feels intuitive to me and it's very liberating to not be tethered to a computer mouse and monitor.
Patches that are quite complex can be thrown together in a short amount of time, module connections can easily be added, replaced/changed or removed, from either end, and the resulting sounds change in real-time i.e. you can change connections in a live setting. Admittedly, compared to a hardware modular where you just yank the patch chord and plug it in somewhere else, with Origin there are a couple more wrist movements involved. There is AFAIK no limit on how many connections a CV source or input can have, for example I've had patches where the same LFO output modulates 10 different CV inputs in various modules, and others where there are 6 different CV signals coming into the same Osc FM input. There is an attenuator knob for every connection, which is something many hardware modulars don't have. On top of that each attenuator knob has three different modes (unipolar, bipolar, inverse unipolar). Osc/LFO waveforms and filter types can be changed on the fly with dedicated knobs. Scrolling to the various Osc/Filter/LFO/Env modules can be done via the white Select knobs (one of the good design decisions), no matter what screen or mode you're in.
It's a real machine, it doesn't feel virtual or cumbersome/awkward. There is the feeling of using a well-designed machine, of engaging directly with it and after you know your way around, getting into a zen state and your hands moving very naturally between the knobs and buttons.
Ok I will stop myself here before I start into sweeping and grandiose statements
Hope this helps!
Paul
