Oddity

The Oddity is the result of a lengthy collaboration between ourselves and Ohm Force with both parties bringing unique skills to the project. As a result we have been able to extensively model the original instrument's components and have achieved a stunning degree of authenticity in terms of functionality, character and tonal textures. We look at it as the first plug-in synth with serious 'balls', particularly when using the duophonic mode with some ring modulation.

Much scientific analysis has been carried out to achieve this inspirational emulation of the classic mono/duophonic ARP Odyssey. Samples of the various Odyssey outputs were taken, with different settings, in order to understand the influence of each parameter on things like, the shape of the envelopes and filter responses etc. Also conducted were detailed analysis of the control paths (keyboard, LFO, etc) until finally there was enough information to model and code both the oscillators and filters. One of the most difficult tasks were things like the control signals which are quite strange. For example, each time a key is pressed, the envelopes and LFO are re-triggered. However if more than four keys are held, they aren't. Whether these things were a deliberate part of the original design is debatable, but in much the same way as the Mellotron's maximum note duration of eight seconds, it's this oddness that gives the original instrument bags of character, and it was vital to include these idiosyncrasies in The Oddity.

The Oddity features two syncable oscillators - fully tunable across a six octave range, with sawtooth,sine, square and variable pulse width waveforms. White and pink noise. Monophonic or duophonic modes. Host syncable LFO. Ring modulator, Resonant lowpass filter, highpass filter. Sample & hold, portamento, two envelope generators and a wealth of modulation routing options.

Further enhancements include velocity sensitivity, plus the famous Ohm Force patch-morphing and

a unique "flying slider" feature whereby it's possible to grab faders with the mouse and throw them at varying speeds, recording these changes within your host application. The GUI also features a glissandi keyboard and all on-screen parameters can be simply mapped to external MIDI control.

It would have been easy to to take the cynical approach to building this synth and simply bolt an Odyssey looking GUI to a bog standard set of oscillator and filter code - but that was exactly what we set out to avoid, we think the effort and attention to detail have certainly been worth it, we hope you do too.

The VSTi Oddity is supplied, boxed, with a full printed manual, 5 banks of 64 Presets.

Please take a little time to check out the Oddity Audio Demos below. We hope you enjoy them.

All Oddity (& delay) Demo (1.3Mb)

Funk Bass Demo (350Kb)

Harmonic Overtones (350 Kb)

Duo Distorted (350Kb)

Sample & Hold 1 (350Kb)

Sample & Hold 2 (350Kb)

Oddity Absynth Demo (1.8Mb)

An ambient Absynth chord with a searing Oddity lead.

Combined Demo (2.8Mb)

Section 1 features the Oddity on all parts except the drums which are taken from our Trance and Epic House CD

Section 2 features the Oddity on all parts except the drums which are taken from the DR-008 groove library.

Section 3 features the Oddity on all parts except the EVP88 for the Rhodes sound and the drums, which are taken from our Acoustic Swing & Shuffle Grooves CD

Section 4 features the Oddity for every instrument.

Four-Way Morph (500Kb)

Lead Morph (400Kb)

Oddity Rez Demo (600Kb)

Sample & Hold Morph (650Kb)

Many pro musicians and producers have contacted us and offered their feedback on this notably emotive instrument. The highly respected synthesist Klaus Schulze said, "Today I installed the Oddity.....it's beautiful. And with the 24db filters it sounds much better than the original! I really can recommend this synth."

While in the UK, praise also came from Liverpool pop-mongers, SPACE who initially said, "it's beautiful...even the packaging", and later added that "The M-tron & the Oddity feature heavily on the new SPACE album 'Suburban Rock & Roll'"

Praise also came from respected reviewers and magazines too, with Computer Music awarding it both Value and Performance Awards and commenting "It's one of the most inspirational and authentic analogue synths we've come across."

Additionally, aside from awarding it a Platinum and Value Award, Adam Fuest from Future Music also said "I have to say I unreservedly love the Oddity... If you were an Odyssey fan you have to have this. And if you have never tried an Odyssey then treat yourself."

In the USA Craig Anderton noted in EQ Magazine that the Oddity is "an aficionado's plug-in.....a product for synth connoisseurs", and perceptively stated that "it feels more like a labor of love than an attempt to rule the world of soft synths with a Great Big Commercial Hit; somebody put a lot of time into getting the details right."

And now in the UK, analogue authority Gordon Reid's detailed review in August 2003 issue of Sound on Sound surmised that "Soft synths have come a long way in the past few years, with oscillators and filters that sound very much like analogue circuitry. The Oddity is one of this new breed and provides a remarkable imitation of a classic synth." Before concluding; "Given that Odysseys are rare, expensive, unreliable, often have damaged faders, always have scratchy faders, often drift out of tune, and are always a nightmare to tune, I don't merely recommend that you try the Oddity. I very STRONGLY recommend you to try it."

"WOW!!!!! I just installed Oddity, and I feel like Michael J. Fox in "Back To The Future". I remember the ARP on gigs I did and sessions I played on "back in the day". This softsynth sounds like you went back in time and snatched the original and dragged it back to now. It sounds soooo amazing!" Ted Perlman, whose credits include: Whitney Houston, Harry Belafonte, Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Stephanie Mills, The Manhattans, Ringo, Joe Cocker, Chicago, Young M.C., Jonathan Richman, Peggi Blu and more...

"Incredibly accurate great ARP sound, versatile programming possibilities, wonderful interface and fun to the max! A musically useful trip to retroland!" Andrew Schlesinger, whose programming credits include: Emu, Generalmusic, Casio, Korg, Kurzweil, Roland, Novation, Kawai, Seer Systems and Alesis.

"Since I last talked to you, I have been using the Oddity again, in greater detail. I.....I can't....stop....using it. It is really great"
Mike Overacker - Odyssey Website Host

Minimum System Requirements

Mac OS:

Power Mac G4
64Mb of RAM (128Mb from Mac OS 9)
Mac OS 8.6 or higher
VST Instrument-compatible application such as Logic Audio or Cubase SX

Microsoft Windows OS:

Pentium III or better.
64Mb of RAM.
All current Windows versions
VST Instrument-compatible application such as Steinberg Cubase SX

MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) in force. CALL!