Opus 3 - a possible future purchase

[ebg31]

Hi all,

Yesterday, I had a get-together with Herbert Deutsch, the brain behind the Moog as we know it. It's true!! Anyway, the conversation we had eventually turned to the Opus 3, a synth mentioned at a couple of different times in this forum.

In actuality, the Opus (not to mention much of the functions / parameters of The Source) came straight from Herb's brain. What he said was that he wanted to expand on the possibilities of commercial string machines by ARP, Roland, Korg and Yamaha. He also wrote the User Manual.

It was when I discovered the bit about the manual that I first considered possibly getting one used. For those of you who own, or used to own an Opus, how do you like it? Is it worth getting, if you can find one?

Thanks,
Eric.

[mee3d]

Hey Eric.

I have owned 2 Opus III's over the last 18 years . . . having not owned one in some time I recently stumped up the money and picked one up on ebay.

Once again I was surprised at the quality of the sound . . . if you solo out all the sections (strings, organ, brass) naturally it sounds thin and cheesy but any combination of sections, along with the proper moog filter on the brass and a lush chorus on the strings really brings it to life.

Compared to some of the other combi's (Korgs Trident and even some of the cheaper Crumars), it wasn't as featured as it could have been, and there are some serious routing limitations with the filter, chorus and VCA but it has that moog sound, one minute it can sound like a lush, retro, Vangelis or Jean-Michelle Jarre chorused sting pad the next like a polyphonic moog synth (the filter really does scream compared to a Prodigy or memorymoog).

And the great thing is the price . . . but no doubt that will start to rocket.

Mal

[kt_over_q]

One difference in the OPUS 3 ladder filter from the other Moog 4 pole ladder filters is the addition of a unity gain phase inverter stage at the output of the feedback injector.

Normally, Moog 4 pole filters will inject the feedback into the ladder base with it being 180 degrees out of phase. This can be noted by the gain loss that occurs when you increase the Q/regeneration on the filter.

The Opus 3 filter added another unity gain follower opamp that shifted the signal phase back to "in phase". When you increase the Q/regeneration you will immediately notice that the filter does not loose overall gain like the conventional ladder 4 pole filters. This slight modification may explain why the Opus 3 filter "jumps out at you" when the Q/regeneration (EMPHASIS) control is increased.

I haven't searched lately, but the M083 TOS and TDA1008 keyer dividers in the Opus 3 might be becoming "unobtainium" one of these days.

Craig

[mee3d]

There you go . . . I just about followed all that Craig!

It certainly does sound good though and probably the saving grace of what otherwise would be a limited sounding unit.

I always have a big problem with the Opus III's that I have owned in that, I love the sound but it's not something usable on every track . . . or even every 3 or 4 tracks so it sits around unplayed . . . sell it and suddenly you'll miss it!

Mal

[ebg31]

Thanks, you two.

There's one thing I forgot to ask about, because I thought it was included. Is the Opus completely a stand-alone synth? I know most Moogs (and ARPs) have facilities for routing signals through the filters. That doesn't exist here, does it?

If not, I may still get an Opus. I've also been considering buying a MicroKorg.

[mee3d]

Eric

The Opus III has little in the way of input/output connectors . . . It is stereo which is unusual for moog. I bet it wouldn't take much to modify the unit to accept an audio signal in through the filter or add CV I/O etc . . . maybe Craig can answer that one?

I owned a MicroKORG . . . I bought it the day it came out, I happened to be on holiday in NY and it was small (and cheap) enough to take back to London in my luggage. The UK launch was some months later so for a while I was the only dude in town with one.

Two very different machines though . . . there's no way they can be directly compared . . . just to give you my point of view . . . I quickly sold my microKORG in favor of another real analog synth.

Although the extra polyphony, arpegiator, MIDI, vocoder etc all add up to a great little rig, it's got that slightly thin Japanese KORG sound to it which you either like or not . . . I had an MS2000 before it and sold that also, although I have a Polysix in my set-up which is great sounding!

Personally I think buying a good software VST instrument is a better use of resources if you need a machine like the MK.

Mal

[kt_over_q]

A CV I/O mod on the Opus 3 would only allow the Master Tuning to be modulated as the control voltage would only change the master clock frequency on the input to the M083 top octave synthesizer IC. A summer node exists for this functionality (pich wheel and master tune control) so a high impedance input could be added if you wanted, but it would require a little trial and error.

The ouputs of the M083 top octave synthesizer IC are square waves and the highest frequency output for each note "name" are sent from the M083 TOS to the TDA 1008 keyer dividers IC(s). Each stage of the keyer IC ouputs a square wave an octave lower than the previous stage and if you sum these square waves over 5 octaves (on the 16' pitch) with each higher octave being at a lower level, you get what is called a "staircase" wave. The "staircase" wave has the same harmonics (if you sum at the right amplitudes) as a sawtooth with the exception of every 4th harmonic. It contains the fundamental, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 13th, etc overtones. It sounds close enough to a sawtooth and is cheap to generate polyphonically.

The Articulator is worthy of some discussion as well. Each key has it's own keyer capacitor that controls the audio levels of the composite waveforms output from the keyer/divider ICs) to the String/Organ/Brass "processing sections".

In Articulator Mode 1, each keyer capacitor will charge up and decay according to the settings of the Attack and Release controls independently. If you set up long Attack/Release times you will hear overlapping amplitude envelopes on the individual notes "a la Dream Weaver".

In Articulator Mode 2 when you release all keys and hit a new key with long Attack/Release times, a "gunshot" of current is sent from the Articulator control circuit which cancels the current keyer audio level, and the new key(s) depressed start over again with new keying envelopes dependent upon the Articulator A/R settings. This is similar to Arp Omni II's keyers.

The Opus 3 is a great "retro" piece and once you understand how to optimize the controls for your sound designing, you have a very playable and musical instrument.

Craig

[ebg31]

Eric

The Opus III has little in the way of input/output connectors . . . It is stereo which is unusual for moog. I bet it wouldn't take much to modify the unit to accept an audio signal in through the filter or add CV I/O etc . . . maybe Craig can answer that one?

I owned a MicroKORG . . . I bought it the day it came out, I happened to be on holiday in NY and it was small (and cheap) enough to take back to London in my luggage. The UK launch was some months later so for a while I was the only dude in town with one.

Two very different machines though . . . there's no way they can be directly compared . . . just to give you my point of view . . . I quickly sold my microKORG in favor of another real analog synth.

Although the extra polyphony, arpegiator, MIDI, vocoder etc all add up to a great little rig, it's got that slightly thin Japanese KORG sound to it which you either like or not . . . I had an MS2000 before it and sold that also, although I have a Polysix in my set-up which is great sounding!

Personally I think buying a good software VST instrument is a better use of resources if you need a machine like the MK.

Mal

One question - in multiple segments.

Mal, have you been involved in the synthesizer world for long? Have you ever gotten your hands on native UK gear? I've been fascinated by the best known gear, like EMS, Electronic Dream Plant, Mellatron and Novation for the last four years, or so. Have you ever used any of this gear?

Thanks!

[mee3d]

Eric

I was very lucky as a kid to have a supportive family and received for Christmas 79 an EDP Wasp at the age of 11. I bought my first synth in 82 (a Prodigy) after saving my money doing a paper delivery round and have never stopped . . .

During the late 80's, early 90's I played in an unsigned punk-funk-rock group (?!) doing the London pub and club circuit with a complete analog rig (by that time the rig included a jupiter6, Polysix, minimoogs etc, etc), too many keyboards to mention . . In 92 I was given the opportunity to work in Spain for a year at the Expo92 in Seville and I ended up selling all my kit, in fact I gave a lot of it away as no one wanted it then - my CS-80 went to a friend who used it to prop up a table top!

At that point my whole career changed and i no longer did any music but In the last 4 years I have started somewhat of a renaissance and now that i have a bit more money I have been in pursuit of all the kit that I couln't quite afford back then.

So to answer your question regarding British gear . . I had the EDP wasp to start with . . . I have to say it was great at the time (I was young!) but it really is a dreadful synth in hindsight (people will be upset with me now), for a long time I ran it with just it's internal speaker . . . yuk! I eventually gave it to a youth club that i used to go to . . . they had 2 Wasps already and an external EDP keyboard which allowed you to play up to 4 Wasps together for polyphony (through a connection which was a forerunner to midi). . . through an amp it actually sounded OK with a bit of reverb and we had three of them so we could play chords (remember this was 1979 /80) but you had to set each synth up with the same patch and no 2 sounded the same so it was a bit hit and miss - a lot of fun.

Then . . . in 1994 I bought my first Oxford Synthesizer Co. OSCar . . . what a great keyboard it was compared with the Wasp (the OSCar was created by the same designer), I have owned 3 OSCars since then . . . gigged the first one until it literally fell apart. Shame they never made the poly version . . in my mind the only synth that could give a mini a run for it's money. I recently sold the 2 that i had left as the Oddity software version is very very good . . . I guess they did make a poly version in the end afterall (and from another british Company GMedia).



I haven't had much experience with either the Mellotron or EMS stuff . . . both these are in avenues that don't interest me that much (sample playback and modular experimental) as I am very much a hands on player, also both these instruments nowadays are very expensive to source.

When I first started getting back into it I wasn't sure I was going to go down the analog route again so the first few keyboards I bought were Virtual analogs like the Korg MS2000 and the Novation SuperNova . . . I very much liked the Novation stuff and ended up buying a K-Station as well but I ended up selling both the korgs and replacing them with a Vintage Polysix and MONO/POLY which sound so much better. The Novation stuff was also sold when i picked up a Jupiter 8 and memorymoog. I also tried out the Alesis ION recently, and although I thought it sounded excellent I had so many problems with it (they replaced it 3 times in 4 weeks) I ended up selling that also, so now I am down to what you see here.



Lastly, here is a photo of my OPUS III, complete with piano black lacquered finish.



Mal

[ebg31]

DAMN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's one f***ing rig of analog girth, my brother! Looks like you're trying to combat Rick Wakeman, Keith Emerson, Patrick Moraz and Geoff Downes all in one fell blow! I'm a tad green, right now.

I was once shooting for something of that nature. My old keyboard rig once incluced: Wurlitzer 200A electric piano; Alesis QS6 digital synthesizer (my first keyboard, given to me as a gift); Roland JX-8p polysynth; ARP Axxe II monosynth (first one I bought); Fender Rhodes Suitcase MkI; Hammond E church model organ w/ Leslie Highboy. Not bad for an out-of-work musician who's actually a guitar player.

[I still have the organ, the Alesis and the Rhodes, which needs fixing. I've replaced the JX 8p - which didn't belong to me - with a JX-10. Sold the Wurlitzer a year after I bought it, and I'm selling the Axxe. There's also a pair of Baldwin electric pianos and a defunct EML 101 / 300 variable controller.]

I'd considered expanding my keyboard rig, but I do find Mal's pictures and story motivating. Now, I just need a few "pounds." [/img]

[mee3d]

DAMN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Looks like you're trying to combat Rick Wakeman, Keith Emerson, Patrick Moraz and Geoff Downes all in one fell blow!

Well there's a Wizard in all of us I guess . . . actually I think my Synthex might have belonged to Geoff before me . . . I have just put that up for sale on www.rlmusic.co.uk (terrible shame to see it go but i am trying not to duplicate sounds accross keyboards and it also represents a big chunk of money).

Now I'm down to just my wish list . . . there's a Chroma in the workshop getting fixed up and the Opus is tucked away below the OB-8 (along with my Alesis QS6.1, ideal for the odd gig). I'm looking for a reasonable cost Synclavier II and possibly a Snergy II+ (anyone out there got one of these for sale?) and then that's me well and truly done!!

Someone get me a psychiatrist!

Mal


P.S. some of the 15 keyboards that I have sold over the last 2 months.

[gd]

I am in total awe of your collection, I am just starting on replenishing my kybds, I have enough vintage guitars now. I find alot of Juno's here but no OB's or Moogs. I keep looking in the mirror and asking myself why did I ever sell my old kyds (minimoog, arp, mellotron). I quite enjoy my A6 but it is not a Moog or Mellotron and try as they do the new Yamaha ES series just doesn't seem to have the "soul" that the analogue units do.

[ebg31]

Say Mal, while we're at it, what do you do for a living? Are you gigging, or doing session work on a daily basis? You must be doing something lucrative to suddenly afford any of those synths and/or their repairs.

Do you, perhaps have an official website?

I actually read in Mark Vail's Vintage Synthesizers from 2000 that most Italian units (i. e. the Synthex) are un-repairable. Did you ever wind up in a situation to find this out?

According to the book, the only one that tekie Wes Taggart will work on is the Curmar Spirit, the only one designed by our own Dr. Robert Moog. Ever have one of them?

Eric.

[ticker]

uh, that is one hell of a set up you have there.

[mee3d]

I am not doing anything in the music business at the moment. i have played in bands and for a long time I wrote music for corporate video presentation but for now the kit is really just a collection.

I run a small design studio in London creating multimedia presentation for corporates, websites, interactive CD-ROMS, touch-screen kiosks, DVD design and production, 3D animations for broadcast TV etc.

Currently we are putting together a presentation for the Farnborough international Air Show and I will be using the set-up to do the opening ident score and spot effects in surround, using Nuendo.

I'm fortunate enough to be able to do the odd repair job myself as my training was as a television broadcast engineer . . . although my skills are a little rusty now. In my experience so far I have found that everything can be fixed with the right techie and I'm lucky to know a very fine chap who can work miracles - he is currently working on a Rhodes Chroma for me as that was way above my head (very over engineered . . . it comes from ARP so that figures!).

My website is just a holding page for now as I am rebuilding it . . . should be up for the start of September http://www.mee3d.com

I will be moving all the kit into a purpose built studio in the garden in the fall . . . when that's done I plan to get back into recording, I'll start by bring up to date some of my corporate workand and try to get an album out.

Mal