G Force Oddity VST Synth Modeling Plugin for Mac and PCSince its release, the Oddity has caused quite a stir amongst synth aficionados with both reviewers and discerning musicians remarking that it represents a real step forward in virtual analogue emulations. With its distinctive and accurate operational method and vintage tonal character, as well as modern enhancements such as
Patch Morphing and Flying Sliders, the Oddity is far more than a simple analogue emulation - it's more an expressive instrument in its own right. In fact the Oddity is so close to the original Odyssey in both sound and operation that legendary keyboard player Herbie Hancock commented, "The Oddity is so authentic! It takes me back to my Headhunters days!" High praise indeed, especially considering his celebrated Headhunters album (the largest selling Jazz album in history) used the original instrument to such wonderful effect way back in 1973.
The Oddity is modeled on the classic ARP Odyssey which was used by artists as diverse as Gary Numan, Herbie Hancock, Kraftwerk and Portishead. In much the same way as the M-Tron turned a whole new generation on to those sounds, we’re certain the Oddity will do the same in terms of monophonic/duophonic synths.
The Oddity is the result of a lengthy collaboration between GMedia and Ohm Force with both parties bringing unique skills to the project. As a result they 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. They 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 they set out to avoid. The effort and attention to detail have certainly been worth it.