Best way to digitally replicate the Optigan/Orchestron's low-fi sound?

Discussion in 'how to make "that" sound' started by MokuseiFolf13, Jul 19, 2024.

  1. MokuseiFolf13

    MokuseiFolf13 Ultrasonic

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    Hi y'all! It's been awhile since I've posted here. So basically from the sister site (Audioz) I obtained the Optigan Master Tapes Vol. 1 wav pack thing (bless the soul who finally got it there), and man, it sounds great!

    Though while it seems counter productive to degrade the actual sound quality of what's essentially the source of the sounds, I wanted to figure out how to sorta emulate the crunchy, fizzy age of the optical technology, akin to a dusty, antique optical film soundtrack. I am aware that there are destructive/degradative plugins that solely replicate tape and vinyl formats (Arturia Mello-Fi, iZotope Vinyl, etc.), which I am not averted to for this purpose, but I'd simply want to find something that at the very least can capture the optical disc quality.

    I would also like to mention that I'm on a Mac- incase that information could help.

    Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated~! <3
     
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  3. sisyphus

    sisyphus Audiosexual

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    Well the Optigan expansion for GForce's excellent MTron is an easy layup....
     
  4. Legotron

    Legotron Audiosexual

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    There was also old AKAI disc, which was pretty good.
     
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  5. MokuseiFolf13

    MokuseiFolf13 Ultrasonic

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    I have it already, though the issue is not all the samples are there. Not because of a faulty installation, but compared to the collection I got a hold of, this one had some missing/extra content, making the collection considerably more full. What I seek is a convincing FX plugin that gives it that optical film soundtrack feel.
     
  6. MokuseiFolf13

    MokuseiFolf13 Ultrasonic

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    Was it the Optical Disc Toolkit? Or was it the Optigan: The Official Orchestron AKAI disk?
     
  7. sisyphus

    sisyphus Audiosexual

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    No, it's not going to have all of that at the sister site I'd imagine. (and that has some things that simply weren't honestly released in Optigan format as I read it...as were the clean tapes right? and so I thought they culled it down for the Mattel releases iirc... but I don't know.

    Having owned an Optigan in the 90's through early 00's, and while I'm quite familiar with it's sound, since time distance between more modern fx plugs and whatnot, I've never done a 'shootout' with later fx plugs...

    but due to the medium, if I had to guess or shoot for it myself, I would think you would be more likely get there with something like the Psychic Modulation plugins as opposed to more analog audio tape degrader emulators.. (certainly at least as a starting point...)..
     
  8. MokuseiFolf13

    MokuseiFolf13 Ultrasonic

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    Thank you, I'll be sure to look into that.
     
  9. Smeghead

    Smeghead Rock Star

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    Arturia came out with a effect that's supposed to Melotron-ize any sound. I haven't tried it though yet. Really I would just mess around with some of those Lo-Fi vinyl plugins... that's the same basic crackle and then just put everything through a bandpass filter
     
  10. orbitbooster

    orbitbooster Audiosexual

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    Off topic: I checked with FFT the bandwidth of a Vako Orchestron Choir that isn't that different from the Optigan and it doesn't go above 2kHz.
    Much LowerFi than I thought.
     
  11. Legotron

    Legotron Audiosexual

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    @MokuseiFolf13 I´m not sure since the folder is labelled only Optigan.
    There are programs for Optigan Chord Sets, Talentmaker Chord Sets, Optigan Scales, Talentmaker Scales, Orchestron Scales.
    For the lo-fi effect, I´ll add Speakerphone vst, but those Psychic Modulation plugins are also top notch for degrading
     
  12. sisyphus

    sisyphus Audiosexual

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    Good call on Speakerphone (hard/impossible to find a darth version for current macOS etc unfortunately), (but then again, I don't know what @MokuseiFolf13 is running...it will run fine on my older 5,1's and whatnot....) but that plugin would absolutely be a great approach/path as well without question.
     
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