Xpander
The Oberheim Xpander was developed by Marcus Ryle and set new standards in the construction and equipment of synthesizers in 1984 . The Xpander is designed as a module, does not have its own keyboard and must therefore be played or controlled via MIDI or CV / Gate connections.
Technical features
The six voices can be played in MIDI mono mode, whereby each voice reproduces its own sound and can react individually to controller data (pitch bend, modulation, ...). With matrix modulation, 22 destinations can be modulated with 15 sources. The idea is obviously to simulate the free connection options of a modular system. Although the classic structure, VCO = VCF = VCA with EGs, is to be found here first, new connections / modulations can be created with the lavish equipment and the matrix modulation (see below). The six voices can be assigned to the six CV / gates or MIDI channels and audio outputs using six different zones. In addition, the voices can also be arranged with panning L / R at the stereo output.
construction
The structure of the Xpander is quasi hybrid, i. H. VCOs and filters were analog, the LFOs, EGs, tracking generators etc. are calculated with two Intel processors. The envelopes are not the fastest and so the Xpander is more suitable for warm pads and soft bass or lead sounds than for sharp, percussive sounds with a fast attack. The Xpander and especially the Matrix-12 , the keyboard version of the Xpander , was considered the ultimate in its time - also in terms of price. The sounds of an Xpander or Matrix-12 can be heard on various 80s productions, primarily LA-Westcoast Rock / Pop. The Matrix-12 is technically almost identical to the Xpander , but two Xpander boards work in the Matrix-12 and there are no CV / Gate connections. There is also a mode in which all matrix entries can be viewed.
Each of the six voices had the following features:
- 2 × VCO
- VCF Multimode 15 different filter types
- 5 LFOs
- 15 VCAs
- 5 envelope generators
- 4 tracking generators
- 3 ramp generators
- FM / LAG