Whatsup guys? I haven’t really read anything about this synth here for a long time, and I was wondering why… compared to the minilogues and the rev2 the Mopho x4 seems to be kind of a forgotten piece.
I recently got another Mopho x4 after I’d sold my Mopho/Tetra combo some years before. I tried to replace it with a minilogue, and a prologue later, only to finally conclude that even though those synths are far more popular, have a great esthetic, and more voices (in the case of the prologue), they couldn’t replace the sound of the Mopho.
I really fell in love with my x4 again:
-it’s perfectly sized, feels very solid and has a great form factor.
-the modulation options are insane… I think theyre identical to the rev2, and they’re great for such a small synth.
-it’s quite easy and quick to program, even though some functions share controls.
-the sound is very full and powerful (I guess in part because of the sub osc’s and feedback, which the rev2 lacks).
-it’s one of the few synths I’ve ever used which shines both as a mono and a (4 voice) poly: It can do punchy, deep saw basses, but also shines as a Boards of Canada chord machine.
I’ve never got rid of my Tetra & toyed with the idea of the x4 as a controller. Went through a period of using it as a drum synth module driven by an Elektron sequencer with those four outs into the DAW but now back to it as a poly, it just sounds so good.
I have an DSI Mopho SE, which is a 44-key mono version of the Mopho. It is an awesome synth, but I mostly use it for synth bass duties on live gigs when hired as a bassist. Although I much prefer to play my electric basses, sometimes a synth is the right tool for a particular song.
The Tetr4 (seeing as we’re being pedantic) was the only synth I felt I needed for years. I’d still have it if the Soundtower software hadn’t been a shower of shite.
I was expecting the Rev2 to be pretty much the same synth with double the voice count and mod matrix slots, but it’s not: the resonance thins the sound much faster, and there’s a big volume drop when the oscillator mix is in centre position. Because of this, I think the Prophet 08 and its children still have an edge for certain sounds. That is, until you use the extra four voices and four mod slots as a workaround for those limitations.
Eight voices across fives octaves with eight mod slots and nearly every parameter at my finger tips: I mean… it’s a joy. For a relatively keyboardy player, not to mention a tinkerer, it was a bounding leap of an upgrade from the Tetr4.
That said, in terms of vanilla sounds, I prefer Prophet 08 generation synths for the reasons outlined in my previous post. It’s not as easy, for example, to create a deep, resonant bass without using some sort of workaround (say, using the bi-timbral mode to supplement lost frequencies – but then you’re down to four voices).
In terms of other new features: other than a light bit of chorus, I don’t find the effects usable (though it’s cool that the parameters are mod outputs); the polyphonic sequencer is pretty awkward to use; and I could probably live without wave shape modulation (other than pulse width, obviously). I do, however, really like having two stacked arpeggiators running at different rates via the bi-timbral mode.
I go could go on and on. But, bottom line, I think the Mopho X4 is a gem and still has its niche. I can imagine a type of player, one who doesn’t go too deep with the mod matrix and needs beefier sounds, who would be better served by the Prophet 08 generation synths.
