Oddment ODD-1 Is a Desktop Lab for Granular Sound Synthesis – GR MEGA Killer?
Oddment’s ODD-1 is a new hardware granular sampler that can play eight samples at a time – but can it dethrone GR-MEGA as the king of granular?
Oddment ODD-1
Granular sampling and processing is all the rage in software these days. Given the processing power required, it’s understandably less common in hardware form. They do exist, though, with Tasty Chips’ GR-MEGA being the reigning king of hardware granular. I actually just included GR-MEGA in my recent list of five next-level hardware synths. Now there’s an upstart here to challenge GR-MEGA.
Called ODD-1, it’s the first product from new outfit Oddment, and with bi-timbrality, dual filters, and quad-core ARM processors, it’s spoiling for a fight. Eagle-eyed readers may remember ODD-1 from a Synth Journal last year. We have significantly more information now.
ARMed to the Teeth
ODD-1 is a slick little desktop hardware granular sampler. Oddment is calling it both a laboratory for sound creation and a playground, and we can’t find fault in that. It’s got a lot on offer, and it sounds great in the demos.
ODD-1 is a synthesizer with granular processing, a sampler, looper and a real-time effect processor. The big selling point is its ability to handle eight stereo samples up to 60 seconds simultaneously at 48kHz with eight independent playheads total. To handle all this, it comes equipped with a custom microsonic (that’s granular to you and me) sound engine plus quad-core ARM A72 CPU chips to process it all.
Dual Layers, Eight Voices
As a synthesizer and sampler, it offers two layers of timbrality, each with four voices. You can play up to eight 60-second samples at 48kHz at the same time, with each layer having four independent playheads with flexible sample assignment. You can control grain size, spacing, placement and shape with the endless encoders, with additional knobs for playheads and sample editing. ODD-1 also offers per-grain spatial audio and auditory-inspired filtering and a unique variable-speed Time Path for sample stretching.
You’ve got two stereo filters per voice with cutoff and resonance, plus a variety of resonant filter designs on hand.
As for modulation, you get four LFOs and four envelopes, plus push-button modulation assignment that also extends to macro, MIDI and control voltage assignment.
There are also effects, with saturation per-voice and per-layer with distortion, bit crush, and compression, two echo units per-layer with distortion and filtering in the feedback loop, plus chorus, phaser, flanger, tremolo, and tape emulation, and all modulatable.
True Sampling
Oddment wants you to use ODD-1 as a sampler too, and as such, it offers true sampling via the analog audio input and microphone input. There’s also USB audio in, plus sample and patch transfer via USB.
You get 4GB of user storage for saving samples and patches, and can even record performances directly to the device.
Hardware and Software
ODD-1 is housed in a slim desktop box with 18 infinite encoders with integrated switches and LEDs that you use in concert with the capacitive 2.8-inch touchscreen.
In terms of connectivity, the granular synthesizer includes USB-C audio in/out and MIDI in/out, 3.5mm stereo audio in/out, 3.5mm TRRS headphone output with microphone input, and four 3.5mm 0-5V control voltage inputs. It’s also MIDI 2.0 compatible with 3.5mm TRS MIDI in and out, with software-based MIDI thru, and is MPE-ready.
Purchase of the instrument also includes a copy of the companion ODD-1V plugin, which recreates the ODD-1 in your DAW.
Pricing and Availability
Oddment is now taking preorders for ODD-1. The price is $999, and you’ll be required to make a refundable deposit of $300. The instrument will ship in August.
Interestingly, the site lists the ODD-1V plugin as having a retail value of $195 and a street date of June. It’s possible this will be available separately, so if you like the processing but don’t need the hardware, keep an eye out for this.
Oddment will be at Superbooth this week. If there’s more information to report, you know we will.
More Information
- Oddment ODD-1 product page
- More about samplers
- More about synthesizers
- Buy synthesizers at Thomann*
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One response to “Oddment ODD-1 Is a Desktop Lab for Granular Sound Synthesis – GR MEGA Killer?”
Maybe it’s just me, but with a clickbait title of “GR MEGA Killer?” I’d expect an actual comparison. GR Mega has 20 voices with 128 grains each (up to 10.000 grains in total), lots of LFOs, and much more. So the odd-1 is not a “GR-Mega killer”, and the plugin version is one of about a hundred granular plugins.