U-he Repro-1 vs Pro-One

A look at the fabulous U-he Repro-1 alongside an original Sequential Circuits Pro-One.

The similarities are simply stunning. I take a look at the oscillators, followed by the filters then make a couple of useable sounds and add a sequence.

Finally I look at the more complex challenges for a soft synth - FM with oscillator sync.

I think you'll agree the Repro-1 is outstanding on all fronts.

I've also added a short overview of the Jaws wave shaper, which can totally transform the sound.

..plus a little Repro Yazoo thrown in for fun..

Basic Oscillators 1:30
Filters 10:30
Some Sounds 15:30
Sequencer 17:00
Frequency Modulation 19:20
Oscillator Sync 21:30
Repro-1 extra features 25:30
JAWS waveshaper 26:30

[AdamSchneiderMusic]

Every VST and Hardware comparison should be done with this level of detail. Great video!

[BirdYoumans]

I was a keyboard player turned bassist because I loved bass so much back in the late 60's and 70's forward. But around 75 our group lost it's keyboard player and I decided to start playing keys with the right hand and keyboard bass with the left. The band had an Arp and a wurlitzer electric piano and they were beautiful together. I did it that way until one day around 81 or so I was in the music store and there was this pro 1 new for about 500 bucks. I sort of chuckled to myself because synths weren't terribly cheap back then but I played it for a minute and my jaw dropped. Monophonic is all you need for bass and it just sounded unbelievable. I took it home with me that day and loved it for years. Best bass synth ever. Time rocked on and I later became a solo artists using all the instruments I had learnd to play and sort of left "electronica" behind since I was more country/bluegrass, but I never forgot that sound. Yesterday I downloaded this Uhe trial version and once again, I am blown away. Not only how good the pluggin sounds, but the nice little added features this one has. I will be buying the serial number lol! Hard to believe this is software. And you get the Pro 5 in the package as well. Spent a few hours with it last night going thru sounds and re-acquainting myself with the interface. A dream come true. There might be some "experimental" music in my future lol! Uhe did an awesome job with this, but then, all their synths are from another planet, even the free ones.

[mrnelsonius]

I’m absolutely in love with U-He’s software. I feel like Diva kind of blew the door open and we started getting some really excellent emulations of classic synths available. I love hardware. If I wasn’t in a tiny LA apartment on a budget I’d still want hardware just for the tactile experience they give to sound design. But alas, I’m making music in 2020 on a laptop that 20 years ago, would’ve taken a huge studio and tens of thousands or dollars worth of hardware to produce. Blessed we are!!

[UrsHeckmannBerlin]

The rippled edges on the Pro-One are both on upper and lower end (symmetric), but on Repro-1 they are only on the lower end. That is because Repro-1 is oversampled a fair bit at 44.1/48kHz, which creates a tad of phase shift above, say, 6kHz. Hence the ripples in Repro-1 are slightly shifted. You can reduce this shift vastly by recording at 192kHz.

[nordengine]

I'd forgotten how real the Repro-1 sounded and reinstalled after months of using modular gear. I mean, wow, this synth is really top notch. Thanks for this amazing review, really well done 🙏🏼

[VesiustheBoneCruncher]

This review really needed to be done, thanks for doing such a bang up job.

[christophertodman]

all your video comparisons have been indispensable

[PulseAM]

Pro One was my first ever synth! Wish I still had it.

[Janomix]

As say by Vince Clarke, the Pro One have an extremely fast envelopes, that can make very percusive bass and pluck sounds. Repro can't get these super-fast decay and sound a little tinier. Pro One are the king for synthpop ala Clarke style. Thanks for your extensive deep comparison.

[redirishmanxlt]

I think you're the first to make a video comparing the Pro-One to U-He's RePro-One. I remember looking for video comparing these two a few months ago, I didn't find anything. Thanks for doing the video!

[lukeward]

Excellent comparison Starsky! Gonna have to get this Repro-1!

[dat_chip]

Great comparison! And it's quite impressive how well Repro emulates the real thing. Sure there are slight differences here and there, but it's really neglible.

[UrsHeckmannBerlin]

Regarding Modulation ranges: They vary a lot between two individual Pro-Ones. Much of it depends on resistors that have 5% variation - and extremely cheap pots. So a couple of tens of those make each Pro-One rather unique. The Pots, after 35 years, anyway. Many on ours seem to have their effective range from 3-8, with 1-3 and 8-10 doing nothing anymore. For Repro-1 we however made sure that each setting is still doing something :-)

[hazybrain]

Super classy comparison and review. The repro is incredible especially for the price. I wouldn't sell the Pro One though, it that extra something to my ears..

[MrSNEAKFREAK]

The Repro-1 is great! I think the real thing has that little extra sizzle, but it's extremely close. The Jawz waveshaper is probably my favorite thing about the Repro-1, it can radically change the sound. Great comparison.

[bontempo]

It's incredible work by Urs, sometimes the Pro-One sounds denser, but at 4:37 we do see extra harmonics. If that's second order harmonics then we could simply add a touch of them cleanly via a plugin like FieldingDSP Reviver. That might help even though it's not passing through the synth's audio path.

Also, at 7:06 you can visibily see the phasing on the frequency graph as the oscillators drift slightly on the Pro-One. Repro doesn't do that in that example, but i think you can tweak it.

[this.is.imagine]

This is what I call a brilliant review! I could feel that Repro-1 sounds great but it's really nice to hear the comparison to the original.

[lukehunnable]

I can hear a difference on my iPhone mini. Sure, in a mix, even the greatest ears probably couldn’t. Nice job 👏

[MrKayMrKay]

very, VERY impressive indeed! Wunderbar Urs!

[DoctorJezz]

Great content as usual man - well done. You're getting very real time with all these releases - serious review channel :)