[LAU] Why does PHASEX sound so damn good?

[Ken Restivo]

Rolling by on randomize came a Me and My Cronies jam/joke from years ago:

http://www.restivo.org/blog/podpress_trac/web/558/0/Not_OK_Computer.ogg

And I was struck by how much PHASEX sounds like a real analog synth, like an ARP 2600 or similar, and so much more real than any other software synths I've used.

It sounds so... raw, uncontrolled, well, ANALOG. Most software simulations sound more or less authentic, but all so much more "tame", for want of a better term. But PHASEX always sounded to me (and felt, as I was playing with it) that at any moment it could do something crazy like throw a DC offset, to into an uncontrollable oscillation, or blow up my speakers, etc.

I don't like being at a loss for precise, engineering terms, or understanding WHY something is, so I'm asking any of the DSP'ers here who might also have looked at (and understood) PHASEX's source.

Any ideas what is so different about PHASEX, and what might be this quality of it's sound I could be trying to describe?

-ken