With the OB-X8, synthesizer legend Tom Oberheim presents a fantastic polyphonic analog synthesizer that is nothing less than a best-of of the in-house 80s poly synths OB-X, OB-Xa and OB-8. The detailed over-version of these groundbreaking polyphonic analog synthesizers shows itself unmistakably as a real Oberheim and is also visually very close to its three ancestors. In addition, there are quite a few innovations that purists and fans of the original Oberheim sound will gladly accept. The keyboard synthesizer has a high-quality and very pleasantly playable 61-key Fatar keyboard, which even generates Velocity and Aftertouch and passes them on to the sound generation. The consistently beautiful and rich basic sound of the OB series knows how to inspire for over 40 years and has been used in countless songs. Fans might first remember Van Halen "Jump", Prince "1999" and "Tom Sawyer" by Rush.
Three classics and more in the OB-X8
The development team around mastermind Tom Oberheim, including collaborators from days gone by and even Sequential, has deeply analyzed and faithfully reproduced all the complex interactions between the various components of the OB series to reproduce their finest nuances and character. The OB-X8 combines the three different sound architectures of the OB-X, OB-Xa, and OB-8 into a single instrument. The individual filter types and other characteristic features of each model have been faithfully reproduced to provide an authentic and unique OB experience. Furthermore, the individual elements of the originals can be combined and mixed to create sounds that were never possible with the original synths. Never before has there been an OB synth as versatile and powerful as the OB-X8. Anyone who has had contact with an original "OB" will know that it is the so-called Page 2 functions that unleash the hidden power of "the big guy in the pinstripes". Numerous proven parameters have been retained in the OB-X8; over 40 finely adjusted settings such as SEM filter modes, per-voice panning, LFO keyboard tracking, ModDelay time, envelope inversion and much more invite sound exploration.
The sound generation
The two assertive oscillators with a radiant yet velvety smooth sound each feature sawtooth, triangle and square waveforms (including adjustable pulse width). Oscillator A can be synchronized to oscillator B and even Crossmodulation for somewhat harder sounds in the FM range are also offered here. A noise generator can be added to the tone generators. The nice basic sound is processed with one of the characterful Lowpass filters or the soft drawing SEM filter. Since three different synths have been implemented in the OB-X8, the behavior of the respective modules differs from each other. For the user this has the unbeatable advantage of being able to combine the sounds of the classics himself.
Modulation
Primarily on the left of the control panel the modulations are assigned. The LFO is given the most space here, it has five waveforms and is assigned to oscillator pitch1/2 and cutoff, as well as PWM 1/2 and Volume with different intensities. Velocity and Aftertouch filter, VCA and LFO can be assigned directly by pressing a button, the dosage of the parameters is done with the playing style. The two ADSR envelopes with the softer punch typical for Oberheim are permanently assigned to filter and VCA. In unison mode all oscillators of the OB-X8 are summed to a big, upper fat mono sound. Those who love expressive synthesizer sounds will find their happiness here. The icing on the cake turns out to be the Vintage control, which shifts the accurate and precise circuits of the OB-X8 (oscillator drift, filter, envelope behavior...) towards the component-related inaccuracies of the originals. This way the best possible vintage sound is achieved.
Playing aids & memory
As a classic playing aid, the extensively editable Arpeggiator must of course not be missing. Over 600 sounds offer access to a sea of sounds and are at the same time inspiration for new sounds. Alternatively to the stored sounds there is the panel mode, if this is activated the OB-X8 sounds as it is set at that time. Thanks to keysplit a second sound is playable in the lower keyboard range within the eight-voice polyphony. Alternatively to the Split mode the Double mode can be activated, in this case you can play two sounds at the same time, i.e. layering. Lower and Upper are the indication of double multitimbrality, so you can let the Bassline play from the DAW while you play the impressive solo yourself.
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