Oberheim OB-8 Is 2.66666666 Times Cooler Than Obie Trice
Join Bill Holland in welcoming back Ross Kelly. You may remember him from our "This Old Prohpet 5" series way back when, and as you'd expect, he's got another awesome synth to show us. His Oberheim OB-8 is pretty sweet, indeed, and this time Ross didn't even have to fix anything on it; we get to just dive in a hear it!
As you can see, tweaking sounds on the OB-8 is a very tactile experience: Ross's hands are all over this thing like Lt. Sulu performing emergency evasive maneuvers. You know, I could have said they were all over this thing like Lt. Sulu on Brad Altman, but in light of the ratification of Proposition 8, I just don't think that that kind of humor has a place in America anymore.
[ROSS KELLY PERFORMING A DEMONSTRATION OF THE OBERHEIM OB-8]
ROSS KELLY: Oberheim OB-8. It’s an eight-voice analog synth from the ‘80s. This one is equipped with the MIDI from the factory right there although I’m missing a jack, but it’s got the factory MIDI which makes life easier in the modern MIDI studio. It features two oscillators, each with a saw, pulse, triangle, or you can have saw and pulse at the same time. It comes with a two- or four-pole filter with resonance and envelope generators for each the filter and the oscillators. It also has a pretty comprehensive modulation section with a bunch of different waveforms and shapes for the LFO and a bunch of different routings along with depth for each modulation destination.
[ROSS KELLY PERFORMING A DEMONSTRATION OF THE OBERHEIM OB-8]
So now we’re changing the depth, changing the speed of the LFO, the shape, and that’s oscillating the frequency you want with both. I’m sure this one is the arp.
[ROSS KELLY PERFORMING A DEMONSTRATION OF THE OBERHEIM OB-8]
There’s pulse width modulation...,
[ROSS KELLY PERFORMING A DEMONSTRATION OF THE OBERHEIM OB-8]
...filter frequency.
[ROSS KELLY PERFORMING A DEMONSTRATION OF THE OBERHEIM OB-8]
This one is sample and hold for like funky stuff
[ROSS KELLY PERFORMING A DEMONSTRATION OF THE OBERHEIM OB-8]
[INDISCERNIBLE]
[ROSS KELLY PERFORMING A DEMONSTRATION OF THE OBERHEIM OB-8]
For the funky computer noises.
[ROSS KELLY PERFORMING A DEMONSTRATION OF THE OBERHEIM OB-8]
And of course you have the four-pole right before the two with a little steeper slope. I prefer the two-pole but that’s the four pole effect.
[ROSS KELLY PERFORMING A DEMONSTRATION OF THE OBERHEIM OB-8]
Let’s see. Let’s try a different patch here.
[ROSS KELLY PERFORMING A DEMONSTRATION OF THE OBERHEIM OB-8]
The different patches, this patch has got a little more effect with the filter frequency.
[ROSS KELLY PERFORMING A DEMONSTRATION OF THE OBERHEIM OB-8]
Well, let’s look at the arp on it. So , I can’t get the arpeggiator to work. The arpeggiator is a little bit temperamental here. It’s like I might lose my mind.
[ROSS KELLY PERFORMING A DEMONSTRATION OF THE OBERHEIM OB-8]
That’s on.
[ROSS KELLY PERFORMING A DEMONSTRATION OF THE OBERHEIM OB-8]
Nothing happening.
[ROSS KELLY PERFORMING A DEMONSTRATION OF THE OBERHEIM OB-8]
There’s the speed.
[ROSS KELLY PERFORMING A DEMONSTRATION OF THE OBERHEIM OB-8]
One thing I don’t like about this is that there’s no way to MIDI sync the arpeggiator on this. You basically have to use a CV -- excuse me -- a MIDI to sync adapter for it, of which I don’t currently have here, or you can fire it off of a rim shot just to restart the arpeggiator and whatever the sequenced pattern is.
[ROSS KELLY PERFORMING A DEMONSTRATION OF THE OBERHEIM OB-8]
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