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New OBERHEIM OB-X8 Announced!


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That thing is so beautifully deep. I wonder if there's anything they didn't do.

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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Thanks for the demo.

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'55 and '59 B3's; Leslies 147, 122, 21H; MODX 7+; NUMA Piano X 88; Motif XS7; Mellotrons M300 and M400’s; Wurlitzer 206; Gibson G101; Vox Continental; Mojo 61; Launchkey 88 Mk III; Korg Module; B3X; Model D6; Moog Model D

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12 hours ago, GovernorSilver said:

This demo does include "Jump".   

 

Bandpass filter sounds cool.

 

Cool demo,- all sounds very good.

It should,- for the money !!!

 

But I also come VERY close w/ Sonic Projects OP-X Pro II and my refurbed and stable Oberheim XK offering the arpeggiator and all the original left-hand-controller haptics.

 

I´d need to sell my Oberheim Xpander for the OB-X8, but I won´t.

But when I win in a lottery or such,- I´d buy OB-X8 in a heartbeat to complete my Xpander.

Beyond doubt, OB-X8 sounds gorgeous !

 

☺️

 

A.C.

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Listening to the demos, I have yet to hear anything original or creative being done with the OB-X8.  

 

Hopefully, that will change once the OB-X8 lands in the *right* hands.  😎

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PD

 

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return."--E. Ahbez "Nature Boy"

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7 minutes ago, ProfD said:

Listening to the demos, I have yet to hear anything original or creative being done with the OB-X8.  

 

Hopefully, that will change once the OB-X8 lands in the *right* hands.  😎

 

Agreed.  Everyone so far is just revisiting old favorites in some way or another.

 

Waiting for Justin Lee Schultz to get his hands on one.  He's a talented kid whose parents supply him with great gear.

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On 6/14/2022 at 6:15 AM, Al Coda said:

 

I´d need to sell my Oberheim Xpander for the OB-X8, but I won´t.

But when I win in a lottery or such,- I´d buy OB-X8 in a heartbeat to complete my Xpander.

Beyond doubt, OB-X8 sounds gorgeous !

 

 

 An Xpander above an OB-X8 would be a WMD. So would anyone who can master that thing. The Xpander is partially visible in quite a few softsynths these days. It still contains the mod matrix of the gods.

An evangelist came to town who was so good,
 even Huck Finn was saved until Tuesday.
      ~ "Tom Sawyer"

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12 hours ago, David Emm said:

 An Xpander above an OB-X8 would be a WMD.

 

I had such combo in the past when I still owned the OB-8 and bought the Xpander in addition.

But my OB-8 had a not quick and easy to find technical problem and it crashed on me 2x during concerts, so I decided to sell it.

 

A few weeks later, a service tech found the fault for the new owner by swapping ICs,- a invisibly kinked IC contact (leg) ...

 

Now, the OB-X8 is a better and more flexible machine than the OB-8 and therefore worth to buy.

When I were much younger and still tour or gig, I´d buy it now.

I stll prefer hardware over software, even some software became really good too.

But it´s a completely different workflow when programming patches,- I hate programming w/ the mouse and have to wear glasses for.

 

☺️

 

A.C.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 3 weeks later...
On 5/16/2022 at 11:56 AM, analogika said:

Every Oberheim sold is another one made, which means that another one will live for future generations to embrace once we’re gone. 

So I can add this as a good excuse in my head to spend such an exorbitant amount of money, for me, already stuffed to the gills with synths, on the OBX8? I'd love to think so! OTOH if TheRealMC tells me my A6 will suffice for hobbyist retirees like myself and I'd be better off saving for my inevitable dentures... I'll listen to that, too. ;)

 

My usual feeling with such instruments is the opposite: "don't waste such a great instrument on your own introvert private studio where no-one but you will hear it and enjoy it; leave it to the Big Boys who actually gig and play and record with it" -- my usual justification for being perfectly happy with, say, the VSTs OB-E (GForce), OP-X (Arturia) and Obsession (Synapse) in this case.

 

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8 hours ago, realtrance said:

don't waste such a great instrument on your own introvert private studio where no-one but you will hear it and enjoy it; leave it to the Big Boys who actually gig and play and record with it" -- my usual justification for being perfectly happy with, say, the VSTs OB-E (GForce), OP-X (Arturia) and Obsession (Synapse) in this case.

 

QFT,- good reality check !

Since I retired, lots of my hardware gear feels like some albatross ´round my neck, costs time and money for service and consumates too much of now very expensive energy too.

 

☺️

 

A.C.

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1 hour ago, Al Coda said:

 

QFT,- good reality check !

Since I retired, lots of my hardware gear feels like some albatross ´round my neck, costs time and money for service and consumates too much of now very expensive energy too.

 

☺️

 

A.C.

Well, plus I showed Michael C.’s flowchart to my wife, and she went promptly to my synth closet and asked, “how many synths do you have in here?” — to which I replied, “Blasphemy!”

 

We had a good chuckle.

 

Moving big, expensive synths around at my age also takes the wind out of me, increasingly, so there’s also that.

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11 hours ago, realtrance said:

my A6 will suffice

I'm not The Real MC but my counsel would be that you're better than good with the Andy (A6).

 

 

Despite any quirks, the Andy with 16 voice polyphony and multitimbral and a sequencer is all the poly synth most will ever need. 😎

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PD

 

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return."--E. Ahbez "Nature Boy"

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On 5/16/2022 at 4:51 PM, Reezekeys said:

 

....I like to think that the way an instrument makes you feel as you play it is a big part of why we do this.....

 

That's one of the reasons I have Ludwig drums, when I could go Chinese for much less money.  They just feel (and sound) right to me.

It's also one of the reasons why I would get an OB-X8 if $5K was a drop in the bucket for me, but it's not.

Tom and Marcus being involved with it would be another reason, as well as nostalgia, history, heritage, and so on.

I'm just glad that it exists, and that some people will be able to get them.

 

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2 hours ago, ProfD said:

I'm not The Real MC but my counsel would be that you're better than good with the Andy (A6).

 

 

Despite any quirks, the Andy with 16 voice polyphony and multitimbral and a sequencer is all the poly synth most will ever need. 😎

You don't have to be, and I agree, whatever others might say. I refer to Michael Caloroso because I know he was closely involved with the development of the A6, and the A6's architecture owes a lot to close consideration of Oberheim architecture (among others), and I've always been appreciative of all that.

 

It amazes me to this day what Keith Barr and Alesis were able to pull off with the Andromeda; to this day, no-one's achieved anything like a replacement for it. Moog One excels in many ways, but the price is quite high. I don't think an "emulation" of the A6 will ever be possible, though aspects of its architecture have been matched and exceeded in a variety of places since its debut. 

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Got it home last night then had to head right for a gig.  Today is the first day I was playing around with it.

For people worried about weight... this thing is LIGHT.  When I was given the box I had to check for a label if it really was the OB-X8

More review details later.

 

 

oberheim-ob-x8-mc-07.jpg

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I received my Oberheim OB-X8 on Thursday and had a bit of time to play around with it. I was able to replicate some original sounds I made on my 1983 OB8 and the OB-X8 sounds just as delicious. The only difference is more noise on the output of the OB8 (no surprise) and a bit of high-end roll-off on the right output of the OB8 (probably need to replace the aging op-amp there). Otherwise, they sound identical. 

Oberheim really nailed it. It is THAT sound, unmistakably so. The build quality is second to none, the keybed is fantastic, and the updated features are very welcome. I love it.

Oberheim.jpg

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15 hours ago, Jim Alfredson said:

I received my Oberheim OB-X8 on Thursday and had a bit of time to play around with it. I was able to replicate some original sounds I made on my 1983 OB8 and the OB-X8 sounds just as delicious. The only difference is more noise on the output of the OB8 (no surprise) and a bit of high-end roll-off on the right output of the OB8 (probably need to replace the aging op-amp there). Otherwise, they sound identical. 

Oberheim really nailed it. It is THAT sound, unmistakably so. The build quality is second to none, the keybed is fantastic, and the updated features are very welcome. I love it.

Oberheim.jpg

 

can't wait! ordered mine, will arrive in septempber/october (Italy)
 

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  • 5 weeks later...

There is something so deeply, deeply satisfying in reading the unanimous reviews of this machine, and knowing that it was developed by a team around the guy who built the original. 

 

Something about coming full-circle and cementing a historic legacy, while keeping it accessible to future generations. With no compromises. 

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