Oberheim OB-X
| OB-X | |
|---|---|
 Oberheim OB-X | |
| Manufacturer | Oberheim |
| Dates | 1979 - 1981 |
| Price | US$4,595 - US$5,995 |
| Technical specifications | |
| Polyphony | 4, 6 or 8 voices |
| Timbrality | Monotimbral |
| Oscillator | 2 VCOs per voice |
| LFO | 1 |
| Synthesis type | Analog Subtractive |
| Filter | 12dB per octave resonant low-pass |
| Attenuator | 2 x ADSR; one for VCF, one for VCA |
| Aftertouch | No |
| Velocity sensitive | No |
| Memory | 32 patches |
| Effects | None |
| Input/output | |
| Keyboard | 61-key |
| External control | CV/Gate |
The Oberheim OB-X is an analog polyphonic sound synthesizer.[1][2]
First commercially available in June 1979, it was introduced to compete with the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5, which had been successfully introduced the year before. About 800 units were produced with moderate success before the OB-X was discontinued in 1981, replaced by the updated and streamlined OB-Xa. The OB line developed and evolved after that with the OB-8 before being replaced by the Matrix series.
The OB-X would be used in popular music by Rush (on Moving Pictures and Signals), Nena, Styx member Dennis DeYoung (used frequently from late 1979 to 1984), Queen (their first synthesizer on an album), Prince, a keen user, and Jean Michel Jarre who used it for its massive "brass" sounds.
Specification
The OB-X was the first Oberheim synthesizer based on a single printed circuit board called a "voice card" (still using mostly discrete components) rather than the earlier SEM (Synthesizer Expander Module) used in Oberheim semi-modular systems, which had required multiple modules to achieve polyphony. The OB-X's memory held 32 user-programmable presets. The synthesizer's built-in Z-80 microprocessor also automated the tuning process. This made the OB-X less laborious to program, more functional for live performance, and more portable than its ancestors.
The "X" in OB-X originally stood for the number of voice-cards (notes of polyphony) installed. It came in four, six, and eight-voice models with polyphonic portamento, and sample and hold. Even the 4-voice model was expensive at US$4,595. The entire range used "paddle" levers for pitch and modulation, Oberheim's answer to the "wheel" controls of the Prophet-5. Though these controls were never as popular as the standard pitch and modulation wheels, the philosophy was to mimic the motion of a guitar player bending the strings on their guitar. On most other synthesizers the pitch bend wheel was on the left, and the modulation wheel to the right of it; on the OB-X Oberheim placed them in the opposite relative positions. In addition to this unique configuration the polarity of the paddles was distinctive; the player would pull back on the pitch lever to bend the pitch sharp, and push forward to bend flat.
Albums and Songs featuring OB-X
- Ambrosia – Road Island (1982)
- Laurie Anderson – United States Live (1984)
- Chromeo - Business Casual (2010) (Most notably as the intro of You Make It Rough). [3]
- Paul Davis – 1980 self-titled LP on the song "All The Way" (1979)
- Earth, Wind & Fire – Faces (1980)
- Earth, Wind & Fire – Raise! (1981)
- Eurythmics – Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) (1983)
- John Foxx – The Garden (1981)
- Jerry Goldsmith – Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
- Dave Grusin – Out of the Shadows (1982)
- Bruce Hornsby & The Range – The Way It Is (1986)
- Bruce Hornsby & The Range – Scenes From The Southside (1988)
- Rick James - Street Songs (1981)
- Japan – Gentlemen Take Polaroids (1980)
- Japan – Tin Drum (1981)
- Jean Michel Jarre – Magnetic Fields (1981)
- Billy Joel – Glass Houses (1980)
- Killing Joke – Night Time (1985)
- Killing Joke – Brighter than a Thousand Suns (1986)
- Kool and the Gang – Something Special (1981)
- Kool and the Gang – As One (1982)
- Kool and the Gang – In the Heart (1983)
- Liaisons Dangereuses – Live in Hacienda (1982)
- Madonna – Madonna (1983)
- Missing Persons – Spring Session M (1982)
- Nena – 99 Luftballons (1984)
- Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – Dazzle Ships (1983)
- Prince – Dirty Mind (1980)
- Prince – Controversy (1981)
- Queen – Flash Gordon (1980)
- Queen – The Game (1980)
- Queen – Hot Space (1982)
- Roxy Music – Avalon (1982)
- Rush – Moving Pictures (1981)
- Rush – Signals (1982)
- David Sanborn - Voyeur (1981)
- Shakatak - Drivin' Hard (1981)
- Shakatak - Night Birds (1982)
- Styx – Paradise Theater (1981)
- Styx – Kilroy Was Here (1983)
- Supertramp – ...Famous Last Words... (1982)
- The System – Sweat (1983)
- Tangerine Dream – Exit (1981)
- Ultravox – Rage in Eden (1981)
- Ultravox – Quartet (1982)