Why doesn’t the OB-8 get more love?

[Jack Spider]

Ehe! I'm no british but I know the feeling! One day I said: f**k Brazil!!!!!! I'm here now, in the big ol' US of A, and economic crises or not, I still love it!!!! And I have lots of keys and strings to thank it for!
I paid 300 for my OB8! It was beat to h**l, but it is 100% now. And Paid $500 for my P5! It only needed the key bushings and two J-wires! God bless America!!!!

That's ace! I think the best solution is for all us synth-loving Brits to move over to the US - any part with grey skies, cold weather and plenty of rain should do us.

That said, the prices would probably start to rise then and we'd be back to square one!

[guitarsandsynths]

Ehe! I'm no british but I know the feeling! One day I said: f**k Brazil!!!!!! I'm here now, in the big ol' US of A, and economic crises or not, I still love it!!!! And I have lots of keys and strings to thank it for!
I paid 300 for my OB8! It was beat to h**l, but it is 100% now. And Paid $500 for my P5! It only needed the key bushings and two J-wires! God bless America!!!!

That's ace! I think the best solution is for all us synth-loving Brits to move over to the US - any part with grey skies, cold weather and plenty of rain should do us.

That said, the prices would probably start to rise then and we'd be back to square one!

All right then! Just stay away from LA!

[Computer Controlled]

I had an 8 Voice OB-X 10 years ago. Sold it for $800. I'd much rather have an OB over a P5. Only thing is, they're the size of a fricken couch! Oberheim has always been the underdog it seems. Doubt they'll ever reach the status of the JP-8. Too bad really.

[WhinyLittleRunt]

Where's WhinyLittleRunt? He's got an OB-8 and he loves it...

Ha.. 3 pages in - where have I been??

Yes, I do love my OB-8. Probably the best polysynth I have ever played and most musical to my liking (style and sound). Non-Digital Tom and I have actually thought of the possibility of acquiring a Prophet-5 but between him having the OB-Xa and me owning the OB-8, we figured there would really be a lot of overlap. I have played a P5 one time and spent about a half-hour on it, and I did like it a lot but I feel like I'm probably getting the better deal out of owning the OB-8 because of the polyphony and I grew up playing piano. Not sure how well 5 voices would work out after a while...

Oh and speaking of overlap, I meant mainly with a P5 Rev 3. If I found a working P5 Rev 2 and had money I would score it in a heartbeat. Just to have that sound.

[clusterchord]

So what am I missing?

hmmm .. does POLYMOD ring a bell ?

modulating filter with vco (filter fm), vco with vco (crossmod), or pwm with vco is nothing short of KILLER on a Prophet. a trademark sound. that is certainly not a "minor" difference.

indeed there is overlap between Rev3 and OB8, ive noticed this too. but that OB8 can cover "most" of Rev3 i disagree with. for starters, even tho most chips are the same, the circuits are tweaked differently, the gain staging is different and very important, VCAs are different . it all ads up to P5 having a more agressive, punchier dirtier sound. OB8 is somewhat softer, even compared to OBXA. not night n day, but easily noticeable if u have enough long experience with one of them. however, thanks to this, OB8 can go places where P5 rev3 cannot - with nice strings, using separate PWidth for each VCOs, animated brass/pads , adding the page 2 stuff with additional lfos and envs.. i seriously dislike rev3 for soft strings/pads.. just doesnt suit its character.

and OB8's triangle wave, set octaves apart with quik portamento .. mmm. is just too sweet.. that is sorely missed on OBXA.

talking about other Oberheims, one thing i know for sure, OBXA is a more agressive beast than OB8, which can be a bad or a good thing depending what you want or need. and OB8, even with the same CEM3310 chip governing envelopes, is slightly slower. this is well noticed and documented, that there is even a mod on the net to remedy this, but i havent heard how well it works.


bottom line i think its a great synth. if i didnt have a OBXA and P5 already, it certainly be an option. maybe a best buy single vintage poly out there. however, i lust for Xpander, being sonically further apart from these guys. some dislike its sheen and glassiness... i began to like it. it will complement my other polys beautifully.

[SWAN]

Actually all Oberheim polys are relatively cheap at the moment.

Not round here they're not.

an 8 voice OBX sold on ebay last week for £1300....not bad. And An OB8 Sold I think for around £1300 a few weeks prior (I slept on it and missed the end date damn it)....

But generally asking prices seem to be around £1700...

[Sir Ruff]

talking about other Oberheims, one thing i know for sure, OBXA is a more agressive beast than OB8, which can be a bad or a good thing depending what you want or need.

I hope you're right (as shortly I'm going to find out in person!)... I keep reading conflicting statements about this i.e. ob8 sounds close enough to the obxa, but is more reliable, more versatile, etc. But aside from the reliability, I actually don't want all the extras of the ob8... I've realized that for analog polys, less is more for me. just give me big dumb cliched sounds. anything else more complicated can be handled in the digital realm or with monosynths!

[WhinyLittleRunt]

Maybe my ears aren't as sensitive as some, but having compared an OB-8 and OB-Xa side-by-side, I will say they definitely sound "close enough". The components and voice board circuitry are different between the two, so they are naturally going to sound somewhat different. The OB-8 is more stable sounding and sharper/brighter. But the patches are virtually identical.

We plan on doing a comparison demo video soon that studies the single oscillators first and build a patch from there.

[otto]

talking about other Oberheims, one thing i know for sure, OBXA is a more agressive beast than OB8, which can be a bad or a good thing depending what you want or need.

I hope you're right (as shortly I'm going to find out in person!)... I keep reading conflicting statements about this i.e. ob8 sounds close enough to the obxa, but is more reliable, more versatile, etc. But aside from the reliability, I actually don't want all the extras of the ob8... I've realized that for analog polys, less is more for me. just give me big dumb cliched sounds. anything else more complicated can be handled in the digital realm or with monosynths!

So are you selling the xpander?

[hfinn]

Oh and speaking of overlap, I meant mainly with a P5 Rev 3. If I found a working P5 Rev 2 and had money I would score it in a heartbeat. Just to have that sound.

The difference in sound between a rev 2 and 3 is very minimal. In lots of sounds there is no difference. I would say the difference is comparable between the OB-Xa and 8 and rev 2 and 3 P5.

[Sir Ruff]

talking about other Oberheims, one thing i know for sure, OBXA is a more agressive beast than OB8, which can be a bad or a good thing depending what you want or need.

I hope you're right (as shortly I'm going to find out in person!)... I keep reading conflicting statements about this i.e. ob8 sounds close enough to the obxa, but is more reliable, more versatile, etc. But aside from the reliability, I actually don't want all the extras of the ob8... I've realized that for analog polys, less is more for me. just give me big dumb cliched sounds. anything else more complicated can be handled in the digital realm or with monosynths!

So are you selling the xpander?

pppoooosssiibbllyyy but I'll have to have them next to each other first

[liquidzen]

i've owned sequential stuff before (p5 rev3, p5 rev2, 600, t8, six trax, 2000, pro one) i always sold them soon after i bought them( although out of the bunch... the t8 and 600 were my favorites). they are fine synths, but to me, they don't come close to the depth and options that oberheim can offer. i currently own a 2 voice, a 4 voice, an obmx, an ob8 with fac midi and an obmx expanded. im a bit of an oberheim freak. to me the sonic difference between the ob8 and obmx is very minor. yes there is a bit of grit with the obmx, but the ob8 is more stable and has midi... plus a few other things. so in short, the ob8 friggin rocks!

[EmptySet]

I'm not sure I understand this idea about Obies getting no love. When they were new, I would have given my left… leg… to have one. And all my music friends at the time would have agreed with this sentiment. Everybody and their brother played one. VH? Check. Rush? Check. Prince? Not only did Obies get love in my crew, they got adoration.

[Bitexion]

Maybe the OB series became eternally cursed after Van Halen's Jump?
Though one shouldn't think so, since so many other bands imitated the sound and even similar chords...

[iProg]

Rush were one of the most tasteful users of the powerful OB series....especially on Moving Pictures and Signals. After that the sound was more influenced by PPG and JP-8.

I would kill to get a OB-8/OB-X/OB-Xa although I have a P5.