Another "help me identify a synth in an 80s video"

Micke · Post by **Micke** » Fri Jun 06, 2008 4:46 pm

drummy wrote:
Micke wrote:I can't watch the video 'cause it isn't available in my country for some reason. Anyways, that synth rig sounds familiar to me so I'm guessing it's Gregg Giuffria..am I right?
That is simply amazing.

Thanks for the compliment

Synthaholic · Post by **Synthaholic** » Fri Jun 06, 2008 8:56 pm

Here's another one - Rainbow's "Street of Dreams":

The synth is visible at around 1:23 in the video. Only the backside is clearly visible. It looks like an Oberheim, OB-8 or OB-Xa me thinks. I can't find any pics of Oberheim tushes to compare.

Can anyone confirm?

EDIT: Found a live version of the song here. Synths are visible around 2:36:

It's definitely an OB, still not sure if it's Xa or 8. He also has an organ, a Minimoog, Emulator II, and a couple other synths off the left side of the frame that aren't readily identifiable.

Micke · Post by **Micke** » Fri Jun 06, 2008 9:51 pm

It's definitely an OB-Xa in both videos. The Emulator in the second video is the original 1981 model, not the EII.
Moreover, in the live video there's a Moog Taurus on the floor, and one of the synths on the left (the one at the top) is a Memorymoog.

Synthaholic · Post by **Synthaholic** » Fri Jun 06, 2008 9:57 pm

Is there a foolproof way to distinguish an OB-Xa from an OB-8 in videos of such (low) quality? If you can't read the logo or printing on the panel?

Micke · Post by **Micke** » Fri Jun 06, 2008 10:17 pm

Yes there is, on the OB-Xa the round Oberheim logo is located in the middle of the back panel whereas on the OB-8 it's on the left side. The logo is clearly visible in the first video but not in the second one. However, there's other videos from that concert (in Japan, 1984), and in one of them one can clearly see "OB-Xa" printed on the back panel.

Micke