“For the first time in more than 40 years, a legendary analogue synth sound returns”
After dropping hints and teasers and even more recently a leak(!), Oberheim has finally announced what they’ve been working on is the Oberheim OB-X8 analogue synth.
What you need to know:
- Oberheim has finally announced what they’ve been working on.
- It’s the Oberheim OB-X8 analogue synth.
- The OB-X8 is an eight-voice pure analogue synthesiser with two VCOs per voice.
Read all the latest product news here.
After retaining the rights to trademark his name for the first time since 1985 last year, Tom Oberheim has decided to use it for the betterment of the brand and not just to retire and rest on his very impressive laurels.
The OB-X8 is an eight-voice pure analogue synthesiser with two VCOs per voice modelled on those from the SEM/OB-X with discrete filters. Included are sawtooth, square/pulse, triangle, and noise waveforms.
There are also Curtis chip-based filters like those in the OB-Xa and OB-8, as well as envelopes found consistently through the series.
“It sounds like a classic Oberheim because it is a classic Oberheim,” Oberheim said. “Its 100 per cent analog audio path cuts through a mix like no other synth.
“The OB-X8 is more than just a new OB-series Oberheim. It’s engineered to be the best modern OB ever created.
“Creating the classic OB sound required more than just replicating vintage oscillators, filters, and envelopes.
“The Oberheim design team exhaustively analysed and recreated the complex interactions between the various components of each OB-series synth to capture their nuances and character.
“The result is the most faithful, authoritative renewal of an analog classic possible — with all of the warmth, subtlety, and presence of the originals.”
The synth boasts a 61-note Fatar keyboard with velocity and channel aftertouch, while it is bi-timbral.
400 presets make up the synth with all the original factory sounds found in the classic Oberheim units.
Pitch and Mod expression levers enable greater expression than before combined with the above features for “sizzling filter sweeps, intense vibrato, and more”.
Features that are unique to this latest model include additional SEM filter modes, per-voice panning, LFO keyboard tracking, Mod delay time and envelope inversion, independent pulse width control, a vintage knob to dial in a bit of instability, enhanced unison, variable triangle wave cross-modulation, programmable per-program pan and variable oscillator, and noise levels.
In terms of connectivity, there are mono and stereo outputs, sustain pedal ports, clock, MIDI, and a filter input.
Head to Oberheim for more information and sound demonstrations.
