Oberheim OB-Xa

This Synthesizer is truly, one of the easiest Synths to use that i have ever owned! The interface is BIG; the knobs are spread far apart so you don't accidently...say... turn the Resonance up to a hidieous screech when you are trying to adjust Cut Off. I have owned quite a few Synths over the years, and this is REALLY easy to use...

There is only a little to be desired with this baby, infact the only thing i could possibly think of that would make this Synth absolutely perfect would be LFO envelopes. If i could give the LFO just a little bit of delay, BOY WOULD I BE GOIN' PLACES!

Other than that, it's got all of your standard Synth features.

This is where the Synth really brings a tear to your eye, the sound is positivly Orgasmic!!!!

When i first plugged mine in i figured, "Well nothing can touch the Roland Jupiter-8 i owned years ago..." WRONG WAS I.

When i found out that Simple Minds used this thing in their song "Don't You Forget About Me" for all of the Synth stuff, I WENT TO WORK!

Within minutes... BAM! I had the exact sound of the Brass Chords in the song! The reason why i sold my Jupiter to get this thing was because....well i'm not sure but something in it's Voice Architecture just makes it better. The way the vocies detune in chords, maybe it has something to do with that fact that they are all seperate or something. But then again, they are on the Jupiter-8 right? I don't know much about the insides of these things, i just know programming and what sounds good, you know?

Any who, If anyone ever got this Synth; the first thing you need to do is try layering 2 patches together. WOW. Is all i can say. This thing is phatter than a morbidly obease person's thighs! Sure it cuts you polyhony in half, but hey: "Don't You, forget about me, don't don't don't dooon't!"

Unison? When i put this machine...into Unison... pressed a key... My head popped off and landed in my lap. K? I was FLOORED. Phat is TRULY and understatement.

Detuned Portamento is a great feaure as well, great for STYX-like Leads.

Split? simple. You got a Bass patch on the lower half of the Keyboard, and a good chord sound on the upper half, and you're good to go.

Very dependable, END OF STORY Never broke on me once!

Well, no. What do you expect? "VINTAGE"

If it were stolen, i would simply blow my brains out...with a large caliber weapon at that.

This synthesiser is the dogs bollox!!! I love the early 80's raw presets. They are what I say -RAW~!!! The patches are capable of being edited and stored in real time(as opposed to the OBX), and are easy to store in the memory. I found the manual quite enough, the main focus is not to bam boozle the player, but to quite simply put the player in control of his OBXa. Very simply it is direct, and nothing more.

My OBXa is 6 voice with MIDI. Serial 814801. I found the keyboard a little noisy,but the sound makes up for this. As I have stated I have midi as a retrofit, so no problems with a sequencer interface, as opposed to the built in computer (oberheim system) default.

This synthesier is quite literally ridiculously RAW! it has my favourite sound, the early '80s, and coupled with a sequencer, is unmatched. I love it! Is it better than my prophet 5? YES!!!!

No problems after shipping to the UK from California. One month later, no problems. I would NOT GIG. It is to precious to take into a smelly, grotty, stinking club. Simply because of its age, I will give it a 7.(for now)......

Where does TOM live?

If someone stole it, I would:
a. Kill them
b. Locate the nearest victorian mental asylum and book in.

Yes I would save like a bastard to get another..
I want another 2 voice cards. I paid just under ??1000 , so not too bad. Its in excellent condition. And it looks the bollox in my room.

IF you want an 80's poly synth, definatly get an OB series synth. It is a fantastic synthesiser.

It is very easy to use. If you knows subtractive synths then you wont run in to any problem here. Very easy.

The one i got has 8 voices and 120 palces for memory. It have a kenton midi implemented. It is an old verison of Kenton so im wainting for a new interface like the Enocre for the OBX. It is a very simpel synth if we are talking about options/modulations. Probably one of the most simpel polysynth ever made. I mean you got 2 VCO?s, 1 VCF, 1 VCA and two VCF?s. The noice can you only turn off or On. No amount on noice (strange). With the LFO you can modulate the OSC 1, OSC2, Fileter, PULSwith. IT got S/H and sinus and squer as LFO waveshapes. So it is very simple. But it can still do alot of diffrent sounds.

The sound is great. Deep, Warm, fat and raw. It realy feels that it is an classic old Oberheim. Meaby not as living and organic as the OBX but the OBXa has much faster envelops so you can easy program purcussions and fat basses. But are you in to makeing long and warm synthstrings then the OBX is a better machine but if you are looking more for a synth that you can make all types of sound with the OBXa is the machine. It sounds a little bit warmer and organic than the OB8.

If i only heat it up for about 15-20 min it will hold the tuning for the rest of the day. Very good for an old polymachine.

I have not got any technical problem. But i have just repaired the keyboard on my OBXa with new rubbers for the keys. For you who needs to smoth up your keyboard i can recomend:

http://members.aon.at/virtual-music/e_index.htm

About 500:- Swedish crowns inkluding shipping cost. It could be worth it.

I have been using analog synths for about 5 years. I have owned other poly synths like Roland Jupiter 8, Roland Juno 106 and SCI Prophet 5 Rev 2. The Oberheim OBXa got a very special sound that you wont find in other machines than the OBX, OB8 (meaby in 2,4 and 8 voice, have not tryed them). The OBXa sounds Oberheim no more no less. And if you want to sound like Oberheim then there is no shortcuts. Great machine. It got personality.

Pretty easy to program via front panel knobs and switches.Threshhold value knobs are the best:live knob movments are smooth and even with no sudden jumps.People rate the mod section low but miss the ease of use the posistion of the switches provide:With a single swipe of your finger one can turn off or on all 3 destinations at once...bam done.Never did like a Oberheim mod levers though.Progaming sounds on this mega beast is super simple.Early 80's sythnes are the best period.Remember the general rule of thumb...everything went downhill after 1980.Synthes built on the the early downward slope('81-'84) sound still prettly good and BLOW away ALL VA's! Yeah...we all know this is true.

8 voices of pure analog sound.Split and layer...are you kidding me???? THE COOLEST FEATURE ON ANY ANALOG PERIOD! The biggest sounding sawtooth wave on any synth around.Van Halen Jump...need I say more? The mean and angry bass sounds one can get from this thing have to be heard to be belived.The square wave sounds deeper than my mini's and that is something to write home about.The OBXA the the true king of synthesizers.

Deep spiritial tones come from deep inside this living beast.It's like a flying dream.If you want to be enveloped by the warmest tones ever get this synth NOW.I replaced the grommets on my OBXA and now the action is super smooth...a must thing to do! If you have an OBXA do this proceedure at once.

Not really.The people who built prophets,moogs,obies etc. to be put in prison.J wires break all to often.They knew this then but didn't care about us at all.Come on people...you can do better.

Tom Oberheim lives next door so it's cool.

Why don't you have this synth yet? THE OBXA IS THE TRUE KING.Who's with me on this?

My OB-Xa is an 8-voice version (SN 815025). The presets were great for 1981, but today they sound extremely dated. I had to go through and reprogram just about everything to give the instrument a more modern feel. Editing patches is a breeze and the manual is well written.

Interesting enough, I picked my OBXa up at a nice discount because below the instrument is stamped as a 6-voice. But sure enough, it has 8 voice cards inside. Someone must of had it modified after it was sold. It's really good for unison patches and bass sounds. Not so good for brass pads and stings becuase like I said, it sounds like 1982 Purple Rain 80s cheese.

If you enjoy recreating classic Rush and Thompson Twins sounds, this synth is for you. If you'd like "Let's hear it for the boy" you should consider buying this synth. If you like parachute pants, then you should also get this synth along with the DSX sequencer.

It is very gritty and nasty sounding. Not prestine and clean like a Jupiter 8 or Prophet 5. This has to be the most angry sounding synth I have ever head. Fat beefy and pissed off. That's the OBXa

Not dependable for live gear if you write modern rock. If you crave to play in a 1980s cover band with long hair and black tights, then it might be worth lugging this monster around along with your six ft high Marshall stack.

I can fix this beauty. It's not too hard

I will own this OBXa forever.

If I could find someone to tune it proper it would be much easier to use, until then I am giving it a low rating. Due to some seripticious events I now am the caretaker for what looks like a once abused and nearly abondoned synth. I spent the better part of the last six hours cleaning it up. Some of the keys played out of sequence, but after re-ataching the keyboard ribbon cable to the main cirquit board everthing plays in sequence. On the other hand, only three of the eight voices are working work. If 45 minutes is right for warming it up then 6 hours may be the functional limit. Earlier it was cycling through alll the voices individually - ia it supposed to do that?

The Auto-tune feature seems like it should work, and it actually at one point this evening confirmed that all voices were working by lighting each one as it cycled through. It ended by giving a confirmation blink, but still remained grossly out of whack.

Does anyone know the factory settings for all thoses little tuners (blue and black) under the hood?

SOme of the cacaphony it spitted out earlier this eveing sounded utterly amazing - as I said before, it was too bad not all the keys worked and those that did played out of sequence.

I wouldn't use this at a gig - I worry enough about what will happen to my lap-top and other portablle equipment. It seems best for studio work due to its size only. It is rugged as a tank as far as body work goes. As I was cleaning it out I notcied what looked like some type of acidic beverage stain which had pooled under the pitch bend flippers. The way this kit is designed none of the criticle bits are exposed to potential dripping or ponding.

For gear that is older than dirt it seems like it will be a dream once it is ovehauled and working.

If anyone has a tech that can rescue this baby in the SF bay area please let me know.

no-spam-tzelig@yahoo.com-no-spam

Very simple to operate. No manual is needed. If you have any analog sound design experience you will be amazed by how quickly you can come up with impressive sounds.

Mine is an 8 voice 120 program model and I am blessed to have midi installed. Some nice features include stacking, keyboard split, unison etc. I also agree with a previous review that the pitch bend is a great design. It is not as deep as I would like but it makes up for this with its sound.

The BEST sounding synth that I have ever heard in my life analog or digital hands down!!!!! It has an organic quality to the sound that is so beautiful that it is hard to put into words. The pads make you feel like you are swimming through endless analog oceans. Sometimes I swear that my OB-Xa is a living breathing organism. The synth is limited in modulation capability but you can still create quality sounds of any type. Outstanding for pads, bells, sound FX, and good for punchy bass as well. Unison mode is almost too phat if thats possible. I often find that I have to turn unison off because it can completely overpower the mix. However, if you break it down to just drums and a unison lead or bass, its enough to carry a whole movement of a track with little or nothing else on top.

This depends a lot on the quality of your synth before you buy it (if it was maintained well by the previous owner, or if it was abused etc..)I initially had problems with tuning on certain patches but I learned ways around it. The autotune function is very important. It also stays in tune better after warming up. In fact, mine sounds best when it has been on for at leat 45min to an hour. I would definatley recommend finding a good trustworthy tech before you buy one because you never know what could happen. I think that is the same with any synth over 20 years old.

They have been out of business for a long time so I wouldn't know.

If it were lost or stolen I would have to go into therapy for depression. I was so lucky to find one in the 1st place let alone in good condition and with midi no less. It would be hard to replace because they are so rare and expensive now. However, I would not rest until I found another one. I do wish that it had more modulation possibilities and a few other "modern day" features but again I would not trade them to compromise the sound. I have only had this synth for 3 months and it has already taken over as the heart of my set up and my overall favorite piece. I LOVE this synth an would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of warm, beautiful, analog tone. It would get a 10 if it had a few more features.

Usual caveat applies: if you are an analog synth head and know your programming it is a cinch. Spacious controls, huge chunky knobs, fat chunky pushbuttons... ahhh... this is a dream to sit behind.

OBXa features a split/layer option that is rare for VCO based analogs. Some of the best sounds come from the layers, which admittedly halves your polyphony but gives you 4 oscillators per note. Put it in unison mode and prepare to shake the walls.

Most OBXa's lack MIDI which is a crime. The keyboard is nice and feels good to play, but most are a little stiff and noisy now--you can get replacement bushings that will fix this little problem for you. I *LOVE* the Oberheim pitch bend/mod flipper design more than any other design.

The OBXa is one of the best sounding analog synths every made. Why they don't fetch more is synth mystery #102. Not a bad sound to be found and it does a full range of bass, pads, leads, strings, organs, brass... all the classics. It is so lush and fat.

I think what puts people off is the lack of programming options that can be frustrating. Examples: noise is on or off--not variably mixable, which is a huge loss; lack of real VCO volume mixing, general lack of 'fancy' modulation routing options.

However, even with these shortcomings the OBXa still sounds magnificent at anything you do with it. Stunningly fat. It made my Prophet 5 sounds hollow in comparison, but the two synths in tandem worked very, very well.

You can get absolutely original and killer bass sounds by layering in unison mode. Whacked out resonance patches were my favorite--I would create one layer with high resonance and then copy this to another patch and take the resonance to zero and lower the filter a little bit. The combined layer, in unison, creates a fat, full and bass-rich sound that has the characteristics of a high resonance synth sound. Try that one your SH-101! Hahahaha! With 4 osc's firing per note the Minimoog is left hanging its head in SHAME, I kid you not.

Well, it's tuning tends to be funny but it has autotune. If you are big into vintage analog synths you should have or find someone that is a good tech to take care of you. I do so I buy most stuff without worry.

I wouldn't gig or tour with it. It is best kept in a nice clean, cool studio and cherished like the Grail of analog tone that it is.

(see above)

The OBXa is a serious polyphonic synth that is a joy to use. It has 12/24db filters that sound great, fat oscillators (fatest sawtooth wave in the universe!), dual envelopes that are reasonably quick, layer capabilities. But most importantly it has the OBERHEIM SOUND that, if you ask me, leaves a Minimoog gagging in its dust. Best sounding synth I've ever heard and I've pretty much owned/heard anything worth hearing.

Unfortunately for me I have been without an OBXa since 2001 when I was unemployed (I got fired for serving grand jury duty... if you can believe that!). I have been seriously lusting after one since then... either this or an OB-8, which is--in all fairness--pretty much the same thing minus about 5% fatness.

OBXa rules. And it looks cool too. If you haven't sat in front of one and tweaked and played you are missing out on true analog heaven.

the design is fairly simple and straight-forward. the fact that it's programable is a plus. the patches are great, though there are a few changes i'va made. this synth taught me the basics of analog synthesis.

the split\double function allows you to either split the keayoard with two seperate sounds (w/ 4 voices each), or layer two patches together (creating an even FATTER sound). this synth can be either an eight voice, or monophonic synth. in mono-mode, the two oscillators sound all eight voices at once into one key which is ideal for expressive lead, and synth bass. in either mono or poly-mode, this is one great synth! the pulse width adjustment is disappointing because theres only the one knob which adjusts the PW for both oscillators. the portamento\glide is disappointing because it works in sections.. meaning, if it's set to glide slowly, it doesn't glide w/ one solid tone, it glides one voice at a time. i tried to get this fixed, but the tech i went to said it's designed that way. (if anyone can confirm this, or if you have any info on the subject, please E-mail me [modular77@aol.com]) there are no built-in effects other that its basic analog synthesis components. i don't think there are any expansion capabilities, mine has been modified w/ midi, but i've never used it, because i have no midi gear. and sadly, there is no arpeggiator, ribbon controller, and no third oscillator.

the sounds are great. even the ones that are not so great can be modified in some way :D there are 104 patches to use, and 16 blank spaces for custom patches, so the OB-Xa is a versatile instrument. i use mine for synth bass, ambience, organ, and electric piano.

i can depand on mine because i've recently had it serviced. however, it is 20 years old, and you never know what can happen..
i would use it for small intimite gigs, but i dont think it would survive a tour.

ive never dealt w/ oberheim.

i like the OB-Xa alot. it's been a good 3 1/2 years.. if anything were to ever happen to mine, i would buy another OB-Xa. besides the synth, i play bass, i own a fender jazz bass, and a music man stingray. digitech talker, boss digital reverb, digital delay, bass chorus, flanger, super phaser, dynamic filter, and hyper fuzz, DOD overdrive plus and envelope filter, and a sovtek big muff.

A 4, 6, or 8 voice analog synthesizer. Easy to use

I have heard people say that this synth is less flexible with it's routings that the Prophet-5, or MemoryMoog, but the range of sounds you can get is very vast, so I don't see this as a big problem.

The absolute best sounding synthesizer. This, and the CS-80 are in a class by itself. I don't know what the fuck other people are talking about when they rate this machine against others, it fucking blows them away, yet they don't seem so impressed. The pads and strings are perfect. Absolute pristine sound quality. Get fucked if you don't like it. You don't like this, you don't like music.

They are all 20 years old now, so your going to have some problems with parts.

None

I don't have one, and I probably wouldn't buy one because they are too old. The fact is that alot of synths sound like shit. This one does not, it sounds great.

A fairly easy to use synth, it's analog so it's got all the knobs and buttons. A little unusual geting used to the flapper levers that Oberheim uses instead of the good old pitch and mod wheels that most other manufactuers have stardardized.

8 voice polyphony on mine (they came in 4, 6 and 8 voice models). 120 programs (eariler ones only had like 32). The action on the OB-Xa is not so hot, it will slow you down and it doesn't seem to like alot of chordal comping (it will fight you) - Roland and Yamaha had much better keyboard actions. No midi (built around 1980 originally). No extra goodies like sequencer or after touch or appreggiator.
Sound wise it's pretty meaty, as it's got that classic Oberheim beef. But it lacks alot of flexibility, sure it's got sample and hold and some nice modulation capabilities, but it's pretty one dimensional. Turn a knob on a Minimoog and you will get ALOT of change in the sound from start to finish. Do the same on the OB-Xa and you only get small changes. I haven't side by side compared all my synths (I only have enough space to have half of them set up at a time), but it seems my Jupiter-6 outshines the OB-Xa as a analog polysynth. I still rate the OB-Xa pretty high because that Oberheim beef (no matter how limited) still is alot of fun to play.

Beefy leads are the best. Not as bassy as a Roland or Moog. Pads aren't bad. Cool modulation for weird stuff (sample and hold). I hate to rate sounds because it's all in how you use them and it's such an opinionated thing but I guess if you twist my arm I give it an 8, it would rate higher if it was more flexible.

I got mine with faults - bad battery had wiped out presets, one button did not work, bad voice card that needed calibration. Not as sturdy as my Roland fleet. Holding it's tune is sometimes a problem. I would not gig with it only because I value my vintage gear to much to put it thru that kind of abuse. If you do, get a good case for it, and give it some warm up time before the first set starts.
Might also be hard to find parts for as it's been a long time since these synths were made.

I like my OB-Xa alot. It's a great synth and has alot of historical and sentimental value, as I went many many years waiting to finally get one. It has it's place in my setup, but I will still be using my Jupiter-6 and Minimoog analogs to a greater degree, as well as my Junos. But when a little old lady approaches me and asks Where's the Beef? I will direct her to the OB-Xa.