Anticipation

[Mefistophelees]

I cannot help but smile a bit, when I think of the OB-6 ... How much did Tom Oberheim do on this project anyway?

I thought it was just a P6 with an SVF at first but apparently not so.
According to videos by both Dave Smith and Tom Oberheim, it's the control electronics from the P6 with the analogue voices from the SEM.

Second reason is the sound... just sounds very lush, and I lack some multi mode filters in my rig... So this will cut it. So unless something goes horribly wrong, I'll be getting one in a couple of months.

I'm thinking about it as well, though I'm getting a Solaris soon and I want to see how good it is at emulating an Oberheim.  That said I may get it anyway, I like the idea of having a relatively simple analogue poly I can just get good sounds and play on.

[Shaw]

I thought it was just a P6 with an SVF at first but apparently not so.
According to videos by both Dave Smith and Tom Oberheim, it's the control electronics from the P6 with the analogue voices from the SEM.

I think that is exactly right... and that's one of the things that sells me on the OB-6.  It can be dead on in tune, or drifting in and out of tune in a controlled manner (controlling how much drift is allowed).  That alone is an excellent addition to the old Oberheims.

And I liked Dave's comment that you can enjoy this synth for 30 years.  Clearly it doesn't come with a 30 year warranty, but having 2 recent DSIs in my collection, I don't doubt that they are well made enough to last that long.  Especially for a guy like me that doesn't take them on the road.

Cheers!

[Sylvain alias Leo]

You want to hear a comparaison?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_mlwh4OtKU

[Razmo]

You want to hear a comparaison?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_mlwh4OtKU

I find it a little hard to compare, when the sounds being played are not the same or at least close at being...

[Shaw]

You want to hear a comparaison?

I find it a little hard to compare, when the sounds being played are not the same or at least close at being...

Yeah, but it's nice to hear them "side by side" so to speak.  I think someone took sounds from other online demos and pasted them together.  Likely impossible to find demos from each synth trying to emulate the same sound.

[lime22]

I was about to pull the trigger on a Modal Electronics 008, but that is going to wait because OMFG the OB-6!

https://soundcloud.com/davesmithinstruments/ob-6-filter-delight

I thought it was just a P6 with an SVF at first but apparently not so.
According to videos by both Dave Smith and Tom Oberheim, it's the control electronics from the P6 with the analogue voices from the SEM.

I think that is exactly right... and that's one of the things that sells me on the OB-6.  It can be dead on in tune, or drifting in and out of tune in a controlled manner (controlling how much drift is allowed).  That alone is an excellent addition to the old Oberheims.

Indeed. What an awesome collaboration on the OB-6 with Tom's complete SEM on voice cards, combined with Dave's control electronics architecture from the P6. This synth has an unmistakable OB sound, but is unique in it's own right distinct in character from any other Oberheim. Moreover, distinctly different than our beloved P6.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb0Pa_imeeo

Great time to be alive, don't ya just love 1979 

[Razmo]

You want to hear a comparaison?

I find it a little hard to compare, when the sounds being played are not the same or at least close at being...

Yeah, but it's nice to hear them "side by side" so to speak.  I think someone took sounds from other online demos and pasted them together.  Likely impossible to find demos from each synth trying to emulate the same sound.

Yeah, I know that, but such a demo may actualy not be in favor of the P6, because it actualy sounds dull compared to the OB6, and I seriously cannot believe that it is... The sound designer's skills play a very special role in such a comparison, and it should preferably be the same sound designer doing the comparison... if it's the raw sound possibilities you want to compare... .if it's just the factory presets you want to compare, then the video is of course ok, and the OB-6 a clear winner (in my opinion)

One thing that one needs to understand is, that the SEM filter is 12db... I bet that it's mostly the 24db that is used on the P6 sounds in that demo, and pads usualy sound much more lush with a 12db filter in comparison to 24db ones.

In the demo, the P6 sound a bit too "contained", while the OB-6 seems open and very lush... and this "lushness" could very well we because of the 12db filter, as it naturaly lets thru more of the overtones.

Some say that the oscillators are also different (I'd like to see proof of this), and if that is so, then that could of course also participate to the "enhanced" (or should I just say different?) sound of the OB-6.

[Razmo]

OK... saw the video above where they directly say that it's a full SEM on a voice card, so that certainly should make some differences ... I'm still wondering what Dave will do with these voicecards... if he has plans on making other synths using them... if it's a speciel connection technique that is the same for both cards, then I'm beginning to wonder if we will see more "collaborations", and then one day see a synth, made for multitimbrality, where you can simply buy the cards you want, mix them up anyway you want to.... something in me tells me that this is something we'll see in the future, in one configuration or the other.

Just imagine... one rackmount machine, with the same DEEP engine as the P12, but with 4, 8 and 16 slot versions, maybe even a 1 slot version for the budget market? ... If the cards are full voice-cards, this should be more than possible I guess... a bit like the big Studio Electronics synths.... it would be cool... and you could just add cards as you go along, without having to break the bank buying the core (I hope)...

[Paul Dither]

A new and more comprehensive demonstration by Cuckoo and Mark Wilcox: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3uE-r7sHmY

[Shaw]

A new and more comprehensive demonstration by Cuckoo and Mark Wilcox: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3uE-r7sHmY

Great Video -- thanks for bringing it to everyone's attention.

Cheers!

[callaghansan]

Looks better like that, no ?

[Sacred Synthesis]

Wow!  The blue is intense and beautiful.

[Shaw]

Looks better like that, no ?

I wish I could find a hi-res version of that pic.  Where did you come across that?

Cheers!

[callaghansan]

Looks better like that, no ?

I wish I could find a hi-res version of that pic.  Where did you come across that?

Cheers!

Thanks, I dit it myself. There is no higher version than that one.
I see a lot of people who are not very satisfied by the Red/Blue on this Ob-6. It looks like a strange mix between Prophet-6 and Ob-xa...

[Paul Dither]

Looks better like that, no ?

I'm afraid it's too late for that now, but the answer is yes. (It would be perfect if the Write and Rec buttons would be blue as well, or maybe grey.)

[callaghansan]

Looks better like that, no ?

I'm afraid it's too late for that now, but the answer is yes. (It would be perfect if the Write and Rec buttons would be blue as well.)

Yes I'm afraid too... 
Maybe a Special Blue LED version few months after.
It's weird but I probably won't buy this one just cause of that...

[chysn]

It's a thing I liked about the Voyager and Little Phatty lines: the variety of woods and colors that Moog gradually made available. The 2014 Nobel Prize-winning blue L.E.D. would have been a nice touch.

[Shaw]

Ah well... red will have to do.    (I'm joking... I'm quite content with the red -- It will sit nicely next to my other DSI synths)

OB6 wallpaper...

Cheers

[musicmaker]

Just noticed, on row of switches, switch #9,on the location where on the P6 it says PolyChain (edit), the OB6 has nothing written.

On the P6 module that button says Poly Chain. It's not written on the P6 keyboard either.

Thanks for pointing that out, missed that ! :-)

[Sylvain alias Leo]

did you misse this one?
OB6 - Patch Demonstration

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aajpQVaKod8

for me it is only a matter of time . he will end up next to my prophet 08. I like the possibilities of colors and timbres that it offers .