OB-6 Problems?

[albanf]

I do have the same problem, but on the 6th voice the sound is very weird (not on an upper or lower octave).
Here is an example :
https://youtu.be/cGcKrRZqqGY
https://youtu.be/VdtBGP85sa0
Any way to make it functionning correctly ? Is there any possibility to switch off a voice or change the priority of voices (like it was possible with a Matrix 6) ?

[BobTheDog]

I do have the same problem, but on the 6th voice the sound is very weird (not on an upper or lower octave).
Here is an example :
https://youtu.be/cGcKrRZqqGY
https://youtu.be/VdtBGP85sa0
Any way to make it functionning correctly ? Is there any possibility to switch off a voice or change the priority of voices (like it was possible with a Matrix 6) ?

That is seriously wrong, you should contact DSI support: https://www.davesmithinstruments.com/support/contact-support/

[Paul Dither]

I do have the same problem, but on the 6th voice the sound is very weird (not on an upper or lower octave).
Here is an example :
https://youtu.be/cGcKrRZqqGY
https://youtu.be/VdtBGP85sa0
Any way to make it functionning correctly ? Is there any possibility to switch off a voice or change the priority of voices (like it was possible with a Matrix 6) ?

Did you already try to calibrate the instrument (hold down the MANUAL button and press 0)?

[borisf]

1.1.4 is soooo buggy for me.

1) sequencer doesnt work, no matter what sequence i record it always record the same note
2) after powering on the instrument, the display shows always the same patch number ( 467), it just wont remember the last patch used, no matter what i do its always the same patch after switching on the instrument.
3) In Cubase, i have to power off/power on the instrument literally every 30 min because it stops receiving the MIDI. I am using USB.

Is there a way to go back to previous OS, didnt have those issues before the update?

[borisf]

1.1.4 is soooo buggy for me.

1) sequencer doesnt work, no matter what sequence i record it always record the same note
2) after powering on the instrument, the display shows always the same patch number ( 467), it just wont remember the last patch used, no matter what i do its always the same patch after switching on the instrument.
3) In Cubase, i have to power off/power on the instrument literally every 30 min because it stops receiving the MIDI. I am using USB.

Is there a way to go back to previous OS, didnt have those issues before the update?

Problems fixed, all good now.

[autoy]

1.1.4 is soooo buggy for me.

1) sequencer doesnt work, no matter what sequence i record it always record the same note
2) after powering on the instrument, the display shows always the same patch number ( 467), it just wont remember the last patch used, no matter what i do its always the same patch after switching on the instrument.
3) In Cubase, i have to power off/power on the instrument literally every 30 min because it stops receiving the MIDI. I am using USB.

Is there a way to go back to previous OS, didnt have those issues before the update?

Problems fixed, all good now.

For reference: what happened and how were they fixed?

[DaveP6guy]

Patch 878 on my board is exhibiting some odd behavior - the sub bass is dropping out every three notes.

In my case it's one voice that does this. I've been aware of it for a while: it's down to using sync and the sub oscillator at the same time. If you initialise a patch, set VCO 1 frequency to E3 and turn on sync, turn the levels of VCO 1 and 2 to zero and Sub Octave to max then you'll probably find three of your voices play an octave lower than the others. In my case, four play an octave lower, one sometimes jumps around between notes an octave apart, and one plays at the same pitch as VCO 2.

I have just got a new OB-6 and I'm finding that this kind of thing is happening with patch 260/760 nylon non guitar and also 007/507 broken EP (many people's favourite) if I start to edit them. I think it might happen on 260/260 before editing. It sounds like a 12 string guitar on some voices with a suboctave then like a 6 string on others.
That's annoying. I don't recall hearing anything like thios on the Prophet-6.

Also I have an issue with my OB6 arpeggiator, because it will not let me play any note a second time in Assign mode - it just ignores it - but the Prophet -6 lets you do this.

Can anyone check if they have this problem?

[DaveP6guy]

With the release of a new instrument, we're all accustomed to see the various complaints slowly trickle in.  Have I missed something, or is the OB-6 a small wonder?  I'm not aware of any serious complaints about bugs or other issues.  Is the OB-6 really free of serious problems?

No, the arpeggiator in Assign mode does not allow you to play any note twice in the same sequence so you could not assign the 8 notes to the intro of Save a Prayer by Duran Duran for instance. You would have to use the sequencer. The arpeggiator is therefore very limiting, unless my unit is faulty but I have heard from someone else who says the same is true for their OB6. The Prophet-6 (at leas with an older OS 1.4.0, which I have) allows any note sequence to be played in Assign mode (up to 32 notes) repeated notes or not.
Also the suboscillator on my OB-6 functions very strangely if Osc SYNC mode is selected and acts differently on different voices. (AlanC and Lillloyd have mentioned similar problems on a particular patch (878?). I got it with patch 760/260 but also when accidentally introducing subosc to patch 007/507 I got subosc on only 2 out of 6 voices and one voice sometimes generated strage bangs and wobbles on the subosc. Again with my P6 the subosc is consistent across all 6 voices, regardless of whether Osc 1 and Osc 2 are synced.
I mean, in a way subosc could be disabled on SYNCed patches because one could argue it is at least partially redundant. It is slaved to Osc 1 and Osc 1 is slaved to Osc 2 in SYNC more. If you the put polymod to change the initial "frequency" of oscillator 1, the subosc might be expected to follow Osc 1 adn cold behave a little strangely in timbre perhaps because it will be forced to follow Osc 2 in SYNC mode BUT it should not do weird things that are all over the place!
So perhaps some things from the Prophet-6 did not port so well over to the OB6 that was developed to have almost identical functions a year later.

[DaveP6guy]

I just purchased an OB6 and I'm putting it through its paces.

I was hoping someone could help me out with a potential issue (or - more likely - just a feature of the particular patch).

Patch 878 on my board is exhibiting some odd behavior - the sub bass is dropping out every three notes.  So basically the sub bass sounds for 3 consecutive notes, then drops out for 3 consecutive notes, then comes back in for 3 consecutive notes, etc etc.  The end result is a patch that sounds kind of odd (basically it sounds like you're shifting between octaves when you're playing).

Does anyone else hear this on their patch 878?  (Is this normal?)

I'm guessing I'm being paranoid here (I don't think the sub drops out anywhere but this patch), but obviously it was a significant purchase so I'm being extra careful

No, you're not being paranoid. I got it on patch 260/760 nylon non-guitar. It sounded like a 12 string on 2 notes and that was cute until the sound started popping in an ugly way.

My OB-6 suboscillator drops out for 4 notes in SYNC mode on some patches. Sometimes the two times it fires off, one of those times it makes a weird noise. Here:
Ugly in my view on a £2200 synth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e-x6VL7BWM
Sequential OB-6 sub oscillator behaves strangely in SYNC mode.
Patch 760 / 260.

Trouble is, it sounds like a fault and is aggravating. It makes yo uthink the voice boards are going to blow at some point. Perhaps it might be a good idea to disable the subosc in Sync mode. It's a bigt of a problem with sync sounds because you're ususally doing something weird with Osc 1's frequency like putting the LFO to it or whacking it about using the filter envelope in Poly Mod and then slaving it to Osc 2 to snap it to re-start every time Osc 2 cycles - then the subosc is a bit conflicted perhaps. In Sync mode, it would be ideal to have the subosc slave directly to Osc 2 which will be behaving "sensibly" throughout. I suppose one could use this fault as a musical feature to create some weird sounds.

I did make quite a study on Sunday on what the Prophet-6's subosc does (by the way it is OS 1.4.0). Of course, that's a triangle as I understand, not a square so maybe that's why it behaves differently from the OB-6. I didn't find any really anomalous behaviour of the P6 subosc and maybe that's because it is a triangle? Anyway, what I found on several Sync patches was that the subosc in non Sync mode is always an octave below Osc 1 (of course) but on the same patch in SYNC mode, still plays consistently across the voices EITHER an actave below Osc 1 (now slaved to Osc 2 in Sync) or in unison with Osc 1, so if for some reason the Sub Osc volume is brought up it just thickens the sound one way or another. So that's why I was a bit taken aback by the difference with the OB6.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkfT2XcyNuI
Sequential Prophet-6 Normal behaviour of suboscillator in SYNC mode
Long video, rambles a bit. I have no editorial control. P6 bahaves OK on sync patches such as
Patches 932/432 and also 427 and 421. These are three of the old P-5 patches.
I confused myself a bit while I was talking - but on patch 421 the subosc aseems to play in unison in sync mode but with a more bassy tone because it's a triangle with fewer high harmonics than Oscs 1 & 2 generally.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiIKWg0-XQA
Patch  932: P6 behaves fine in Sync and non-sync modes.

2. P6 and OB6 arpeggiators:

The OB-6 does not allow me to play the same note on Assign mode a second time. This is a real nuisance in my view. Sequential tech tell me this is normal, so why will my Prophet-6 (OS 1.4.0) do it and the OB-6 (newer OS 1.5.5) wont?
Even an 8 note groove can contain the same note a second time (check out Duran Duran "Save a Prayer" e.g. A B C E G E G E) - and not being able to do it is unnecessarily restrictive.
I have had a great time on my P6 in Assign mode chopping and changing the arpeggiator riffs at will playing whatever I want, subject ot the 32 note limit in Assign mode and I can't on the OB6 and it's not use saying "use the sequencer instead" because you can't simply change notes on the fly with the sequencer - you have to re-record.

Mathematically you can see how this resricts musical possibilities.

Being able to play any note on the keyboard (49 notes) over a 32 note sequence gives 45^32= 7.99 E+52 permutations

Not playing any note a second time gives you
9.5 E+46 combinations.

That takes away 99.99988% of the possibilities!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG7F7RpbWZ0
Sequential OB-6 analog arpeggiator and sub oscillator "anomalies" with respect to Prophet-6. (In this case P-6 is recorded and OB6 is played live.)

I would personally guess these are inconsistences in the way the P6 system translated over onto its sister synth the OB6 with the different (SEM) voice boards, since the sub oscillator on the OB6 is a SQUARE and the P6 is a TRIANGLE, maybe this has caused the sub-osc issue in Osc sync mode?

[DaveP6guy]

I do have the same problem, but on the 6th voice the sound is very weird (not on an upper or lower octave).
Here is an example :
https://youtu.be/cGcKrRZqqGY
https://youtu.be/VdtBGP85sa0
Any way to make it functionning correctly ? Is there any possibility to switch off a voice or change the priority of voices (like it was possible with a Matrix 6) ?

Wow, that's EXACXTLY what I got. I sent the unit back but Sequential tech assured me that it is perfectly normal due to the retriggering of the subosc being irregular or something. See my other post here or my You Tube here:

Sounds 760/260 Nylon non guitar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e-x6VL7BWM
Sequential OB-6 sub oscillator behaves strangely in SYNC mode

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiIKWg0-XQA
Prophet-6 normal in SYNC mode patch 932 (short version)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkfT2XcyNuI
Prophet-6 normal in SYNC mode (3 patches, long version)

[AlainHubert]

FWIW, On my OB6 (Module version) everything sounds fine on all voices with that preset 760. The only time when the pitch switches one octave up is when I turn the VCO 2 Detune knob all the way to the right. But there's no "noise" heard, only one octave up on some of the voices.

[DaveP6guy]

Patch 878 on my board is exhibiting some odd behavior - the sub bass is dropping out every three notes.

In my case it's one voice that does this. I've been aware of it for a while: it's down to using sync and the sub oscillator at the same time. If you initialise a patch, set VCO 1 frequency to E3 and turn on sync, turn the levels of VCO 1 and 2 to zero and Sub Octave to max then you'll probably find three of your voices play an octave lower than the others. In my case, four play an octave lower, one sometimes jumps around between notes an octave apart, and one plays at the same pitch as VCO 2.
And, well, this is an analog synth so things aren't going to be absolutely perfect.

I've just compares two units side by side in a few videos. The two units are different in their behaviour that's for suree, in some ways.  One has almost exactly the same symptoms as yours, especially when moving around the pitches and modulation options on Oscillator 1. I experimented with Patch 260/760 and also 007/507.

I got some weird stuff on both but in the end I could get a really nice sound out of the subosc on 507 even playing the subosc only with Osc 1 and 2 turned down. I guess the waveform of Osc 1 changing all the time in Sync mode if its modulated using Poly Mod, Aftertouch or LFO confuses the sub oscs or some of them, but it's strange that it's always on given voices and usually two or three. Sometimes the sub-osc is silent on some voices, sometimes swapping from octave to unison, sometimes making a very weird noise on one voice, an octave below on one and silence on four and sometimes sounding great and stable. I also hear the subosc seeming to change timbre with SYNC on or even changing frequency following usually the swoops on Osc 1 when using filter envelope to Osc 1 for instance.

I may just grow to like it and use it as a musical device. Since it can be made to work 'normally' in a fairly large number of circumstances it might just be necessary to turn the sub's volume to 0 if it's not pleasing.

It's intersting to listen to the timbre of Osc 1 when it is synced to Osc 2 at different de-tunings and how much or how little you can hear the original pitch of Osc 1. I find the subosc usually does these strange things when frequency of Osc 1 is less than Osc 2. Maybe that's because Osc 1 will never complete whole cycle before it is reset by Osc 2. In some of these instances it even appear to follow Osc 2 in unison, as does Osc 1.

[AlanC]

I've just compares two units side by side in a few videos.

After seeing your videos I thought I'd try out program 760 because I didn't remember ever hearing anything like those bursts of noise you got. But, sure enough, one voice was doing exactly the same thing.

And then it got really weird: as the OB-6 warmed up the problem voice went from producing noise to rapidly jumping between pitches an octave apart, and then settled down into its previous behaviour of the sub being an octave too high.

As AlainHubert noted it seems to be tuning related, and as the synth warms up and stabilises the effect changes, but it seems some voice cards are more prone to the issue than others. I still wonder if it's component tolerances.

At any rate, I never did get around to talking to Sequential about the issue and subsequently pretty much forgot about it because I don't use sync much.

[calebnei]

Hi, my first post here. What a nice place to be. :-)
I am super happy with my OB-6, phantastic sound and interface! A modern poly analog classic for sure.

I believe I found a small bug concerning triggering and transposing the sequencer. Using an external trigger (in my case an 808) with the setting "tri" I cannot transpose the sequence via the keyboard. Same holds true for the mixed mode "t-g". Using the internal clock/trigger "nor" everything is fine, of course. As I am particularly interested in using the analog trigger from outside ("Juno mode") it would be cool to fix this.

Also I notice that having my external analog trigger running but selecting the internal mode the sequencer resets to step 1 everytime the external trigger arrives. Probably not meant to do so?

Is there a place here to report potential bugs and request OS features?

It's unbelievable that there's not a mode where I can transpose a sequence with one hand. How can I perform with that? Ridiculous.

[Soundquest]

I wish they'd had fixed that already.   I use the duct tape trick to hold the button down if you want each new key to transpose sequence.   Latest update allows this type of operation when in unison mode now.

[AlainHubert]

I wish they'd had fixed that already.   I use the duct tape trick to hold the button down if you want each new key to transpose sequence.   Latest update allows this type of operation when in unison mode now.

Yeah. Their Prophet REV2 is like that also. Pretty useless in live situations.

[Lillloyd]

Weird issue I just noticed - when driving my OB6 desktop with an 88 note controller, and the filter cutoff knob at roughly 9:00 or less (down to lowest possible value), the filter inexplicably opens up on every 5th and 6th note.  So basically, it's seems two specific voices.

This doesn't occur anywhere else on the keyboard range.  And if I raise the filter cutoff to a bit more than 9:00, the problem goes away.

I'm on 1.5.1 and plan to upgrade firmware; if it doesn't go away I'll contact Sequential support.  Just wanted to post here and see if anyone else has seen this problem?

[PapaAlfrego]

Hi All,

I noticed some of the shafts of the potentiometers on my OB6 shift side to side more noticeably than others.  Is this pretty common?

[synthwave4ever]

Hi All,

I noticed some of the shafts of the potentiometers on my OB6 shift side to side more noticeably than others.  Is this pretty common?

Same here. Not thrilled with the quality of the knobs at this price. The knobs on my P6 feel much sturdier.