OB-6 Problems?

Sacred Synthesis · « **on:** May 05, 2016, 10:12:54 PM »

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?

black953mj · « **Reply #1 on:** May 06, 2016, 06:41:44 AM »

I've been spending a huge amount of time with this setting up patches for my gigs - I have yet to run into anything that has not worked as I expected it to.

Sacred Synthesis · « **Reply #2 on:** May 06, 2016, 08:57:35 AM »

This is excellent news. The instrument is still very young and users are just digging into it, but things are certainly off to a good start.

Lauflicht · « **Reply #3 on:** May 16, 2016, 06:58:17 AM »

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?

Sacred Synthesis · « **Reply #4 on:** May 16, 2016, 07:25:06 AM »

This is it, or else, start your own thread.

cbmd · « **Reply #5 on:** May 18, 2016, 12:17:44 PM »

If you find a reproducible bug, please do not assume that we will find it here. The best bet is to submit it to us at support@davesmithinstruments.com

Sacred Synthesis · « **Reply #6 on:** May 26, 2016, 11:49:50 AM »

Right. I didn't mean it that way, Carson. I only wanted the information to know if I should put off a possible purchase until the bugs were found and fixed.

Guyman Bromate · « **Reply #7 on:** May 26, 2016, 05:03:32 PM »

Having my OB-6 for a month now and didn't regret buying it for a second

One thing that's not really a bug, but a feature that I'd really love to see and that would not be to hard to implement I guess, would be to be the ability to write protect single patches or whole banks. Or did I miss the function somehow, I suppose theres some very workaround and of course I can always dump patches, but it would be great to have the functionality on the hardware.

I accidentally overwrote a sweet patch yesterday that I definitely would have write protected if I could have :/

Apart from that, I have nothing even remotely bad to say about this synthesizer. I never owned an instrument that put so many smiles on my face and shivers on my skin, thanks Tom & Dave & all you genius people at DSI

Soundquest · « **Reply #8 on:** May 27, 2016, 01:51:03 PM »

Yes, I second the "write protect" idea. I blew it a few times now overwriting accidently

Horace · « **Reply #9 on:** May 28, 2016, 07:30:46 PM »

Hi,

No problems so far apart from user issues.
I found that all my patches i created were in
different key !!

Didn't take much notice until my ear training regressed !.

Now i'm more careful if I sync the oscillators

Horace

Shaw · « **Reply #10 on:** June 08, 2016, 01:34:26 PM »

Quote from: Sacred Synthesis on May 05, 2016, 10:12:54 PM

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 bugs found here.

Cheers!

Sacred Synthesis · « **Reply #11 on:** June 10, 2016, 09:15:27 AM »

This is very impressive. The OB-6 seems easily to be the most problem-free instrument from its release. Congratulations, DSI and Tom!

Sacred Synthesis · « **Reply #12 on:** June 22, 2016, 09:22:02 PM »

The OB-6 continues to impress, with amazingly few problems, if any. Presumably, the module version will have as spotless a record. Congratulations, DSI.

Lauflicht · « **Reply #13 on:** June 23, 2016, 01:00:14 PM »

Could somebody here with an OB-6 please try to reproduce what I posted further up? I'd like to have confirmation that I found a "real bug" or not am tricked by some stupid user error. Thank you.

Paul Dither · « **Reply #14 on:** June 23, 2016, 01:12:52 PM »

Quote from: Lauflicht on June 23, 2016, 01:00:14 PM

Could somebody here with an OB-6 please try to reproduce what I posted further up? I'd like to have confirmation that I found a "real bug" or not am tricked by some stupid user error. Thank you.

Did you try to get in touch with the support already? I'm sure they'll get back to you faster, since not everybody on this forum might have the according setup to test what you're looking for.

support@davesmithinstruments.com

Lillloyd · « **Reply #15 on:** August 19, 2016, 08:08:54 PM »

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

AlanC · « **Reply #16 on:** August 21, 2016, 11:49:58 AM »

Quote from: Lillloyd on August 19, 2016, 08:08:54 PM

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've found a couple of other oddities in some of my own patches in certain circumstances: maximum resonance on one voice may sound slightly different until the synth is fully warmed up, and large amounts of x-mod can cause cause one voice to go slightly out of tune with the others.

I'm guessing it's component tolerances. I haven't decided whether I'm actually bothered by it yet because 99% of the time it's not an issue. And, well, this is an analog synth so things aren't going to be absolutely perfect.

Lillloyd · « **Reply #17 on:** August 21, 2016, 12:24:46 PM »

Quote from: AlanC on August 21, 2016, 11:49:58 AM

Quote from: Lillloyd on August 19, 2016, 08:08:54 PM
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've found a couple of other oddities in some of my own patches in certain circumstances: maximum resonance on one voice may sound slightly different until the synth is fully warmed up, and large amounts of x-mod can cause cause one voice to go slightly out of tune with the others.

I'm guessing it's component tolerances. I haven't decided whether I'm actually bothered by it yet because 99% of the time it's not an issue. And, well, this is an analog synth so things aren't going to be absolutely perfect.

Thanks Alan! That's reassuring that I'm not the only one...

It's weird - yesterday the patch was consistently doing 3 on, 3 off (3 with Sub, 3 no Sub). After powering it down last night and powering back up, it is now equally consistent, but with a 4 on / 2 off pattern. As you noted, the issue (if you can even call it that) goes away when the Sync is disengaged.

I just wanted to be absolutely sure....I had the sub OSC on my Sub37 go out recently so I'm a bit paranoid.

peppo · « **Reply #18 on:** August 25, 2016, 10:17:50 AM »

Quote from: Lillloyd on August 21, 2016, 12:24:46 PM

Thanks Alan! That's reassuring that I'm not the only one...

I think that's just the normal behaviour when a sub oscillator is created by frequency dividing another oscillator synced to a third oscillator. My OB-6 does that also.

I have another question concerning cassis temperature: my OB gets pretty warm on the backside and the bottom close to the effects section. I thinks it's nothing to worry about since it is in tune and sounds as expected (and i expected it to sound fantastic

).

Could somebody please confirm that for me?

TIA

peppo · « **Reply #19 on:** August 25, 2016, 12:15:42 PM »

Quote from: peppo on August 25, 2016, 10:17:50 AM

I think that's just the normal behaviour when a sub oscillator is created by frequency dividing another oscillator synced to a third oscillator. My OB-6 does that also.

Here's a discussion about the same thing on a Prophet 6:

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/electronic-music-instruments-electronic-music-production/1051384-prophet-6-bug-design-flaw.html

The result on the Prophet sounds a little bit different due to the triangle wave sub oscillator.