Vintage OBXA VS OBX8 OBXA Patches

Vintage OBXA VS OBX8 OBXA Patches
« on: February 17, 2023, 10:24:32 PM »
For those of you that have a vintage OBXA  and the OBX8, how do you think the OBX8 patches of the OBXA compare to the
Orginal vintage OBXA? Thanks

Re: Vintage OBXA VS OBX8 OBXA Patches
« Reply #1 on: February 18, 2023, 01:26:20 AM »
All analog vintage individual instruments sound different. The only fair comparison must be a factory calibrated instrument. And Marcus Ryle himself made a such:

https://youtu.be/ecAWu3bgYhA

Re: Vintage OBXA VS OBX8 OBXA Patches
« Reply #2 on: February 18, 2023, 04:48:25 PM »
I saw that YouTube video. I think I remember seeing other oberhiem synths in that video as well.
I was looking up the price of the  SEM the more current ones not the vintage ones. The SEM s used were like $3,000 or more something to that effect. When they came out they were something like $900 dollars.  Those  used prices are too much. I would just opt to get a new prophet 5 rev4 for what they wanted for those used SEMs. The orginal  4 and 8 voice
Synths were great. I think I saw some on eBay for $30,000 dollars crazy. The new 2 voice was $4,000 if I remember correct
And it had to be preordered and it was a small production run. I can’t remember what year the new SEMs came out or the tnew 2 voice .Those prices make the OBX8 seem more reasonable LOL I saw another of your YouTube videos can’t remember the name though. I’ll probably get the eventide H90 but sometimes think about getting  the eventide space and the Roland RE202 instead of just the HR90. That way I could  use the Pro3 with an an effect pedal and the Oberhiem OBX8
With an effect pedal. Probably should just get the HR90 since you can use two algorithms at once and  it has  2 stereo ins and outs as well.

Re: Vintage OBXA VS OBX8 OBXA Patches
« Reply #3 on: February 21, 2023, 09:57:21 AM »
Correct.  I made comparions between my new X8 and my vintage OB-8 and Xa using factory presets. It was eye opening how de-calibrated my vintage machines actually were!   But overall tone wise, they are identical.

Re: Vintage OBXA VS OBX8 OBXA Patches
« Reply #4 on: February 23, 2023, 11:04:11 PM »
Correct.  I made comparions between my new X8 and my vintage OB-8 and Xa using factory presets. It was eye opening how de-calibrated my vintage machines actually were!   But overall tone wise, they are identical.
That’s cool that you have both those vintage oberhiem.s I wish I had kept my OBXA that I had bought used for $500 dollars many years ago. Seems so odd that people wanted all the digital synths that were being offered at the time
and analog synths were being discarded in favor of the digital romplers. Those vintage oberhiems are rare and command a high price today.  The OBX8 cost 5 times what I paid for the used OBXA.  I always regretted selling the OBXA. The OBX8
Is as close as I will ever get. I liked the look of the OBXA as well.  If I remember correctly it had a heat sink. It was much larger than the OBX8 is.

Re: Vintage OBXA VS OBX8 OBXA Patches
« Reply #5 on: February 24, 2023, 10:28:22 AM »
Correct.  I made comparions between my new X8 and my vintage OB-8 and Xa using factory presets. It was eye opening how de-calibrated my vintage machines actually were!   But overall tone wise, they are identical.


Same with my OB-X.  The OB-X8 really nails that tone.

The odd man out is the OB-SX presets on the OB-X8.  I restored my OB-SX ten years ago.  When Oberheim duplicated those OB-SX presets for the OB-X8 I think their source OB-SX was not calibrated like mine is.  The OB-X8 patches don't sound like my OB-SX.  I suspect the filter cutoff is calibrated too high, IE the string patches are missing the "silk" on my machine.

When I get some time I'm going to iron out the patches to sound more like my OB-SX.

That’s cool that you have both those vintage oberhiem.s I wish I had kept my OBXA that I had bought used for $500 dollars many years ago. Seems so odd that people wanted all the digital synths that were being offered at the time
and analog synths were being discarded in favor of the digital romplers.


People were tired of tuning and maintenance issues so they favored romplers and soft synths.  To my ears nothing sounds like the real thing.

The OB-X8 will be far less hassle maintenance wise - no trimpots under the hood to cause tuning issues.

Quote
Those vintage oberhiems are rare and command a high price today.  The OBX8 cost 5 times what I paid for the used OBXA.  I always regretted selling the OBXA. The OBX8
Is as close as I will ever get. I liked the look of the OBXA as well.  If I remember correctly it had a heat sink. It was much larger than the OBX8 is.

I love my vintage Oberheims but they don't like getting bumped around so I will not gig them.  They have MIDI retrofits in them but the MIDI implementation is pretty rudimentary (due to limitations of the stock electronics).  For my gigs I use MIDI a lot and need better MIDI.  That's why I immediately bought an OB-X8, sounds just like the vintage models and much better MIDI implementation.  A lot lighter too.