OB-X8a Wish List

[cowfood]

Speaking of daughterboards..  could two voices be combined on one board?  Allowing for a 16 voice obx8 option? 

[-AJ-]

2 and 4 would be the biggest quality of life improvements for me, because those are the first things I adjust every time I make a new program, and having to menu-dive every time is annoying.

That's what templates are for and there is more than enough patch memory for them.

I built templates for OB-X, OB-Xa, and OB-8 as starting points for my sound design.

Yeah, that works for everything except the Global Stereo/Mono output setting.

RTFM.  Global stereo/mono allows a "per preset" option.

And the expanded User bank leaves more room for it. The problem is that I always end up forgetting and writing over them.

RTFM.  The OB-X8 has a way to check contents of saved patches before overwriting them.

I already know everything you’re RTFM’ing about, and still would like it the way I said. The way those things exist currently is cumbersome.

[g3o2]

The page 2 could certainly be improved and it already has in recent firmware. With the screen, it is kind of an undiscovered land for Oberheim, too. Page 2 will also remain a tricky compromise because of the many possibilities and starting points that it offers.

For exemple, page 2 begins with the Osc mixer section because oscillators is where sound starts. Once the sound is programmed, that would be the last section you’d need. Why not have the performance-related sections (e.g stereo, AT, Velocity, etc.) come first?

The new firmware also allows us to jump between page 2 sections. Additionally, it would be great if   additional hardware shortcuts to page 2 would be provided and to start on-screen page 2 with options for which there is no hardware shortcut. Some of the knobs are still on “page 1”, when you’re actually in page 2. Do we really need cut-off and resonance to work on page 2? (I mean you can always turn off the page 2 hardware interface).

[s.sameer]

I believe some additional parameters & destinations would be very useful, like:

• A page2 parameter to offset the square waveform phase by 90º.
• Polarity invert for oscillator 2.
• Per voice pan (can be adjusted separately or modulated by LFO).

[Chai Baba]

I deeply fell in love with this synth. I like spending hours on tweaking a sound and getting lost in using it. What a pleasure to get the hands on this lovely device.

But, the first things I  really miss a lot is:

1) syncable LFO`s  - please (It`s so hard to dial in the right amount. A 5 or 10 time "magnification", using the same knob and make it finer to use would do the job, too. But maybe it`s not making the process more simple, as it could have been.)

2) panspread in per cent in stead of quarters of a whole. Smoother, like on an OB-6

[-AJ-]

It’s been a while, so I thought I would bump this with slight modifications. The requests are now listed in order of priority to me:

1. The ability to add ann extra voice card to expand to 16 voices. I know this would be more expensive, but having the option would be huge. Or at least a separate OB-16, like the Prophet-10.

2. Tempo sync functions like the OB-6/Prophet-6/Trigon-6, for the arpeggiator and LFOs. The ability to choose an exact tempo for the internal clock (and see it on the screen), the ability to choose note subdivisions (8th, dotted 8th, 16th, etc), and the ability to sync the arpeggiator and LFOs to that tempo. Whether this should be all on the panel or some on Page 2 is something I'm not 100% sure about.

3. A button or knob in the Filter section to choose between all available filter types, instead of having to go to Page 2.

4. Blue stripes and red power button on the front panel, like the Xa/8, with Page 2 panel mode legends printed under the controls for the remaining Page 2 functions, like on the OB-8.

5. Stereo Width, Pan Mode, and Stereo/Mono Global (renamed "Output") moved to the front panel with buttons or knobs in the Master section.

6. Knobs for OSC 1/2 Volume and separate Pulse Width in the Oscillators section.

7. A three-way button on the front panel (Master section) to choose between the three Oberheim models. All of the Page 2 options that relate to the OB-X, OB-Xa or OB-8 change when you choose that model

8. When you turn the Frequency knob for an oscillator, show the pitch on the screen.

9. Change the Noise and KBD buttons to knobs with a value of 0-127. Combines On/Off and Amount in one control. Add similar knobs to the Control section for Velocity and Aftertouch.

A lot of these changes are taking things from Page 2 and moving them to the front panel. That would allow Page 2 to be shortened, and menu-diving reduced, with the remaining Page 2 functions moved to the front of the menu. I think they leaned a little too far into making an exact reissue with the X8, and adding those controls to the panel would be a significant usability/quality-of-life improvement.

[louis]

Also hoping we see an updated version at some point. Would jump on it immediately. Although I wouldn’t mind if a matrix 12 came out either.

[-AJ-]

Also hoping we see an updated version at some point. Would jump on it immediately. Although I wouldn’t mind if a matrix 12 came out either.

I don’t find the sound of the Matrix synths as appealing as the OBs, even though they had a lot of interesting modulation capabilities. A 16 voice X8a with the changes above would be the perfect Oberheim for me.