OBX or OBXa?

[sys2074]

Do you know that feeling when you left a store full of old synth gear and you arrived home and listend some classic synth tunes and you start to regret that you didn't buy that Juno 106 and that Oberheim OBXa (or one of the Mono/Polys, MS-20s, Jupiter 6/8s, ARP Odysseys, Yamaha CS-50, Minimoogs...)? I know it know! Alas, the only synth that I would have bought outright without a second thought (a Prophet VS) was already reserved.

So to my question: Which one is more desirable? The OBX or the OBXa? Optically I like the OBX more and that one seems to be more popular to me but how do these two differ sound-wise?

[himalaya]

Read this:

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/electron ... s-obx.html

[sys2074]

Thanks for the link himalaya! That explains a few things!Seems that shop doesn't currently have a OBX in stock. I think I would prefer that one over the OBXa since I prefer a softer sound.

The OBXa goes for ~313000 Yen (~3000$) here in Japan. I find that quite expensive. For that money I could go buy a motherf*** Korg Kronos and throw a Novation Ultranova on top of that here (of course that's not the same like a classic analogue synth, but still! )

Either way, thanks!

[himalaya]

That is expensive. Like all the classic analog synths.

OBXa sounds gorgeous, but it's a relatively simple synth. If you have the money to burn, go for it.

You mention the Kronos. I have a soft spot for workstations and Kronos is irresistible due to all those synth engines, from sample, VA, to acoustic modeling. Yummy!

[Vectorman]

I think the last couple of times I saw an eight-voice OB-X for sale, the asking prices were around $5G to $6G USD. They've shot past the OB-Xa and OB-8 in price and are climbing into Jupiter 8 territory. That really is an awful lot of money for a synth with such a simple architecture, despite the sweet sound. If I was going to drop that much cash, I'd be weighing a lot of other options which suddenly become possible at that price point.

[tapper mike]

I know this reads like sacrilege but...

OP-X rules the day for me.

[Synthbuilder]

I've sold all, bar one, of my old analogue polysynths now. The only one I'm keeping is the simple Polysix. But if I had to chose between the OB-X and Xa I'd go with the X. The X does sound nicer, in particular, the two pole filter is much smoother sounding than the one on the OB-Xa. The X doesn't do as much but what it does it does better.

The Xa does however have voice layering and a better left hand controller. But I found I didn't really use my Xa in actual recordings at all. I played with it but never recorded with it. In the end I swapped it for a TVS-1.

The OB-8 is the most flexible but page 2 is a bit of an awkward beggar to use and it has a more generic sound compared to the earlier Oberheims.

The OB-8 is the most reliable. Both the Xa and X have problems with the numerous board to board connectors. All of them have power supply design problems but these can be fixed (and probably already have been) by a decent tech.

All three have large numbers of CEM chips which are getting hard to source. The X has the least which again makes it more attractive in the long run.

One other one to consider is the OB-Sx which is a sort of cross between the OB-X and OB-Xa. It's not fully programmable and has a smaller keyboard but the blue and black version looks gorgeous.

Tony

[eXode]

All three have large numbers of CEM chips which are getting hard to source. The X has the least which again makes it more attractive in the long run.

Tony

Yes, the OB-X only uses CEM chips for the EG's (CEM3310), but that is still 16 of them in a 8 voice version (2 per voice). Everything else in the OB-X is discreete components afaik. From what I understand it was largely based on the SEM circuitry.