inside OBERHEIM - OB8

[Artesia]

Everso slightly borrowed from an ebay listing (sorry!) : #230332861853

but the pics where too comprehensive to allow to dissapear.

so, not as many details about the chips however :/

please post additional details you find out :)

# Polyphony - 8 voices

# Oscillators - 2 vco's per voice: saw, pulse, triangle

# Memory - 120 patch programs, 12 split programs, and 12 double programs; external cassette storage; MIDI SysEx data dump

# Filter - Switchable 2-pole or 4-pole VCF w/ ADSR

# LFO - Triangle, Square, Ramp, Samp+Hold

# Keyboard - 61 keys (can be split or doubled); no velocity or aftertouch

# Arpeg/Seq - 8-note arpeggiator with external sync source

# Control - MIDI (Channels 1-9) added as a retrofit

# Date Produced - 1983 - 1985

apparently:

filter chips: CEM 3320

http://www.synthtech.com/cem/c3320pdf.pdf

[madox]

Everso slightly borrowed from an ebay listing (sorry!)...

Hey, I was drooling over that auction just last night. One of these big old analogue beasts is very high on my want list. They don't often come up for sale in Aus, and the cost, oh the cost. Love Oberheim sounds though.

I'm keeping an eye out for a cheap Matrix 1000. Sometimes they go for pretty reasonable prices.

[Artesia]

i {heart icon} my oberheim matrix 12  ;)

..the matrix 1000 is very good value for money, gets pretty close to the character of the m12, but lacks the same extent of overkill really silly programming possibilitys of its older sibling :)

its still a very flexable beast however.

also of note, the dave smith poly evolver sounds very close to a matrix and uses filters designed by the same people. its got more programming options than a m1000; and digital programmable waveform options. only they are a little bit more expensive. but certainly a better buy than a virus in my book ;) :)

[madox]

Hey, I {heart icon} your oberheim matrix 12 too, damn it!

I would absolutely love an M12, or even just a chance to play with one. I have mucked around on an OB-8 for a little while, and really enjoyed it. M12's are really not cheap though. Like you said, I think the M1000 can be really good value for money. I'm assuming that modern DAW's can handle it's sysex control pretty seemlessly now. Never used one like this though. I would of course want to edit it in real time. M6R's sometimes go for a steal too.

[ilmenator]

I'm assuming that modern DAW's can handle it's sysex control pretty seemlessly now.

I wouldn't be too sure about that - but it would definitely make for a nice MIDIbox project, much like the famous Access Matrix Programmer.

[Artesia]

to the best of my understanding a m6r is identical to the m1000; only its guts are far less compact, using large, older footprint chip housings.

btw one niggle with the racks. changing many programming specific perameters over sysex takes sometime to update as their cpus are somewhat overstreched. still good for programming sounds, but it makes tweaking values other than the intended mod destinations neigh on impossible to use for additional expression control thru automation.

this is one good reason more could be got from these by someone midibox projecting the synth chips :)