BOOcast - Synth of the Month: DSI Oberheim OB-6

This is taken from BOO-cast episode 6 (bit.ly/boocast6).
To celebrate ten years of BOO we are streaming live on KZbin, 7pm UK time on the first Monday of every month. Answering your questions, playing songs, meeting guests, talking synths and sharing stories.
If you enjoyed this then why not subscribe on Bandcamp for bonus content?
bit.ly/BOOsters
Synth of the Month title poster and tee available here:
bit.ly/BOOswag
Buy music/merch on Bandcamp: booelectric.bandcamp.com
Join our mailing list at booelectric.com

[@istvantoth7431]

This is like the One Ring in LOTR. The OB-6 is the One-Synth. One vicious synth above all, one rules all of them.

[@mariomariosaad]

Your review is absolutely what a musician looks for before buying expensive gear. Thank you very much for that !! Subs and likes on the way

[@BOOelectric]

Awesome, thank you!

[@thaJeztah]

Great video! I absolutely love my OB!

[@jazzjeffjazzjeff]

Most excellent! Making me miss my OB6…..

[@robbatke7430]

This is a great video, Thanks! Giving me lots of ideas of how to dig into my OB-6 further 👍

[@BOOelectric]

Thank you! You're most welcome, it really rewards you for spending some time with it!

[@mmckmusic]

brilliant sound design at 7:45, thanks for sharing

[@NicolasMelis]

ob6 filter ❤

[@RabbitintheMoon]

loved the Japan moments... bravo!

[@BOOelectric]

Thank you!!

[@sweevo99]

these are killer patches..would love to see you do a more detailed patch breakdown...subscribed.!

[@lelandchapman1]

Id love to see how you made the electric piano patch!

[@justinupchurch1773]

This is how I would go about my first interaction with this synth. Thank you. I have to have this synth now. I ordered a prophet 6 module a few weeks ago, still sitting in the box as I’m finishing studio remodeling. If I would’ve seen this video before I would’ve gotten the ob6

[@galaxiesmerge_original]

I bought the Yorick Tech Low Frequency Expander (LFE) that adds extra LFOs and Envelopes with two OB-6’s modules this week instead of getting the OB-X8. When layered you obviously get bitimbral but most exciting is the poly chain - you get a 12-voice Oberheim SEM sound. This is a super review and the Yorick LFE gets you that type of knob twiddling control through the MPE control. Nice job!

[@BOOelectric]

I bet that sounds amazing!

[@andydj261]

I have the Low Frequency Expander with a Prophet-6 & Subsequent-37 pairing.

[@justinupchurch1773]

Can you combine a prophet 6 module and ob6 module?

[@Riktenstein]

There is a great mod box which uses CCs for lots more modulation.

[@thelanavishnuorchestra]

I got a chance to play one of these at the local synth shop and I was just blown away by how cool it was. The limitations it has were seemingly immaterial given how wide a range of sounds and how wonderful and expressive it is to play. I'd spent a couple of months making synths in PureData (quite feasible if a bit fiddly) working to make things that were as expressive as possible to play (here's a demo of my CS80 - kzbin.info/www/bejne/d5OkiYmqrNGonsU). So I was really pleased with how in line the OB-6's expressiveness was with my then current obsession. A dream synth.

[@BOOelectric]

Thank you!

[@kaitlyn__L]

Oh! This wasn’t in the playlist! I was mildly saddened because I thought I’d run out, but there was one left 🙂

[@BOOelectric]

Oh bless you! I've just recorded two more, but they'll not go up until they're on the BOOcast, I'm afraid...

[@nostandingonlydancin]

20:37 amazing harmonium patch

[@nostandingonlydancin]

This is a great video. Congratulations

[@BOOelectric]

@@nostandingonlydancin Thank you so much!

[@kaitlyn__L]

Haha just yesterday I discovered using a high feedback digital delay as a non key tracking FM oscillator too! Different synth but very similar result.

[@BOOelectric]

Nice! I like a droney, Karplus-Strong-y type thing, but I'm npw wondering if there's a good sequence-able digital delay pedal out there?

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@BOOelectric I don’t know much about guitar pedals tbh! This was in my Super 6 🙂 I wouldn’t be surprised if there was such a pedal option though. Meantime, I know my Super 6 has CC and NRPN controls for delay time and feedback… so I could probably sequence it from Ableton? But that still wouldn’t be natively tuned to notes or put in a piano roll. And it would be tedious lol.

[@thepanel2935]

I have a musician friend who bought one of these. He plays a few instruments, mostly guitar. His OB-6 just sits there, unused, all the time.

[@BOOelectric]

That's a shame. Synths, like pets, need attention or they slip into disrepair... Can you, er, liberate it from your friend?

[@thepanel2935]

@@BOOelectricI'd love to, but I can't play an instrument... and I think the Prophet-6 looks better than the OB-6 anyway.

[@saba2655]

Great video! Are you sharing or selling these patches anywhere? The harmonium, piano, and the first one with the sub are all so beautiful.

[@BOOelectric]

Thank you very much! I hadn't thought of sharing the patches (I'm not even sure how to do it!) But I'll look into it today... We have a Bandcamp subscription page with stems, unreleased EPs and stuff like that... It might be a good place to put patches? Thanks for your support!

[@saba2655]

@@BOOelectric sounds like the perfect place! I would happily subscribe or pay for them outright. They’re too nice.

[@BOOelectric]

@@saba2655 That's very kind of you!

[@thaJeztah]

Was here to ask the same; some really great patches in there!

[@BlackMan614]

Nice job. You do good gear reviews - for musicians - not gear hoarders.

[@BOOelectric]

Thank you very much, that's very kind of you!

[@hardcoreherbivore4730]

You’ve been whining about not having money in almost every single comment I’ve found. Bro, that’s on you, level up and quit complaining.

[@hardcoreherbivore4730]

There’s always Behringer until you get there. 😝

[@jettsom]

Great overview of this fantastic synth! As much as I love the sound of the OB-6, I would not trade my Prophet 5 for it though. Maybe for the new OB-X8.😊

[@BOOelectric]

Thank you very much! I still want a P5 after all these years, so I understand where you're coming from. Do you have a vintage or the re-issue, just out of interest?

[@jettsom]

@@BOOelectric I got a P5, rev 4 recently but i did hesitate a while between both P5 and OB-6. I am happy with my choice!

[@BOOelectric]

@@jettsom Nice!

[@beartrouble]

Do you have the patches available ?

[@BOOelectric]

Yes, the 4 patches piano, auto ashram, Japan bells and junk shop harmonium are available for our Bandcamp subscribers here: bit.ly/BOOsters

[@klstay]

All 3 of the 4 octave 6 voice sequential polys can produce great sounds like those here, but have certain features while missing others which make the price unjustifiable for me personally. I am probably in a minority who do NOT care at all about onboard effects and even place a fairly low value on patch storage. I highly value bi-timbrality, 5 octave+ keybed, and as close to 100% knob per function as possible. So, saving up longer for a P10 while not possible for some is where I will probably end up. Great job here BTW.

[@BOOelectric]

Thank you, and I'm with you on the bi-timbrality. We only got the OB6 because we had a borrowed 2-voice, which we could never have afforded. I hope one day there's a way of splitting up the voice cards into a pretend 2-voice kinda thing. Good luck with the future P10!

[@GioMilko]

Coming from guitar world all I can say is...Jesus funk

[@BOOelectric]

Ha! And here we are listening to Teenage Jesus as we read your comment. The power of Chris compels you!!

[@returnofthenative]

Can't hear you.

[@BOOelectric]

Thanks for the feedback, I'll try to make sure the vo is louder in future.