Sequential OB-6 | Inside (ambient demo)

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I have honestly stared at this synth more than any other synth for the last three years, online that is. I watched videos upon videos and thought "it sounds good... but what is it that people love about it?" I wasn't going to spend $2000+ on a synth without testing it. No, I only do that with everything else (like the Prophet 10 and Prophet 12). Ok, so I do do that.

I managed to play one locally. Twice. The desktop version. I walked away from my first experience thinking "Wow, their Virus TI2 sounds amazing." I own the TI1, so obviously I didn't need that. But the point was, I didn't really think the OB-6 was that great.

Then, I managed to go back, this time with my own headphones. My opinion didn't change. However, this time they had an Oberheim OB-Xa, which sounded incredible, I could hardly believe my ears. I left, again, disappointed by the OB-6.

Fast-forward, I was going to do a trade, my JX-3P + cash for a friend's OB-6 keyboard. Well, they took the JX-3P but needed the OB-6 for a show, so I let them bring that later. In the process, they decided not to keep the JX-3P, but did let me borrow their OB-6, for a few hours, just to sit and play, which was awfully kind of them. What you hear is my time with it. Or rather, the first half of that time with it. I knew nothing about it, but I DID tune it prior to starting recording - and it managed to get out of tune by the end.

Anyway, here are my thoughts. It was 'ok'. I like my Virus TI more (the BP filters can sound almost identical). I actually quite like my Matrix 1000 more, which should surprise no one that knows me, as I think I like that more than my Prophet 10.

The oscillators just really didn't sound very good to my ears. Not that they were bad, but something about them sounded a bit... harsh?

Then the envelopes. The way they are shaped (maybe log? maybe linear?). I'm actually not sure what I prefer, although my favorite envelope shapes come from the Yamaha SY77 and the Ambika, which are so snappy in such a pleasing way.

EDIT: Oh, back to the envelopes, WOW. The attack is way too short for me. I can't get nice long sweeping opening pads. They just come on way too quickly for me. I don't remember what I felt about the release times, they were probably alright. I just really like long attack times (or very short and snappy attack times). The OB-6 did not deliver in this arena.

The filters, which I believe are the reason people love the OB-6, I think, just didn't strike me as particularly special. I like some strange things, so my opinion is to be taken quite lightly. But I did not feel they did anything special that my other gear (read: Virus TI, Prophet 10, System 8, etc etc) couldn't do. So hard to describe, but I just don't think I could spend $2000+ on something for filters that did not completely blow me away.

The FX were incredibly weak, IMO.

The synth itself looks very nice and feels good too. But the knobs did suffer from being wobbly, although they're extremely tight to twist, which was strange.

All in all. I need to borrow synths and test them before I buy them. I'd probably have half the junk in my studio if I had. Once I sit down with something, I become very quickly aware of what I like and don't like. Of course, I could end up loving something later (like my Prophet 12), but I don't need a ton more gear - I need to part with some more than anything.

For now, the OB-6 will lie at the back of my head with an unlikely chance of making its way to the foreground, leaving me feeling fairly confident that everything I have is sufficient. It's a good feeling.

If you own an OB-6 and find yourself disagreeing with my opinion? That is a good thing - we all like different things. I know tons of people don't like the System 8, the Virus, The Prophet 12, the MC-303... heck, Jexus totally dislikes the Virus TI, but I love it to death.

The value of something you own doesn't change because of my opinion. It's like a $20 bill that gets stepped on, licked, cut - it is still worth $20.

Eventide Blackhole VST used for reverb