ELKA OMB 5 Review - Italo Disco from hell! Or heaven?

Published on May 11, 2018 Espen Kraft

"Elka OMB 5 - One Man Band. Released somewhere in the mid to late 80s and is somewhat of an enigma to me in terms of usage.

https://open.spotify.com/artist/1dMWi...

It has the drums from the excellent Drumstar 80 drum machine, but without individual outs and only a balance fader between kick/snare and the hats, it falls kind of short in the "usable" category. The bass preset bank is ok and has some fine FM basses to chose from. The two synth preset banks is nothing to focus on and they should really be left out of the eqation. There are no analog sounds here, it's all digital.
Another sound that don't come through in the video is the fantastically annoying built-in fan that sounds like a defect car exhaust system. This makes the OMB 5 pretty useless in any studio situation unless you're fine with getting a permanently hearing damage.
However, if you find the right balance between the drums, program your own pattern, and play the bass part over an external sequencer you'll find that the OMB 5 has very nice low end and lots of "oompf" to get a solid Italo Disco going!
As you can sync the drums to external clock it's a breeze to integrate this machine into your setup and it's will hold it's own!

My tracks pay homage to all synth-pop acts of the 80'ies like Howard Jones, Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, New Order, Thompson Twins, Tears for Fears, Ultravox, OMD, Euryhmics, Duran Duran, Giorgio Moroder, Jean Michel Jarre, Jan Hammer, Alphaville, A-ha and many more."

Elka OMB 5 | Automatic Italo Disco (2023 segment reupload)

video upload by Espen Kraft

See ELKA OMB 5 Review - Italo Disco from hell! Or heaven? for the longer video.

"Elka OMB 5 - Auto-Erotica Compartment for the Italo Generation.

Support this channel on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/espenkraft"

Alles in Oorde on the Elka OMB-5 VINTAGE 80s Italian Synthesizer

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Uploaded on Nov 3, 2008 Zimone1969·20 videos

"expositieopening bij Dynamo-Expo te Enschede in de zomer van 2008. ...such a perfect day!"

Found this one searching for more info on the Elka OMB-5 after seeing this auction. Note the listing states this is analog, I believe it is digital. Not sure how programmable the synth engine is either. It appears to be a preset synth with auto-accompaniment sections. A search on Elka OMB-5 brings up a few prior listings.

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ELKA ONE MAN BAND OMB-5 KEYBOARD SYNTHESIZER

via this auction

"ELKA OMB 5 , THE ONE MAN BAND HAS MIDI IN, OUT AND THRU

DESIGNED FOR MUSICIANS THAT NEED ACCOMPANIMENT. THE OMB 5 HAS; RHYTHM, BASS, PRESETS 1 AND PRESETS 2, OF MANY CHOICES OF BACKUP INSTRUMENTS.

ELKA PROFESSIONAL INSTRUMENTS, WAS WAY AHEAD OF THE MARKET AND DEVELOPED THIS INSTRUMENT IN THE LATE 1980s...

THE OMB 5 HAS PROGRAMMABILITY AS WELL, PLEASE REFER THE FLYER ATTACHED."

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elka omb5 demo video

Published on Apr 22, 2014 lovesvintagesynth

"Alle Sounds wurden aus dem OMB-5 direkt in die Kamera eingespielt (ohne Effekte etc). Deshalb leider ziemlich verzerrt. Ein Midisequenz aus Ableton "spielt" die Melodie, das Tempo kommt vom OMB-5 per Midi out. Alle Sounds, Beats etc. macht der OMB-5."

"All sounds were from the OMB-5 recorded without effects (etc) directly into the camera.'s Why unfortunately quite distorted. A Midi sequence from Ableton plays the melody, the tempo comes from the OMB-5 by Midi out. All sounds, beats, etc. makes the OMB-5"

Vintage ELKA OMB 5 SN 037200

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via this auction

Note this is digital.
"# This is the Elka OMB (One Man Band) 5 Synthesizer keyboard.
# It comes with 2 really cool pedals -- the OMB 5 pedalboard bass pedal and the VP 5B Volume Pedal with Start/Stop and Chord Controls as well as the PG105 (PG-5) Push Button Switch for Fill In on/off controls
# This is authentic vintage, probably 1970s.
# The coolest thing about this synthesizer is the MIDI in/out -- you can actually hook it up to your computer and record vintage sounds"

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Elka OMB 5 (1985) - Arranger, Synthesizer & Drum Machine

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via this auction

"The OMB 5 from Elka aka “One Man Band” is an FM and PCM Rom based synthesizer arranger instrument. There are two FM synthesizers on board along with a PCM / Wavetable synthesizer for drums. With this synth you practically have (in addition to synths) a one Drumstar 80 (Elka) and a drum with similar samples Linn! This is a great machine for a trip in the 80s and for Italo Disco, New Wave, Synthwave productions.

CONDITIONS: The unit is fully working and in very excellent cosmetical conditions! There are some minor traces of use and the internal fan, as in all OMB 5 of the world, is a bit noisy. Other than that it is a truly perfect gem!"

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Blue Mondayish ELKA OMB5 with Custom Drum Kit

video upload by ohm_studi_ohm

"I just finished servicing an Elka OMB5 and building a custom drum kit for it so I had some fun with it.
All sounds are from the OMB5, no fx used."

ELKA OMB 5 with custom drum kit

video upload by ohm_studi_ohm

"herre is a demo of an Elka One Man Band with custom drum sounds.

The OMB5 is a nice 4 part arranger with rhythm channel, bass channel and 2 accompaniment tracks. Sounds are FM (from the elka ER/EK/EM 44) and the drums are PCM sampled from the Drumstar 80. It has MIDI in and out so you can either control and play the different part from the keyboard or from MIDI, it syncs and transmits clock as well as single input notes or sequenced notes. I like using it with external midi controller so I can play the 3 different melodic part separately (when playing from the keyboard notes always trigger the 3 part together).

Though the drum samples are actually quite good if you like 80s sounds (especialy percussion and cymbal sounds), I decided to replace some of them with some I favor more, using sounds from LinnDrum, Oberheim DX, Roland TR808, CR8000 and TR707. I also adjusted level by using compression on some other stock sounds.

The audio format used in the OMB5 (and the Drumstar 80 which drum part is derived) is the same as in those classic 80s PCM drum machines, ie 8 bit µ-Law unsigned sample. Sample rate is 25000 hz (or so) in that one.

Replacing sound is not as straightforward as in those drum machines because instead of using 1x eprom per sound there are several samples per eprom (7x 256 kbyte eproms are used in the OMB5 to accomode for 32 sounds) so you need to edit the audio file and replace the existing sample with your own but it needs to start at the exact same adress as the original one and it should have the same length or be shorter.

So basically what you do is:
read the eprom bin
convert to uncompressed audio
edit that file and edit/replace the sound you want making sure you dont change file size nor start adress of the sound
convert the uncompressed audio to µ-law 8 bit
burn the new bin file

if you're interested in getting those sound I can sell you a full 7x eproms kit ready to use. I can be fitted in the DrumStar 80 too.

here is a list of the 32 sounds, with original and replacement when there is:

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Untitled

flickr By thaulow

ELKA OMB 5

You can see one in this post.

TAL-U-NO-LX Patch Bank by Espen Kraft | Download now

video upload by Espen Kraft

64 New Patches! Perfect for Pop, Synthpop, Italo Disco, Synthwave etc.

Find the pack here:
https://thepatchbay.io/product/tal-u-...
https://sound7.co.uk/products/tal-u-n...

The drums in the demo can be checked out in the link below. They're part of my "ultimate synthpop/Italo disco" sample pack:"

Italo Disco/SynthPop Sample Pack | Get it NOW!

"I've spent a long time recording, sampling and processing the sounds in this pack, with focus on quality and usability. Each drum sample is taken directly out of the hardware.
Many of the sounds has been made by layering different samples and effects.

This is not a free pack, but I hope you'll see it's priced quite reasonably considering the quality and quantity of the sounds. :)

Get the pack here:
https://sound7.co.uk/products/italo-d...
https://thepatchbay.co.uk/product/the..."

"WELCOME TO THE 80S - A SAMPLE PACK DRIPPING WITH AUTHENTICITY.

Looking for some truly unique samples? Don't want to settle for lesser grade sound-a-likes? This is the the 80's sample pack for you and it's simply oozing retro nostalgia.

With weeks spent recording, sampling and processing the sounds in this pack, there's an unparalleled commitment to quality and usability.

Each drum sample is taken directly out of hardware and many of the sounds have been made by careful layering of different samples and effects to give you the sound that's just ..'perfect'.

With over 600mb of construction kits, on-shots, melody loops, bass-lines and vox shots the hardware kit list in this sample packs creation includes:

Korg Poly-61
Korg DSS-1
Roland Alpha Juno 2
Roland Juno 6
Roland JX-8P
Roland R8
Roland TR-808
Roland TR-909
Roland S-10
Yamaha DX7
Behringer Model D
Sequential TOM drum machine w/EPROM binary Linndrum, DMX and Emulator chips.
E-MU Drumulator

Dr.Böhm "The German Linndrum" drum machine
Elka OMB-5 and Drumstar 80 drum machine
Simmons SDS800 drum machine/brain
BOSS DR-55
BOSS DR-110
Akai S1000
Akai S612
Akai S700
Casio SK-1
Kurzweil K2000"

Sample Format: 44khz / 24 bit

Elka OMB-5 Digital Synthesizer SN 030834

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via this auction

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Elka OMB-5 synthesizer arranger drum machine

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via this auction

Via the listing: "The first thing to say about this synth is that it is a lot of fun to play. It incorporates both a keyboard, an arranger and a drum machine. I have spent many a pleasant afternoon just fooling around with it. Although I never would recommend using the arranger as the actual base for a song, it is inspiring and will give you ideas for a full-scale project. I would characterize the sound as a little bit thin - as befits its heritage - which might be perfect for electronica, if I was to use it on a track I would boost the mid and base to make it a little bit fuller."

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The Ultimate Italo Disco SynthPop Sample Pack

Published on Nov 22, 2019 Espen Kraft

"I've spent a long time recording, sampling and processing the sounds in this pack, with focus on quality and usability.
Each drum sample is taken directly out of the hardware.
Many of the sounds has been made by layering different samples and effects.

This is not a free pack, but I hope you'll see it's priced quite reasonably considering the quality and quantity of the sounds. :)

Get the pack here:
https://thepatchbay.co.uk/product/the...

Or buy from me directly by sending me an email to : espenkraft69@gmail.com

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Array Studio

YouTube via array56
"Recording and music production studio New Plymouth, New Zealand"
Anyone know what that last synth is?
Update via Lasse in the comments: Elka OMB-5

ELKA Professional Synthesizer ROM Carts

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via the following auctions:

ROM 44/5 Keytronik Effects Plug

ROM 44/2 Keytronik Effects Plug

ROM 1 OMB 5 OMB5 Patch/Program Bank

RAM 22 Patch/Program Bank

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