Ashen - Oberheim OB MX

Published on Jan 28, 2017 100 Things I Do

"The OB-MX, possibly one of the most misunderstood synths of all time. While it seems to promise the sounds of the Moog and the Oberheim SEM it does not deliver that hardly at all. The filters are something along the line of but not quite the same as, application is similar to, the filters they are named after.

This made a lot of people angry and disappointed back in 1994. The Brain child of the chap that owned Oberheim at the time during its transition to Gibson. It wasn't until Don Buchla did a major redesign this machine made it to market. The story goes that Don specified very particular types of capacitors and the company sometimes followed instruction, sometimes just used what ever they had in the parts bin that week.

They even changed the VCA' chips on occasion! Don was not one to suffer people not following his instruction and made his objections quite well known. Most of this impacted the stability and application of the VCA. Why Don went to work for another big music company after the CBS issues I do not know.

With all this in mind, if you are looking for something that sounds like a mix between an OB-8, Matrix 12, CS-80 and Prophet 5 you might enjoy it. Éric Mouquet (Deep Forest) Loves his and just released a video of a sounds he has created for his new upcoming album (well worth a watch). Like many things Don created, if you don't apply and commit yourself to the use and headspace of the device, you don't get much out of it! All the sounds were created on the OB-MX using only delays and reverbs."

Cool warning inscribed on the back:

"There are thousands of parts inside but none are user serviceable, so kindly refrain from removing the covers. Do not take the OBMx swimming or play it in the rain. Custom designed for Oberheim by Don Buchla. Manufactured by Oberheim, Oakland, California"