Why to Still Love the Oberheim Matrix-6R, Even If There are No Knobs.

video upload by Nostalgic Explorer

"In 1986, Oberheim took the DNA of its flagship synths and squeezed it into a rack module... then removed every single knob.

That one decision is why the #Oberheim Matrix-6R still divides people today. It's also a synth that ended up in the racks of Orbital, Philip Glass, Tangerine Dream and many more. So which is it: a hidden gem or a headache?

Explorers, I powered mine up to find out. There's one thing everybody complains about on the #Matrix6R, and I've got a different take on it. Then I hooked it up to my Elektron Digitakt, went digging through the patches, and found a few sounds I didn't want to stop playing.

Stay for the jam at the end. That's where this #VintageSynth really shows what it's made of.

00:00 – A Mid-80s Exploration Begins
00:18 – The Affordable Oberheim: Meet the Matrix-6R
03:09 – Sequencing From the Elektron Digitakt
03:34 – No Knobs? Let's Talk About It
04:00 – Finding Your Way Through the Presets
04:26 – Editing a Patch From the Front Panel
05:40 – Where the Modulation Magic Lives
06:13 – Splitting the Keyboard
06:37 – The Sounds Begin
11:10 – Let's Jam
14:13 – Final Thoughts"