Nord Wave 2 - Creating Fake Crystal Echos/Shimmer Reverb

video upload by 100 Things I Do

"A quick no fuss look at the Nord Wave 2.

In the year I have owned this synth it has been very enjoyable to use. You have to be a bit sly with the way you create patches but you can make some stunning textures and sonics that are very useable.

Hope your all doing well

Mike"

You can find demos of the OB-MX in previous posts here.

Interesting and Unique - OB-Mx

100 Things I Do

"I thought we would take a further look at the OB-Mx today. As I mention in the video when this synth was released the reviews on the whole were so bad I almost never bothered to play one. The OB-Mx is a very unique sounding synth and with its unusual feature set (at least at the time) makes for an amazing box of ambient exploration :D"

Frankfurt Süd- Oberheim OB-Mx -Music Track.

Published on Jun 29, 2019 100 Things I Do

"When you first turn on the OB-Mx like many vintage analog synths, it takes a long time for the voices to stabilise. Sometimes when the voices are out of tune it can be very inspiring and this is whats happened here. I turned on the synth, found the patch.. gave it an initial tune and just let the synth drift.

The OB-Mx in many ways can sound like a CS-80, you can even do faux Ring modulation by pushing the VCA of VCO 1 and VCO 2. A magical synth that was totally out of place when it was released in the 90's! Such a shame they are going for so much money now, I would love some extra voices.

Massively inspired by Brian Eno's work on David Bowie's LOW (I was on the way to Berlin when I shot the footage)

I'm using the Valhalla Delay and Vintage Verb on this track and my home rolled Crystal Echo's patch :D"

OBERHEIM OB MX : INITIAL CONDITIONS - Patch Creation.

Published on Jul 7, 2018 100 Things I Do

"I thought I would do a clip that shows patch creation on the OB-Mx from 'initial conditions' all the way to a final Timbre.

The Oberheim OB-Mx is a really amazing synth. Its a little unorthodox in places, for example if you take the oscillator above 15 of 100 in volume it starts to saturate, above 27 it starts to FM and almost ring modulate with the second oscillator in a very pleasing and unique way! The MM & OB Filters perform in ways you might not expect. The VCA offset is an awesome feature I wish more synths have, with this you can bypass the VCA and just drone to your hearts content. The Oscillators can sound like silk or Sandpaper, you can get sounds that range from Prophet 5 and CS-80 or some of those Classic Oberheim tones if you work hard. A very unique synth I think will be with me for a very long time!

Soundtoys Echo Boy & Lexicon MPX550 reverb was used on this clip!"

Oberheim OB-MX Sound Exploration - No Midi - No Keyboard!

Published on May 13, 2017 100 Things I Do

"Its been a while since I did a OB-MX video. This time I decided to explore the synth without the use of a keyboard. The Mixer section of the OB-MX has a filter offset that allows you to bypass the envelopes and have the raw sound exit the synth. Great for drones!

Due to the early digital nature of the control surface and stepping this introduces you can get some very interesting flavours. The LFO's have variable stepping from Direct voltage to Quantised voltage that has definable steps. I have never come across this on a synth before and it allows you to do some pretty unique things.

I will do another clip in a few weeks time that will explore the modulation matrix deeper but I wanted to make this clip something that was a progression and not a semi-random collection of Timbres. I hope you enjoy and it inspires you to explore your synth in different ways.

I used Valhalla Verb & Sound Toys EchoBoy Jr and Ran the OB-MX through the Warm Audio WA 76. Master bus used Waves SSL Bus Compressor and Logic's Limiter & Multiband"

Creating a PAD - Oberheim OB-Mx Patch Creation

Published on Feb 25, 2017 100 Things I Do

"I thought I would do another video on the OB-Mx, this time I will take it from the Default patch and create a pad patch. To me it sounds very much like previous Oberheim's when using only the OB Filter! I kept the patch quite simple *(maybe I will do a video on the Mod Matrix later)*. To round the clip off I throw the patch into The BlackHole Reverb and the Eventide H3000. For regular viewers this should not come as a surprise :D"

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"