The Oberheim OB-X (1979)

A look at the classic Oberheim OB-X synthesizer from 1979. Huge thanks to Steven R Sellick for the kind loan!

Check out Steven's track "Do Androids Dance to Electro Beat":

0:00 Intro
1:07 The Oberheim OB-X
1:30 Potted History
3:01 Demo 1
4:10 What's on an OB-X?
6:50 Demo 2
7:44 The Filter and Tom Sawyer
10:45 Demo 3
11:46 The Impact of the OB-X
13:19 Outro

Huge thank you to my Patreons.

[AlexBallMusic]

A correction: Several people have pointed out that Queen's "no synths!" comments were as much a defence of how they made their unique sounds (with practical miking and playing techniques) as they were saying that they didn't want synths.

[davidholloway]

Richard Barbieri is an absolute master with the OB-X the OB-Xa and the Prophet 5. And in my humble opinion doesn't get anywhere near the recognition he should. Shout out to you good sir.😀

[busyworksbeats]

I will never forget playing the OBX and it made a sound I’ve never heard before.

Was like an extremely detuned brass but it was insane how other-worldly it was.

[ferccino]

Ah! The great song Som Tawyer from the band Crush, awesome recreation

[Heathcliff_hensel]

I was fortunate enough to buy an OBX back in 1996 for $600. With out sounding hyperbolic it completely change my life.

[retrosound]

Never heard of this synth. Thank you for showing

[kevinryan]

Alex, to put it mildly, YOU ARE A TREASURE! Please NEVER STOP! ❤

[PCoyte]

The synth sounds on Tin Drum are some of the best I've ever heard and I wondered at the time why I couldn't get them on my Jupiter 6...

[WillieWonkaD]

It was actually Geddy Lee/Rush's use of the OB-X that started my love affair of synthesizers. Tom Sawyer is iconic but what really did it for me was the OB-X pad sound front and center on Subdivisions (my all time favorite song). Signals is chock-full of great OB-X (and OB-Xa) sounds. Some other of my favorite OB-X moments being the pads on Chemistry, the soft sequence on Losing It, and the ass kicking brass on Countdown. Ah, great stuff.

[chibacityblues]

I love how you snuck The Beatles into that artist roll at the end. They truly were pioneers, making use of a synth that wouldn’t be out till 10 years after they broke up.

[michaelfeiner]

One of best sounding synths ever! Big love for Oberheim!

[fallingmanuk]

Any video that begins with THAT sound and has one of your fab songs on it just makes my day!

[Zwopper]

The most amazing sounding Oberheim of them all, to my ears. Closely followed by the Matrix-12, again, to my ears.

[johnsabal]

Demo 3 !💙"Know that I'm with you, come wind or rain" is astonishingly poignant. I'll echo the other comments wondering if there's more song with that fantastic chorus hook. The G# melody note making the IV a major 7th chord (w/ those vocal harmonies) gets me right in my wistful heart.

[jordanrattanavong]

The OBX-D is a wonderful free emulation as well and it just got a great update. It’s such a good plugin.

[SylphDS]

Demo 3 is a banger! You should make a full length version and release it on its own.

[grogboggoth]

Demo 3 is almost the quintessential Alex Ball song. I love it. Just perfect!

[evinlambert]

I will admit, this is the one video where I honestly felt inward loss at the realization that it was coming to an end. And Alex your final closing track did indeed drive the stake further in with your strategic melancholy that I can only assume was poignantly planned. Please my variably filtered friend, oscillate for longer next time you do a video on this beast... so temperamental, so earthy, not an ounce of abstract, nor a pound of pretense...THIS marvelous miracle of Methuselah is literally IN YOUR FACE. Just like that addictive relationship that is so rewarding, yet you know is inherently unhealthy for you.

[kabongpope]

Perfect timing, I'm off to see Geddy Lee tonight! :D

[johanboberg]

Great outro, chewy harmonies. I love the Death Star aesthetics, glad they brought that over to the OB-X8.