The Oberheim OB-SX was a preset-based

polyphonic Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice ( monophony) or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ...

analog synthesizer An analog synthesizer () is a synthesizer that uses Analogue electronics, analog circuits and analog signals to generate sound electronically. The earliest analog synthesizers in the 1920s and 1930s, such as the Trautonium, were built with a var ...

Oberheim Oberheim is an American synthesizer manufacturer founded in 1969 by Tom Oberheim. Beginning in 1975, Oberheim developed some of the first commercially available polyphonic synthesizers and was a prominent synthesizer and drum machine manufacture ...

, designed to be a smaller and more live performance friendly version of their

OB-X The Oberheim OB-X was the first of Oberheim's OB-series polyphonic analog subtractive synthesizers. First commercially available in June 1979, the OB-X was introduced to compete with the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5, which had been successful ...

Specification

The OB-SX featured the same VCO/ VCF/ VCAs as the

and the voice card had a similar design to the OB-Xa. The main differences between the OB-SX and the OB-X is the removal of some knobs (replaced with a few realtime filter and envelope controls), the ability to save patches in a

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, and the keyboard being cut from 61 keys to 48. The OB-SX had an

auto-tune Auto-Tune is audio processor software released on September 19, 1997, by the American company Antares Audio Technologies. It uses a proprietary device to measure and Pitch correction, correct pitch in music. It operates on different principles ...

button to automatically tune all of the oscillators using a

microprocessor A microprocessor is a computer processor (computing), processor for which the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit (IC), or a small number of ICs. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, a ...

. The OB-SX came with 24 presaved patches that were programmed by keyboardist Todd McKinney, with additional programming by Mike Christopher, Geoff Farr, Marcus Ryle, and Daniel Sofer. However, users could purchase and swap out the ROM with a new one containing different patches. Oberheim also allowed users to send in OB-X program cassettes to their factory, where they would make a custom ROM using the cassettes. In later units of the OB-SX, Oberheim added compatibility with their DSX, a pre-

MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface (; MIDI) is an American-Japanese technical standard that describes a communication protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, ...

digital interface dubbed the "Oberheim System", so users could program and play sequences on multiple Oberheim synths with a universal controller.

Sales

During its production years of 1980–1983, the OB-SX had a retail price of US$2,995 (US$ adjusted for inflation). Compared to the cheapest of the OB-Xs, which cost US$4,595 (US$) in 1979, it was about a US$1,600 cheaper alternative.

Notable OB-SX users

Charles Bernstein Charles Bernstein may refer to: * Charles Bernstein (composer) (born 1943), American composer of film and television scores * Charles Bernstein (poet) (born 1950), American poet, essayist, editor, and literary scholar {{hndis, Bernstein, Cha ...

(on the

A Nightmare on Elm Street ''A Nightmare on Elm Street'' is a 1984 American Supernatural horror film, supernatural slasher film written and directed by Wes Craven and produced by Robert Shaye. It is the first installment in the A Nightmare on Elm Street (franchise), ''A ...

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

) *

Geddy Lee Geddy Lee Weinrib (; born Gary Lee Weinrib, July 29, 1953) is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Rock music, rock band Rush (band), Rush. Lee joined the band in September 1968 at the request o ...

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Hardware re-issues and recreations

In the 1980s, the German company Electronic Engineering Hoffmann (EEH) released the Syntec Banana, which was a cross between the OB-SX and the OB-Xa. In May 2022, the Oberheim OB-X8, a new 8-voice analog synthesizer with the voice architecture and filters of four classic Oberheim models: the

, OB-SX, OB-Xa, and OB-8, along with functionality and features not included on the original models, was announced. The new synthesizer is manufactured by

Sequential In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is call ...

in partnership with

Tom Oberheim Thomas Elroy Oberheim (born July 7, 1936), known as Tom Oberheim, is an American audio engineer and electronics engineer best known for designing effects processors, analog synthesizers, sequencers, and drum machines. He has been the founder ...

. In 2024, GForce Software released the OB-EZ, a plugin synthesizer that used the appearance and layout of an OB-SX, but the

color scheme In color theory, a color scheme is a combination of 2 or more colors used in aesthetic or practical design. Aesthetic color schemes are used to create style and appeal. Colors that create a harmonious feeling when viewed together are often u ...

and engine of the Oberheim 8-Voice.

References

{{Oberheim Synthesizers Oberheim synthesizers Analog synthesizers Polyphonic synthesizers Musical instruments invented in the 1980s Synthesizers with preset storage