Oberheim Showdown! OB-Xa vs OB-8

Here's a side by side comparison of the Oberheim OB-Xa and OB-8. The debate still rages among synth scholars, and Obie fans in particular, as to how much difference in sound there is between these two. We decided to see for ourselves, and here present this empirical study* for your entertainment and enlightenment. You can draw your own conclusions.
*Demonstration by Mike Thompson.

Check out http://www.formusiciansonly.com/blog to see pictures of our vintage keyboard studio.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Oberheim
• OB-Xa
• OB-8
• OB-X
• Obie
• Oberheim SEM
• 2-Voice
• 4-Voice
• 8-Voice
• Xpander
• ARP
• Moog
• Synth
• Analog

[juno6]

Great! Thanx. Audio quality could be better, but thanks anyway.

[NonDigitalTom]

Yeah, something happened to the sound quality when I uploaded it. Thinking about doing it over...

[thesearethesuns]

OBX-a owned OB-8 on Tom Sawyer. Clearly.

[SpiderDrummer24]

definitely need to add a minimoog to this and do a "Subdivisions" cover!!

[dominono12]

Get those two in for a calibration asap. The OB8 is out the most. I played an XA that was just calibrated and those little differences voice to voice on this video seem big. Once you hear one fully calibrated you will know. They sound tight after a service. Those two need a tech bad.

[thedefog]

I kinda like the OB-8 better. But it could be the way you have them both calibrated. Whatever difference, it is minor, very minor at that. Still will never come close to the Oberheim 8 voice SEM.

[MrTank2112]

Love the older Oberheims. Great job with the comparisons. My nod goes to the OBX-a

[Wolfymusic1]

OB-Xa oscillator is a bit fatter, and the filters are are more expressive. Nice improvement over the classic OB-8

[angie4josh]

It seems to me that for starters the OB-8 is a tad louder than the OBX-A?

I dont think its a fair trial unless the were proven to be calibrated to the factory settings, you know those trim pots the voice cards are bound to have been tweaked with on BOTH at some time.

The point is that the OB-8 and OBX-A are all going to sound a bit different no matter how many pairs you try unless you can recall everything to the first settings inside and out.

[jasonwangjazz]

Which one does Steve Roach use?

[amonster8mymother]

OBXa more filter wow. :)

[soma808]

The OB-8 seems to have a more stable pitch tracking for the oscillators. Also hard to tell on youtube but it also seems to be a brighter and a little less crunchy. Not that those characteristics are always more desire-able (when considering VST options).

[Chlysm]

You should do an OB12 demo lol

[raymangold22]

I don't know much about oberheim synths, but the difference between the two? I'd say the OB-8 has less filtering, giving it a sharper sound.