Oberheim Xpander programming

As vintage synth dealers, we get to play with a lot of fun toys, but you already know this... I love the Oberheim Xpander! Here's me programming a patch or 2 on the next Xpander we plan to sell. I started out with Oberheim's initialized patch. Though the Xpander isn't as tweak friendly as an analog synth with 1 fader for every parameter, it's still an amazing and deep tool that can be programmed pretty quickly once you're familiar with the layout. Enjoy, and email me anytime at minime123@onebox.com

PS A few people criticized how I was handling this Xpander on a forum. This was my reply to them:

-i remember one time when my mother took her car in to the mechanic's. she handed him the keys so he could take it for a test drive. she almost had a heart attack when he floored it, cause that car had never gone that fast with her at the wheel. she didnt understand what he was doing, and had a similar reaction to some people here. i knew EXACTLY what he was doing - you generally find more problems when you push a machine. so...

-im intentionally a bit rough with pots and buttons when i test items that are going up for sale because i want to be sure everythings in proper working order and is going to perform well for whoever buys it, whether they have a gentle touch, or a "not-so-gentle" touch. xpander encoders, which are known to go bad (and are also designed to click loudly, as you can hear), can respond differently at different speeds, so i test them both slowly and quickly. i didnt want to bore you guys to death with a slow version cause i cant stand sitting there for 10 minutes watching something that could have been accomplished in 2, and i wouldnt want to put you through such torture either. :) plus, my camera stops recording videos after around 3 minutes. also, before i bought my 1st xpander, i thought it was going to be relatively slow to program without a knob for every feature and i wanted to show people thats not the case if you know your way around it. i actually made a few bad button pushes there because i was trying to move quicker than usual.

-i have owned and used more than 1 xpander heavily for the last 15 years and havent had a single problem or gotten a single scratch on them since ive had them. plus, im not as "rough" with them in the studio. so, to those who are concerned that im abusing this (or any other) synth, dont be cause im not. you guys might be used to decrepit old crap that falls apart when you look at it, but the stuff we sell is usually much better off, because we put it to the test and fix any functional issues we try our hardest to discover.

-as for rubbing off any print, oberheim already took care of that. theres actually a layer of material (im not sure what it is - translucent plastic?) above all the graphics. though this material itself doesnt look very good scratched up.

-anyway, thanks for the concern. we would never do anything to harm any synths. in fact, we have turned down guaranteed sales because we didnt like the buyers plans for our babies (heavy road use of a pristine instrument, an "art project" where the instrument would essentially be put to death, etc). so relax, people! :)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• oberheim
• expander
• xp1
• xp-1
• xpander
• matrix-12
• vintage
• synthesizer
• synth
• keyboard
• module
• moog
• sequential
• circuits
• prophet

[seeyouintheeighties]

rumor has it that this synth produced the bassline to the world famous TECHNOTRONIC - PUMP UP THE JAM... is this true?

[123synthland]

@seeyouintheeighties not sure.

[zsdgvjknxd]

Great Peavey!

[123synthland]

@zsdgvjknxd peavey???

[fabrizio576]

listen i have a problem and i can't figure it out....in the background in some patches i always have this eternal sound going on and i can't take it out.even with the env (release,sustain) of vco1 and vco2...need help

[123synthland]

@fabrizio576 im 2 years late replying to this :) but it sounds like your vca2 volume might be up?

[timeconnector]

you destroy this oberheim ! turning so brutal on the knobs this is no steering wheel lol

1 year playing on this way is good for garbage

[digitaljosh]

The way he's spinning those knobs I don't think the gloves help protect it. Maybe he's really an alien and he likes to hide his green flesh with the gloves. Our earth women would be hooked on him and humanity would slowly fade away. Curse you white glove wearing green alien gigolo, but that's some flippin sweet music!

[monomachine]

hes not doing anything wrong to the knobs. ive had two xpanders and 1 matrix 12. the knobs are tough and they are loud when you turn them.

[xnonsuchx]

I don;t trust any ADD guy wearing latex gloves. :-)

[CoolColJ24]

Fredddy kruger

[drumsdrumdrumdrum]

Whats with the surgical gloves :-S ???

[123synthland]

@designine thanks! :)

[123synthland]

@JMJarvinenStudio it sounds like the machine you were using had bad encoders.