Oberheim OB12
| OB•12 | |
|---|---|
OB•12 front panel
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| Manufacturer | Oberheim / Viscount |
| Dates | 2000–2005 |
| Price | RRP €1400 (2000) |
| Technical specifications | |
| Polyphony | 12 |
| Timbrality | 4 |
| Oscillator | 2 + Noise + Ring Modulator |
| LFO | Sawtooth, Triangle, Square, S&H noise |
| Synthesis type | Subtractive Synthesis |
| Filter | 2x 12dB multimode |
| Storage memory | 256 Timbre, 256 Programs; 16000-event phrase recorder (196 memory slots); 2 motion recorder memory slot |
| Effects | Overdrive, Chorus, Delay, Reverb, EQ |
| Input/output | |
| Keyboard | 49-key Aftertouch, Velocity |
| Left-hand control | 2x Wheel, Ribbon |
| External control | MIDI |
The Oberheim OB•12 is a Virtual Analog synthesizer, designed and realised by the Italian musical instrument manufacturer Viscount, in production between 2000 and 2005.
The synth used Oberheim brand name under license from Gibson, which bought Oberheim rights after the original company went out of business in 1987.
The OB•12 was the second and last Oberheim synth in whose creation had not been involved original Oberheim company founder Tom Oberheim, the first one being the Oberheim OB-Mx.
Despite a brilliant look, an advanced synthesis engine, numerous features, a great hands-on interface and a very particular sound, the instrument failed to gain musicians favour, mostly because of its "non-Oberheim Oberheim" status. Also, the synth earned a reputation for being unreliable, since early versions of OB•12 contained several bugs in the operating system software. Eventually, most of the bugs were rectified, but it was already too late to save the instrument's reputation, and it was discontinued, bringing an end to the Oberheim / Viscount "joint venture," and ultimately Oberheim itself.
Oscillators and Sound Generators
Each of the 12 voices has 2 Oscillators. Each Oscillator has sawtooth, triangle and square/pulse waves, mixable in variable proportions.
In Oscillator 1, each waveform can be modified: saw's "spread" parameter adds a second detuned sawtooth, triangle "wrap" progressively clips the waveform adding inharmonic content, and pulse wave has variable pulse width; PWM is also available, and the modulation source can be chosen from LFO1, LFO2 or OSC ENV. Oscillator 2 can frequency-modulate (FM) Oscillator 1.
In Oscillator 2, saw and triangle waveforms cannot be modified/modulated: only the pulse wave can be varied; PWM is also available. Unlike OSC1, the second oscillator provides fine detune and coarse detune +-24 steps, and keyboard tracking may be disengaged. Oscillator 2 can be synced to Oscillator 1.
An Oscillator Common section is provided to balance the mix of OSC1 and OSC2, the ring modulator and the noise generator.
Multimode Dual Filter
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