Why the OB-6 is still my favourite synth in 2024 

I had one twice and traded it twice, once for a Prophet-12 and most recently for a Prophet-6. I had no regrets until i see videos like this again.. Then i fall in love with the sound again.

I agree, my OB6 always impresses me with its range, novelty, ease of programming, and overall sound. It's everything a synth should be.

I love your enthusiasm for this synth. I own and love both the OB-6 and OB-X8. But hey, I just love the OB sound.

Your passion for the instrument comes through so well in this vid. Really dig that you went through what you like about it in a concise way.... and now, I. Want. This. Synth.

So magical

Holy smokes that OG OB-6 demo tune is killer! Loving the video - I've subscribed. Cheers from Toronto!

Fantastic follow up video Miles. I'm sure you helped plenty of people choose this synth since the last video. I'm one of them. Nice work showing off its charm again. Cheers!

Keep up the great work.

Wow I was not expecting a new Miles Away OB6 video, this was so nice to see pop up on my recommended!!! Had to like and comment before even watching the video 🔥🔥🔥

Definitely the center piece of my arsenal as well. In fact your original video is what made me choose it over the Prophet 6. Thank you! Also thanks for reinforcing my love for it again. 💯

I appreciate this video…I’ve watched your videos on the OB6, OB-X8 for a few days now…I’ll probably get one based on the Demo track intro song you did! Good gracious !!!

So glad the OB-6 is still a mainstay in your studio--despite the additions of the 3rd Wave & the OB-X8. The collaboration of synth legends Dave Smith and Tom Oberheim will always have a place in my studio. Its simply a fantastic instrument, well worth the price of admission.

It’s there with my Juno-60. Both are simple and nothing mind blowing. But they are both magical in the sense that I always create music with them. There’s never a struggle. They just work, like an old pair of shoes 🙂

It’s my favorite as well! I use the Desktop version with my Kronos and always incorporate a showpiece sound from the OB-6 into my combis for live performance. Depending on the track, it’s either the lead or part of the chords as a pad or something. Regardless, it always does this magic trick of standing out while sitting nicely in the mix. What a treat, every time!

Sequential really nailed “the 6s”. Choose your flavor. You can’t go wrong! It’s the perfect balance of modern/vintage, workflow, sound, and all in a compact package. I went through so many synths and right back to the Prophet-6 myself. Will probably add an OB-6 again 😂

SO glad you made this video. I'm debating selling my P6 because the OB-6 gets so much attention . This really helped settle it.

Got one on launch and still love it!!🎉🎉

Great video! To me the internal effects are a big part of my sound design with the synth

Nice vid , my all time favourite too Devin. Quick tip You can utilise flanger on 100% wet for trem LFO to free up main lfo for other mods 👌

I hope you make a course on explaining synthesis/sound design. You explain things so basically in a way that I can mentally understand coming from a guitar world. Love your page!

Hey I asked you about the OB6 on reddit :) Good looking out!

Thanks. I love my OB6.

My all time favorite also. I always go straight to the OB-6 everytime I am in a creative mood. It’s simply the most beautiful synth yet released. ❤️ Worth the financial sacrifice to get one.👌

I watched your last video and instantly It informed my decision to get one, now I totally get it and agree with this video. Incredibly versatile synth, when I got it out of the box I was running through the patches and hit one that sounded like tones from 'Aphex Twin-#3' and I hit made a chord and hit hold and just sat on the couch for an hour, was so beautiful. Running this thing through a Microcosm is just insane. So thank you for that ❤

Great synth 🎹

I like that it has internal fx its nice when youre just playing around but it shines thru some good pedals

One thing people don't know about OB-6 is it works with polyphonic aftertouch via midi. Prophet 6 does the same. At least the modules do. I don't have keyboard versions.

My subwoofers are really loving that ''awesome 'o' 2000 deluxe overkill bass punch'' from the OB6. Reminds me a bit of my good ol' Juno 106 with everything cranked to the max.

Like Matt Johnson described, use the FX1 to do a vibrato. Works pretty well. LFO is monophonic anyways, so no loss. Opens up the LFO for other tasks.

Also got a pro 2 which might be my fave of all time. So good

For me, the pan spread is nice on mild numbers. Yeah, bringing in the notch is magical and sometimes has a slight noise like sound when it's really faint. I use it to bring in that kind of metallic sheen. I love that sound. I personally use the LFO to sweep the filter and on the OB6 filter state. It's nice on one oscillator mode using Osc2 as another LFO. It's surprisingly powerful and dark in one osc per voice mode.

I was really lucky to get a used one for half the price of what it costs new these days. One of the rare occasions in which I might have actually made a great investment, although I'm never ever going to sell mine. I love it so much. There's no going back from it. I have and have had different Sequential synths and each one of them has its own character but this one has a special spot in my heart.

Nice video. OB-6 is my favorite synth, over my Prophet-5, over my Prophet-6, over everything else.

Out of the OB6 & P6 what would best compliment a Juno 60 & 106 ( which I currently own )? Thanks : )

For my style of music, the OB6 has been my favourite, except maybe the UDO Super 6.

12:46 Love that bass tone on that sound. Actually the mistake sounded cool.

The Prophet-6 is beautiful and the resonance and naturalness of the sound is gorgeous. It was unfairly underrated for not being a Prophet-5. I love the OB6 for its more electric sound somehow. It's a bit more vibrant in high treble and low bass and the Prophet-6 sits so beautifully in the middle. They got the layouts so close to perfect on these two. I'm sure the Trigon is excellent too. I'm tempted. They're just insanely playable - the most playable synths I ever had. One thing is they're just simple enough so you can find a sound again if you lose it. They're such fun and that's the number one quality for me. They make me make sounds and music - and they're synths that sound like ... synths.

Hey! I love my OB6! To a point where I own 3 (2 Keys and 1 Desktop). I use them at my studio and with the band. Two issues: (1) I have an overwhelming collection of cool custom patches. Is there a way to organize them via a Librarian? (2) When attempting to purchase your sounds, I am stuck after my paypal payment as it returns to your checkout page without a way to conclude. Did I mess up? Cheers and thx!! 🙏

I've been watching a lot of videos about gear and analog synths lately. It shows certain tendency, that the more technically proficient someone is, the less proficient they tend to be artistically. Not everyone though, you're an exception. You're one of the few on youtube who makes actually good music with these machines.

Agree. Love my Ob6. Unfortunately need to bring it to repair. Voices are not stable even after calibration and when LFO is synced to VC01 the voices jump from time to time unfortunately. Have your patches as well. Lovely. Fingers crossed i will get it back soon

Same here! I love both my OB6 and P6 modules so much that, while I'm sure the OBXA and Prophet 5 are amazing, I still never really got any gas for them.

Looks like it’s time to treat your OB-6 to a Low Frequency Expander! The LFE generates 3 complex LFOs and a 6-stage envelope which can be sent over MIDI to add further modulations to your synthesizer. It also has a 4-slot modulation matrix for routing all sorts of MIDI controls and features. The way it embeds itself into your synth means that when you select a patch on your synth it pulls in the expanded patch from the LFE.

What do you think of the teo5? I am really into it and think about getting one. Amazing package way above its price.

What external effects go well with the OB6 (and Prophet-6) in your experience? What was used on this video especially at 0:01 intro??

My OB-6 remains my favorite, as well. I also regularly use the Chorus and BBD - sometimes they just work better than the much "nicer" ones I have in hardware and software. And the analog distortion, too. I try/have all the "Oberheim" plugins and, frankly, none of them come close overall (of course you can always mimic this sound or that sound, but not the whole sound palette).

Sold mine after about a year. I love the demos of it but found the general hugeness of the OB sound didn’t fit the tracks I was working on. I was probably more of a P6 candidate but really dig what others make with the OB line.

It's a lovely synth! I don't know if folks have brought it up, but I'd be curious to get your take on the Sequential Take 5: It's not as premium of a build quality, but the VCOs and richness put it in an interesting spot in comparison to the OB-6, and the workflow is my absolute favorite of all the synths I've personally owned! It's a gem and I think if you haven't tried one yet you're missing out.

I knew my OB-6 was a keeper the moment I heard it. I have an OB-X8 desktop to compliment my OB-6 kbd and I don't think I could bring myself to sell either of them. Would love to see a shootout between the OB-6 and the 3rd Wave using only the 2 pole filter on the 3rd Wave!

Good tip on the distortion, i do find it to be a little bright for me most of the time

Great synths don't age. This is a future classic, as is the P6.

I have the G~force software versions, the Summit and and a Take 5 sequential. The take 5 is doing it for me atm, not because its analogue, I like digital too, but I can get nice sounds out the take 5 more than the others. Im not good with sound design, thats the reasons I think

Miles, thanks a lot for second OB-6 video. I had one and sold it for OB-X8, I was happy because everybody told that it will be improvement in vintage sound. But when I got it, I heard less liveness and breath of beauty, just strict metallic flavour with no life in my opinion. I sold it and got OB-6 again and now I know what's the real deal... Thanks again

You’ve probably been asked already but what is that music reactive light on the table? Looks so cool with those “tubes”

OB-6 is great. I got a module and then made the mistake of buying a Take 5 a month later so the OB-6 has been a bit neglected, but I hope to give it more love in the future. I do love its filter and its sound, and it can do absolutely gorgeous pads that no other analog synth can. Have you checked out the Trigon-6 yet? It sounds great from what I’ve heard and it’s got a similar workflow and UI to the P6 and OB-6, being built on the same basic platform.

There's my favourite OBX8 sound in that first patch 0:01. So I keep my OB6.😂👍 Is that one OB6 sound or two OB6 sounds overlaid or OB6 plus another synth for the choir type feel?

would you ever consider trying the Trigon-6? seems interesting, you'd get that 2nd LFO with the 3rd oscillator I guess

If your video had stopped right after the demo song, it would have made the point already 100%. I love my Prophet-6, but the OB-6 is just so wonderful on so many levels!

Can the arpeggiator run along with the sequencer ?

What were the drums and external effects (if any) used in the demo? Sending a Super Thanks because the demo was just wow. ☺♥🔥

Would love to see what you think of the Prophet 10! I want to eventually get a sequential Poly and that’s one everyone seems to love as well! Would be cool to hear your opinion and comparing it to the OB-6 and Prophet 6 as well!

I'm in OB6 revival mode. I love it so much. I have the OBX8 and the OB6 module and keys version (which I chain with the LFE for an OB12). I'm just an Oberheim guy. I'll be grabbing the TEO too I'm sure. I love the X8 for its raw tone, and the OB6 for all the cool stuff you cant do on the X8. I wish they would make a TEO10 with 61 keys. I agree about the FX. It's nice that you can program the FX into the patch but they aren't great. Too bright is much better than not bright enough.

great stuff! i own a prophet 6 already and could never justify ALSO buying an ob-6. did you ever consider the p6? i'm going for the TEO-5 now to quench my oberheim thirst

How does the Prophet Rev 2 compare to the OB-6? Thoughts?

Would love you to test the TEo 5 (sequential) when it's out , basically the Take 5 oberheim version !!! Always a pleasure to watch your videos ....

I told my wife that if she lets me buy an OB-6 right now I’ll promise to never buy another synth again.

Will never ever sell mine.

I bought an OB-X8 last month, and still have and use my OB6 Desktop. Why did I buy it? Because it offers things the OB6 can't do. Like longer envelope times, two LFOs, split and double modes, an OLED display for naming patches, better tuning stability (my OB6 still takes about 5 minutes to become stable even after 8 years, whereas the OB-X8 is perfectly stable from cold start), and still includes the SEM filter with notch, low pass, band pass, and high pass, although not continuously variable, granted., and two other types of filters. Hey, it has to offer something more for 2.5 times the price, right? But all that beaing said, I agree that my OB6 still has a big place in my setup.

Ok so tell us you’re coming out with a new preset pack…please?😅

It's a cool synth for sure but of course other models have a vintage *knob* such as the Take 5, which is pretty much all the analog synth most analog fans actually need, including the possibility of programming the vintage behaviors.

My only problem with my ob6 is the init patch sounds so good tweaking things feels weirdly wrong,

There is little to no content on the OB-6 .. its kinda crazy .. please can you make a full walk through on this synth pretty please 🙏

Curious to see how you feel about the TEO5. It def makes the choice for an Oberheim today a bit more complex. Compared to this you lose 5 keys and 1 voice, but you gain more modulation, an extra LFO, updated effects, and a more X8 leaning sound at a fraction of the price. Also curious what you think when comparing this to the Polybrute. For almost a grand less you can get a 6 voice Polybrute which objectively blows this out of the water on paper spec wise. Sound is personal preference. For $500 more you can get the Polybrute 12 and still come in under the Oberheim X8 in both price and features. If they expanded the Teo5 to 12 voices…💀

Really interested in the TEO-5 which was released recently which only has 5 voice as opposed to this 6 voice OB6. What do you think ? Have you tried the TEO-5 yet ? The OB-6 is just too darn expensive. Excellent demo.

for me the reason i want to get rid of it (IN MY SETUP) is the lack of 4 pole filter. Now I understand why on the original OB-X that DIY-ing a 4P filter caught on back in the 80s. Had Sequential somehow came out with an expansion pack/update to add this or if there was some 3rd party retrofitted thingy ma-boo, I would totally keep it as my only poly synth

love my OB6, sizzles and pos like no other, UBXa would be close but its not got that Sub OSC 😞

For me its ob6 and voyager xl, match made in heaven. Hydrasynth as the master controller

This is indeed one of the best synths and those I love, like the synths from Sequencial the prophets. I do believe that using a real Syth is kind of snobby these days if not a bit redundant in most studios. I can understand that some want the hardware for it's sound, but in mixing a song the synth track probably gets a room reverb on it, maybe some saturation like the RC-20 etc to thicken up the sound right, one can make it like the real thing and ofcourse if you have the Vintage vault 3 from UVI like i do you have OBERHEIM OB-1,OB-8,XPANDER,MATRIX-6,MATRIX-12, MATRIX-1000,OB-X,OB-XA,OB-12,TWO VOICE PRO sampled and ready to go. the only thing you need these days is a midi controller, which has more features on it and helps with the flow of producing anyway.

i think u r gonna love more the TEO5?

It totally depends on what you want. All Sequential instruments are good. Having owned an OB-6 for six years, then getting the OB-X8, then selling the OB-6, there’s only one thing you said that I disagree with - which is that you can’t tell the difference between the two in a mix. That is definitely not true. There is overlap on certain types of sounds, but they are significantly different. For me, the OB-X8 is what I wanted when I got the OB-6. I wanted a real Oberheim, and the OB-X8 is it. The OB-6 is a modern, Sequential/Oberheim hybrid. Which may be what someone else wants. On its own, the only thing that prevents the OB-6 from being a true flagship/centerpiece is having six voices and a four octave keyboard. What I miss from the OB-6 is the Clock section, for syncing the LFOs and arpeggiator to a specific BPM. That is something I wish the X8 had, but it is ultimately minor.

LFO or other mod to the filter state low-notch-high or BP to notch is a feature of the OB6 that I love. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ld5idUeoP-8.html The layout of the mod section is perfect though it would be nice to have even more options - but simplicity is often the key to elegance.

Awesome synth 👍…but my Prophet 10 is still my N1!

Are you thinking of trying the trigon 6?

why do you choose OB6 as your favorite synth over the 3rd Wave?

OBs have unique sound, alike the Prophets but they are totally different sounding machines.

I'm confused. I thought you said in another video that the OBX8 was an end game synth..

Is the OB-6 still worth it after 3 days you made this video?

Yeah but have you tried the UB-Xa?

I’ve played the OB-6 several times before but haven’t played the OB-X8 yet, but from what I can tell the OB-X8 reigns supreme in sound.

Yeahh I have prophet6

I sold my OB6, and now have the UB-Xa…… the OB6 sounds nicer to me.

That is a beautiful sounding synth. I have an Oberheim Xpander, and he OB-6 sounds smoother, creamier, prettier.

have you tried others?

I got to rediscover and re-like the Prophet 6 after i switched off effects on every single patch. The FX section is just really really bad. Imho switching it on takes so much away from the sound that it's not usable. Another thing that makes the current sequential line up not deserve that title is the lack of a patch name display. With effects off, the sound is really great, though!

棒棒棒

Can you just have a channel for OB-6 videos

Get a Yamaha FS1R Miles!

I even think that opinions about the supposedly less bright "true" vintage sound are a total misunderstanding. It's mainly cheap VAs with the limited frequency spectrum, definitely not HQ vintage or in general HQ analogue gear. My experience is, the more expensive, the brighter the sound. Besides, a decent 2pole VCF always shines more than a 4pole. Otherwise something's wrong. Who wants an aged sound? I definitely don't. I certainly don't mean desirable voice differences. Once I saw a video people claiming that an ion sounds more analogue than a nordlead because the nord suppposedly sounds much too bright. I thought I was dreaming, because an ion sounds just (more or less) ok but far away from true analogue. My initial thougt was they obviously never played a JP-8, OB, P5, Juno or whatever HQ sounding vintage poly because it's no secret that according to VA inventor Hans Nordelius P5 has been nordleads template.

And no more the Prologue?? 😞

I mean... even the Xpander can't do this pad sound you made.. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AlZEdyo6uwY.html

Too expensive. I bought a Lenovo laptop + Keylab 49 MkII + Arturia V, OB-X and OP-X PRO II. Also Minimonsta and Oddity. Value without the price.