Sequential OB-6 Series

Sequential’s OB-6 brings the legendary Oberheim SEM sound into a fully-featured 6-voice polyphonic synthesizer. With its expansive State Variable filters that can produce a vast array of otherworldly patches, an extensive X-Mod section and an old-school knob-per-function interface, discovering your sonic identity on the OB-6 couldn’t be easier.

Tactile Interface

Not only does Sequential’s OB-6 have the unmistakable look & sound of a classic synthesizer, it allows you to interact with it with like one also. Thanks to its intuitive knob-per-function interface, creating patches and adjusting parameters on the fly is an effortless and fun experience. Sound designers and performers will love the hands-on approach of this synth.

Plenty of Presets

There are 500 factory and 500 user-writable preset slots to choose from, so you have an enormous number of sounds at your disposal. If you prefer the what-you-see-is-what-you-hear approach, you can turn press the Manual button to have all the knobs jump to their physical position.

Rich Analogue Oscillators

At the heat of the OB-6’s all-analogue signal path are the two discrete voltage-controlled oscillators (or VCOs) per voice. There’s plenty of sonic potential with these oscillators, as you can continuously blend between Sawtooth and Pulse waves (with the addition of a Triangle on VCO 2). Using the Pan Spread knob, you can instantly create gorgeous width by spreading the voices across the stereo field.

VCO 1 features a Sub oscillator, which uses a Square waveform. It’s perfect for thickening up pads and basslines. Plus, if you pitch VCO 1 up an octave, you can use the Sub to create three-oscillator string and organ patches.

In addition to this flexibility, the OB-6’s analogue oscillators boast a beautifully organic analogue sound that can best be described as “alive”. Even with straightforward patches like detuned Saws and a wide-open filter, you can hear a delightful richness and movement in the tone.

Huge Unison Mode

Whilst the Sequential OB-6 is primarily a six-voice polysynth, it also has a Unison/Chord Memory mode. With the Unison mode, the OB-6 becomes a fat monosynth and you can detune/stack up to 6 voices for earth-shaking leads & basses. Chord memory mode allows you to play six-note chords with one finger - all you have to do is hold down a chord, press the Unison button and you’re ready to go.

Vintage Tone, Modern Reliability

Unlike with vintage keyboards, you aren’t going to have to retune the OB-6 after every song! The VCOs are rock-solid if you need them to be and the tuning process is a breeze. However, if you want to make things more “vintage” (to the point where the synth sounds like it needs a repair), you can use the Detune/Vintage knob.

Detune, also known as Slop on other Sequential synths, introduces random pitch variance - from subtle to full-on wonkiness - and emulates the character of vintage oscillators.

As of OS 1.6.7, Sequential has bestowed upon the OB-6 the Vintage mode found on the Prophet 5/10 Rev 4. This can be used as an alternative to Detune and is a more sophisticated way of adding a looser, old-school character to your patches. It does this by varying the response times and frequencies of the filters, envelopes, amps & VCOs on a per voice basis.

Iconic SEM Filter

One of the most endearing features of the OB-6 is its 2-pole state-variable filter per voice. This filter provides a vast range of sounds, as it allows you to blend between Low Pass, Notch & High Pass filtering with a switchable Band Pass mode. If you find yourself in front of an OB-6, we challenge you to play a chord, sweep through the filter modes with the resonance turned up and not have a massive grin on your face!

In the past, if you wanted to enjoy the unique lushness of this filter, you had to use a ridiculously expensive and often unreliable Two/Four/Eight Voice Pro. With the OB-6, you can experience “that” sound in a more affordable, stage-ready package.

Fantastic Effects

The Sequential OB-6 is equipped with a dual digital effects section and an analogue distortion. The effects allow you to enhance your patches with studio-quality stereo reverbs, delays & modulations and run at a 24-bit, 48 kHz resolution. If you want to maintain the pure analogue signal patch or prefer to use external effects, you can turn them off with the press of a button.

The distortion effect can add harmonic complexity and can go from warm grit to filthy grunge depending on how much you dial in.

Powerful Modulation

Modulation-wise, the Sequential OB-6 features an LFO (which has a variety of destinations, multiple waveforms & can be synced to the clock) and X-Mod. The X-Mod section gives you the ability to use VCO 2 (which can be transformed into another LFO) and the Filter Envelope as powerful modulation sources.

By experimenting with these deceptively deep yet accessible tools, creating complex, evolving or unconventional sounds on the OB-6 couldn’t be easier or more intuitive!

Inspiring Performance Features

The OB-6’s features an assortment of fantastic performance features - perfect for when you need to add some on-the-fly expressivity into your playing. Both the Module and Desktop version has velocity-sensitive envelopes, assignable channel Aftertouch (which allows you to affect parameters such as the Cutoff by pressing down on the keys), an arpeggiator (with numerous play modes) and a 6-note polyphonic step sequencer (with up to 64 steps) The Arp and Sequencer can be synced to the OB-6’s internal clock or an external one via MIDI or Gate.

The step sequencer gives you up to 64 steps and you can program in rests/ties if you so choose. It’s great for when you want to quickly generate ideas and you can jam over the top using the spare voices.

Buy an OB-6 Keyboard or Desktop from GAK today and experience the beautiful Oberheim sound.