Analog synthesizer repair, parts, sales, and innovation. I buy broken synthesizers!
In this video we track down a problem that’s causing a range of keys to be dead on this Oberheim OB-Xa. I explain what a switch matrix is and how it’s used by synthesizers to scan the keybed–this is still the way things are done today! And we use our new knowledge of switch matrixes to repair the OB-Xa.
Billed as a preset-only OB-X but sporting nearly identical voice cards to the OB-Xa, the Oberheim OB-SX is a pretty underrated synth. Here I give some love to a long neglected OB-SX by rebuilding the power supply, voice cards, and keybed, and repairing a few other problems I encounter along the way.
Most OB-8’s use a different style of keybed than found on other OB’s. These keybeds often have problems with dead or intermittent key contacts. In this video I show you how to access the key contacts, and how to repair them for reliable long-term operation.
This OB-8 is for sale:
Oberheim OB-8 Analog Synthesizer Keyboard w/MIDI & Page 2 Serviced – Excellent!
A customer sent a broken OB-8 voice board in for repair. We locate and repair a damaged trace, replace an incorrect capacitor and test it out in one of my OB-8’s.
For your viewing pleasure, I present Synthchaser #069 and #070… Â A 2 part video series where I repair an OB-Xa for Matrix of Matrixsynth.com.
One voice card is dead, and others are failing autotune and sounding really inconsistent from voice to voice. In the first video we take a look at the state of the synth, and troubleshoot and repair the dead voice card.
In the second half, I continue the repair by rebuilding the power supply and voice cards, and get the synth in tune and sounding consistent from voice card to voice card. I also show you a common defect with the voice cards that prevents proper calibration.  Lots of time lapse soldering with looping music.
All the Oberheim OB series power supply and voice board kits are back in stock. Â Click the shop menu above and navigate to your synth to view the selection of DIY service kits I have available.
In the previous video we installed the Synthchaser OB-8 Voice Board Rebuild kit, which replaces the dried up electrolytic capacitors, dodgy trimmer pots and noisy resistors that can prevent an OB-8 from autotuning and sounding consistent from voice to voice.
In this video I show you how to perform a full calibration of the OB-8 and demo some of the sounds of the completed synth.
We install the Synthchaser OB-8 Voice Board Rebuild kit, which replaces the dried up electrolytic capacitors, dodgy trimmer pots and noisy resistors that can prevent an OB-8 from autotuning and sounding consistent from voice to voice.
Kit used:
I show you around the inside of an Oberheim OB-8, and we take a look at a dead oscillator which is causing autotune to fail for one of the voices. Then, I install my power supply rebuild kit, which replaces the power supply capacitors and beefs up the bridge rectifiers.
The kit I’m installing is:
I started rolling the video camera when I repaired a very sick Oberheim OB-X. Turns out it suffered some damage from the corrosive effects of mouse urine. We also see the dangers of leaving the old tantalum capacitors in synthesizers. I track down a memory retention issue causing the synth not to store patches correctly. I also show how to rebuild the OB-X power supply and change the battery.
Look for a full set of products in the shop to get your OB-X running smoothly and safely for years to come.
