Oberheim OB12

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.

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.

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.

An Oscillator Common section is provided to balance the mix of OSC1 and OSC2, the ring modulator and the noise generator.

LFO1 offers Fade (gradual fade-in of the amplitude) and Delay time (retards the onset of modulation).

Both LFOs have a variable dedicated Cutoff which filters some of the harmonics, providing smoother LFO waveshapes.

While the first wheel is destinated to the modification of the pitch to up to 24 semitones, the other modulation sources have a large choice of destinations, including many parameters related to LFOs, envelopes, oscillator and oscillator common functions; the ribbon controller can control up to two parameters at the same time.

The Motion Recorder consists of two memory slots, each one storing up to two minutes' worth of controllers movements.

Besides polyphonic playing, Mono (normal or Legato) mode can be chosen, and a very flexible Unison facility is on board too.