Oberheim OB5

The OB-5 is a keyboard that was 3 years in the making. Oberheim went completely back to the drawing board to come up with a brilliant piece. The effects are extensive in options and brilliant in sound. Effects include: chorus, delay, reverbs, vibrato and rotary. The OB-5 is a great example of "hybrid" technology. That is to say, it has both sample based and modeling technologies involved here.

The modeling technology is used for the rotary section, the percussion section, leakage noise and motor noise. The tonal characteristics of the chords are very accurate as a lot of attention was given to the true B3 player. B3 fans will also be familiar with the physical layout of the buttons and of the all wood chassis.

Does it sound good? Let's just say that a VERY famous B3 player (VERY famous), who shall remain nameless, stopped by the NAMM booth 4 times in one day because he couldn't believe the sound. What's more- you won't believe the price.

Cool Specs:

• Manuals - Upper 61 Keys ­ Lower 61 keys
  
• Pedalboard - Optional 25 Keys
  
• Upper drawbars - 16' ­ 5 1/3' ­ 8' ­ 4' ­ 2 2/3' ­ 2' ­ 1 3/5' ­ 1 1/3' ­ 1'
  
• Lower drawbars - 16' ­ 5 1/3' ­ 8' ­ 4' ­ 2 2/3' ­ 2' ­ 1 3/5' ­ 1 1/3' ­ 1'
  
• Pedal drawbars - 16' ­8'
  
• Percussions - 2nd, 3rd, Nomal / fast, Normal / soft
  
• User Memory - 8 memories Upper, 8 memories Lower, 50 Global Memories
  
• Effects - Vibrato (V1-V2-V3) Upper Manual, Chorus (C1-C2-C3) Upper Manual, Vibrato (V1-V2-V3) Lower Manual, Chorus (C1-C2-C3) Lower Manual, Reverb (4 types), Overdrive, Delay,Rotary Speaker
  
• Control Panels - Percussion 2 nd, Percussion 3rd, Perc. Normal / fast, Perc. Slow / fast Rotary On/ Off ­ Rotary Slow / Fast Vibrato & Chorus selector w/ 6 positions Pedal volume, Lower volume, Reverb level, Overdrive level Control Center
  
• Display - 2x16 Char. LCD, Back-lit
  
• Buttons - Sound Edit, Effects Edit, Utlity, Memory, Value (+1/-1) Confirm (Enter / exit), Hold