Tom Oberheim has come back into the fold with a sonic boom with the help of old friend/competitor Dave Smith. The OB-6 essentially uses the same chassis, effect engines and basic design as the Prophet-6 but Oberheim has popped in SEM-based voice cards, added to his much-loved SEM-based ‘state variable’ filter (aka Filter 2 on DSI’s Pro 2 synth). No doubt this has helped to keep production/R&D costs down without compromising the signal path quality, which is a great thing for audiophiles and cost conscious folks alike – not that the OB-6 is cheap though, at around £2,250 currently.

The OB-6 looks great and with its blue-line-adorned front panel and chunky knobs (which all transmit/ receive MIDI CCs) it’s throwing back to the design of the classic OB-Xa and OB-8. A similar vintage font is featured, along with familiar black preset selector buttons with red LEDs and the whole thing looks very future/retro, though the striped design is harder on the eyes than the elegant P6’s front panel and several functions are labelled above the dials which makes them harder to read at certain angles. Compared to the Prophet-6, things have been moved around, so the volume control is now on the right (I prefer it on the left to keep your right hand free for playing), but also the effects have been moved from the left to the right side, which is a more logical place in terms of following the signal flow.