AUDIO PLAYGROUND'S ARCHIVES OBERHEIM PAGE
The OB3 provides the traditional 'tone-wheel'
organ sound in a performance oriented
midi expander. From screamin' blues to sunday service, the OB3
does the job with all the
warmth, spit and fire of the original. At home, on stage. or in
the studio, the OB-3
provides the right combination of features, performance and sound
quality.Six presets
allow you to quickly select the most commonly used organ sounds.
Nine ratchet-stop
drawbars in the traditional footages can be combined to create
your own favorite
organ sounds. Both the presets and the drawbar setting can be
further enhanced using
the key percussion, available for two harmonic settings, and featuring
fast/slow attack
and soft/loud options. Three different Vibrato settings are´
also available at the touch
of a button.
The rotary speaker is an integral part of the
classic organ sound. The OB·3 features a
special electronic circuit that recreates this Rotary Speaker
effect. Both Fast and Slow
speeds are available. The OB-3 Rotary Speaker effect even speeds
up and slows down
when switching speeds. just like the real thing.
For extra realism. the OB·3 contains two additional controls;
Keyclick and Overdrive.
The first - Keyclick actually simulates the electronic "tick"
attack of the old organs, a
sound that was originally made by dirt collecting on the key contacts!
The second effect
Overdrive - is used to reproduce the sound of the tube amplifiers
used for the rotary
speaker being run a little too hot.
Rounding out the list of OB·3 features is a jack for a
volume pedal. Footswitch jacks
for selecting the Fast or Slow rotary effect, and for selecting
between the Drawbar
setting and the most recently used Preset. a headphonejack for
private listening. and
a pitch adjust knob, to match the OB·3 to your other keyboards.
Let's take a guided tour of the knobs,
switches and drawbars on the
OB-3' Organ:
The first things you notice are the Drawbars. Any serious attempt
at recreating the tone-wheel organ sound must have them, and we
captured the look, sound, and feel of the real thing-these are
the real thing. Drawbars are essentially the first real-time additive
synthesis controllers--just slide them in or out and the tone
changes as you play. We put nine ratchet-stop drawbars on the
OB3', just like you'd find on an original B-3.
The dual Tone controls are a modern addition that puts more control
of your sound at your fingertips. Sometimes in the middle of a
live gig the sound of the room changes. What seemed OK at soundcheck
is now a little too dull or too bright. Rather than fumbling around
in the dark, trying to find the EQ on your amplifier or mixer,
you can simply dial up a little more or less of either Bass or
Treble right from the OB3'. Increasing the treble brings out more
key click which is designed into the basic sample.
The Master Level control does just that-it turns the Volume up
or down.
The Master
Overdrive control allows you to blend in just the right amount
of tube-like distortion that simulates overdriving the preamp
on a Leslie speake
No organ would be complete without Vibrato and Chorus presets.
The OB3' has three presets each: V1-V2-V3 and C1-C2-C3. Each was
engineered to emulate the original versions. The Upper and Lower
buttons enable/disable the respective sections.
The depth and atmosphere created by a Hammond" spring reverb
is legendary.
That's why we offer a digital recreation as the first of four
reverb Effect presets. The Plate, Room and Hall sounds are all
here, as is an adjustable Delay setting. The Effect Volume knob
acts as an effect level control, which blends in the desired amount
of reverb or delay.
One of the unique features of the OB3' is the Percussion section.
This effect adds an attack to single notes, or to the first note
of a chord if it is arpeggiated and held. The level of Percussion
is adjustable by pressing the Norm/Soft button. Pressing the Slow/Fast
button controls the decay time of the effect. The 2"'' and
3"' buttons select which harmonic is effected.
The Lower Preset section allows you to select a preset organ tone
for your left hand (Organ 1 through Organ 5). The Bass button
offers "foot pedal-style" bass tonesthatcan be added
to the Lower preset tones, or used exclusively to simulate "kicking
the bass". By splitting the keyboard, you can simulate a
dualmanual organ with footpedals!
The Upper Memory section provides 6 user programmable locations
for presets.
The Drawbar button allows instant access to all nine drawbars.
An optional footswitch plugged into the memory jack at the rear
panel enables you to toggle between the Drawbar setting and the
most recently used preset.
You can set up a preset of your favorite "backing" sound,
and toggle to a full blast, "all drawbars out" solo
sound with the stomp of a footswitch.
Pressing the slow Rotary button activates an extremely realistic
Leslie" speaker simulation. The Slow button turns the effect
on/off and gives an authentic slow rotor speed simulation. Pressing
the Fast button gradually speeds up the "rotor" just
like the original. A footswitch jack at the back of the keyboard
allows you to control this feature from the floor.
The MIDI button activates the dual function keys that allow access
to the MIDI parameters.