OBERHEIM SYNTH

--- In oberheim@yahoogroups.com, Charles Massey <cmassey@...> wrote:
>
> Sounds like you don't have enough level out of the tape deck to make  
> it work.  You must come out of the HEADPHONE jack, which you probably  
> already know.  They were designed to work with portable cassette  
> players so you could take them on the gig and the interface worked  
> well providing you had enough output level.  Sounds like you are very  
> close to making it work.

yeah, i'm using the EAR jack on an old portable 1980s radio shack thing i got mint in box 
just for this type of application.


> > so here's a question i should've asked in the first place:  if the  
> > battery dies and is replaced,
> > does that literally mean there should be NO SOUNDS in the OB-8?   
> > that they MUST be
> > reloaded from the tape, almost like samples?  or is the tape just a  
> > bunch of presets?
> 
> There should be some sounds.  You should be able to grab a few knobs  
> and dial in a "sound" manually.  If it won't do that, I'd suspect  
> other problems.  The oscillators and filters, etc should all work even  
> without the PROGRAM loaded in.  All the cassette data is, is the  
> settings of the knobs for each patch.

i was afraid of that.  this means i'll have to take it to be serviced after all, which i was 
trying to avoid. 

had i thought of this in the first place, i wouldn't have bothered with the whole cassette 
thing.  presets are nice to start from, but i have enough understanding of this kind of 
analog synth to get to any sound i want from nothing.  of course, i'm afraid it may be 
unfixable, that the years-old moisture damage may have shorted out the circuits that 
actually make sounds - this happened with some other gear we had.


> Hope this helps and good luck with the old girl!  I sold my Xpander  
> and miss the sounds of it in my music already.

thanks, you've helped a lot by letting me know my next step (repair shop).  i've never 
played one, always wanted to since i was a kid.  will come back and let the group know my 
findings once it's been looked at.