The mod levers align in the centre, rest position. The reverse bend was great for me as I came into synths from being a guitar player, much more natural, if you bend the top string away from you it falls off the fingerboard., I still find the later, more standard version wierd.
The small, negative travel of the mod lever was implimented later I think, on the OB8, it was a number of years ago when I had all this stuff to hand. It definitely wasn't available on the OBX, and was used later, but it might have been the Matrix6 whn it arrived, I don't have that here either, I settled for a Matrix1000 and Xpander for the home studio, but don't even use those now the K2500 is fully expanded and I'm less driven to explore, although I resisted the full expansion upgrade so many old men seem to favour.
The OBXa is a great sounding beast, and quite user friendly I thought. Only the DMX friendly arpeggiator and extra osc waveform were missed by me from my OB8s period. Even 2 OB8s didn't match the width of the OBXa, never mind 2 OBXas.
Later I got to M6, 2 M1000 and an Xpander, but 2 OBXas was easier and great sounding.
You may end up cursing the molex connectors but there's plenty of solid pad on the pcb for a hard wired solution at the processor board end. Diode bridges explode too, never figured out why.
--- On Sat, 2/7/11, lotus45356 <Lotus@...> wrote:
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From: lotus45356 <Lotus@...>
Subject: [oberheim] OB-Xa Modulation Levers - Help!
To: oberheim@yahoogroups.com
Date: Saturday, 2 July, 2011, 0:50
I'm new to Oberheims, but always wanted one and starting an OB-Xa restoration this weekend.
The modulation lever is a mystery to me so I need some help. I understand the pitchbend works "backward" from normal wheels, so no problem. It's the modulation lever I'm unsure of.
When pushed full forward, my unit's lever goes about 10° forward of the pitch wheel when it is at rest. In operation, it only moves "backward" in the "pull it toward you" direction.
My question is, when pushed full forward, should the modulation lever only be in line with the pitch bend lever at rest? And when in operation, does it only move in the "toward the player" direction, that is, only half of the movement of the pitch bend lever?
The wide-open hole for the levers is an eye-opener too. Never seen anything like it in electronics.
Thanks!
Scott in Ohio