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I have for auction a rare OBERHEIM OB12. Passed on to me by a friend who has moved overseas. It has not been used for quite some time and has been in storage.
In overall good cosmetic condition, and most importantly – it powers up and works.
However it is not without issues….
As you will see from the photographs it has a broken key (bottom B), although the key does still trigger. I would suspect a fragment of the key has dropped inside as you can hear something rattle when the keyboard is moved.
Also the neighbouring key (C sharp) occasionally doesn’t trigger if hit gently (sometimes it’s ok) – therefore I suspect a dirty contact.
I gather these particular Oberheim’s have an inherent problem with the backlight not working on the display – and this model is no exception. Other than that the display shows all information, it’s just not bright.
Also on the filter section the ‘KBD TRACK’ knob has snapped off, so will require a new potentiometer and knob.
Aside from that the keyboard seems to work fine and I’ve had a good play with it. As a virtual analogue synth bearing the Oberheim name it is capable of some pretty beefy and unusual sounds. I’ve had experience with analogue synthesisers in the past and am fairly familiar with their workings, however this is the first time I’ve used an Oberheim and some of the controls I am not familiar with. I’ve messed around with all the different sections and their related controls – oscillator’s, filters, envelopes, effects etc etc and all seems fine. The only function I can’t seem to get to work is the arpeggiator, however it could just be me not fully understanding it?”
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