Operation Manual
Operation Manual Version 1.0 March 2016 Dave Smith Instruments LLC 1527 Stockton Street, 3rd Floor San Francisco, CA 94133 USA ©2016 Dave Smith Instruments LLC www.davesmithinstruments.
This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) This device may not cause harmful interference and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation. This Class B digital apparatus meets all requirements of the Canadian Interference-Causing Equipment Regulations. Cet appareil numerique de la classe B respecte toutes les exigences du Reglement sur le materiel brouilleur du Canada.
Table of Contents A Few Words of Thanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Getting Started. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Sound Banks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Selecting Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Editing Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Distortion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Low Frequency Oscillators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 X-Mod. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 X-Mod Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Arpeggiator Parameters. . . . . . . . . . .
Using USB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Appendix A: Alternative Tunings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Appendix B: Troubleshooting and Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Contacting Technical Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Credits and Acknowledgements Sound Design Cyan Assiter-Clark, Daniel Davis, Peter Dyer, Peter Gorges, Tim Koon, Kurt Kurasaki, Kevin Lamb, Peter Mahr, Cord Mueller, Drew Neumann, Bob Oxley, Robert Rich, Matia Simovich, James Terris, Mitch Thomas, Taiho Yamada, Lorenz Rhode The DSI Crew Fabien Cesari, Bob Coover, Carson Day, Chris Hector, Tony Karavidas, Mark Kono, Justin Labreque, Andy Lambert, Andrew McGowan, Joanne McGowan, Tracy Wadley, and Mark Wilcox. Special thanks to Tom Oberheim.
A Few Words of Thanks Thank you for purchasing the OB-6. It’s an awesome-sounding synthesizer and we’re very proud of it, and I’m very proud to have been able to co-create it with my old friend, Tom Oberheim. I’ve known Tom since the late 1970’s when we both shared the heady experience of creating and selling some of the very first polyphonic synthesizers through our respective companies, Sequential Circuits and Oberheim Electronics.
Getting Started The OB-6 is a six-voice, polyphonic analog synthesizer with voltagecontrolled oscillators, filters, and amplifiers. It was designed to provide all of the warmth, punch, and presence of a classic, SEM-based Tom Oberheim synthesizer, with the added convenience and stability of a stateof-the-art, modern instrument. All of the sound-shaping controls of the OB-6 are accessible on its front panel, packing a tremendous amount of power and versatility into a compact, easy-to-use format.
Sound Banks The OB-6 contains a total of 1000 programs. 500 are permanent and 500 can be overwritten. Banks 0-4 are User Banks that can be overwritten. Banks 5-9 are Factory Banks that are permanent. You can edit the programs of either bank, but you can only save them to Banks 0-4. As shipped from the factory, presets 000-499 are identical to 500-999.
It’s not always necessary to enter all 3 digits of a program number to recall it. For example: • If the current program is 100 and you want to recall program 101, simply press “1.” • If the current program is 100 and you want to recall program 110, hold down the tens button and press “1.” • If the current program is 100 and you want to recall program 115, hold down the tens button and press “1.” Then release the tens button and press “5.
3. Press the global button. Both LEDs on the button light up, indicating compare mode. 4. Play the keyboard to hear the saved version of the sound. 5. To disable the compare function and return to the edited sound, turn off the global button. Programs can’t be written while in compare mode. 6. If you want to save the edited sound, the write button is still flashing and ready to save, so enter a location with the program selector buttons. The sound is saved. 7.
Live Panel Mode The OB-6 also features a “live panel” mode in which its sound switches to the current settings of its knobs and buttons. In other words, the current preset is ignored and what you see on the front panel is what you hear. This is a great mode for learning, experimentation, and instant gratification. To enter live panel mode: • Press the manual button to toggle it on. Note that you can’t change programs or banks with manual on.
Be careful when write is enabled. You can change banks and tens without executing write, but once you press a program selector button (0-9) for the “ones” digit, the write command is executed and the program at that location is overwritten. To save a program to a different bank location: 1. Press the write button. Its LED begins blinking. 2. Hold down the bank button then press a program selector button to specify the “hundreds” bank of the program. You can only save to Banks 0-4. 3.
Comparing Before You Save Before saving a program to a new location, it’s a good idea to listen to the program in the target location to make sure you really want to overwrite it. To evaluate a program before you overwrite it: 1. Get ready to save by pressing the write button. It starts flashing. 2. Press the global button. Both LEDs on the button light up, indicating compare mode. 3. Use the program buttons to navigate to the sound you want to compare and play the keyboard to hear the sound. 4.
Connections 1 2 3 4 1. AC Power Connector—Accepts a standard, grounded IEC power cord. Operates over a range of 100 to 240 volts and 50 to 60 Hz. 2. USB—For bidirectional MIDI communication with a computer. The OB-6 is a Class Compliant USB device and does not require additional drivers when used with Mac OS or Windows. See Using USB on page 62 for more information. 3. MIDI In, Out, and Thru—Standard 5-pin MIDI DIN connectors. 4.
4 5 6 7 8 9 6. Expression Pedal-Volume—Accepts a standard expression pedal that has a variable resistor on a TRS (tip-ring-sleeve) ¼ inch phone plug. Once connected, you can use the pedal to control volume to add expressiveness and dynamics to live performance. 7. Expression Pedal- Filter—Accepts a standard expression pedal that has a variable resistor on a TRS (tip-ring-sleeve) ¼ inch phone plug.
Global Settings Global settings are parameters that affect all programs. These include settings such as Master Tune, MIDI Channel, MIDI Clock, and others. Global parameters are printed above the numeric program selector switches (0 - 9). Use the Globals switch to choose between the two sets. The red LED indicates that the upper row is active.
To set a Global parameter: 1. Press the globals button. Pressing it once activates the upper set of parameters. Pressing it a second time enables the lower set of parameters. 2. Press the program selector button (0 - 9) that corresponds to the desired parameter. The parameters are printed above each switch. 3. Use the bank and tens buttons as decrement and increment buttons to step through available settings. 4. Once you’ve chosen the desired setting, press the globals button again to exit.
4. Clock Port: MID, USB—Sets the ports, MIDI or USB, by which MIDI clock signals are received. 5. Param Xmit: Off, CC, NR—Changes to the values of front panel controls are transmitted via MIDI as Continuous Controllers (CC) or Nonregistered Parameter Number (NR). Transmission of parameters can also be turned off. You could, for example, turn the filter frequency knob on the OB-6 and have it affect the cutoff frequency of another synthesizer. For a list of OB-6 CCs and NRPNs, see Appendix D.
1. Seq Jack: NOR, Tri, Gat, T-g (Normal, Trigger, Gate, T-G)—Selects the mode for signals received on the rear-panel Sequencer jack. • With normal selected, a footswitch will start sequencer playback. • With trig selected, an audio signal connected to the sequencer jack will step the sequencer when the sequencer’s play button is on. • With gate selected, an audio signal connected to the sequencer jack will trigger and gate the envelopes while you hold a note or chord.
Jump mode uses an absolute value based upon the position of the pot when edited: turn a pot and the value jumps immediately from the stored value to the edited value. 3. Sustain +/- : Nor, Rev, n-r, r-n (Normally Open, Normally Closed, Sustain Normally Open/Sequencer Normally Closed, Sustain Normally Closed/Sequencer Normally Open)—The Sustain pedal polarity param- eter affects both the sustain pedal and sequencer jack input ports.
Oscillators Oscillators provide the raw building blocks of the OB-6’s sound by producing waveforms, each of which has its own inherent sound character based on its harmonic content. The OB-6 has two oscillators, plus a sub oscillator and a noise generator per voice. Level controls for each of these are located in the Mixer section. Oscillator 1 is capable of generating sawtooth, and variable-width pulse waves. Oscillator 2 generates triangle, sawtooth, and variable-width pulse waves.
Oscillator Parameters Frequency: Sets the base oscillator frequency over a 9-octave range from 16 Hz to 8KHz (when used with the Transpose buttons). Adjustment is in semitones. The global Master Tune settings affect the pitch of all oscillators. See “Globals Top Row” on page 11 for more information. Detune: Fine tune control with a range of a quartertone up or down. The 12 o’clock position is centered. Steps are in cents (50 cents = 1/2 semitone).
Oscillator 1 Oscillator 2 Oscillator 1 synced to Oscillator 2 Oscillator hard sync Use X-Mod to sweep the pitch of Oscillator 1 when it is synced to generate the classic, hard-edged sync sound. Low Frequency: Off, On—Turns Oscillator 2 into a low-frequency oscillator, essentially providing another LFO source for modulation using X-Mod. The frequency, detune, shape, and pulse width controls still apply and will affect the character of any low-frequency modulation applied using Oscillator 2.
Detune Detune (next to the unison button) adds randomized detuning to the oscillators to emulate the tuning instability of vintage analog oscillators. This tuning instability is a big part of what made vintage instruments sound characteristically warm and fat. Because the OB-6 oscillators are extremely stable, small amounts of can help impart a very vintage tone to what is otherwise a very stable, modern instrument. detune amount is adjustable from subtle to wildly out of tune.
Mixer The Mixer section is where you set the levels of the various sound generators on the OB-6. These include VCO 1, VCO 2, Sub Octave (Oscillator 1 sub oscillator) and the white noise generator. You must turn up at least one of these in order to make sound with the OB-6. Rather than limit the OB-6’s outputs to keep the instrument from clipping, we allow you to adjust levels at various points in its signal path. This gives you the option to “overload” things in interesting ways, if you wish to do so.
Filter The Filter takes the basic, raw sound of the oscillators and noise generator and subtracts frequencies, changing the harmonic content and character of their sound. This change can be varied over time using the Filter Envelope to produce more dynamic, animated timbres. The OB-6’s filter is a 2-pole, 12 dB per octave, analog, state-variable filter with low-pass, notch, high-pass, and band-pass modes. The filter mode knob sets the filter’s mode of operation.
Frequency: Sets the filter’s cutoff frequency. In Low-Pass mode, frequencies are reduced from the top down — cutting the high frequencies and passing the low, hence the name “low-pass.” In High-Pass mode, frequencies are reduced from the bottom up — cutting the low frequencies and passing the high, hence the name “high-pass.” In Notch mode, frequencies are removed in a notch centered around the cutoff frequency.
Filter Envelope The OB-6 filter has a dedicated, four-stage envelope generator. The Filter Envelope is used to shape the harmonic characteristics of a synthesized sound by giving you filtering control over its attack, decay, sustain, and release stages. This is one of the most important factors in designing a sound. Without an envelope, the filters would be completely static. They would stay open or closed by a fixed amount that wouldn’t change over the duration of a sound.
Attack: Sets the attack time of the envelope. The higher the setting, the slower the attack time and the longer it takes for the filter to open from the level set with the filter frequency knob to the level set by the filter envelope amount. Percussive sounds typically have sharp (short) attacks. Decay: Sets the decay time of the envelope.
Changing the Filter Envelope’s Response Curve By default, the envelopes of all synthesizers are designed to have certain type of response curve that is largely dependent on the preference of the designer. In most cases, this can’t be changed. The current preference is that the faster or snappier the envelopes, the better. However, in the case of the OB-6, there is a hidden feature in the X-Mod section that allows you to modify the responsiveness of the Filter Envelope’s ADSR controls.
Loudness Envelope After passing through the filters, a synthesized sound goes into an analog voltage controlled amplifier or VCA, which controls its overall loudness. The VCA has a dedicated, four-stage envelope generator. The Loudness Envelope is used to shape the volume characteristics of a sound over time by giving you control over its attack, decay, sustain, and release stages. Along with the filter envelope, this is one of the most important factors in designing a sound.
Attack: Sets the attack time of the envelope. The higher the setting, the slower the attack time and the longer it takes for a sound to reach its full volume. Pads typically have softer (longer) attacks. Percussive sounds have sharper (shorter) attacks. Decay: Sets the decay time of the envelope. After a sound reaches its full volume at its attack stage, decay controls how quickly the sound transitions to the level set with the sustain control. The higher the setting, the longer the decay.
Effects The OB-6 effects section allows you to add up to two, 24-bit, 48 kHz digital effects to any sound. Though the OB-6 sounds great on its own, adding a touch of reverb or delay can enhance many sounds with a subtle (or not so subtle) sense of ambience and depth. Other effects such as the chorus and phaser are useful for adding more conspicuous tonal enhancement as well as emulating classic instruments such as string ensembles and so on.
Effect A: • Delay 1 (“bbd”) - vintage bucket-brigade emulation • Delay 2 (“ddl”) - classic digital delay • Chorus (“CHO”) - vintage chorus • Flanger 1 (“FL1”) vintage flanger, high resonance • Flanger 2 (“FL2”) vintage flanger, no feedback • Phase Shifter 1 (“PH1”) vintage 6-stage phaser, high resonance • Phase Shifter 2 (“PH2”) vintage 6-stage phaser, lower resonance • Phase Shifter 3 (“PH3”) faithful emulation of Tom Oberheim’s original 6-stage phaser • Ring Modulator (“Ri n ”) faithful emulation of Tom O
To use Effects: 1. Press the on/off switch to turn on Effects. 2. Press effect and choose A or B, depending on which you want to apply and configure. 3. Turn the type knob to select an effect. Names are abbreviated. For instance “bbd” is the bucket-brigade delay. Refer to the list above. 4. Turn the mix knob to the right to blend in a good amount of the processed signal. You’ll want to be able to clearly hear the effect when you tweak its settings. You can dial it down afterward. 5.
Clock Sync: On, Off—When a delay effect is chosen, this enables syncing of the timed delay repeats (feedback) to the Arpeggiator, Sequencer, or MIDI clock. When Sync is on, delay time provides the following values: Value Delay Time 1 2d 2 4t 4d 4 8d 8 8t 16d 16 4 beats 3 beats 2 beats 1 beat 1 1/2 beat 1 beat 3/4 of 1 beat 1/2 of 1 beat 1/2 of 1 beat 3/8 of 1 beat 1/4 of 1 beat Maximum delay time is 1 second.
Display bbd Effect Type bucket-brigade delay Parameter 1 delay time Parameter 2 feedback amount ddl digital delay delay time feedback amount cho chorus rate depth fl1 flanger rate depth fl2 flanger rate depth PH1 phaser 1 rate depth PH2 phaser 2 rate depth PH3 phaser 3 rate depth Rin ring modulator HAL hall reverb modulator frequency time low-note pitch tracking on/off early reflections rOO room reverb time early reflections PLA plate reverb time early reflection
FL2: This is a vintage flanger without a feedback path and is designed to emulate the through zero capability of tape deck flanging. Use it to add a sweeping flanged effect to a sound. Adjustable parameters are rate and depth. PH1: This is a vintage phaser emulation with high resonance. Use it to add a deep, sweeping, swirling resonant effect to a sound. Adjustable parameters are rate and depth. PH2: This is a vintage phaser emulation with lower resonance.
HAL: This is a Hall reverb. It’s the largest of the available reverbs. Adjust- able parameters are reverb time and early reflection amount. rOO: This is a Room reverb. It’s the second largest of the available reverbs. Adjustable parameters are reverb time and early reflection amount. PLA: This is a Plate reverb. It emulates a classic reverb plate. Adjustable parameters are reverb time and early reflection amount. SPr: This is a Spring reverb. It emulates a vintage, guitar-amp-style reverb.
Low Frequency Oscillator The LFO is a special-purpose oscillator that produces a frequency below the range of human hearing. The LFO is typically used for periodic modulation such as vibrato (periodic pitch modulation) and tremolo (periodic amplitude modulation). The LFO on the OB-6 produces a variety of waveshapes, including sine, sawtooth, reverse sawtooth, square, and random.
Triangle Sawtooth Reverse Sawtooth Square Random 0 LFO waveshapes The OB-6 has a sixth “hidden” LFO waveshape that you can use as a modulation source — noise. To access this, choose random then turn frequency all the way clockwise. This generates a white noise waveform. The LFO can be free-running or synced to the arpeggiator, sequencer, or MIDI clock for tempo-synced effects such as filter sweeps, tremolo, and so on.
Pulse Width: (Individually selectable for Oscillator 1 and Oscillator 2) When Oscillator 1 or 2 are set to square wave, this modulates the pulse width of the wave. Use a sine wave LFO to create a chorus-like effect often used to emulate strings. Amp: Selects the amplitude level as a modulation destination. Use a sine wave LFO to create a tremolo effect. Filtr Freq: Selects the filter cutoff frequency as a modulation destination.
X-Mod modulation sources: • Filter envelope • VCO 2 frequency X-Mod modulation destinations: • VCO 1 frequency • VCO 1 waveshape • VCO 1 pulse width • Filter cutoff frequency • Normal to Bandpass filter mode • Filter mode (Low-Pass, Notch, High-Pass) You can control how much the source affects the destination by dialing in a specific modulation amount with the filter env or VCO 2 knobs. Modulation amount can either be positive or negative.
VCO 1: Selects Oscillator 1 frequency as a modulation destination. Choose VCO 2 as a modulation source to produce FM effects with their characteristic complex harmonics and metallic timbre. Shape 1: Selects the Oscillator 1 waveshape as a modulation destination. This can animate the timbre of Oscillator 1 in interesting ways. PW 1: When Oscillator 1 is set to pulse wave, choosing this as a destination modulates its pulse width. This will animate the timbre of Oscillator 1 in interesting ways.
If you enable hold, you can release the notes on the keyboard and the Arpeggiator will continue to play. In addition, the Arpeggiator features auto-latching: With hold on, played notes are held on and arpeggiated, and any additional notes you play are added to the arpeggio—as long as at least one key is continuously held. You can sync the Arpeggiator to external MIDI clock, or even an external audio signal. When the Arpeggiator is playing, the Sequencer is disabled.
Arpeggiator Parameters Tap Tempo—Tapping the tap tempo button sets the tempo from 30 to 250 BPM. The LED flashes at the BPM rate you set. Tap the button at least 4 times to set the tempo. BPM: 30…250—Sets the tempo for the arpeggiator in BPM (beats per minute). The tap tempo LED flashes at the BPM rate. When lfo sync is enabled on the low-frequency oscillator, or clock sync is enabled in the Effects section, the BPM rate affects the LFO frequency and/or delay effect.
Mode: Sets the order in which notes play when Arpeggiator is on. See the table. Arp Mode Behavior Up Plays from lowest to highest note Down Plays from highest to lowest note Up + Down Plays from lowest to highest and back to lowest Random Plays notes in random order Assign Plays notes in the order the keys were pressed Sequencer The OB-6’s sequencer is similar to a classic step sequencer.
Most factory programs have a sequence associated with them. Recall a program and press the Sequencer’s play button to hear its associated sequence. To program a note sequence: 1. Press the record button. 2. Perform the sequence on the keyboard. The display indicates the current step as you play.
Use the bpm, value, or tap tempo controls to adjust sequencer playback speed. To transpose a sequence: 1. Press play. The sequence begins playback. 2. Press and hold record and press a key on the keyboard. “Middle C” is the reference point. Playing a note above middle C transposes the sequence higher by that interval. Playing a note below middle C transposes the sequence lower by that interval. Sequencer Parameters Here are the controls and parameters used when interacting with the sequencer.
Value: Sets the note value for each sequencer/arpeggiator step relative to the BPM. value works with both internal and external clock sources.
Master Volume/Program Volume The master output level of the OB-6 is controlled by the front-panel master volume knob in the output section. In addition, the volume of an individual program can be set with the prgm vol knob in same section. This is useful for ensuring that your sounds have roughly the same volume from program to program. Unison sounds in particular can be very loud compared to other programs.
Pan Spread Pan Spread pans audio in the stereo field individually per voice. Set to 0, all voices are panned to the center. As you turn the pan spread knob up, the audio in each voice is gradually moved away from the center by greater amounts. Every other voice goes in a different direction, left or right. This creates a broader stereo field while playing.. Transpose The up and down buttons in the transpose section transpose the keyboard up or down in octaves.
Portamento Portamento causes the pitch of a note to glide up or down from the pitch of the previously played note. Portamento is turned on and off using the portamento switch, but the rate must also be set. If the portamento button is on, but rate amount is set to 0, portamento has no effect. RATE PORTAMENTO The Portamento controls There are four modes that determine how portamento behaves.
Unison When unison is on, the OB-6 functions like a monophonic synthesizer in that only 1 note can be played at a time. However, that one note can be powered by as many as six voices, depending on how many you choose to use. With up to 12 oscillators powering a single note (2 oscillators per voice x 6 voices), you can create some very dense, speaker-rattling sounds.
To use Unison: 1. Press and hold the unison switch. 2. With the Unison switch held down, use the bank/decrement and tens/ increment switches to choose the number of voices to stack, then release the Unison switch. 3. To detune the oscillators, use the detune knob. Using Chord Memory Unison has another useful feature: chord memory. Instead of assigning voices to a single note, hold down a chord on the keyboard and press the Unison switch. The OB-6 memorizes the notes of the chord.
Key Assign Modes Key Assign (sometimes called note priority) determines what note has priority when more than one note is played on the keyboard or via MIDI: • Low-Note Priority (LO) is most common in vintage synths and is often used for playing trills by holding a note and repeatedly tapping a lower note. • Low Retrigger (LOr) causes the envelopes to be retriggered with each keystroke.
Write The write button saves the currently active program. Saving a program overwrites a previously saved program. The OB-6 contains a total of 1000 programs. 500 are permanent and 500 can be overwritten. Banks 0-4 are User Banks that can be overwritten. Banks 5-9 are Factory Banks that are permanent. You can edit the programs of either bank, but you can only save them to Banks 0-4. As shipped from the factory, presets 000-499 are identical to 500-999.
Canceling Save Sometimes you may want to cancel saving a program before you commit. To cancel the Save process before you commit: • If the write button LED is flashing, press it again. The LED stops flashing and saving is canceled. You can return to editing if you want. Comparing Before You Save Before writing a program to a new location, it’s a good idea to listen to the program in the target location to make sure you really want to overwrite it. To evaluate a program before you overwrite it: 1.
Globals Global settings are parameters that affect all programs. These include settings such as Master Tune, MIDI Channel, MIDI Clock, and others. Global parameters are printed in two rows the program number switches (0 - 9). Press the globals button once to access the top row. Press it twice to access the bottom row. For details on the various Global parameters, see “Global Settings” on page 10. GLOBALS The Globals button To change a Global setting: 1. Press the globals button.
Manual The manual switch toggles “live panel” mode on and off. In live panel mode the OB-6 ignores the currently active preset and reverts to the current front-panel settings of its knobs and switches. In other words, what you see on the front panel is what you hear. This is a great mode for learning, experimentation, and instant gratification. MANUAL The Manual button To enter live panel mode: • Press the manual button to toggle it on. The OB-6 is now in live panel mode.
Pitch and Mod Wheels The OB-6 has a spring-loaded Pitch wheel and a Mod wheel. You can use these controls to enhance live performance by bending notes and adding modulation in real time as you play. In the same way that guitar players use note bends and vibrato to give their playing expressiveness and character, these two controls can really help you define your sound as a performer and take you beyond just playing notes on the keyboard.
Modulation Wheel The Mod wheel controls the amount of modulation applied to any destinations chosen in the low-frequency oscillator section. This allows you to “perform” LFO modulation in real time by moving the Mod wheel. This is a great way to add expressiveness to a sound or performance. To choose a modulation destination for the Mod wheel: 1. In the low-frequency oscillator section, choose a modulation destination as well as a shape and frequency for the LFO.
Conversely, if you select the filter frequency as destination, set a negative amount of aftertouch, then press the keys harder, the filter cutoff frequency will be lowered, making the filter close more and the sound become more muted. The OB-6 provides four different aftertouch response settings for your convenience. The default setting provides a linear response. To choose a different response curve, use the at response button in the globals section. See page 14 for more details.
VCO 2: Selects Oscillator 2 frequency as an aftertouch modulation destination. With a positive amount setting, pressing the keys harder will shift the Oscillator 2 pitch upward. With a negative amount setting, pressing the keys harder will shift the Oscillator 2 pitch downward. LFO Amount: Selects the lfo amount parameter as an aftertouch modu- lation destination.
Exporting Programs and Banks You can use the pgm dump command in the globals section to transmit the current program, bank, or all banks in SysEx format via the selected MIDI port. This allows you to save your programs so that you can share them or archive them. To export a program or bank as a SysEx file over MIDI: 1. Press the globals button once (this enables the upper set of parameters) then press program selector 8 to select the midi sysex command. 2.
Calibrating the OB-6 The OB-6 is calibrated at the factory. Controls such as the pitch and mod wheels shouldn’t require re-calibration. However, because its oscillators and filters are voltage controlled and can be affected by extremes of temperature, you may need to use the built-in calibration function to tune them occasionally. How and When to Calibrate the Oscillators and Filters The first time you use the OB-6, please run its built-in oscillator and filter calibration procedure.
Calibrating the Pitch and Mod Wheels In general, the Pitch and Mod wheels shouldn’t require re-calibration. However, if you experience what seems like a persistent problem with either of them, the OB-6 has built-in auto-calibration procedure that you can use to remedy the problem. To calibrate the Pitch and Mod wheel’s low position: 1. Rotate and hold both wheels in their low position. 2. Hold down the manual button and press 7.
Using USB The OB-6’s USB 2.0 port enables bidirectional MIDI communication with a computer. A MIDI interface and MIDI cables are not necessary, just a USB cable. The OB-6 is a Class Compliant USB device. That means it does not require any additional drivers to be installed to communicate with a Mac or Windows computer. The OB-6 transmits and receives MIDI data via USB, but does not transmit audio.
Appendix A: Alternative Tunings By default, the OB-6 is set to standard, chromatic western tuning. Additionally it supports up to 16 additional alternative tunings, which you can access using the alt tuning button in the globals section. From the factory, the OB-6 ships with 16 preset alternative tunings ranging from Equal temperament to Indonesian Gamelan tunings. If you want, you can replace these with other tunings that you can find on the Internet. These must be in SysEx format.
5. 19 Tone Equal Temperament 19 notes per octave (19root2) offering better thirds than 12 ET, a better overall compromise if you can figure out the keyboard patterns. 6. 31 Tone Equal Temperament Many people consider 31root2 to offer the best compromise towards just intonation in an equal temperament, but it can get very tricky to keep track of the intervals. 7.
11. Other Music 7-Limit Black Keys in C Created by the group Other Music for their homemade gamelan, this offers a wide range of interesting chords and modes. C=1/1 (261.625 Hz) 1/1 15/14 9/8 7/6 5/4 4/3 7/5 3/2 14/9 5/3 7/4 15/8 12. Dan Schmidt Pelog/Slendro Created for the Berkeley Gamelan group, this tuning fits an Indonesianstyle heptatonic Pelog on the white keys and pentatonic Slendro on the black keys, with B and Bb acting as 1/1 for their respective modes.
15. Harry Partch 11-limit 43 Note Just Intonation One of the pioneers of modern microtonal composition, Partch built a unique orchestra with this tuning during the first half of the 20th century, to perform his own compositions. The large number of intervals in this very dense scale offers a full vocabulary of expressive chords and complex key changes. The narrow spacing also allows fixedpitched instruments like marimbas and organs to perform glissando-like passages.
Appendix B: Troubleshooting and Support Troubleshooting If you’re experiencing problems or unexpected behavior from your OB-6, here are a few typical scenarios and their solutions: If the OB-6 isn’t producing sound in live panel mode: 1. Enable live panel mode by pressing the manual button. 2. Initialize a basic program by holding the manual button and pressing the write button. 3.
If there is a ground hum in the audio output: • USB can cause ground loops, so try to resolve any grounding issues between the computer and the OB-6. Or use MIDI, which is opto-isolated. If the OB-6 is behaving erratically. • This is almost always caused by a MIDI data loop. Make sure that any MIDI Thru functionality is turned off on the MIDI interface/hardware or in the MIDI software application. Disconnect all the OB-6’s MIDI connections—MIDI and USB cables—and see if the problem persists.
To restore your OB-6 if it is frozen. 1. Power on the OB-6 while holding the Write switch to enter bootloader mode. You’ll see an animation in the Effects Parameter 1 display. 2. Use a MIDI cable (not USB) to transmit the new OS to your synth. You must use a standard MIDI cable for this. USB MIDI doesn’t work in bootloader mode. 3. As the OS loads, you will see the main display count backwards from 999. When it gets to 0, another countdown will begin between the main display and the FX Parameter 1 display.
Warranty Repair Dave Smith Instruments warrants that the OB-6 will be free from defects in materials and/or workmanship for 1 year from the date of purchase. Please register your product online at www.davesmithinstruments.com to establish the date of purchase. (This is not a requirement for warranty service, but it will help expedite the process.) Please contact support@davesmithinstruments.com to determine the best course of action for getting your OB-6 repaired.
Appendix C: MIDI Implementation The OB-6 receives MIDI data according to the settings you have chosen in the global settings. In addition, there is interaction between some of the Program parameters that determine the overall response of OB-6 to MIDI data. Following are the Global parameters that affect response to MIDI: MIDI Channel: All, 1…16—Selects which MIDI channel to send and receive data, 1 to 16. All receives on all 16 channels.
MIDI Control: Off, On—When On, the synth will respond to MIDI controllers, including Pitch Wheel, Mod Wheel, Pedal, Volume. MIDI Sysex: MID, USB— When set to MIDI (MID) it will receive and transmit them using the MIDI ports/cables When set to USB it will receive and transmit them using the USB port/cable. MIDI SysEx messages are used when sending and receiving a variety of data including, programs, alternative tunings, system updates, and more.
Received Controller Messages Status Second Third Description 1011 nnnn 1 0vvvvvvv Mod Wheel: directly assignable controller 1011 nnnn 4 0vvvvvvv Foot Controller: directly assignable controller 1011 nnnn 7 0vvvvvvv Volume: Combined with Master Volume and Voice Volume 1011 nnnn 74 0vvvvvvv Brightness: Added to filter cutoff frequency 1011 nnnn 32 0vvvvvvv Bank Select: 0 - 4 select user banks 0 - 4; 5 - 9 select factory banks 0 - 4; others ignored 1011 nnnn 64 0vvvvvvv Damper pedal:
Transmitted Controller Messages Status Second Third Description 1011 nnnn 0000 0001 0vvvvvvv Mod Wheel 1011 nnnn 0000 0100 0vvvvvvv Foot Controller: When assigned to Pedal 1 or Pedal 2 1011 nnnn 0000 0111 0vvvvvvv Volume: When assigned to Pedal 1 or Pedal 2 1011 nnnn 0100 1010 0vvvvvvv Brightness: When assigned to Pedal 1 or Pedal 2 1011 nnnn 0010 0000 0vvvvvvv Bank Select: 0 - 9 1011 nnnn 0100 0000 0vvvvvvv Damper pedal: Sends 0 if off, 0111 1111 when on 1011 nnnn 0000 0111 0v
Additional Continuous Controllers Transmitted/Received The following table details how MIDI Continuous Controllers (CCs) are mapped to OB-6 controls. They are transmitted when Param Xmit is set to CC, and recognized/received when MIDI Rcv Receive is set to CC.
NRPN Messages The Non-Registered Parameter Number (NRPN) MIDI messages are used to transmit and receive both global and program parameters. They are transmitted when MIDI Parameter Send is set to NRPN in Global, and received when MIDI Parameter Receive is set to NRPN in Global. The messages are handled in standard MIDI format using the NRPN CC commands in running status byte format. Below is the format used for transmitting a NRPN parameter.
Received NRPN Messages Status Second Third Description 1011 nnnn 0110 0011 0vvvvvvv NRPN parameter number MSB CC 1011 nnnn 0110 0010 0vvvvvvv NRPN parameter number LSB CC 1011 nnnn 0000 0110 0vvvvvvv NRPN parameter value MSB CC 1011 nnnn 0010 0110 0vvvvvvv NRPN parameter value LSB CC 1011 nnnn 0110 0000 0xxxxxxx NRPN parameter value Increment 1011 nnnn 0110 0001 0xxxxxxx NRPN parameter value Decrement 1011 nnnn 0010 0101 0111111 RPN parameter number MSB CC - Reset NRPN paramet
Program Parameter Data The following table lists OB-6’s program parameters.
NRPN 119 Value Description 0-5 FX 1 Type NRPN Value Description 448-511 0-127 Seq Step 1-64 Vel 2 512-575 12-108 Seq Step 1-64 Note 3 576-639 0-127 Seq Step 1-64 Vel 3 640-703 12-108 Seq Step 1-64 Note 4 120 0-127 FX 1 Mix 121 0-255 FX 1 Param 1 122 0-127 FX 1 Param 2 123 0-1 FX 1 Sync 127 0-9 FX 2 Type 704-767 0-127 Seq Step 1-64 Vel 4 128 0-127 FX 2 Mix 768-831 12-108 129 0-255 FX 2 Param 1 Seq Step 1-64 Note 5 130 0-127 FX 2 Param 2 131 0-1 FX 2 Sync
Control NRPN Data The following table lists the OB-6’s control NRPN data. It is received and transmitted but not saved as part of a program.
Request Program Dump Status Description 1111 0000 System Exclusive (SysEx) 0000 0001 DSI ID 0010 1110 OB-6 ID 0000 0101 Request Program Transmit 0000 00vv Bank Number, 0 - 9 0vvv vvvv Program Number, 0 - 99 1111 0111 End of Exclusive (EOX) The OB-6 will respond by sending out the Program Data in the format described below in Program Data Dump.
Program Data Dump Status Description 1111 0000 System Exclusive (SysEx) 0000 0001 DSI ID 0010 1110 OB-6 ID 0000 0010 Program Data 0000 00vv Bank Number: 0 - 9 0vvv vvvv Program Number: 0 - 99 0vvv vvvv 1024 bytes expanded to 1171 MIDI bytes in “packed MS bit” format 1111 0111 End of Exclusive (EOX) Program Edit Buffer Data Dump Status Description 1111 0000 System Exclusive (SysEx) 0000 0001 DSI ID 0010 1110 OB-6 ID 0000 0011 Edit Buffer Data 0vvv vvvv 1024 bytes expanded to 1171
Packed Data Format Data is packed in 8 byte “packets”, with the MS bit stripped from 7 parameter bytes, and packed into an eighth byte, which is sent at the start of the 8 byte packet.
84 Appendix C: MIDI Implementation Dave Smith Instruments
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