When Sequential released the OB-6 synth, it said that it was “a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration between the two most influential designers in poly synth history, Dave Smith and Tom Oberheim”. Well, perhaps that wasn’t quite true, because it seems that Sequential might have plans to release a new version of the legendary Oberheim OB-X polysynth.
It looks like Sequential filed a trademark application for the name OB-X on 5 January 2021, which is “intended to cover the categories of musical instruments, namely, keyboards; music synthesizers”. As such, it’s hard not to come to the conclusion that a new version of the OB-X is indeed in the works.
Presumably this would be another collaboration with Tom Oberheim, whose Oberheim brand name and intellectual property was returned to him by Gibson in 2019.
What’s more, we wonder if the synth could be arriving sooner than you might think. Sequential’s Dave Smith has a long history of announcing new synths at the NAMM Show, which usually takes place every January, and although it isn’t happening this year, we certainly wouldn’t rule out an announcement later this month.
That said, it’s only a few months since Sequential relaunched the classic Prophet-5/10, so maybe another reissue so soon is too much to expect.
If such a synth was to be released, though, the stage would be set for a battle with Behringer, which has already announced that it plans to release the UB-Xa - a clone of the OB-Xa, which was the OB-X’s successor.
This is all just speculation, of course, but you can consider our appetite very much whetted…
(Via Synthtopia)
