The Dave Smith Instruments OB-6 is a six-voice analog polysynth introduced in 2016 as a collaboration between Tom Oberheim and Dave Smith. Built around a sound engine inspired by Oberheim’s original SEM architecture, it combines discrete VCOs, a state-variable filter, full programmability, onboard effects, and modern MIDI integration in a compact four-octave instrument. What makes it meaningful is not simply that it evokes an older Oberheim flavor, but that it translates one of the most recognizable analog design languages into a modern production and performance instrument without turning it into a museum piece.
Sound and character
The OB-6 has a distinctly forward, vivid, and harmonically animated sound. Where many modern polysynths aim for neutrality or broad genre flexibility first, this one announces its personality early. Its voice architecture gives it an immediate sense of contour: the oscillators sound lively, the sub-oscillator adds weight without dulling the upper harmonics, and the SEM-inspired multimode filter shapes timbre in a way that feels more sculptural than merely subtractive.
In practice, that means the OB-6 excels at brassy chords, bright and biting leads, sync sounds with real attitude, animated basses, and pads that remain open rather than overly smoothed out. The filter is central to this identity. Because it offers low-pass, high-pass, band-pass, and notch modes, the instrument can move from thick and rounded to nasal, hollow, airy, or sharply focused with unusual ease. That is one reason the OB-6 rarely feels trapped in one tonal cliché, even though its overall voice is unmistakably rooted in classic Oberheim territory.
It does lean vintage in the best sense, but not in a fragile or blurry one. The slop function can introduce instability, the state-variable filter can add motion and contour that feel less standardized than a fixed low-pass design, and the X-Mod section opens the door to abrasive, metallic, or more abstract textures. So although the OB-6 is often associated with warm analog chords and cinematic pads, it is just as persuasive when pushed into wiry, gnarly, aggressive territory. That duality is part of what keeps it relevant: it can sound elegant, but it does not have to behave politely.
Features and architecture
- Manufacturer: Sequential (originally launched by Dave Smith Instruments in collaboration with Tom Oberheim)
- Year introduced: 2016
- Production years: 2016 to present
- Synthesis type: Analog subtractive synthesis with discrete VCOs, VCAs, and state-variable filters; digital effects section
- Category: Polyphonic analog keyboard synthesizer
- Polyphony: 6 voices
- Original price: US MAP of $2,999 at launch
- Current market price: around $3,499.99 new for the keyboard version from major US retailers; module version around $2,399.99
- Oscillators: 2 discrete VCOs per voice, plus sub-oscillator on oscillator 1; continuously variable saw/pulse waves, with triangle on oscillator 2; sync and low-frequency mode on oscillator 2
- Filter: 2-pole resonant SEM-inspired state-variable filter with low-pass, high-pass, band-pass, and notch modes
- LFOs: 1 LFO with sine, sawtooth, reverse sawtooth, square, and random/sample-and-hold waveforms
- Envelopes: 2 ADSR envelopes, one for filter and one for amplifier
- Modulation system: X-Mod using filter envelope and oscillator 2 as sources; aftertouch routings; oscillator detune/slop; modulation destinations include oscillator frequency, pulse width, waveshape, filter cutoff, filter mode, and amplifier
- Sequencer / arpeggiator: 64-step polyphonic step sequencer with rests and up to 6 notes per step; arpeggiator with multiple play modes and up to 3-octave range
- Effects: stereo analog distortion plus dual 24-bit/48 kHz digital effects including reverb, delay, BBD-style delay, chorus, flanger, phaser, and ring modulator; true bypass when effects are off
- Memory: 500 factory programs and 500 user programs
- Keyboard: 49-note full-size semi-weighted keyboard with velocity and channel aftertouch
- Inputs / outputs: stereo outputs, headphone output, expression pedal inputs for volume and filter cutoff, sustain footswitch input, sequencer start/stop footswitch input
- MIDI / USB: MIDI In, Out, Thru, and USB for bidirectional MIDI communication
- Display: numeric LED display with parameter and tempo readouts
- Dimensions / weight: 31.8” x 12.7” x 4.6”; 20 lbs / 9.5 kg
- Power: internal power supply via IEC AC inlet; 100 to 240 V, 50/60 Hz, 30 W max
Strengths
- A genuinely distinctive analog voice: The OB-6 does not merely sound “good for analog.” It has a recognizable tonal fingerprint shaped by its SEM-derived filter behavior and its lively oscillator response.
- Fast, musical workflow: The knob-per-function panel keeps the instrument immediate. It is easy to program, easy to revise mid-performance, and unusually inviting for players who think by ear rather than by menu.
- A filter that expands the palette: The multimode state-variable filter gives the instrument more tonal perspectives than a standard low-pass-only design, which helps it cover brass, pads, sequences, sharper effects, and more unusual textures without feeling generic.
- Strong balance between vintage tone and modern reliability: The OB-6 offers the instability, weight, and dimensionality players want from analog hardware, but with patch memory, MIDI, aftertouch, onboard effects, and stable repeatability in real use.
- Excellent performance instrument: Its semi-weighted keyboard, aftertouch, hands-on surface, chord memory, unison implementation, and compact form make it as stage-friendly as it is studio-friendly.
- Surprisingly capable beyond retro sounds: The X-Mod section, multimode filtering, and effects mean it can move well past nostalgic pads and into edgy, cinematic, or experimental ground.
Limitations
- Six voices can feel restrictive: For a premium polyphonic synth, six voices is enough for many parts but still limiting for dense chord work, long releases, or more layered playing styles.
- The four-octave keyboard will not suit everyone: It helps portability, but players who prefer larger ranges may find it cramped without an external controller.
- Modulation depth is not its main identity: The OB-6 is flexible, but it is not built as a deep modulation matrix instrument in the modern maximalist sense.
- Patch naming is absent on the hardware: The numeric display keeps the interface simple, but it also makes patch organization less elegant than on instruments with named presets.
- It remains an expensive instrument: Even years after release, it still occupies a premium price tier new, and the used market has not turned it into an obvious bargain.
Historical context
The OB-6 arrived in January 2016, at a moment when analog synthesis had already returned to the center of the market, but when truly modern collaborations between foundational designers still felt rare. The timing mattered. Dave Smith had already re-established himself as one of the central figures in the analog revival, and Tom Oberheim’s name still carried enormous weight because of the SEM, the 4-Voice, and the broader Oberheim legacy. The OB-6 was therefore not just another retro-minded release. It was a public reunion of two designers whose instruments had helped define competing but complementary strands of polyphonic synthesis.
Historically, the OB-6 sits in an especially interesting place because it was not a strict reissue. It did not attempt to clone one exact vintage model with all of its limitations intact. Instead, it used a modern hardware and production framework associated with Dave Smith’s contemporary instruments while centering the sonic architecture around Tom Oberheim’s SEM lineage. That choice matters. It meant the instrument could deliver a recognizable Oberheim-derived sound while also offering patch memory, MIDI, aftertouch, true stage reliability, digital effects, and a compact footprint.
It also appeared before the later wave of large-format Oberheim-branded revivals such as the OB-X8. In that sense, the OB-6 was one of the key bridges between the remembered Oberheim sound and its renewed presence in current production instruments. It did not reopen the entire catalog, but it made the Oberheim voice newly accessible in a practical modern polysynth.
Legacy and significance
The OB-6 matters because it showed that heritage could be translated rather than merely reenacted. Many synthesizers trade on memory. Fewer manage to turn historical DNA into a modern instrument that feels self-sufficient. The OB-6 did that by refusing two easy paths: it was neither a sterile contemporary polysynth with vintage branding nor a purist reissue locked into nostalgia.
Its deeper significance lies in how it re-framed the Oberheim sound for a new generation of players. For many users, original SEM-based polyphonic instruments are either financially unreachable, technically inconvenient, or both. The OB-6 offered an alternative: an instrument with real analog circuitry, a convincingly Oberheim-shaped tonal center, and the conveniences expected in serious studio and touring work. That broadened access matters historically, because it kept a specific sonic vocabulary alive in active use rather than leaving it to collectors.
It also helped confirm that collaboration between legacy designers could produce something more meaningful than branding theater. The OB-6 feels like a meeting of design philosophies: Oberheim’s appetite for a broad, organic, spatially expressive filter response and Smith’s modern instrument discipline, programmability, and practical integration. In that sense, the synth’s significance is larger than its six voices. It stands as one of the clearest examples of how modern analog instrument design can respect history without becoming trapped inside it.
Artists, users, and curiosities
The OB-6 has been associated directly by Sequential with players such as Jeff Babko and Luke Neptune, both of whom discussed using it alongside the Prophet-6 in professional studio and live contexts. Babko, known for session and touring work with artists including James Taylor, Frank Ocean, Neil Young, Willie Nelson, Smokey Robinson, Alanis Morissette, and Toto, described the OB-6 and Prophet-6 as a “beautiful team,” emphasizing their different characters rather than treating them as interchangeable variants. That is revealing: even experienced players who live around high-end instruments tend to hear the OB-6 as a specific color, not just another six-voice analog option.
Film and television composer Alexander Bornstein also discussed using the OB-6 in scoring work, pointing to pulses, stabs, electric piano-like sounds, and more extreme X-Mod textures as part of his writing and sound-design process. That is a useful reminder that the OB-6 has not been limited to retro-pop associations; it has also found a place in modern composition work where texture, contour, and immediacy matter.
One of the most memorable curiosities about the OB-6 is the instrument’s origin story itself. Dave Smith openly framed it as the result of friendly rivalry turned collaboration: people once identified with either the Prophet camp or the Oberheim camp, and the OB-6 effectively turned that old divide into a joint statement. Another telling detail is that the synth was conceived not as a museum recreation but as a practical modern format for the SEM sound. That decision shaped how the OB-6 was received: less as an exercise in archival accuracy, more as a living instrument with a clear lineage.
There is also a subtler curiosity in how players often compare it to the Prophet-6. The comparison is inevitable because the two share a broad platform philosophy, yet the OB-6 has endured precisely because it does not sound like a cosmetic variation. Again and again, users describe it as more vivid, more cutting, more textured, and more unmistakably itself.
Market value
- Current market position: The OB-6 remains a premium modern analog polysynth rather than a depreciated mid-tier option.
- New price signal: The keyboard version is still listed around $3,499.99 by major US retailers, with the module around $2,399.99.
- Used market signal: Used keyboard listings commonly remain well above entry-level analog territory; current examples show prices in the mid-$2,000s and upward, while used modules can appear notably lower depending on condition and seller.
- Availability: It is still available new through major dealers, which keeps it from becoming a scarcity-driven collectible in the short term.
- Buyer notes: Buyers are typically paying for a specific voice and design philosophy, not for maximum voices-per-dollar or deepest-spec-sheet value.
- Support ecosystem: Official support, manuals, OS resources, dealer networks, and community knowledge remain strong.
- Ease of finding one: Fairly easy to find new and used, especially compared with truly rare legacy Oberheim instruments.
- Long-term position: Its value appears relatively stable because it occupies a recognizable niche: modern, reliable, genuine analog Oberheim flavor in a programmable instrument.
- Collectibility outlook: It is already regarded by many players as a modern classic, though its ongoing availability keeps it in the “working instrument first, collectible second” category for now.
Conclusion
The Dave Smith Instruments OB-6 is one of the clearest examples of a modern synthesizer getting the balance right between lineage and usability. It does not try to be the most elaborate analog polysynth of its era, nor the cheapest, nor the most overtly vintage-correct. What it offers instead is more valuable: a strong, unmistakable voice, a direct and musical interface, and a historically meaningful collaboration that produced an instrument worth using on its own merits. That is why it still matters. The OB-6 is not just a tribute to an older sound. It is one of the instruments that proved that sound could keep evolving without losing its identity.