Arturia has turned its attention to another vintage synth and released the OB-Xa V, a plugin emulation of Oberheim’s instrument of the same name. Used by the likes of Prince, Bon Jovi and, of course, Van Halen, this was an ‘80s classic, and has more recently fallen into favour with Calvin Harris, Flume and others.
Known for its growling, aggressive sound, the OB-Xa was actually a pretty simple machine, offering two oscillators, each with saw or pulse waves, and a noise generator that could only be switched on or off. ADSR envelopes were provided for both filter and amplitude, and three LFOs, sample & hold and a huge unison function were included, too.
Arturia’s emulation ups the ante with a new stereo spread feature, 16-voice polyphony (double the maximum on the original hardware), an arpeggiator, four function generators and an effect section. You also get 400 presets.
Arturia says that the OB-Xa is one of its most-requested emulations of recent years, and the company is celebrating its launch by making it available at the introductory price of $149/€149. This will rise to $199/ €199 after 9 June. It runs on PC and Mac in VST/AU/AAX formats and you can find out more on the Arturia website.
