Gforce Software OB-E v2 is official endorsed by synth pioneer Tom Oberheim, has Windows support, and offers many new features.
The waiting is over. Last year Dave Spiers and his team at Gforce Software released a super authentic software emulation of the Oberheim Eight Voice Synthesizer. At this time only macOS users. Version 2 is out now and has Windows support. But that’s not the big news.
Biggest highlight is the official collaboration with the company Oberheim. Synth pioneer Tom Oberheim and former developer Marcus Ryle were so confident in the emulation that they decided to take part in this project. It’s Tom Oberheim first software endorsement in his career.
Gforce Software OB-E v2
The new Oberheim branding immediately catches the eye. If it sounds even better with the Oberheim branding, well, you have to decide. For me, it now looks very authentic, like having Tom Oberheim in the DAW. But the new logo and icons aren’t the only thing new about the GUI.
You can now scale faster and more flexibly the plugin interface to your screen. An improvement that is very welcome in times of 4K screens with 27 or 32 inch. Same applies to the new handy zoom feature of the sequencer.
OB-E’s engine has also grown again. Besides a refined detune parameter, OB-E now features a vintage knob allowing you to infuse the wobbly character of vintage analog synthesizers. A characteristic that arose because many vintage synths didn’t stay in tune and thus achieved a very organic timbre. Then, you a very lush-sounding matrix reverb effect processor with 8 presets and a wide range of parameters. This can be used to generate very atmospheric, massive sounds.
Another fascinating new functionality in Gforce Software OB-2 v2 is a new drum mode which enables each SEM to be played by a dedicated key. So you can use the OB-E plugin as an analog-style Oberheim drum machine. The developers ships it with 10 drum kits with which you can immediately dive into the new function.
Windows & Apple Silicon Support
Initially, the community was very upset why OB-E was released exclusively for macOS. The reason was a new development framework. This hurdle has now been successfully overcome and with OB-E v2 Gforce Software introduces Windows support. Uff. Plus, you get VST3 plugin format and native support for Apple Silicon M1 computers. Thus macOS users can look forward to performance improvements.
On top, the developers added over 100 new presets to the factory library showing you the new functions in action.
Tom Oberheim & Marcus Ryle
“I was pretty amazed by OB-E, it was pretty damn close right out of the shoot. It was “wow!“. I like listening to that. With OB-E v2, it’s like you have the hardware with you” Tom Oberheim, Synth Pioneer”
The first time I heard OB-E I knew it was special. Its authentic tonal character and musicality makes it the closest thing to analog hardware that I’ve ever experienced. It’s been really gratifying to refine this powerful foundation with GForce Software in order to capture the few remaining nuances of component tolerances and calibration that add just a bit more magic into this very impressive piece of software.” Marcus Ryle, Former Oberheim Developer and co-founder of Line 6.
The OB-E Synthesizer plugin was one of my software highlights of the last year. An emulation of the extra class. This very welcome update makes the plugin even better. You can definitely say that here. With Windows support, a lot more people can now access this excellent emulation. And the collaboration with Oberheim is the icing on the cake. Great job!
Gforce Software OB-E v2 is a free update for existing customers. OB-E v2 is available now for an introductory price of £119 / $139 instead of £179 / $199. It runs as a VST, VST3, AU, AAX plugin and standalone application on macOS (Intel + M1) and Windows.
More information here: Gforce Software
Available at our partner
Be the first to comment