In 1976, the Four Voice began being offered with a programmer module. Oberheim’s patch storage implementation was a bit different from that of the microprocessor-controlled polyphonic synths to follow (Prophet-5, OBX, etc…) in that it was capable of multi-timbral storage/recall of sounds. In other words, each SEM could be setup differently using the programmer’s controls [...]
http://www.hillscloud.com/2012/03/oberheim-four-voice-fvs-1-restoration-%e2%80%93-part-7-the-programmer/
I’ve been making some progress on this restoration, and thought I’d lump together a bunch of the more superficial, cosmetic-oriented work in this post. While I’ve had the synth chassis separated from its roadcase, I felt that it would be a good time to freshen things up a bit. The I/O and power supply panels [...]
http://www.hillscloud.com/2011/09/oberheim-four-voice-fvs-1-restoration-%e2%80%93-part-6-cosmetology/
Forging on ahead, I felt it was time to give this keyboard some new life. The bushings were pretty much shot, and several were starting to crumble away – yielding the all too familiar snaggletooth keys and loud metal-on-metal action: Getting the Four Voice’s keyboard assembly out involves excavating the synth from its [...]
http://www.hillscloud.com/2011/08/oberheim-four-voice-fvs-1-restoration-%e2%80%93-part-5-keyboard-rehab/
This was an improv made this using two rows of the modular’s Q119 sequencer to control/trigger both voices on the Yamaha CS-40m, and also toggle the Space Echo’s sound-on-sound feature using an analog switch. Seaborne
http://www.hillscloud.com/2011/06/seaborne/
I recorded this right after acquiring a 1973 Gibson Triumph (Les Paul Recording bass) from the original owner who had it in storage since around ’75! The original flatwounds were even still on it. =) They were sooo dead, but had this nice “plonk” sound to them – and so began this track… The melody [...]
http://www.hillscloud.com/2011/06/horizon/
This track was made using a Fender Strat w/Roland GR-1 for the melody, Gibson EB-0 bass w/string mute, and my Oberheim OB-8 for the synth part at the outro. Equinox
http://www.hillscloud.com/2011/06/equinox/
I made this track using a Multimoog for the melody and solo, and the bass is my 1966 Gibson EB-2D semi-acoustic running through an Alembic F-2B preamp. The funky “bar bridge” and resulting wonky intonation in the upper register gives that bass an almost upright-like character at times. The melody is being doubled in places [...]
http://www.hillscloud.com/2011/06/passage-to-infinity/
Now onto the fun stuff… I’ve been seriously digging this thing even as it limps along with two-voice polyphony, but its time to hear a happy quartet of SEMs! SEMs 3 and 4 were not firing from the keyboard, and the continuous assignment mode would only step between SEMs 1 and 2. Between all of [...]
http://www.hillscloud.com/2011/06/oberheim-four-voice-fvs-1-restoration-%e2%80%93-part-4-hearing-voices/
Before venturing too far down the path of sorting through the faults, I wanted to first ensure that the power supply was in good working order – that the power output was clean, and that the rails were putting out the correct voltage. There are a total of six capacitors on the PSU board [...]
http://www.hillscloud.com/2011/06/oberheim-four-voice-fvs-1-restoration-%e2%80%93-part-3-the-psu/
Well, where to begin… I thought I’d start by tracing out and removing the modifications. Overall, the mods looked to be in a questionable state, and I felt it would help in troubleshooting the primary issues if I could rule-out the modifications as a contributing factor. The “Mediamix Triangle Mod” board was held in place [...]
http://www.hillscloud.com/2011/06/oberheim-four-voice-fvs-1-restoration-part-2-modification-removal/