The Oberheim OB-SX is a synthesizer played by Prince. It is a polyphonic analog synthesizer and part of the Oberheim OB range that included the OB-X,OB-Xa and the OB-8.
Unlike the other synthesizers in the OB line, the OB-SX is not programmable. Instead it has a set of presets, along with a shorter 49 note keyboard. It seems that Prince liked working with these limitations, and as well as using the OB-SX in the studio he would also play one live on the Controversy tour.
Prince was incredibly bold in the way he would just use a preset and then brighten the fuck out of it! He would turn the filter way up so the sound would cut through the mix. I still have the OB-SX from those days. It’s one of the most simple Oberheims - there are just a few knobs on it, but that was the most quintessential keyboard from that era.
Prince continued using the OB-SX on the 1999 album. The song “Something In The Water Does Not Compute” features multiple stacked OB-SX parts. Prince continued using his Oberheims into the mid 1980s and it possibly appears from albums of this time.
The OB-SX was also played live by Lisa and Dez Dickerson plays one in the Let’s Pretend We’re Married video.
