--- In oberheim@yahoogroups.com , Charles Massey <cmassey@...> wrote:

>
> Sounds like you don't have enough level out of the tape deck to make
> it work. You must come out of the HEADPHONE jack, which you probably
> already know. They were designed to work with portable cassette
> players so you could take them on the gig and the interface worked
> well providing you had enough output level. Sounds like you are very
> close to making it work.

yeah, i'm using the EAR jack on an old portable 1980s radio shack thing i got mint in box
just for this type of application.

> > so here's a question i should've asked in the first place: if the
> > battery dies and is replaced,
> > does that literally mean there should be NO SOUNDS in the OB-8
> > that they MUST be
> > reloaded from the tape, almost like samples or is the tape just a
> > bunch of presets
>
> There should be some sounds. You should be able to grab a few knobs
> and dial in a "sound" manually. If it won't do that, I'd suspect
> other problems. The oscillators and filters, etc should all work even
> without the PROGRAM loaded in. All the cassette data is, is the
> settings of the knobs for each patch.

i was afraid of that. this means i'll have to take it to be serviced after all, which i was
trying to avoid.

had i thought of this in the first place, i wouldn't have bothered with the whole cassette
thing. presets are nice to start from, but i have enough understanding of this kind of
analog synth to get to any sound i want from nothing. of course, i'm afraid it may be
unfixable, that the years-old moisture damage may have shorted out the circuits that
actually make sounds - this happened with some other gear we had.

> Hope this helps and good luck with the old girl! I sold my Xpander
> and miss the sounds of it in my music already.

thanks, you've helped a lot by letting me know my next step (repair shop). i've never
played one, always wanted to since i was a kid. will come back and let the group know my
findings once it's been looked at.