Soundforce SFC-OB Oberheim Plugin MIDI Controller – Oh Boy!
3,4 / 5,0 | 
Boutique Eurorack and MIDI controller outfit Soundforce has announced a dedicated desktop controller for OB-style plugins. All hands on deck.
Soundforce SFC-OB
Having a dedicated MIDI controller for a plugin strikes me as the ultimate luxury. But when you think about it, it makes sense. You get the hands-on control of a physical synthesizer without the expense, plus the convenience of software. Sounds like a win-win to me.
Soundforce SFC-OB
Boutique company Soundforce has made this something of a speciality, offering dedicated controllers for software emulations of the Jupiter-8, Minimoog, Juno-60 and Prophet-5. To this lineup, it’s now added the SFC-OB, a desktop controller for OB-style Oberheim plugins.
Soundforce SFC-OB Features
The OFC-OB has everything you need to control Oberheim plugins like Arturia’s OB-Xa V (available in V Collection X), the GForce Software Oberheim OB-X, DiscoDSP’s OB-Xd, Synapse Obsession and OP-X PRO-II/3 from SonicProjects. There are 37 rotary pots, 41 switches and 45 LEDs that map to the aforementioned plugins – or any plugin, really, as it uses standard MIDI CC messages.
Soundforce SFC-OB
To extend the product’s usefulness, Soundforce has also included a couple of extra user controls that you can freely assign to additional parameters, such as plugin effects or DAW mixer controls.
Soundforce SFC-OB Controls
As previously mentioned, Soundforce has made SFC-OB to work with OB-style synth plugins. It goes so far as to offer two-way communication with Arturia’s OB-Xa V. “This means that the controller interface can be updated when presets are changed in the plugin, when plugin instances are switched or even manually on demand,” Soundforce explains on its website. “The controller even accounts for discrepancies between a plugin pot-position and a controller pot-position, and implements pick-up or smoothing modes.”
Additionally, there is a parameter on the front panel to switch between OB and general control modes.
It is USB bus-powered and takes a USB 2.0 type-B plug, which is included.
Soundforce SFC-OB Build Quality
Soundforce assembles its SFC-OB in The Netherlands with parts from Europe and Asia, with a 100% steel enclosure powder-coated in black. The front panel is aluminium while walnut wood side panels are fitted to both sides of the rugged controller.
Soundforce SFC-OB is now available to preorder with units shipping soon. Pricing is €399 within Europe and €320 everywhere else. Check out Soundforce’s site for more.
More information
- Soundforce homepage
- All about Soundforce
- All about MIDI controllers
- Soundforce SFC-OB: Soundforce
- Soundforce SFC-OB: Soundforce
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3 responses to “Soundforce SFC-OB Oberheim Plugin MIDI Controller – Oh Boy!”
Just wait for the Behringer UB-XA module. It shouldn’t cost much more than this and it’s the whole synth 🙂
$400 for a MIDI controller? These people are out of their minds. Do they even know Behringer exists?
Always someone gotta drop the “B” word in. SF controllers are very compact well designed and built. USB powered and super simple assignment as all of their controllers are. How does cheapy B stuff become some kind of benchmark when it’s not even in the same build and design league ? Thank goodness SF doesn’t build these in china for once.