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Omega8

RackmountAnalogPolyphonic

Back in 2000, this rackmount beast brought eight discrete analog voices to life, each with its own dedicated oscillator and filter board—pure analog dream machine territory that let you treat it like eight individual monosynths in one box.

Housed in a sturdy 4U chassis that's 15 inches deep and weighs around 20 lbs, it packs 32 hands-on knobs (with relative and jump modes), a rotary encoder, 35 tactile switches, and 24 LEDs, all feeding a clear 16x2 backlit LCD for editing over 30 pages without endless scrolling. Per voice, you've got two syncable VCOs plus a sub-oscillator, white noise, and up to four swappable filters: a fixed 12dB Oberheim-style (LP/BP/HP/notch) and a 24dB Moog ladder, with docking slots for 303, 2600, or CS-80 emulations—audio freq mod from Osc 2 hits pitch, PW, or filter cutoff. Three software LFOs and envelopes (one hardware, others digital) offer deep routing to nearly everything, plus auto-triggering external inputs per voice, arpeggiator, and poly/mono glide; multitimbral mode handles splits, layers, or eight-part multichannel setups. Outputs include a main stereo/mono plus individual stereo TRS per voice, with 254 RAM patches (128 multis) and matching ROM.

Players still chase these on the vintage market for their thick, characterful tones—salvational pads, pounding basses, and wild FX that stack up against modern modeling but deliver the real discrete warmth, though some note the software envelopes aren't the snappiest.

Released

2000

Status

Discontinued

Synthesizer
Format
Rackmount
Type
Subtractive
Internal Battery
No
Voice
A/D
Analog
Polyphony
Polyphonic
Oscillators
2
Oscillator Type
VCO (Voltage Controlled)
Voices
8
Filter
12dB/oct (2-pole), 24dB/oct (4-pole), Lowpass, Highpass, Bandpass, Notch
Envelopes
3
LFO
3
Effects
No
Expression
Aftertouch
No
Velocity
Yes
MPE
No
Additional
-
Software
-
I/O
Audio In
8x 1/4" (one per voice)
Audio Out
1x stereo main output, 1x mono main output, 8x stereo TRS (one per voice)
Headphone
-
MIDI
In
MIDI Type
DIN (5-pin)
Ports
CV/Gate
Wi-Fi
No
Workflow
Arpeggiator
Yes
Sequencer
No
Mod Matrix
Yes
Memory
256 sound patches,128 multi patches in RAM
Measurements
Dimensions
4 rack spaces, 15 inches deep
Weight
20 lbs
Last updated Mar 22, 2026