Oberheim is an American

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

manufacturer founded in 1969 by

Tom Oberheim Thomas Elroy Oberheim (born July 7, 1936, Manhattan, Kansas), known as Tom Oberheim, is an American audio engineer and electronics engineer best known for designing effects processors, analog synthesizers, sequencers, and drum machines. He has ...

History and products

Tom Oberheim founded the company in 1969, originally as a designer and

contract manufacturer A contract manufacturer (CM) is a manufacturer that contracts with a firm for components or products (in which case it is a turnkey supplier). It is a form of outsourcing. A contract manufacturer performing packaging operations is called copacker o ...

of electronic effects devices for Maestro (most notably the Maestro PS-1A Phase Shifter),, and briefly a retail dealer for

ARP Instruments ARP Instruments, Inc. was a Lexington, Massachusetts manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, founded by Alan Robert Pearlman in 1969. It created a popular and commercially successful range of synthesizers throughout the 1970s before de ...

, eventually designing the company's first Oberheim-branded product, the Oberheim DS-2, one of the first digital

music sequencers A music sequencer (or audio sequencer or simply sequencer) is a device or application software that can record, edit, or play back music, by handling Musical note, note and performance information in several forms, typically CV/Gate, MIDI, or O ...

. In 1975 Oberheim introduced the Synthesizer Expander Module (SEM) to complement the DS-2 sequencer and enable a user to play one synthesizer while the DS-2 played a sequence on another. The SEM featured a two-pole filter that could operate as a

low-pass A low-pass filter is a filter that passes signals with a frequency lower than a selected cutoff frequency and attenuates signals with frequencies higher than the cutoff frequency. The exact frequency response of the filter depends on the filte ...

, high-pass,

band-pass A band-pass filter or bandpass filter (BPF) is a device that passes frequencies within a certain range and rejects (attenuates) frequencies outside that range. Description In electronics and signal processing, a filter is usually a two-po ...

, or band-reject filter, giving it a different sound than the Moog and ARP filters popular at the time. The company later combined multiple SEM modules with a digitally-scanned keyboard and a 2-channel voltage-controlled sequencer to create a series of polyphonic synthesizers, beginning with the 2-Voice, followed by the 4-Voice, and, in 1977, the 8-Voice which combined a 4-Voice with an external module of four additional SEMs. An optional

programmer A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...

module, capable of storing and recalling 16 instances of some of the sound settings, was available for the 4-Voice and 8-Voice. These were among the first commercially-available polyphonic synthesizers. In 1977, Oberheim introduced the OB-1, the first completely programmable synthesizer. The OB-1 was later replaced by the OB-X and OB-Xa, which replaced the relatively bulky SEMs with individual or compact voice cards, and utilized common cabinetry and power supplies. Oberheim introduced the Xpander in 1984, further expanding that product series with the Matrix-6 and the Matrix-12. The Matrix-1000, though bearing the Matrix name, was marketed after Oberheim was acquired by Gibson.

Oberheim drum machines

Oberheim's DMX drum machine, a staple of early hip-hop music, lent its name to the Producer

Davy DMX David Franklin Reeves Jr. (known professionally as Davy DMX, Davy D or Davy Dee, and also credited under the name David Reeves) is an American musician, DJ, and producer best known for his work in cooperation with Run-DMC, Kurtis Blow, The Fat ...

, electro musician DMX Krew, and is still used in

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music.

Oberheim/Gibson

Oberheim Electronics declared bankruptcy in 1985 and was acquired by a group of lawyers who changed the name to Oberheim ECC. Following the acquisition, Tom Oberheim was creatively still at the helm of the company for a couple of years, before leaving to found Marion Systems. After a second bankruptcy in early 1988,

Gibson Guitar Corporation Gibson Brands, Inc. (formerly Gibson Guitar Corporation) is an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and professional audio equipment from Kalamazoo, Michigan, and now based in Nashville, Tennessee. The company was form ...

, a larger musical instrument manufacturer (who, incidentally, also owned the Maestro brand), acquired Oberheim. Gibson, under the direction of Keith McMillen (who was Gibson's Vice President and Chief of R&D at the time), produced the Oberheim OB-Mx in collaboration with D.N. "Lynx" Crowe and Don Buchla; the Oberheim Echoplex Digital Pro in collaboration with Aurisis Research (Matthias Grob, Kim Flint, Eric Obermühlner); and re-released the Oberheim Strummer and Matrix 1000.

Oberheim/Viscount

The Oberheim trademark was later licensed to Viscount International, an Italian digital-organ producer. Viscount developed various instruments that were very innovative for the time and are still in demand: the Oberheim OB*12

analog modeling synthesizer An analog modeling synthesizer is a synthesizer that generates the sounds of traditional analog synthesizers using DSP components and software algorithms. Analog modeling synthesizers simulate the behavior of the original electronic circuitry in o ...

, the GM-1000 guitar multi-effects unit, the MC series of master keyboards, and the OB3², a virtual tonewheel organ.

Tom Oberheim returns to the synthesizer market

In 2009, Tom Oberheim announced that he was manufacturing a new version of his classic analog SEM. — Tom Oberheim reissued SEM in 2009. In 2011–2012, Tom Oberheim announced a four-voice SEM called " Son Of 4 Voice" (SO4V), — Tom Oberheim announces Oberheim 4 Voice in 2011. as well as an updated version of the classic Two-Voice known as the Two-Voice Pro. — Tom Oberheim announces Oberheim Two Voice Pro in 2012. The "Son Of 4 Voice" and the Two Voice Pro started shipping in 2014. At the

NAMM The NAMM Show is an annual event in the United States that is organized by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), who describe it as "the industry’s largest stage, uniting the global music, sound and entertainment technology commun ...

show of January 2016, Tom Oberheim announced the Dave Smith Instruments OB-6, a collaboration with Dave Smith resulting in Tom Oberheim's first voltage-controlled multi-voiced polyphonic synth since the mid-1980s; Tom Oberheim designed the VCO/VCF part replicating his SEM module, while control features, arpeggiator/step sequencer and effects processing were designed by Smith using his Prophet platform.

Oberheim trademark returned

In July 2019, JC Curleigh, CEO of

Gibson Gibson may refer to: People * Gibson (surname) Businesses * Gibson Brands, Inc., an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and audio equipment * Gibson Technology, and English automotive and motorsport company based * Gi ...

, returned the Oberheim trademark and IP back to Tom Oberheim as "a gesture of goodwill to the musical instrument industry." In May of 2022, the new Oberheim released the OB-X8, the company's first synthesizer in decades. As with the Sequential-made OB6, the OB-X8 was designed and built in collaboration with longtime friend Dave Smith, and it combines the original Oberheim's three signature OB polysynths-the OB-X, the OB-Xa and the OB-8-in a single unit.

Legacy

Both Marcus Ryle and Michel Doidic worked for Oberheim as instrument designers before helping develop the

ADAT Alesis Digital Audio Tape (ADAT) is a magnetic tape format used for the recording of eight digital audio tracks onto the same S-VHS tape used by consumer VCRs. Although it is a tape-based format, the term ''ADAT'' now refers to its succ ...

multitrack digital tape recorder for

Alesis Alesis is an electronic music company that designs and markets electronic musical instruments, digital audio processors, audio mixers, drum amplifiers, amplifiers, digital audio interfaces, recording equipment, drum machines, professional aud ...

, (a 'prosumer' grade digital recording multitrack deck designed to compete with the Tascam DA series of digital multitracks) and then moving on to found Line 6 together.