Oberheim is an American

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) 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), 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 been the founder ...

. Beginning in 1975, Oberheim developed some of the first commercially available polyphonic synthesizers and was a prominent synthesizer and drum machine manufacturer through the mid-1980s. In 1988, the company changed ownership and was eventually purchased by

Gibson Guitar Corporation Gibson, Inc. (formerly Gibson Guitar Corporation and Gibson Brands Inc.) is an American manufacturer of Guitar manufacturing, guitars, other musical instruments, and professional audio equipment from Kalamazoo, Michigan, and now based in Nashvi ...

, which developed new Oberheim products and licensed the trademark to other companies that produced Oberheim products, but development of Oberheim products ceased after 2000. In 2009, Tom Oberheim began developing instruments through his own company, and in 2019, Gibson returned the Oberheim trademark to Tom Oberheim, whose company rebranded as Oberheim.

History and products

Beginnings and first polyphonic synthesizers

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 ...

of electronic effects devices for

Chicago Musical Instruments Chicago Musical Instruments Co. (CMI), later known as Norlin Music, was a manufacturing company, manufacturer and distributor of musical instruments, accessories, and equipment, which at times had controlling interests in Gibson Guitar Corporatio ...

under their Maestro brand, including the PS-1A

Phase Shifter A phase shift module is a microwave network module which provides a controllable phase shift of the RF signal. Phase shifters are used in phased arrays. Classification Active versus passive Active phase shifters provide gain, while passive ...

and RM-1

Ring Modulator In electronics, ring modulation is a signal processing function, an implementation of frequency mixing, in which two signals are combined to yield an output signal. One signal, called the carrier, is typically a sine wave or another simple wa ...

, 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 dec ...

. The company's first product released under its own name was the Oberheim DS-2, one of the first digital

music sequencer 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 Open ...

s. Recognizing that customers wanted to play one synthesizer while the DS-2 played a sequence on another, or layer the sound of one synthesizer with another, Oberheim introduced the Synthesizer Expander Module (SEM), a semi-modular analog synthesizer module, in 1974. In late 1975, to replace lost sales after Chicago Musical Instruments successor Norlin canceled several large Maestro orders, Oberheim developed a series of

polyphonic synthesizer Polyphony is a property of musical instruments that means that they can play multiple independent melody lines simultaneously. Instruments featuring polyphony are said to be polyphonic. Instruments that are not capable of polyphony are monophon ...

s by combining multiple SEM modules with a digitally-scanned keyboard developed by

Dave Rossum David P. Rossum (born 1948) is an American electronics engineer and inventor best known as the co-founder of synthesizer and sampler manufacturer E-mu Systems. Education and early career Rossum grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and attende ...

and a two-channel sequencer. The first of these was the

Oberheim Two Voice The Oberheim Two Voice (TVS) is an analogue synthesizer produced by Oberheim Electronics from 1975 to 1979. It can be operated in either polyphonic or monophonic mode, and includes an onboard 8-step sequencer. The Two Voice was the first of Ob ...

, followed by the Four Voice and Eight Voice. These were among the first commercially available polyphonic synthesizers. Oberheim introduced the Two Voice and Four Voice at the June 1975

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

, the first time the company exhibited Oberheim-branded products. The following year, an optional Polyphonic Synthesizer Programmer module, capable of storing and recalling 16 instances of some SEM parameters, was made available for the Four Voice and Eight Voice. Oberheim Polyphonic systems, with their distinctive signature cream-colored control panels, were used by such notable artists as

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

Lyle Mays Lyle David Mays (November 27, 1953 – February 10, 2020) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and member of the Pat Metheny Group. Metheny and Mays composed and arranged nearly all of the group's music, for which Mays won eleven Grammy Awar ...

Pat Metheny Group The Pat Metheny Group was an American jazz band founded in 1977 by guitarist and composer Pat Metheny, along with his core collaborating member, keyboardist and composer Lyle Mays. Other long-standing members included bassist and producer Steve ...

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...

Joe Zawinul Josef Erich Zawinul ( '; 7 July 1932 – 11 September 2007) was an Austrian jazz and jazz fusion keyboardist and composer. First coming to prominence with saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, Zawinul went on to play with Miles Davis and to bec ...

Weather Report Weather Report was an American jazz fusion band active from 1970 to 1986. The band was founded in 1970 by Austrian keyboardist Joe Zawinul, American saxophonist Wayne Shorter, Czech bassist Miroslav Vitouš, American drummer Alphonse Mouzon a ...

Jan Hammer Jan Hammer () (born 17 April 1948) is a Czech-American musician, composer, and record producer. He rose to prominence while playing keyboards with the Mahavishnu Orchestra during the early 1970s, as well as with his film scores for television an ...

Geddy Lee Geddy Lee Weinrib (; born Gary Lee Weinrib, July 29, 1953) is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Rock music, rock band Rush (band), Rush. Lee joined the band in September 1968 at the request o ...

of Rush.

OB-series and The System

In 1977, building on the technology developed for the Polyphonic Synthesizer Programmer, Oberheim introduced the monophonic OB-1, the world's first completely programmable synthesizer. Following the introduction of the

Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 The Prophet-5 is an analog synthesizer manufactured by the American company Sequential. It was designed by Dave Smith and John Bowen in 1977. It was the first polyphonic synthesizer with fully programmable memory. Before the Prophet-5, synt ...

in 1978, Oberheim developed polyphonic OB-series models, which replaced bulky independent SEMs with internal voice expansion cards which supported digital control of synthesis parameters, and also utilized common cabinetry and power supplies. The first of these was the

OB-X The Oberheim OB-X was the first of Oberheim's OB-series polyphonic analog subtractive synthesizers. First commercially available in June 1979, the OB-X was introduced to compete with the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5, which had been successful ...

, introduced in 1979, which was available in either 4-, 6-, or 8-voice configurations. The OB-X was succeeded by the OB-Xa in 1980. The first Oberheim product adorned with the blue horizontal pinstripes on black background color scheme that would become the company's signature look, the OB-Xa streamlined manufacturing and troubleshooting by utilizing

Curtis Curtis or Curtiss is a common English given name and surname of Anglo-Norman origin, deriving from the Old French ''curteis'' (Modern French">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of Fren ...

integrated circuit An integrated circuit (IC), also known as a microchip or simply chip, is a set of electronic circuits, consisting of various electronic components (such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors) and their interconnections. These components a ...

s. It also featured the Oberheim Serial Buss, a pre-

MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface (; MIDI) is an American-Japanese technical standard that describes a communication protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, ...

proprietary parallel bus for directly interfacing the OB-Xa with other Oberheim Serial Buss-equipped products, such as the DMX

drum machine A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A d ...

introduced in 1980, and the DSX digital sequencer introduced the following year. The combination of the DSX, DMX and the OB-Xa (or, later, OB-8) was marketed by Oberheim as "The System". In 1983, the eight-voice OB-8 was released; while aesthetically similar to the OB-Xa, it contained an additional set of front panel functions (dubbed "Page 2" by Oberheim), which effectively doubled the number of programming options it offered relative to its predecessors.

OB-series synthesizers and the DMX drum machine became a staple of 1980s new wave,

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

and

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

music, heard on tracks such as

Van Halen Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1973. Credited with restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene, Van Halen was known for their energetic live performances and the virtuosity of their guit ...

's "

Jump JuMP is an algebraic modeling language and a collection of supporting packages for mathematical optimization embedded in the Julia programming language. JuMP is used by companies, government agencies, academic institutions, software projects ...

", New Order's Blue Monday,

's " Rockit",

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

's "

Into the Groove "Into the Groove" is a song recorded by American singer Madonna, and featured in the 1985 film ''Desperately Seeking Susan''. Written and produced by both Madonna and Stephen Bray, the main inspiration behind the song was the dance floor; the s ...

", Prince's "

Let's Go Crazy "Let's Go Crazy" is a 1984 song by Prince and The Revolution, from the album '' Purple Rain''. It is the opening track on both the album and the film '' Purple Rain''. "Let's Go Crazy" was one of Prince's most popular songs, and was a staple fo ...

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and later became the lead singer of the rock band Genesis (band), Genesis and had a successful solo career, ac ...

' "

Sussudio "Sussudio" is a song by the English singer-songwriter Phil Collins. It was released on 14 January 1985 in the United Kingdom by Virgin Records as the lead single from his third solo studio album, '' No Jacket Required'' (1985). The song served a ...

", and

Stevie Nicks Stephanie Lynn Nicks (born May 26, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter, known for her work with the band Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist. After starting her career as a duo with her then-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham, releasing the album ...

' " Stand Back".

Bankruptcy and changes in ownership

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. During this time, Oberheim released several new products in its Matrix series of synthesizers, including the Matrix-12, Matrix-6 and the rack-mounted Xpander. The Matrix line would continue through 1987 with the release of the Matrix 1000, a rack-mounted module that feature limited onboard programming but contained a large number of presets. After a second bankruptcy in early 1988, Oberheim was acquired by

. Under the direction of Keith McMillen, Oberheim produced the OB-Mx in collaboration with D.N. "Lynx" Crowe and

Don Buchla Donald Buchla (April 17, 1937 – September 14, 2016) was an American pioneer in the field of sound synthesis. Buchla popularized the "West Coast" style of synthesis. He was co-inventor of the voltage controlled modular synthesizer along with Rob ...

; the Echoplex Digital Pro digital delay and looper in collaboration with Aurisis Research (released both as an Oberheim- and Gibson-branded product); and re-released the Oberheim Strummer and Matrix 1000. In 2000, Gibson licensed the Oberheim trademark to Viscount International, an Italian manufacturer. Viscount developed the Oberheim OB*12

analog modeling synthesizer An analog modeling synthesizer is a synthesizer that generates the sounds of traditional analog synthesizers using digital signal processing components and software algorithms. Analog modeling synthesizers simulate the behavior of the original elec ...

, 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 the SEM. Even though no products had been manufactured under the Oberheim brand for years, the trademark was still owned by Gibson, so new SEMs were manufactured by Marion Systems Corporation, and branded with tomoberheim.com. In 2011, Tom Oberheim announced plans to design and manufacture a successor to the Four Voice to be named "Son Of 4 Voice" (SO4V), as well as an updated version of the classic Two Voice to be named Two Voice Pro. The Two Voice Pro, again manufactured by Marion Systems and branded tomoberheim.com, started shipping in 2014. The following year, Tom Oberheim said that he had indefinitely shelved plans for the SO4V. At the January 2016

, Tom Oberheim and

Dave Smith Instruments Sequential is an American synthesizer company founded in 1974 as Sequential Circuits by Dave Smith. In 1978, Sequential released the Prophet-5, the first programmable polyphonic synthesizer, which was widely used in the music industry. In the 1 ...

announced the 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 voice card with the circuits of the SEM's VCOs, VCFs, and VCAs, while control features, arpeggiator/step sequencer and effects processing were designed by Smith using his

Prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divinity, divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings ...

platform. The OB-6 was co-branded Tom Oberheim and Dave Smith Instruments.

Oberheim brand returns

In July 2019, Gibson CEO JC Curleigh returned the Oberheim trademark and IP to Tom Oberheim as "a gesture of goodwill to the musical instrument industry." In May 2022, the Oberheim OB-X8 was released, the first Oberheim-branded synthesizer in decades. As with the OB-6, the OB-X8, which offers features from all of Oberheim Electronics' classic OB-series polysynths-the OB-X, OB-Xa, OB-SX, and OB-8-in a single unit, was designed and built in collaboration with

Sequential In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is call ...

. In 2024, Oberheim released the Oberheim TEO-5, a polysynth with an all-new design.

Legacy

Marcus Ryle and Michel Doidic both worked for Oberheim as instrument designers, and went on to develop several notable products for

Alesis Alesis is an American company that designs and markets electronic musical instruments, audio processors, mixers, amplifiers, audio interfaces, recording equipment, drum machines, professional audio, and electronic percussion products. Based ...

, including the

ADAT Alesis Digital Audio Tape, commonly referred to as ADAT, is a magnetic tape format used for the Sound recording and reproduction, recording of eight digital audio tracks onto the same S-VHS tape used by consumer VCRs, and the basis of a serie ...

multitrack digital tape recorder, before founding Line 6 together.