Oberheim

Oberheim Electronics is a company, founded in 1973 by Tom Oberheim (a former design engineer at Maestro), which manufactured audio synthesizers and a variety of other electronic musical instruments. Originally a manufacturer of electronic effects devices, and briefly an ARP Instruments dealer, Oberheim went on to create several ground-breaking products in the early days of synthesizers and electronic music including the DS-2 (one of the first analogue music sequencers) and the Synthesizer Expansion Module (SEM). The first commercially available polyphonic synthesizers, Oberheims Two-voice, Four-voice, and Eight-voice configurations were based on these modules.

The Two-voice synthesizer included a two channel voltage controlled sequencer, and the Four-voice and Eight-voice machines included a rudimentary Programmer, capable of recalling sound settings.

Oberheim's later synths like the OB-X and OB-Xa abandoned the relatively bulky SEMs in favor of individual voice cards, and common cabinetry and power supplies. Oberheim continued to make synthesizers until the late 1980s. Other notable Oberheim synthesizers include the OB-1 (monophonic), the OB-8, the Xpander, the Matrix-6, the Matrix-12, and the Matrix 1000.

Oberheim closed its doors in 1986, when it was acquired by Gibson Guitar Corporation, a larger musical instrument manufacturer (who, incidentally, also owned the Maestro brand) who made, in collaboration with Don Buchla, one of the last true analogue synthesizers, the OBM-X.

The trade mark was later licensed to Viscount International, an Italian digital-organ producer, by Gibson. Viscount developed in a few years various instruments that were very innovative for the time and are still requested: the digital synth Oberheim OB12, the guitar DSP GM-1000 with lot of effects, the MC series of master keyboards, and the OB3², a portable and inexpensive imitation of the popular Hammond series of organs.

Oberheim's DMX drum machine was a staple of early hip-hop music, [ [http://www.vintagesynth.com/index2.html] Vintage Synth Explorer] lent its name to the Producer Davy DMX, and is still used in dancehall reggae music.

Famous users

Many famous musicians use or have used Oberheim products.
*Richard Barbieri of Japan and Porcupine Tree
*Alex Staropoli of Rhapsody Of Fire and Luca Turilli's Dreamquest
*Roddy Bottum of Faith No More you can see an Oberheim OB-Xa on the video We Care a Lot
*Vince Clarke of Erasure
*Jackson Janev of kill city victims
*Dennis DeYoung of Styx
*Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen of Nena
*Dave Greenfield of The Stranglers
*Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead
*Jan Hammer (used SEM modules to expand his main synth)
*Martin Hannett
*Roger Hodgson of Supertramp
*Bruce Hornsby (used the Oberheim OB-X on two albums)
*Jimmy Jam used the Oberheim OB-8 for synth-bass on many of Flyte Tyme Productions' hit songs during the 1980s.
*Jens Johansson of Rising Force and Stratovarius
*Hanzer Kroll of The Moniacs
*Geddy Lee of Rush
*Keith Levene of Public Image Ltd.
*Mike Mainieri, vibraphonist of fusion band Steps Ahead uses an Oberheim synthesizer to expand his vibraphone with MIDI-pickups.
*Lyle Mays of Pat Metheny Group
*Freddie Mercury of Queen
*Mike Oldfield
*Prince
*Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails
*David Rosenthal of Rainbow
*Herb Schildt of Starcastle (a pioneer in the use of Oberheim's 128-note sequencers)
*Richard Tandy of The Electric Light Orchestra
*Eddie Van Halen used the Oberheim OB-Xa extensively on Van Halen's "1984"
*Lux Voltaire
*Terry Watkinson of Max Webster
*Alan Wilder of Depeche Mode
*Rick Wright of Pink Floyd
*Joe Zawinul of Weather Report
*Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra
*Billy Currie of Ultravox

References

External links

* [http://forum.onecenter.com/cgi-bin/forum/forum.cgi?fid=analog Oberheim Abbey] Synthesizer Discussion Forum
* [http://www.synthzone.com/ober.htm Oberheim Zone] at SynthZone.com
* [http://www.viscount.it Viscount Italy] main site