Oberheim Electronics

Oberheim is an American synthesizer manufacturer founded in 1969 by Tom Oberheim. Tom Oberheim founded the company in 1969, originally as a designer and contract manufacturer of electronic effects devices for Maestro, including the PS-1A Phase Shifter and RM-1 Ring Modulator, and briefly a retail dealer for ARP Instruments. The company's first product released under its own name was the Oberheim DS-2, one of the first digital music sequencers. In 1975, Oberheim introduced the semi-modular 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, or to be controlled by and layer with an keyboard synthesizer. The SEM featured a two-pole voltage-controlled filter that could operate as a low-pass, high-pass, band-pass, or band-reject filter, giving it a different sound than the Moog and ARP four-pole low-pass ladder filters popular at the time. The company later combined multiple SEM modules with a digitally-scanned keyboard and a two-channel sequencer to create a series of polyphonic synthesizers, beginning with the 2-Voice, followed by the 4-Voice and 8-Voice. An optional programmer 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 monophonic OB-1, the world's first completely programmable synthesizer. In 1978-1981 it was followed by the polyphonic OB-X, OB-Xa, and OB-SX. The final model of the series, OB-8, was released in 1983. The OB-series synthesizers replaced the relatively bulky SEMs with internal voice expansion cards which supported digital control of synthesis parameters and also utilized common cabinetry and power supplies. Oberheim introduced the Xpander digitally-controlled polyphonic synthesizer in 1984, followed by the Matrix-6 and the Matrix-12. The Matrix-1000, though bearing the Matrix name, was marketed after Oberheim was acquired by Gibson.