In an impromptu chat, Tom Oberheim tells Sam Inglis about his early years as an engineer and his accidental route into creating electronic musical instruments. As he celebrates his 50th year since the launch of the SEM, Tom talks about the rise of digital, the resurgence of analogue and the launch of the new TEO-5.

Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
00:26 - An Accidental Engineer
02:46 - Building For Musicians
06:34 - Becoming a Distributor For The ARP 2600
11:05 - Designing The SEM
12:43 - The Filter Design
15:03 - The OB-1 And Patch Memories

16:36 - OB-X - Polyphony And Programmable Presets

19:35 - The Oberheim Sound
22:37 - The Digital Takeover
24:40 - The Resurgence Of Analogue

28:01 - Launching The OB-X8 With Focusrite

29:23 - The Oberheim TEO-5

30:37 - Utilising New Technology

Oberheim Biog
Oberheim is the 21st century return of the legendary company that helped fuel the original electronic music revolution in the 1970s. Now, just as then, Oberheim is guided by the vision of engineer and inventor, Tom Oberheim. Tom’s genius for innovation introduced the world to the first commercially available poly synth and other groundbreaking electronic instruments that literally changed the sound of music.

Today, Oberheim reawakens this extraordinary legacy by bringing the famed Oberheim sound to a new generation of instruments and artists. The company’s passion remains unchanged by time or technology — to once again provide the world with the finest-sounding analog synthesizers ever made.

https://oberheim.com/

Sam Inglis Biog
Editor In Chief Sam Inglis has been with Sound On Sound for more than 20 years. He is a recording engineer, producer, songwriter and folk musician who studies the traditional songs of England and Scotland, and the author of Neil Young's Harvest (Bloomsbury, 2003) and Teach Yourself Songwriting (Hodder, 2006).