Electronic Drums book with LinnDrum and DMX sound sheet, Amsco Publishing 1985

After my last blog post on the LinnDrum, I received not one, but two emails asking for information about the Electronic Drums book I referenced as an offline resource. Yes, I know - this book is not really an ad. But I think you will agree the addition of the excellent sound sheet in the book almost makes it promotional material for Linn, Oberheim and Simmons. But don't give the machines full credit - the author/musician playing the gear on the sound sheet gets a lot of it.

If you haven't guessed by the opening paragraph, I'm a big fan of the synthesizer and drum machine reference books that came out in the 80's. Books like Synthesizer Technique and Synthesizer Basics that were compiled by the editors of Keyboard Magazine (and part of the Keyboard Synthesizer Library series) are great reads.

Another publisher also capitalizing (in a good way!) on the popularity of electronic gear in the mid-80s was Amsco Publications - and they seem to still be around today! The company released more than a few great books, including The Complete Guide to Synthesizers, Sequencers & Drum Machines by Dean Friendman, and this book - Electronic Drums  - by Frank Vilardi and Steve Tarshis.

And like I said... I *love* these handy little reference guides. Old, yes. But a lot of good information packed into them. 

The book itself is 85 pages, and includes a rockin' two-sided sound sheet. The sub-title of the book pretty much explains what the book is about - "Everything you need to know about electronic drum kits and drum computers".

Yup. 

The author profile at the back of the book provides a bit of background information about the author Frank Vilardi. He's described as a free-lance drummer working in New York City "working in recording studios doing records, films, TV and radio jingles". He was also involved in touring and teaching electronic drum workshops. That's a pretty full plate.

There is no information on the other author, Steve Tarshis, in the book - but luckily more information on both authors are just a few quick Google searches away.  Frank Vilardi's Web site looks to have last been edited around September 2008 and tells me he is still living in New York City and was touring with the Bacon Brothers around that time period.  Albumcredits.com has him listed as working with artists like Kaya, Rod Stewart and Rosanne Cash well into 2011 and 2012. Impressive stuff

Steve Tarshis also has a Web site and includes an also-impressive bio working as a musical director, a musician for several Broadway and Off-Broadway musicals, instructor, lecturer and instructor. Coolest of all is that his news page has him currently listed as the Director of New York area kid's rock camp called Camp Jam at Hofstra University from Summer 2010 to present. "No canoes - lots of rock". Hee hee!

As mentioned above, Frank and Steve have put together a wonderful piece of reference material for the time period - that being before you could find everything you wanted to know about absolutely everything on the Web. As a non-drummer growing up, the first two sections were of most interest and use to me. Although as a young electronic musician I probably should have spent A LOT more time on section three.   :)

I've included a short summary of each section below. 

Section 1 is titled Electronic Drums and provides two-to-five page summaries on the features of a number of electronic drum kits including Simmons SDS 5, Pearl Fightman, Simmons SDS 8, Tama Techstar, Simmons SDS 7, E-Drum by E-mu and Simons SDS-1.

Section 2 is titled Digital Drum Computers and provides summaries on the features of a number of drum machines including LinnDrum, Oberheim DMX and DX, E-mu Drumulator, Roland TR-909, Roland TR-707, Yamaha RX11 and RX15 and finally the Linn 9000.

Section 3, probably of more interest to drummers and those without any drum machine knowledge, is a section called Programming a Song, and the whole second side of the demo sound sheet that comes with the book is devoted to this section.

Section 4, the last section, is called Triggering and Sampling and provides just a page or two on the some of the devices that have started to appear for this purpose.

The book also includes a description for both sides of the sound sheet, which I've included below. It was programmed and played by Frank Vilardi except for 4, listed as being programmed by Rick Kerr. Recorded by Rick Kerr at Planet Sound, New York City.

Side 1: 

1. Starts with LinnDrum. Percussion sounds only heat continues throughout.
   Joined by acoustic drums.
   Acoustic drums are dropped out.
   Simmons bass and snare drum that are being triggered from acoustic drums continue.
   Acoustic drums reappear to join Simmons and Linn.
2. Begins with Acoustic drums and triggered Simmons (bass and snare).
   Linn drum is added. The swing or shffle function is being used here to create the reggae feeling.
3. Starts with Linn drum playing a tipical "dance" type of beat.
   The first tom fill is the Linn. All subsequent fills being overdubbed on the Simmons SDS 7. The kits are being changed every two fills to demonstrate some of the sound possibilities. 
4. This example was programmed entirely on DMX, using all factory sounds. there are two separate programs of the drum machine running in sync to each other. This technique, along with some non-standard tunings are studio equipment can be used to create some very interesting effects.

Side 2: This side demostrates the programming of the song demonstrated in the book. Done on Linn Drum.

5. Count off - Program 77, Measures a & b.
6. Intro - Program 11, Measures 1-4.
7. Verse - Program 12, Measures 5-10.
8. End of verse - Program 13, Measures 11 & 12.
9. Chorus - Program 14, Measures 13-18.
10. Seventh bar of chorus - Program 15, Measure 19.
11.  Eighth bar of chorus - Program 16, Measure 20.
12. Bridge - Program 17, Measures 21-25.
13. Fill at end of bridge - Program 18, Measure 26.
14. Entire song.

I've seen a couple of copies of the book pop up on eBay and Amazon used books. If you dig these types of books, definitely pick up a copy if you can find it at a decent price.

And wouldn't you know it... before I posted this, I snatched another nicely priced copy on e-Bay - including the sound sheet!

Thank you Frank and Steve and Amsco for creating this book! Pure awesomeness.

Oberheim OB-X "Evolution of a classic" colour REBOOT 2-pager, Contemporary Keyboard 1980

Oberheim OB-X "Evolution of a classic" REBOOT/2.0 2-page advertisement from page 38 and 39 in the November 1980 issue of Contemporary Keyboard.

Oberheim interactive advertising timeline updated.

Quite fitting, this ad.

No, really... as I write this, it just happens to be Earth Day around these parts. You know how I found out? Google has a lovely image of a dirt bed on it's Canadian search page that slowly animates into a fully bloomed multi-coloured flower garden. That's how I seem to find out about holidays lately. On Google. Last minute.

Heck knows I haven't heard much about Earth Day from traditional media. That is partly my fault since traditional media is playing less and less of a role in my life. Plus, I don't have a dead-give-a-way like a kid that would probably have brought home a sculpture made from used plastic cafeteria dishes and cups around this time.

What would I have done before Google? Actually, even before Google, I would have figured out it was Earth Day by forgetting to by-pass the annual traffic jam that takes place from all the cars trying to get to the festivities that occurs in our centrally-located park.

Ironic, I know. But this is also the city that "clear-cut" parts of our indoor domed plant conservatory (bolded for emphasis) made up of totally awesome exotic plants, to make room for fake gaudy Amazon-like statues for wedding photos. Yup. You heard that right. Clear-cut. Conservatory. No kidding.

IRL, I'm actually a bit of an eco-nut. My undergrad is a joint  Botany/Zoology degree in Ecology - yah, that's what the degree was called *before* there was such a thing as Environmental Sciences (now I'm really dating myself). I'm guess I'm just down on what Earth Day has come to represent. Boo me. But I will enjoy a nice bicycle ride and a free Starbucks coffee today, thank you very much!

Okay, enough complaining by the old guy.  :D

Anyways, what does Earth Day have to do with this ad?

Well, it was pointed out to me by fellow Oberheim fan and blog reader Jean-Marc that I had posted the black and white version of this ad that ran eight months earlier in the March 1980 issue of CK. But then I skipped over this colour version of the ad and mistakenly credited this OB-SX ad as the first colour ad by Oberheim! Gah!

Thank-you Jean-Marc! This OB-X ad now looks to be Oberheim's first colour ad in CK! 

So, then the question becomes - why would Oberheim recycle this ad, but switch from black and white to colour? Usually it is the other way around - run the ad first in colour to make a big splash, and then switched-out to black and white for the remainder of the ad-run.

The extra paragraph at the end of the ad-copy probably explains:

"Now with new patches! As of September 1st, OB-X's are being shipped with a completely new set of dynamic patches. OB-X owners, send your name, address and serial number of your 'X' and we'll send you a cassette of the new patches free. Send for a free catalogue."

 How excellent of 'em! And a good reason to make a big deal with a splash of colour right before Christmas. A very nice gift for current owners.

Then, as I studied the two versions of the ad more closely, there appeared to be even more differences than I originally thought.

One of the first differences I noticed was that the large photo of the opened OB-X is shrunk down a bit and angled differently to make room for the extra paragraph of content. But then I realized - THIS IS A TOTALLY DIFFERENT PHOTO! The caution sticker and the slightly different ribbon positioning is a dead giveaway.

And then... wait... THAT OTHER PHOTO IS DIFFERENT TOO!  You can tell Oberheim switched it out for an instrument with updated colouring - most notable on the left-side controls. And, this smaller photo is now positioned behind the larger photo, where in the original it was actually positioned on top.

So, as is the case with the marketing of recycled objects, even though something may first appear to made of 100 per cent original materials, in reality it is often necessary to bring in new bits and pieces. In the case of this ad, the original ad-copy, catchy ad-title and awesome 2-page layout were kept. Photos and extra ad-copy added.

And that is a good enough recycling effort for this Ecology major. Time to enjoy my bike ride and a cup of joe.

I know its now a day later, but think about the Earth a little bit more.

Give a hoot. Don't pollute. NOW I'm dating myself.   :D

Oberheim Electronics advertising timeline created

Well, it had to happen sooner or later.  Another great company has been added to the blog's Advertising Timeline Tool page.

Introducing the Oberheim advertising timeline. Hit the link and it should automatically scroll you down to the Oberheim timeilne. If not, scroll down until you see that gorgeous Obie logo! I've included over 30 ads that I've blogged about so far - and there are at least a few more to come in the next while! *wink*.

Also on that advertising timeline page, you will find ARP, Korg, Moog and Sequential Circuits. I've had a bit of trouble finding time to keep those others up to date... and now here we go and throw this one into the mix. Gah!

I just didn't feel like writing much this weekend. But found it almost therapeutic to crunch out this thing. Actually - that makes it sound like it was long and grueling job. Not so much. Just too lazy to write.

Enjoy!  :D

Oberheim OB-Xa and OB-SX "Oberheim Updates" ad, Contemporary Keyboard 1982

Oberheim OB-Xa and OB-SX "Oberheim Updates" 2-page colour advertisement from pages 46 and 47 in the January 1982 issue of Contemporary Keyboard.

If you have been keeping up with my Oberheim obsession, then you might be wondering - why the big time jump between that gorgeous 2-page OB-Xa introductory advertisement from February 1981 I just blogged about on Monday and this also-gorgeous OB-Xa and OB-SX advertisement from January 1982?

Well - Oberheim took a bit of break in advertising their OB-series for most of 1981. That doesn't mean that readers of CK couldn't find a lick of information on Oberheim gear, but as far as ads go, the OB-series was out. As luck (or strategy) would have it, even without ads, Oberheim and the OB-Xa still managed to wiggle in a few guest appearances in the mag.

For example in February 1981, Oberheim announced a new publication for dealers and owners in the "Keyboard News" section of CK:

"Oberheim Electronics Inc. (1455 Nineteenth St., Santa Monica, CA 90404) is now putting out a free company newsletter to dealers, advertising carriers, Oberheim equipment owners, and other interested parties. The newsletter will appear quarterly and will include a small Q&A section...."

Oberheim also went through a bit of a tough patch when the June 1981 Contemporary Keyboard review of the OB-Xa didn't exactly go as planned. The two-page review, written by the most excellent Dominic Milano, begins well enough with a small introduction to Oberheim's polyphonic synthesizer history starting with the 1975 Chicago NAMM show and those two SEMs and keyboard that showed up there. But it is the end of the introduction that provides one little piece of juicy historical info:

"Oberheim tells us that they're selling mainly 8-voice instruments, since in split mode a 6-voice instrument would have only three voices on each half of the keyboard, while in double mode it would only sound three notes overall."

 I love documented history of buyers' behaviour - and is one of many reasons I collect CK and other music mags. A little nugget of gold. Seriously!

After this introduction, Dominic then quickly turned his attention to the synth itself, with numerous detailed sections dedicated to the keyboard, the programs, edit mode, left-hand controls, panel controls, manual section, control section, modulation section, oscillator section, filter section, envelopes, rear panel, and even inner controls.

On that rear panel section, Dominic mentions my favorite - the computer connector! And why not - it is kinda sticking out like a sore thumb.

"Then there's the multipin connector for interfacing the OB-Xa with a computer. This jack, the owner's manual explains, is for interfacing the instrument with future Oberheim products."

Interfacing? Computer? Future Oberheim products? Would CK readers at the time be as intrigued as I am about this? And did those readers realize it was only a month or two later that these "future" products would be launched?

Okay - I'm getting ahead of myself. First I have to explain why this review didn't really go as planned for Oberheim...

Dominic starts the rather long conclusion (almost a full column of text!) of the review with:

"When you've got a piece of high-tech gear, it's pretty much a certainty that at some time it will break down. The question is not whether, but when..."

Aaaaah... obviously Dominic is just about to reinforce the rock-solid reputation of Oberheim instruments. Right? RIGHT? Reading on...

"Reliability is one factor that people consider when they're looking into a programmable polyphonic synthesizer, but reliability will vary as much or more from one machine to another as from one manufacturer to another..."

Yes, of course. But what does that have to do with Oberheim...?

"The reason we're bringing this up is to stress that you shouldn't draw too strong a conclusion from our experience with the OB-Xa, even though in good conscience we have to let you know about it..."

Wait? WHAT? What's he talking about?!?

"We had the opportunity to look at two OB-Xas over a span of two months. the first unit that came had a wrong-valued resistor in its LFO, which affected modulation. In addition, after we'd had it for a a few days the memory started malfunctioning, so that some patches were showing up with wrong values. Needless to say, this affected their sound. On the second instrument we received, four of the eight voices were noticeably lower in volume than the other four on the mono output in normal mode, and there was no way to adjust them so that they were balanced in volume."

Ouch.

But the fine editor at Keyboard also points out that the second OB-Xa was sent on to a retailer who couldn't find anything wrong with it.

I include this info not to rag on Oberheim. The exact opposite. Bad luck hits every company at some point. Having it happen *twice* during a CK review sux total bum. But Dominic, the true professional, handles this situation well, using it as a lead-in to why it is important to fill out warranty cards (Yes. It still is...). And going back and reading the review again, there is NOT AN OUNCE of frustration in his writing tone. It remained a very fair and accurate review. And kudos to Oberheim for weathering this relatively small storm extremely well  - no doubt due to their already rock-solid reputation for quality and professionalism, that still exists today.

(I did not get paid to say that  :)  

After that review appeared in June 1981, Oberheim spent the second half of 1981 switching their focus from the OB-Xa to the two newest members of the family -the DSX digital polyphonic sequencer and DMX programmable digital drum machine.

I've already posted and blogged about these and other "System" related advertisements when I had originally obsessed about Oberheim's pre-MIDI interface.

[Pauses to think back fondly]

The two ads in particular that took up most of the second half of 1981 - this DSX/DMX 2-page introductory ad and a creatively titled DSX "Xtra hands" 1-pager sure do fit in well with the previous OB-series ads I've been blogging about recently, eh?

Oh - before I forget - the OB-Xa actually managed to squeeze in one more appearance in the December 1981 issue of CK.  And it is directly related to this ad that started in January 1982.

In the December issue's question and answer section, Dominic Milano answered this question related to the OB-Xa's expanded memory - which again - includes a wack of historical information both about Oberheim personnel, as well as information on modding up older OB-Xa's:

"I've heard rumors that Oberheim is now shipping OB-Xa polyphonic synthesizers with expanded memories. Is this true, and if so, can owners of OB-Xas without expanded memories get them?

Russ Jones, vice president of marketing for Oberheim, tells us that beginning in mid-September 1981, OB-Xas were indeed given expanded memories. Where they had 32 memory positions for storage of patches, they now have 120. In addition to that, memory space for split and double combinations was doubled from 8 to 16. Cost of the parts for the modification is $120.00. Owners of OB-Xas that are still under warranty can have the work done by any authorized Oberheim service center with no charge for labor. The modification shouldn't take more than 30 minutes to add onto an instrument. The memory expansion kit also includes a cassette tape with the new preset sounds, with space for the user to write his or her own sounds onto the tape."

Awesome info!

This blog post is already tipping 1000 words, and between my online and offline research on the OB-Xa and OB-SX, as well as info coming in from a few old and new friends of the blog, I could go on for another 1000 word at least.

But that will have to wait. Time to enjoy the rest of my extra-long Easter weekend - which when you read this is long over. Boooo!

Oberheim OB-Xa "Latest result of the evolutionary philosophy..." ad, Contemporary Keyboard 1981

Oberheim OB-Xa "Latest result of the evolutionary philosophy..." 2-page colour synthesizer advertisement from page 42 and 43 in the February 1981 issue of Contemporary Keyboard.

Hubba hubba! This is my kind of centerfold.  No, I'm not talking about that J. Geils Band song everyone used to roller-skate to. I'm talking full-on pure centerfold gear pr0n.

Early side note: Just for sh*tz and giggles, I decided to Google "centerfold", and sure enough not one, but two links for the song of the same name by the J. Geils Band, are actually the top links.  Yup - that song beat out anything related to Playboy. How popular do you have to be to do that?!? Although unfortunately, the Wikipedia page for the song doesn't mention roller-skating at all. Very disappointing. :)  And yeah, don't try the image search though, unless you are 1. alone and 2. not at work.

But back to the ad.

Oberheim obviously thought they got some good bang for their buck with their first ever 1-page colour ad for the OB-SX, and so decided to keep the colour machine running when launching the latest instrument in the Obie family - the OB-Xa - with not just one page of colour, but TWO. 

Like their only previous 2-page ad (in black and white) for the OB-X, a good majority of the two pages of real estate was reserved strictly for imagery. Rightly so - that OB-Xa baby speaks for itself with its gorgeous texture and colouring, the big-ass OB-Xa logo with that cute little "a", and all those other fine details such as the red accent line running along the bottom of the ad that we were first introduced to in the colour 1-pager for the OB-SX. TOberheim - you are on a roll.

As for ad-copy, again Oberheim keeps their long-standing theme of "evolution". And their positioning as a higher-end synthesizer manufacturer by including such lines as "collaboration between Oberheim staff and professional musicians" - with the keyword being "professional".

I used the word "launch" to describe the purpose of this OB-Xa ad, but were there enough changes between the original OB-X to consider it a whole new instrument? Heck yah! The bullet points angled down the lower-right hand side of the ad give all the details, except what I think is the most important one - the switch from discrete circuits for oscillators and filters to Curtis integrated circuits.

The Wikipedia page for the OB-Xa points out the obvious - this change "made the inside of the synth less cluttered, reducing the labor required to replace bad parts; and reduced the cost of manufacture". But, not mentioned (but probably inferred), is that this switch also resulted in a change to the sound of the OB-Xa when compared to the OB-X.

I wasn't the only one interested in this difference. The sound comparison question has been asked on the 'net on numerous occasions, but I found two sites in particular with some good information. The first was a conversation on the GearSluts forum back in 2009. And a post in that thread took me to a good Oberheim OB overview from the September 1998 issue of Sound on Sound. There are other interesting conversations out there too. And, unlike some comparison conversations I've witnessed, the Oberheim crowd tend to keep it on-topic and it rarely devolves into name-calling. Gotta like that.  :)

Did you notice that curious end to the ad-copy? This little gem is something new for Oberheim: 

"Don't take any wooden nickels"

I took it as an obvious message to musicians not to accept cheap alternatives (and a jab at other manufacturers).

Not sure how I feel about the inclusion of that little sentence - did they really need to "go there". Maybe it was more of an in-joke thing?

This particular ad appeared a couple of times at the beginning of 1981 to introduce readers to the OB-Xa. And it certainly wasn't the last we would hear from Oberheim about this instrument. But, the OB-Xa (and OB-SX) would have take a back seat to the new DSX digital polyphonic sequencer and DMX programmable digital drum machine for the next while.

Short post - time to enjoy the extra long weekend (which by the time this goes live will almost be over. Drat.

But yeah - nap time.

Oberheim OB-SX "What makes the OB-SX so impressive" ad, Contemporary Keyboard 1980

Oberheim OB-SX "What makes the OB-SX so impressive" 1-page colour advertisement from page 23 in the December 1980 issue of  Contemporary Keyboard.

Want to know what makes the OB-SX so impressive?

**THIS AD**. That's what.

:D

For a start - it is in *colour*.  I believe this is the first Oberheim advertisement in CK to appear in colour. Can you believe it?!?!

And this is their second "First" for  1980! The first "First" being that their first two-page CK ad appeared in the March 1980 issue - the OB-X "Evolution of a classic" ad.

Also impressive - the photo used in this ad. Up close and personal. You can even make out the surface texture. Almost feel it! The only disappointment is that you don't see the OB-SX logo on the synth. I love that big fat font with the slightly larger "S". The ad-title font comes close, but just doesn't do the actual logo full-on justice.

The ad-copy is impressive in that it is short and sweet - not typical for Oberheim.  With the main ad theme being "Sound", Oberheim again pushes the OB-SX as the keyboard for the "professional musician" who's too busy working to learn to program. It's excellent positioning, and I'm sure played well with their main audience. Interestingly, they continue to mention that other sounds are available on chips, but gone is the original offer to customize memory chips if a user sends in a cassette dump from their OB-X.

I mentioned this in my last post, but I gotta say it again. I really think Oberheim missed an opportunity by not pushing the custom chip angle more, explaining that musicians could program their OB-X in the studio, and then get the custom roms made of their patches to take on the road inside the much cheaper OB-SX. Maybe it just wasn't cost-effective to make the custom chips, or, not many people took advantage of the opportunity. Boo.

Friend of the blog (and the Vintage Synth Explorer forums!) Micke mentioned in the comments section of my first OB-SX post that the photo in that ad was not the final product:

"...the instrument pictured in this intro ad is most likely a prototype or pre-production unit because it looks a little bit different from the "regular" OB-SX. To begin with, it has less knobs/controls on the front panel, and the OB-X logo is in a different position."

How did I miss that, especially with all the comparisons I've been making with the different OB-Xs in a recent post!?!? Gah!

In a follow-up email exchange with Micke, he provided more detail on OB-Xs, OB-SXs, and beyond.  I'll be including a lot of that information in a future post or three (a lot of info!), but some of that OB-X and OB-SX info fits perfectly in this blog post.

First, Micke pointed out that, in fact, the first OB-Xs off the production line did have what I called the "normal" font logo on them. I had included a progression of OB-X photos in that last blog post, the first of which was from Contemporary Keyboard's '79 NAMM article - and the one I suggested might be a prototype.

OB-X photo from Contemporary Keyboard NAMM article
Notice OB-X logo in top right in 'normal' font.

 BUT, Micke points out  that in those early production OB-Xs, that "normal" font wasn't in the top left corner like in the photo above. But in fact they were in the bottom right, together with that awesome punchy Oberheim logo. Micke pointed me to a number of photos of OB-Xs to substantiate this claim - along with many of their famous owner's names and the albums they were used on! I also came across this image, but can't for the life of me remember where it was from:

If this is your photo, let me know. I can remove or give you full credit!

But, how did he know these were "early" OB-Xs? Micke explained that you could tell when Oberheim OB-Xs were built by looking at the serial number:

"To the best of my knowledge the first two digits indicate the year of manufacture; The 2nd and the 3rd digits indicate in which week of the year it was made, and finally the last two digits refer to the number of units built in a given week. Thus, the OB-X with S/N #793504 was the 4th unit built in the 35th week (the last week of aug) of 1979. "

Nice!

And further more, based on serial numbers, Micke also was able to pinpoint when the "final version" of the OB-X with the big fat juicy OB-X logo in the top left corner was finally shipping:

"The lowest (or earliest) S/N I have managed to find for an OB-X with the new look (the one you refer to as "final version" [See image below for example] is 793534 (the 34th unit built in the last week of aug 1979). This suggests that

a) the OB-X with the "new look" appeared only a couple of months after Oberheim introduced the OB-X and

b) a relatively small number of OB-X's with the "old-look" were shipped from the factory. "

FINAL Version from MATRIXSYNTH Flickr
Notice OB-X logo on top left in awesome Oberheim font
and Oberheim logo in bottom right of front panel

Now that's some detective work. And, we now know there was only a few months of production time before the final version of the OB-X started shipping.

Although that is some awesome OB-X info, what does this have to do with the OB-SX - the instrument featured in this ad? Not much... yet.

But, if you recall from my last blog post on the OB-SX, I'm kinda obsessed with Oberheim's computer port, a kinda pre-MIDI type connector that let Oberheim instruments sync to each other, and which later was officially labeled by Oberheim as "The System"!

In that OB-SX post, I had suggested that the computer port was available on the OB-SX from the start since it was listed in that introductory ad - bringing the introduction of "The System" all the way back to mid-1980.

And now Micke has provided information letting me know this port was ALSO available on the last batch of OB-Xs that came out roughly the same time as the OB-SX. To be more precise, the port appeared on the OB-Xs starting in the first week of September 1980 with serial #803600!

I <3 that computer port.

End note: Micke referenced that last batch of OB-Xs as "Rev 4", a term you evidently won't find in any official Oberheim info. According to Micke, "Rev 1-4" designations were created by a guy named Tony Clark who had a Web page dedicated to the OB-X and that "he created these designations purely for the purpose of identifying the age of the OB-X in question. According to Clark there's no reference to a rev 1, 2, 3 or 4 in any Oberheim documentation."

Unfortunately that site doesn't seem to exist any more.  :(

If you find it, let me know!

Oberheim OB-SX "We call it..." ad, Contemporary Keyboard 1980

Oberheim OB-SX synthesizer "We call it..." 1-page black and white advertisement from the July 1980 issue of Contemporary Keyboard 1980.

Perfect. Or almost perfect. Haven't decided which yet. This advertisement just works on so many levels.

Right from the top, this ad pulls in anyone that may glance at this ad. The first thing a reader sees when they flip to this page is the ad-title: Oberheim OB-X for $2,995. Retail.

Those sneaky SOBs! Getting me all excited like that. Readers at the time would be thinking Oberheim has made a drastic price drop to their OB-X, when just a year before the four voice OB-X model was introduced at $4,295.

But the photo underneath the ad-title reveals the truth  immediately and readers are introduced to Oberheim's newest family member - the OB-SX.  Overall, the thin, top-heavy layout ensures that reader's eyes start at the top and reads downward, so there is little chance someone might get confused.

No harm. No foul.  Nice work.

The rest of the ad-copy fills in the details. Your $2,995 basically gets your a pre-programmed OB-X with 24 awesome sounds. "User programmability is not necessary". Better yet, buyers aren't limited to those 24 sounds because they ccould purchase and swap out other ROM chips with different patches. And even better, users could get custom chips made by sending in OB-X program cassettes to the factory. A musician could now keep his or her relatively expensive OB-X in the studio, and then when touring, just get the sounds used on the record dumped on a chip and put in a much less expensive OB-SX.

Brilliant thinking on Oberheim's part.

While researching this post, I found some historical debate on MATRIXSYNTH and elsewhere on whether the internals and sound of the OB-SX resemble the older OB-X or later-launched OB-XA. Indeed this ad compares it to the OB-X, but, that doesn't mean the internals and sound are anything like them. I can't really speak from a technical perspective, but from a marketing perspective, Oberheim didn't have a choice. The OB-XA hadn't been announced yet. So, even if internally, the technology had evolved enough to more resemble an OB-XA, Oberheim couldn't state this fact in this ad or they would have blown the OB-XA surprise.

My 2 cents.  :)

One other interesting note about this ad-copy... if you read right to the very last bullet point about the OB-SX's features, IT MENTIONS OBERHEIM'S COMPUTER INTERFACE! WTF?

Is this the Oberheim pre-MIDI interface, later known by Oberheim as "The SYSTEM", that I became a little infatuated with back in 2010? In one particular blog post I included this little bulleted timeline to explain it's introduction.

In my September 30, 2010 "The System" ad blog post, I did a little Contemporary Keyboard back-tracking to see just when Oberheim or the magazine might have first mentioned the connector:

"I found one of the earlier direct mentions of the multi-pin connector back in the June 1981 Keyboard review for the OB-Xa. The interface is mentioned very briefly in the description of the rear panel, where Dominic Milano writes that the owner's manual explains it "is for interfacing the instrument with future Oberheim products"."

Good lord, I'm quoting myself quoting other people now...   :D

Anyways, what I thought was the earliest mention was back in 1981.

1981: DSX, DMX, and OB-Xa start appearing in ads together.
1982: 1st generation "System" (OB-Xa/DSX/DMX) ad appears.
Early 1983: This OB-8 ad appears - no mention of the "System".
Mid 1983: DX drum machine ad appears - mentions the "System".
Late 1983: 2nd generation "System" (OB-8/DSX/DMX) ad appears.

Point is, this OB-SX ad came out almost A FULL YEAR before that June 1981 Keyboard review for the OB-XA, and that DSX/DMX/OB-XA ad that I also reference above.

Could this ad be the first reference to Oberheim's "System" technology? Way back in 1980? It's lookin' pretty likely.

Interestingly, most references I've found online, even Vintage Synth Explorer, suggest that the computer interface was added to the OB-SX some point later in it's production. But, this introductory ad clearly states that the computer interface was available right at introduction - in mid-1980. Nice.

I'll hopefully continue this OB-SX dialogue in my next ad post - with some guest commentary :)

There's some good resources out there!

End note: Can anyone tell me what the S stands for in OB-SX?  Maybe "Simple"? Gah. Sounds stupid.

Anyone... anyone...?

Oberheim OB-X "Evolution of a classic" 2-pager, Contemporary Keyboard 1980

Oberheim OB-X "Evolution of a classic" 2-page black and white advertisement from page 42 and 43 in the March 1980 issue of  Contemporary Keyboard Magazine.

Another awesome Oberheim ad. And, if you can believe it, I think this is Oberheim's FIRST two-page advertisement in CK - ever. But at least this got centerfold action. 

Looking back at Oberheim ads, "Evolution" has been one of their big themes.  Today, that word can unsuspectingly take on an uncomfortable tone and can be controversial just to include in ads - or elsewhere for that matter. We tried to use "Evolution" as the title for one of our recent annual reports and the discussion was long and heavy on whether that could work against the organization. In the end, we decided it was better to be safe than sorry, and stayed away from the word.

But back in the 70s/80s, "evolution" was still just a relatively innocent word that had a neutral or even positive scientific feeling to it, separate from anything to do with religion. No uncomfortable awkwardness around the marketing table wondering if someone in your audience may have taken their kids out of school because the teacher was going on about that myth of evolution.

Anyways, point being, this isn't the first time Oberheim made "Evolution" a theme in their marketing campaign.

They used the word to good effect back in 1977 in an ad that featured the SEM's evolution, from a tiny little box to what eventually became the dual manual Eight-Voice (even including a picture of it!!!!).

 And now they are continuing on with the theme in this two-page ad, this time starting with the Four Voice and Programmer. We don't get a cool diagram or flow chart, but the ad-copy does a good job of promoting Oberheim's continued technical progress into the OB-X and OB-1, and also throw in a mention of their Cassette Interface for storing patches/programs on tape.

Interestingly, Oberheim doesn't stop there with the ad-copy. In fact, they spend even more ad-copy real estate on another aspect that was becoming more important with polyphonic synths - durability for touring.

More technology = more that can go wrong. Great insight into the times.

I'm sure many musicians thought this was the ultimate polyphonic machine to take on the road, so Oberheim really tried to promote it's increased reliability and ease of repair.

This theme is magnified by the main photo too. The largest photo in this ad isn't a front panel shot - something that would look gorgeous in a two-page spread. Nope. The money-shot in this ad is an OB-X with its front panel lifted up, showing the ease with which you can get into the machine. In fact, this photo actually takes up more than 50% of the two pages. Bold move, Oberheim. Bold move. The best part is that you can easily shrink this photo down to that small space on the right half of the page, and the message is still there in a one-page ad format. Nice.

And, near the end of the ad-copy they take a small dig at the Prophet by including the line "Considering the musician who wishes to expand from a basic four or five voices...". Bolding is mine. Nothing like calling the Prophet "basic".

Another insight into Oberheim can be found in the first sentence in the ad. They mention that June 1979 NAMM show right at the beginning. I mentioned the NAMM show, and the CK article that followed, in the OB-X's introductory ad that I posted.  And the fact that Oberheim mentions it again in this ad must have meant that this particular show was *really good* to Oberheim. It was obviously a successful show for them and the OB-X launch, and I don't blame them for milking it for all it's worth.

Oh - back to the evolution theme for a second. The month after this ad appeared, another Oberheim ad looking at the evolution of their technology appeared in the April 1980 issue of CK that celebrated Oberheim's ten year anniversary.

That last one was a great summary of Oberheim's accomplishments too.Yum.

Good work Obie!

Oberheim OB-1A and OB-X "A family that plays together..." ad, Contemporary Keyboard, 1979

Oberheim OB-1A and OB-X "A family that plays together..." 1-page black and white advertisement from page 43 in the October 1979 issue of Contemporary Keyboard.

I actually posted this ad waaaaaay back in February 2009 (over three years ago!) but wasn't commenting on ads back then. Now, since this ad is kinda just sequentially fitting into the Oberheim ads I've been posting lately, I thought it deserved a bit of attention.

The main reason this ad deserves attention is that stylized hand-drawn Oberheim logo and logo-type in the bottom right hand corner. Blows me away. *THAT* version of the logo belongs on a t-shirt. Somebody get on that and I'll be first in line to buy one. 4 true!

The second reason this ad deserves a second look is that readers finally got to see a "final" OB-X. What I mean is (and like I pointed out in my last blog post on the OB-X) up until now most readers of CK had only seen what I called "prototype" versions in CK. These variations included different versions of the OB-X and Oberheim logos spread about in various locations on the front of the synth. But the photo in this ad finally captures the real OB-X. Delicious.

Finally,  this ad deserves more attention because I had not realized just how rare the OB-1A was. I tried to find some quick information on the differences between the original OB-1 model and the OB-1A using Google, but the top hits I got in Google Images were for a bunch of other Retrosynthads' posts (yay!), and the Web search top results brought up only a few significant links.

The main noticeable difference is, as the ad states, the "new improved chassis design and graphics", updating the synth's looks to fit in well with the newest direction of the Oberheim look - the OB-X.  As much as I'm in to the color black of the original, I really like the updated design. I haven't played on it, so can't tell if it is more user-friendly to the eye in terms of zero'ing in specific knobs and dials for tweeking sounds, but it sure looks like it would be.

The ad also states a few other updates from the original OB-1 design, including switchable 115/230 volt power and vibrato input pedal. Meh.

As for other tidbits about the OB-1A from around the Web that may give hints to differences between the two synths, two pages in particular popped out at me. The first was the Oberheim Files page on electrongate.com. I can't recall visiting this page before, but it contains a wack of great info including wiring block diagrams for both the OB-1 and OB-1A. And they do look slightly different. Now, this doesn't mean they *are* different. Just thought I would point it out.

The other page I found on the Web was (of course... :) a MATRIXSYNTH OB-1A auction post from April 2008. One of the great things about his auction posts is that he adds the photos to Flickr, where we get to see a lot more close-up photos of the synth. It's not a lot of photos, but I'll take what I can get when it comes to the OB-1A. Yum.

If you haven't noticed, I'm kinda a fan of the OB-1 and its kin. But all is not perfect. The biggest annoyance I have with this synthesizer is that although the back of the unit indicated that it was an OB-1A, it was still labelled "OB-1" on the front of the synth. I will always think of them as two different beasts, even if the differences are slight. 

Others aren't as convinced as I am that these two products should remain totally separate. For example, Oberheim Electronic's Wikipedia page labels a photo of an OB-1A as an OB-1. Even my fav, Vintage Synth Explorer, doesn't admit to its existence on their timeline or the OB-1 page. Yet.  

I know its not a big deal, but it still bugs me just a little bit.  :D  

Whether you call it an OB-1 or OB-1A, it won't change the fact that this ad only appeared twice, October 1979 and February 1980, and then this was the last readers would see from the OB-1 in ads.

I miss you already. Lots.

*cue tear running down face*

Oberheim "New OB-X" introductory ad, Contemporary Keyboard 1979

Oberheim "New OB-X" introductory 1-page advertisement from page 29 in Contemporary Keyboard June 1979.

What the...? Do you see it too? Or... more accurately... do you *NOT* see it too?

At first I'm thinking: "Oberheim, this is messed up". No photo? Really - you are introducing a new synth, and no photo? I was almost angry at first.

My mind was racing to try and figure this one out. Why would Oberheim choose not to include a photo?

Well, one reason a photo may not have been included would be that the ad would theoretically need to be submitted a month or two before the June issue was printed, and it could very well be that the exterior look of the synthesizer wasn't quite ready yet.

But a photo *was* ready by the time the July issue printed - because even though this ad appeared in the June and July 1979 issues of CK photo-less, readers could find a photo of the instrument in Contemporary Keyboard in the July Spec Sheet section.

"Oberheim Polyphonic Synthesizer. The OB-X is a programmable polyphonic synthesizer available in either four-, six-, or eight-voice configuration. It can store 32 programs internally. It can also be linked with a cassette tape recorder for further storage of programs. The unit is microprocessor-controlled and its features include a 5-octave keyboard, automatic tuning, edit mode, polyphonic portamento, polyphonic sample-and-hold, a noise generator, dual modulation levers, ADSR envelope generators, two oscillators per voice, and switchable 115/230 volt power. The unit also includes an array of footpedal control inputs: vibrato, volume, filter, sustain, and program advance. Oberheim is also offering a roadie kit for maintenance on the road. Prices are: four-voice, $4,295.00; six-voice, $4995.00; eight-voice, $5,495.00. Oberheim, 1455 19th St., Santa Monica, CA 90404."

The Spec sheet is pretty much a carbon copy of the ad, except that the ad actually includes things this Spec Sheet doesn't - in particular the size and weight, and it's Note/Chord hold switch function.

Another reason it may not have included a photo is that it might help build intrigue in the instrument. Previous to this ad, Oberheim had been pushing two extremely different looking machines - the prehistoric-looking Four/Eight Voice synth, and their first programmable synth, the OB-1, and any new mysterious instrument Oberheim would launch would probably follow the evolution of one of these two paths. Intriguing! But I'm still doubting that theory.

Finally - it could be they didn't want to steal thunder from the Summer NAMM show that took place in June at the Atlanta World Congress Centre. The OB-X got fairly high billing near the beginning of the Contemporary Keyboard article that featured the findings at the show - listing off a few of the voice and programmability features as well as a price range from $4,200.00 - $5,400.00. Notice that price range is slightly different from the prices quoted in the July CK Spec Sheet promo.

But, what really makes this NAMM article interesting is that they include a photo of the OB-X. Although NAMM was in June 1979, the article didn't make it into the magazine until October 1979, but the instrument in the photo is definitely NOT the finalized version of the OB-X that I'm familiar with. This instrument had an OB-X logo in a very 'normal' font. Not that awesome Oberheim font we all know and love.

And, when I noticed this difference, I went back and took a look at the photo of the OB-X included with the Spec Sheet - and it too was different from both the NAMM version and the final version. It only included a large Oberheim logo in the top center of the front panel.

So, these are both different from what I call the "finalized" version of the OB-X, with the classic OB-X logo in the top left corner, and the Oberheim logo in the bottom right of the front panel.

I've included photos all three versions below with a bit of descriptive text to help explain these differences.

OB-X photo from Contemporary Keyboard NAMM article
Notice OB-X logo in top right in 'normal' font. Boo!

OB-X photo from the July Spec Sheet in Contemporary Keyboard
Notice no OB-X logo, just big central Oberheim name

FINAL Version from MATRIXSYNTH Flickr
Notice OB-X logo on top left in awesome Oberheim font
and Oberheim logo in bottom right of front panel

So, it does look like the early photos are prototypes of some sort.

But, there may be more than a few of these early prototype instruments out there with the early look. For example, a photo of the OB-X similar to the NAMM photo did make it into this early French ad. Maybe it was taken at NAMM, or the photo was provided to distributors for early ads...? but I'm not convinced that would be the case. Especially if Oberheim wasn't using the photo in their own ads.

No matter, in the end, Oberheim was definitely better off leaving a photo of the instrument out of this intro ad. The final version of the synth with that delicious Oberheim OB-X font in the top left of the instrument and the Oberheim logo on the lower right side of the front panel is definitely the yummiest of the bunch.

Oberheim Four- and Eight Voice "Power of Polyphonics" ad, Contemporary Keyboard 1979

Oberheim Four- and Eight Voice "Power of Polyphonics" 1-page advertisement from page 49 in Contemporary Keyboard March 1979.

This was a fitting end to SEM family appearances in CK ads.

Much like the Oberheim logo is throwing punches (or dancing aggresively  :), this advertisement's purpose was to fight back against the growing tide of competitor's polyphonic synthesizers that were appearing on the market.

It's a quality advertisement that is well-designed, well-written, and summarizes nicely all that is great about this series of instruments - it's separately programmable voices and modularity. Unfortunately, this modular format also made the synth a little too bulky and a little prehistoric looking. A big PLUS in my books but back in those technologically-driven days, could have be seen as a bit of a negative.

The ad ended up appearing in the March and May 79 issues. And that was that. The end of an era.

Well, not exactly.

Okay - technically speaking it was the last time we saw this synth featured in an ad. But it wasn't the last we saw from the SEM family in the magazine.

I'll explain -

In this ad, it specifically states that the keyboard for the synth was available in two versions - the first being a single manual that could be expanded with an external five octave keyboard, and the second a dual manual version. Unfortunately, the photo chosen for the ad was for a single manual Four-Voice. Probably for space reasons. Understandable.  But I would have been much more impressed if they had included a dual manual Eight Voice photo. *That* was a beast.

Fortunately, for avid Contemporary Keyboard readers, the magazine did happen to include a small photo of a dual manual Eight Voice months after the ad ended - in the August 1979 Spec Sheet section when they chose to give Oberheim one last print-party.

"Oberheim Dual-Manual Synthesizer. The unit consists of eight synthesizer expander modules grouped in one case. They are used with dual keyboard, keyboard controllers, and eight-voice polyphonic programmer situated in a separate case. Each keyboard has its own keyboard electronics. The top manual has a four-voice configuration, and the bottom one has an eight-voice configuration. The upper keyboard is four-octave, the lower keyboard is five-octave. The lower keyboard electronics act as master for pitch-bend and overall filter control. Switching is: Mode Four - four voices on the upper keyboard and four voices on the lower keyboard; Mode Six - two voices on the upper keyboard and six voices on the lower keyboard; Mode Eight - eight voices on the lower keyboard. Keyboard electronics work for the most part independently on one another, enabling the user to have several voices in unison creating a complex sound or chord on one keyboard while playing polyphonically on the other. Also included is CV-IN and CV-OUT for all eight modules. Price is $12,500.00. Oberheim Electronics. 1455 19th St., Santa Monica, CA 90404."

Huh. Only $12,500, eh?   :)

Often you will see the dual manual Eight Voice described on the Web as "custom made". And they sold so few that maybe it would technically make each one a custom job. But, Oberheim's intentions doesn't look like they were pushing it as a custom-made piece.

I decided not to scan the small photo from the Spec Sheet - it just wouldn't do this synth justice. That thing is a beast and deserves a two-page advertisement just for posterity alone. But an ad with a big photo just wasn't meant to be - at least in CK anyways.

But, as luck would have it, more than 30 years later Internet fans would have a chance to view one of these beasts through the magic that is YouTube.

In December 2009, Kevin Lightner (Synthfool) was selling Patrick Moraz's dual manual Eight Voice. The blogs and synth sites went bonkers for the images and video that was posted. And rightfully so:

Another awesome photo of a BLACK dual manual Eight Voice has also been making the rounds on the Internet. I first ran into the photo below through the most awesome MATRIXSYNTH site, who found it through the also most awesome Vintage Synth Explorer forums long before I ever started lurking there. I've also seen the photo pop up in other forums too. Gorgeous.

From MATRIXSYNTH

According to the post, apparently an Oberheim employee owned and built this gothy unit from parts:

"I built it myself from parts purchased from Oberhiem directly. There was an employee purchase plan, where you could buy the part kits (all the pieces pulled from stock, and organized)." 

In the words of MATRIXSYNTH when he reported on it:

Wow.

Oberheim OB-1 4-page brochure, 1978

 

Oberheim OB-1 4-page brochure from 1978.

Look familiar? The cover of this brochure looks an awful lot like that December 1978 OB-1 advertisement that I just blogged about. 

Both the cover and that ad are simply rockin'!

And, since there is no print date on this brochure (booooo!) the ad placement date (December 78) also helps pin down the print date. I'm guess that this brochure was created a bit earlier in 1978, and then turned into the ad for the December issue of Contemporary Keyboard.Just a hunch.

The brochure has all the great qualities of that ad - plus some. Solid black background. The awesome circle from the logo duplicated larger behind the instrument. But this time Oberheim had no choice. They had to include the name of the instrument in Oberheim's big fat font on the front of the brochure. It would be a little too ballsy if they left it out of the brochure cover like they did in the ad.  :)

I've noticed that if you click on the scanned images in my blog post, some browsers will open them up into pop-up window within the current window. If you have a normal-sized monitor, you really can't see the detail unless you shift-click on the image so they open up in a totally new window. And even then, most browsers will automatically shrink so they fit on the page - so another click on the image is necessary to see them in all their glory.

This is especially true for the inside two pages of this brochure. To really see the detail on the front panel - you have to open it up in a new window and magnify it to full size.

Only then do you really see details like the touch-sensitive contacts for the patches. Or that lever in the bottom right of the top panel used for bending. Or the detail in the knobs with their little ridges for gripping. I'm in love! The controls on this synth are just laid out so nicely. That front panel is the perfect balance of space and controls.

And the back panel, sometimes shrunk down considerably in other brochures, is actually viewable at a decent size. Extra points there too!

Those two middle pages also really provide some good detailed technical information about the machine. A good read if you are really interested.

Same goes for the back page. I'm not a fan of reading white text on a black background. But in this case I really don't mind. The text is big enough that I don't even have to use my reading glasses. It's not so much the size of the text but the thickness.

Big and fat.

Yum.

Oberheim OB-1 programmable lead synthesizer "Holiday '78" ad, 1978

Oberheim OB-1 programmable lead synthesizer  "Holiday '78"  1-page black and white advertisement from page 25 in Contemporary Keyboard December 1978.

Hey - check it out. It's my new fav!

This Oberheim advertisement oozes confidence. Tough. Simple. Effective.

The ad is printed on the page from edge to edge with a background that is black as night - and I tried to scan in as much of it as possible to keep all the elements of the ad in perspective to the magazine page size. Most awesome is that the front of the synthesizer is printed large enough on the page that you can still make out some of the control labels on the instrument. And the name of the instrument.

And that logo! It makes my knees week. Which reminds me...  I still have to make a tattoo appointment at some point in the near future. :D

The larger circle behind the OB-1 is really just a duplication of the circle in the Oberheim logo, but as a whole, to me the design resembles a very modern Christmas wreath - which makes sense since this ad seemed to only appear once in the December 1978 issue of Contemporary Keyboard. Not sure if that was intentional or not, but it makes this ad even cooler than it already was.

Okay, the circle also makes me think of anything mod-related. And that London Underground logo. Pretty sure *that* wasn't Oberheim's intention.  :) 

The only thing that lets this ad down is the small writing at the bottom. I just don't think Oberheim needed to include it. Much like the name "Oberheim" itself, by this time Oberheim's visually striking logo was already a legend, instantly recognizable throughout the world of synthesizers. So, unless that $1,895.00 price tag was a significant drop from the past, I just don't see a reason to include this information. 

This was hardly the first ad for the OB-1. We had already seen the OB-1 in its own introductory "Programmer technology in a lead synthesizer" ad in late 1977 as well as a guest appearance in that 360 System "Live Performance" Slavedriver ad from early 1978.

I guess my point is that the imagery used in this ad stands on it's own. No text required. But in the big picture of things, that text is such a small detail that I don't think it takes away from the overall effectiveness either. 

In fact, I'm gonna throw it out there that this ad is on par with those two similarly ballsy Minimoog ads that I'm always going on about. Those two ads (below) included minimal text as well, letting the recognizability of the instrument speak for itself.   

Incredibly, before now, I've never noticed that this Oberheim ad showed up in CK *BEFORE* these two Moog ads - which as far as I can tell started to appear in Contemporary Keyboard in  July 1979 and September 1979, respectively. 

That first Minimoog ad is still my favorite though because Moog didn't even have to show the front of the synth and *everyone* still recognized the ad's feature piece of gear based only the font and the form-factor of the synth alone.  

But still, I gotta bow down to Oberheim's ongoing coolness! 

Delightful! 

'Nough said.

Oberheim FourVoice and OB-1 ad, International Musician and Recording World 1978

Oberheim FourVoice and OB-1 1/2-page advertisement from page 197 in International Musician and Recording World  June (UK)/July (USA) 1978.

Um... this is sad. I seriously never made the connection between Rod Argent - keyboardist for the band The Zombies, and Rod Argent Keyboards - the store in the UK that printed a wack of ads in International Musician and Recording World in the late 70s.

In my defense, I hadn't been born yet when The Zombies were around. But my brother had rightfully introduced me to the band at an early age, and they had a large influence in my early music experiences.

After The Zombies, Argent went on to form the highly descriptively named band Argent, which was active until around 1976. And then he continued on to do a number of other projects.

When I started Googling his name as part of the research for this ad, search results had pretty much convinced me that the band member and the shop owner were one in the same, but it took a bit to find some kind of evidence of this fact. The Zombies page on Wikipedia didn't including any reference to a keyboard store. And neither did Rod Argent's own Wikipedia page. But I finally found one small sentence on the Argent (The band) page that backed up this theory - and this sentence also included a bit of history on another one of my early favs - The Kinks!

That page states that when the band stopped performing in 1976, other members "briefly continued together under the name Phoenix before going their separate ways, with first Rodford and then Henrit becoming members of The Kinks. Meanwhile, Rod Argent went on to work with Andrew Lloyd-Webber, and to produce a couple of solo albums. He also opened a keyboard shop in the West End of London".

Bolding is mine - interesting stuff. And, leads me to believe this is Rod Argent of The Zombies' keyboard shop.

So, back to that ad...

Now, one might get excited to know that Rod Argent himself declared June "OBERHEIM month" at his store - the line in the ad is in quotations, so I'm assuming Rod himself declared this. But then, two months later, you may not get so excited to know that International Musician included the exact same advertisement with only one change - "June" was changed to "August". Yup - Rod had once again announced that the month of August had also been selected as another "OBERHEIM month".

Don't get me wrong. Oberheim deserves as many months as possible in a given year dedicated to it. And I dig the fact that Rod Argent was also digging Oberheim synthesizers enough to import and promote them on their own in an ad.

And, it turns out that Rod and I aren't the only ones digging Oberheim synthesizers. Reviewer Dave Simmons also took a bit of a liking to the OB-1 in his August 1978 "Simmons' SynthCheck" review in International Musician.

The opening few sentences really gives today's readers a good indication of where the synth industry was at the time - and something we take for granted:

"The OB 1 is made in America by Oberheim Electronics Inc. and is one of the "new breed" of synthesizers which have memories i.e. a particular sound can be stored away, to be recalled instantly at the press of a button. this, to my mind, is the ideal type of synthesizer - fully variable but with a number of pre set sounds, each of which can be set up to the player's own taste (You're not lumbered with someone else's idea of what a trumpet should sound like.)"

The rest of the article  is logically organized by standard synth programming sections - a few paragraphs on the VCOs, VCF, EG and VCA, as well as small sections on programming, manual controls, and the general layout of the machine.  And of course, also included in a call-out box and one of my favorite bits of reference information - price! 1,240 pounds or 2,500 US dollars in 1978 dollars.

As Dave Simmon's notes at the end of the article:

"It does all that you would expect from a single voice, lead-line synthesizer and is not much more expensive than one without the memory".

So, good on Dave Simmons! And good on Rod Argent!

BTW - Rod's official Web site tells me he is currently touring. I apparently missed the Canadian leg of his tour, but would really try and catch him if he ever came close again. He is also twittering under the handled @zombierodargent.

I just started following him  :)

Oberheim FourVoice 'So advanced, it's simple" ad, Contemporary Keyboard 1978

Oberheim FourVoice 1-page synthesizer and programmer advertisement from page 47 of Contemporary Keyboard magazine September 1978.

Okay... where was I.... oh yeah.

In my last blog post, I realized that I had a bit of a gap in my Oberheim blogging - mostly between 1979-1981. So, to help myself get back into Oberheim territory, I decided I needed to do a bit of a review. I started by covering off a few loose ends while reviewing Oberheim's early advertising history in CK and Synapse through 1976, ending with the September/October "Ultimate Keyboard Machine" ad.

But, there is still a bit of territory to cover between the end of 1976 and May/June 1978 when this "So advanced, it's simple" ad first made an appearance.  Don't worry - there isn't *that* much to review.   :)

At the end of 1976, Oberheim came out with an ad that nicely played off the previous "Ultimate Keyboard Machine" ad. The full ad-title of this new ad that appeared in the November/December 1976 as well as the February issue of Contemporary Keyboard was "Stepping stones to the Ultimate Keyboard Machine", which promoted the Synthesizer Expander Module aka SEM. Hence the "stepping stone" reference.Oberheim made a great argument that you could build up your synth addiction in small steps, all the way up to the EightVoice with the programmer option. Nice!

That February issue of CK also included the Spec Sheet promo for the Programmer - which I highlighted in that "Ultimate Keyboard Machine" post. 

Meanwhile, in Synapse magazine, Oberheim - either on purpose or not - didn't advertise in the November/December issue, instead managing to make appearances both in the "What's Happening" and "Equipment Review" sections. If you guessed those appearances were "Programmer"-related, you'd be right.

Oberheim actually received the honor of kicking-off the "What's Happening" section with "Oberheim Electronics will so be releasing an A/D, D/A converter so that patches can be stored on audio cassettes ad called up when needed, adding greater flexibility to their Polyphonic Synthesizer Programmer...".

The "Equipment Review" section also includes a few paragraphs on the Oberheim Polyphonic Synthesizer Programmer (PSP-1), starting off with this fine point:

"It can honestly be said that this is the most revolutionary new instrument on the market."

You can't buy that kind of advertising! The rest of the review is very factual, listing off the programmable parameters of the unit and other features. The review ends with a bit of a dig at Oberheim, along with some great historical pricing info - and not just for the PSP-1!

"For all this magnificent technology, however, an equally magnificent price must be paid. The PSP-1 by itself retails for $1395. A programmable four-voice system costs $5390; an eight-voice is $9785."

March and April 1977 were quiet months for Oberheim, but they came back swinging in the May issue of CK and the May/June 1977 issue of Synapse with their "Unquestionably the best" ad. Along with this hard-hitting ad is also CK's interview with Tom Oberheim, which I highlighted in the blog post.

The June  1977 issue of CK didn't need an Oberheim advertisement because they had another great surprise for readers - the CK give-away contest! But not for an Oberheim synth, or even a programmer. But for their DS-2A digital sequencer. This is really the only time the DS-2A is mentioned in CK as far as I can tell, and the description of the prize reads like a Spec Sheet promo:

"The DS-2A Digital Sequencer stores melodic/rhythmic sequences (which are played on a synthesizer keyboard) in its memory and plays them back automatically. Playback speed is variable, and pitch remains constant despite tempo variations. Sequences of up to 144 notes can be stored in the unit's memory, and different combinations of number sequences can be fed into the machine. For example: one sequence of 96 notes and one of 48 notes can be stored together and recalled by pressing the appropriate buttons; or three sequences of up to 48 notes each can be stored; and so on. Each note in a sequence can have a duration of about 1/20 of a second up to eight seconds, and synthesizer keyboards with up to 61 notes can be used to program the unit. The machine is compatible with all major brands of synthesizers."

That's gold, baby. Gold I tell ya! And probably the place many musicians first heard about the specs of this rare machine.

The July 1977 issue of CK and the July/August 1977 issue of Synapse featured one of my favorite Oberheim ads. Titled simply "Evolutionary" (an extremely short ad-title by Oberheim standards), this ad not only promotes what Oberheim has accomplished, but also hints at what is coming in the near future. Gah! Looking at it again just now makes me do the happy dance!

That July/August 1977 issue of Synapse also included another appearance by Oberheim - and again, not the synthesizer or the programmer - but the DS-2A sequencer. It appeared, along with three other sequencers (Sequential Circuits Model 800, EMS Synthi Sequencer 256, and the Thinc MMC-1) in a nice little round-up piece.A gooder.

In the September 1977  issue of CK, Oberheim opted to run the "Stepping Stones" ad again, which hadn't been seen for six months or so. And then they went silent again in October. And, in fact, that is the last you would hear from the SEM/Two/Four/Eight-Voice crew until May/June 1978 issue of Synapse, when this "So advanced, its simple" ad would appear.

That's because in the meantime Oberheim had a new kid on the block to promote - the OB-1! This introductory ad for the OB-1 titled "Programmer technology in a lead synthesizer" made it's first appearance in November 1977, and ran intermittently until April 1978. The ad also made appearances in Synapse magazine in the November/December 1977 issue, as well as the January/February and the May/April 1978 issues.

Oberheim also gets bonus points during this time period because the OB-1 also made a guest appearance in a 360 Systems Slavedriver guitar synthesizer ad that appeared during the winter of 1977 in Synapse.

And then... finally - this "So advanced, its simple" ad made one last appearance in the July 1978 issue of CK.

Wow. What a review.

But now I can continue on blogging about Oberheim. I promise something new next time.

Double promise.  :)