Oberheim "Fed up with playing only one note at a time" advertisement, Contemporary Keyboard 1976

Oberheim "Fed up with playing only one note at a time" FourVoice synthesizer 1-page advertisement from inside front cover of  Contemporary Keyboard magazine May/June 1976.

I originally posted this ad with any blog content back in 2009. But, I've recently become more interested in Oberheim after a reader requested I post a few Oberheim ads and I realized that over the last couple of years, I've been jumping back and forth in the Oberheim ad-timeline, missing out a good chunck of the early 80s.

But, I had to re-familiarize myself with Oberheim and thought I had better start back at the beginning... or at least as close to it as possible. And figured it would make a few good blog posts.

This was Oberheim's first advertisement to appear in Contemporary Keyboard. It actually first appeared in the March/April 1976 issue on page 13, but in the next May/June issue the ad got the respect it deserved and jumped to the front inside cover. :)

In that May/June 1976 issue, readers also got a more technical taste of SEM modules (back when they were just called EMs) in the Spec Sheet section. Oddly, it was only providing the specifications for the Two-Voice, but it does give some great historical information on prices, configurations, and technical details. Yummy with a capital "Y":

"Oberheim Synthesizer. The Oberheim Two-Voice Polyphonic Synthesizer includes two synthesizer Expander Modules; an 8-position, 2-voice Mini-Sequencer with sample/hold; and a 2-voice, 37-note keyboard. Each Expander Module is a complete basis synthesizer and features two VCOs, a VCF, two envelope generators, an LFO, and a VCA. The 2-voice keyboard can operate in either polyphonic or monophonic mode. When operated polyphonically, two sets of control voltages from the keyboard drive the Expander Modules, while monophonic operation allows the performer to manipulate all four oscillators, two filters, and four envelope generators with a single control voltage. The Mini-Sequencer is an 8-position analog unit that also include a sample/hold circuit and a VCC (voltage-controlled clock). A 2-input mixer with master gain control for attenuating the output of the Expander Modules and headphone amp is also supplied. The Two-Voice Polyphonic Synthesizer can be purchased with a minimum configuration of one Expander Module for $1,195.00 list. An additional Expander Module can be attached for $500.00, as can the Mini-Sequencer for $300.00. The fully loaded package lists for $1,995.00. Oberheim Electronics, 1549 Ninth St., Santa Monica, CA 90401."

The ad only ran twice, before being replaced with Oberheim's August-only run of their "Some things are better than others" advertisement that featured their whole family of products arranged in a rather spooky floating pattern.

The following month, Oberheim wasted no time in promoting their new Polyphonic Synthesizer Programmer in  their "Ultimate Keyboard Machine" advertisement, giving their synthesizers the ability to store patches. That ad ran in the September/October issue of Contemporary Keyboard, as well as in the September/October issue of Synapse.

Readers of that September/October issue of Synapse were in for a special treat - a three-page interview with Tom Oberheim! CK readers had to wait until May 1977 for their turn.

In the article (which you can read online thanks to Cyndustries.com), Tom touches on his 13 years of computer engineering, being a choir singer, synthesizer polyphony and even musique concrete. Best quote:

"It's conceivable that you could have a voltage-controlled synthesizer some day for every key. But what if you wanted the ability to make each voice different? Can you imagine having seventy-two voices? Because I think in terms of having 72 expander modules there, or 37 modules, or even 30? There are synthesizers with 30-note keyboards; 30 expander moduels? Whew! I mean you couldn't, it's impossible!". 

I really want 72 SEMs now. :)

The What's Happening section of this issue also included some Oberheim content. The section was still quite small with only a sentence devoted to each tidbit of news, with a few ... thrown in between. So all readers got on Oberheim was "...Oberheim has added a patch programming ability to their polyphonic systems...".

Another quote that popped out at me in that What's Happening section was "...In a recent interview with Playboy, Davie Bowie said that his favorite group was Kraftwerk...".

This surprised me!

No - not that David Bowie/Kraftwerk thing - I totally get that.

It surprised me that people really do read the Playboy articles!  :)

Oberheim Synthesizer Expander Module (SEM) Evolution, Contemporary Keyboard 1977

Oberheim Synthesizer Expander Module (SEM) Evolution advertisement from page 31 of Contemporary Keyboard Magazine July 1977.

I was flipping through CK looking for something different and boy, did I find it. Another great advertisement from Oberheim. And rare - looks like it only appeared once in CK and I have never come across this advertisement online.

So, Oberheim had been doing quite well with the look and feel of their late '76 ads like the Polyphonic Synthesizer Programmer and SEM, so why mess with a good thing?

Here's my theory - Moog had just started some gorilla chest-pounding in the May 1977 issue of CK with their 'blunt and totally biased viewpoint' ad and I would bet this ad was the sound of Oberheim howling back through the jungle foliage.

Check it out - one of the main themes flowing through the Moog advertisement from two months earlier is 'First'. How they started it all with their voltage control. 'First came the multiple waveform voltage controlled oscillators...' and then 'the first four-part ADSR envelope generator'. Finally, near the end, they talk about their 'first polyphonic synthesizer'.

The same word - 'First' - appears in every instrument box of this Oberheim advertisement as the time line runs through the evolution of their system. And after this ad ran once, Oberheim went right back to gear ads. It's like that little sixteenth note in the Oberheim logo took a swing back at Moog and then kept walking on its merry way. I love that logo.

And while I'm on the subject, I wouldn't be surprised if this Oberheim advertisement inspired Oberheim's 10-Year Anniversary advertisement three years later. The same theme - 'First' - runs through the ad-copy there as well.

Okay, maybe it is just coincidence. There were a lot of 'firsts' coming out of the synthesizer scene at the time. But it is fun to wonder.

As far as the ad itself goes - for the most part I really dig it. I love reading through the evolutionary time line they provided. Even better, it also lets us in on the next piece of gear to come out while leaving two future boxes blank to help build anticipation that there is more coming on the horizon. Anyone guess what those two future items were?

The only thing I don't like about this ad is that it feels a bit too crowded, mostly because the text in the middle is hard to read. I bet most people didn't.

But you should. One nugget of text I did like in the ad-copy was the fact they admit that it was 'quite by accident' that the SEM's modular design 'lent itself perfectly to the evolution of the most versatile live performance synthesizers'.

Gotta love honestly in advertising.

Oberheim Synthesizer Expander Module, Contemporary Keyboard 1976

Oberheim Synthesizer Expander Module (SEM) from page 17 of Contemporary Keyboard Magazine November/December 1976.

This ad ran only a handful of times in CK magazine with the last appearance I could find occurring in September 1977.

As mentioned in my previous blog post, I'm kind of playing catch-up with older Oberheim ads, mostly because of my inexperience with their early polyphonic systems. But this ad strips the system down to the 'basic component' - the Synthesizer Expander Module, aka SEM. And I've always loved the SEM.

Vintagesynth.com has an SEM page with a bit of tech info if you want to learn more about the module, but basically the SEM was a keyboard-less monophonic synthesizer module, used to beef up the sound of other manufacturer's synthesizers. I always loved the sound of the SEM - and I can still recall the first time I heard one in my friend's basement. That same basement where I came across many of my first synthesizer catalogues and a certain someone's custom built modular synthesizer.

More importantly though, The SEM was also the building block to begin your journey to creating a polyphonic Two-, Four- and Eight-voice system. And as mentioned in the ad, if you already had one SEM and were ready to take the polyphonic plunge - no problem - you could even buy the entry-level Two-Voice system with only one SEM installed, so you could pop your SEM right in next to it.

According to synthmuseum.com's Two-Voice page, the original Oberheim Two-Voice started out as an incomplete Four-Voice with two SEM modules missing. The 'fixed-configuration' Two-Voice, as seen in the ad photo, didn't make it into production until 1976.

End note: I know I mentioned it before in a blog post I wrote about Oberheim's Ten Year Anniversary advertisement from 1980, but I thought I would expand a bit on Tom Oberheim's jump back into the synth business by reissuing his SEM module. To quote from his Web site:

"The new SEM is pretty much the same as the original, that is to say 100% analog! True voltage controlled oscillators, the classic SEM multi-mode filter, analog VCA, analog envelope generators and LFO. Did I say it is 100% analog? In fact, I made the circuitry as close to the original as possible."

According to the audiomidi.com Web site, a new SEM module, with midi-cv conversion, goes for $899.00 US. This ad tells us that an SEM in 1976 went for $695 - that converts to approximately $2200.00 US today.

Not a bad deal - time to pick one up! :o)

Oberheim 1976 family of products, Contemporary Keyboard 1976

Oberheim advertisement of its family of products including Oberheim Eight Voice, Four Voice, Two Voice and Expander Module synthesizers, and Mini-Sequencer and 144 Note Digital Sequencer from page 9 of Contemporary Keyboard magazine August 1976.

Oh, hello. Did I just walk in on an Oberheim family photo shoot? I think I'm dreaming.

This Oberheim advertisement is fabulous for a number of reasons.

1. It contains photos of numerous Oberheim gear from 1976.
   
2. It has historical value because it tells us when Oberheim started shipping gear - November 1975.
   
3. It name drops more famous musicians than your average ARP ad (although a future ARP blog post will show that Alan R. Pearlman is still the king...)
4. Did I mention all the gear?

Oberheim did another family photo a decade later - I still like to flip back and forth between the two ads to see just how far things have come in ten years. And I think it even beats Roland's family photo ad from 1978.

While doing some research for this post, I Googled 'oberheim history' and came across this 2008 Tom Oberheim interview on Synthopia that is over two and a half hours long. I'm afraid I never got any further in my research. :o)