Tom Oberheim
Thomas Elroy Oberheim (born July 7, 1936, Manhattan, Kansas), known as Tom Oberheim, is an American audio engineer and electronics engineer best known for designing effects processors, analog synthesizers, sequencers, and drum machines. He has been the founder of four audio electronics companies, most notably Oberheim Electronics. He was also a key figure in the development and adoption of the MIDI standard. He is also a trained physicist.[1]
Tom Oberheim
Jill Oberheim
Career[edit]
Maestro effects units[edit]
In 1969, the Chicago Musical Instruments Company (CMI) approached Oberheim about his ring modulator, wanting him to become one of their manufacturing contractors. Oberheim raised approximately $6,000 from friends to start Oberheim Electronics. (One of the original investors was Tony Russo, but Oberheim later returned Russo's investment at Russo's request.) Oberheim produced his ring modulator, which CMI marketed as the Maestro RM-1A. At the time, Oberheim was also spending time with the band Bryndle, and had developed a fascination with the sound of instruments being played through a Leslie rotary speaker. This inspired Oberheim to design and build a phase shifter effects unit to imitate that sound. Maestro marketed the phase shifter as the PS-1. The PS-1 was a huge success, selling nearly 25,000 units over the next three years. Oberheim went on to design other products for Maestro, including the Universal Synthesizer for guitars.[2][3]
Breakfast Club[edit]
Oberheim was a core member of an informal discussion group which met weekly in a Berkeley coffeehouse. The group's initial name, "The Dead Presidents Society", originated from the fact that most members were formerly presidents of companies that had gone out of business. Other notable innovators in technology and music who made up the group were Don Buchla, John Chowning, John Lazzaro, Ingrid Linn, Roger Linn, Max Mathews, Keith McMillen, Dave Smith and David Wessel.[25] The group shed the "Dead Presidents" name when it opened up to other members including professors from Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley. Its new name is the Breakfast Club.[26] With the coming of the COVID-19 pandemic, Breakfast Club meetings shifted to Zoom teleconferencing. This allowed for the introduction of other music technology innovators who are geographically removed from Berkeley.