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Average Price: $12
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Description
Immerse yourself in the rhythmic legacy of the Oberheim DMX, a drum machine that captures the essence of iconic 80s beats while embracing modern musical innovations. Revered as a cornerstone in the evolution of electronic music, the DMX returns with a blend of vintage soundscapes and contemporary enhancements. This isn't merely a drum machine; it's a tribute to the rhythm revolutionaries of the past, now reimagined for today's creative minds.
The DMX is famed for its authentic, crystal-clear vintage sound, bringing timeless drum samples to your fingertips. Dive into its intuitive layout, where creative control meets simplicity. Whether you're a seasoned professional or a budding DJ, the DMX invites you to explore its depths with ease.
Craft the beats of legends like New Order and Madonna, or explore new territories by manipulating classic sounds with modern precision. With comprehensive control over each track—adjust pitch, decay, and apply lush reverb or analogue-style delay—your creative potential is limitless. On the master channel, leverage multi-mode filters, distortion, and compression to sculpt your sound with the warmth and character only vintage gear can offer.
Step into the future with a drum machine that honors its historic roots, yet is equipped to propel your music forward. The Oberheim DMX is not just about making beats; it's about telling a story through rhythm.
Key Features:
- Authentic Oberheim DMX, DX, and Sequential Drumtraks sound kits
- Individual track controls: Solo, Mute, Delay sends, Reverb send, Pitch, Decay, Pan, and Gain
- Master channel with multi-mode filter, distortion, and compressor
- Over 70 classic MIDI files included
- Programmable MIDI CC response with MIDI Learn
- Fully-scalable user interface
- Supports Mac and PC, with compatibility for various plugin formats including AudioUnit, AAX, VST, and VST3
Product specs
| Brand | Oberheim |
| Model | DMX 8-Voice Drum Machine |
| Finish | Blue with Wood Sides |
| Year | 1981 |
| Categories | Drum Machines |
| Analog / Digital | Digital |
| Polyphony | 8 Voices |
FAQs
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What are the standout features of the Oberheim DMX drum machine?
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The Oberheim DMX is renowned for its authentic vintage drum machine sounds, intuitive interface, and iconic beats. It features 288 drum sounds and classic MIDI files, making it a staple in the production of tracks by artists like New Order, Madonna, and Run-DMC.
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Is the Oberheim DMX suitable for creating hip-hop beats?
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Yes, the Oberheim DMX is highly suitable for hip-hop beats. It's historically significant in the genre, having been used by pioneering artists like Run-DMC and Public Enemy, thanks to its raw, unprocessed sounds that are quintessential to hip-hop production.
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How many voices of polyphony does the Oberheim DMX support?
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The Oberheim DMX supports 8-voice polyphony, allowing it to play multiple drum sounds simultaneously, which is ideal for complex rhythm patterns and layering in music production.
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What is the sound signature of the Oberheim DMX drum machine?
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The Oberheim DMX is known for its raw, unprocessed sound signature that delivers authentic vintage drum machine tones. This sound quality has been a defining characteristic in numerous classic tracks across various music genres.
Videos
SynthMania
Ten classic Oberheim DMX patterns
Reviews
Owner Insights
We analyzed real musician discussions from forums and Reddit to find what players love, question, and tweak about Oberheim DMX.
Features and functionality
Mods and upgrades
User experience
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Users find the DMX's programming to be fiddly rather than hard, with a unique drift in its output that's difficult to replicate digitally.
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Electribe sampler may experience timing issues when handling too many samples simultaneously, affecting sync during playback.
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Some users find a DMX for $100 to be a great deal, even if repairs are necessary, especially if key sounds like snare, clap, and kick are functional.
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Comparisons
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The DMX's sound quality is compared favorably to iconic units like the 808 and MPC, offering a distinctive audio experience unmatched by plugins.
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The mixing differences and DAC behavior in the DMX can alter sound when multiple hits play together, unlike samplers where sounds are mixed post-DAC.
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Software and compatibility
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Owners often use DMX samples in modern DAWs or hardware samplers like the MPC, maintaining the vintage sound in a contemporary setup.
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Value and pricing
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The Machinedrum, an alternative for DMX sound, is currently priced at $600, offering a cost-effective option for enthusiasts.
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Critic Reviews
4.5 out of 5
Based on 1 Review and 12 Ratings
417
Essential Drum Machine?
Well, looking at how expensive these get to be in 2021, it's easy to think that we're talking about a great drum machine. But what makes this one a great drum machine in my own perspective?
The first element would be; reliability. So essentially this is a somewhat durable early 80s drum machine, one of the first digital drum machines in fact, face to face with competing Linn, but again more reliable.
Second it has some pretty iconic sounds build in by default, even if somewhat limited in numbers they are all very recognizable and useful sounds. Add to that the powerful separated outputs that really are the jewel crown of this unit. Plugged into a decent mixer, this machine is a beast! The sounds are all tunable and they always sound nice and crisp and basically perfect.
I also have a Sequential Tom, and if you were to compare this with a Tom, basically DON't!!! A Tom is really a baby toy compared to a DMX or even a DX. Very very different approach here, even if one might think; oh just triggering drum sounds, and the buttons look, the same... Nowhere near. Again this has to do with he approach, concept and how you can execute with the unit, and not the actual features of it, and finally how it actually sounds in a mixer, which in this case the DMX is not comparable. Great PSU, powerful clean audio, and a design that is simple and efficient and those sounds are just excellent.
There are other sounds you could probably swap in, if any that are of decent quality, the unit will make them shine, and there's bound to be a nice tuning for them. The drawback one might think is that the pitch options are inside, but that's why the screws are thumb, to manually do them. Some people just leave the lid unscrewed all the time, which is another way to attack this. So if the DX also gets some love it would obviously be for the tuning knobs on the back (but they are in the back after all so how do you know you have the right one ? Check out LookMomNoComputer as he actually ported the tuning knobs to the top ... So anyhow can't go wrong!
Cheers
26711
Is this really the first-ever review of a DMX here? Wow. Great write up, btw.
Artist usage
Add artist
Used on Discovery, as stated in this May 1, 2001 Remix interview.
You've also broken away from the standard house music instrumentation. For example, you used Oberheim and Linn drum machines on several songs instead of the usual 808 and 909.
Bangalter: We used an Oberheim DMX and a Linn drum a lot. There is a Sequential Circuits Drum Tracks on “Short Circuit.” It's not like we're going against what other people are doing. We're just opening up the music to new ideas. The instrument itself is not as important as the way we use it. Instruments come with certain instructions in the manual, and many people can't look beyond those rules. People ask us why we like to use vocoders or electric keyboards from the '60s, but to us instruments are just tools. The idea is more important than the instrument. One of the cool things about the house music spirit is that it inspired musicians to use instruments for things they weren't designed to do.
This article on the making of Marr's 2018 Call the Comet album by MixOnline.com touches on some of the gear used during the recording process. "An example of this is 'Walk Into the Sea,' where the Oberheim DMX drum machine, rather than a Roland 808 or 909, is used and then put through pedals with echo—what Marr thinks of as an 'Industrial North' approach."
"Classic drum machine. It has different tones, different accents. So what I do is I program something before, like two or three sequences, and then just play around with it. What I like a lot is really about those live sessions you can do. Maybe not so many possibilities with this one because it's quite simple."
”We used a lot of the stuff that we used on our first couple of records: sequencers, Akai samplers, MPCs, old E-Mu drum machines. ”
"If we're disregarding any computers here just for this Q, I would give the mpc1000 a good exercise with its JJOS now n then. Our RS integrator is a worthy distraction too. DMX has always been there for me too."
Rob Brown on WATTM AAA
Was used on "Future Shock" album (1983), according to Herbie Hancock’s Electronic Instrument Glossary (2016-09 from liner notes of 2013):
Oberheim DMX – A programmable, digital drum machine released in 1981 that featured 24 individual drum sounds and eight-sound polyphony. Michael Beinhorn used this instrument on the 1983 album Future Shock.
Stewart Copeland has used an Oberheim DMX drum machine (available at the time at Tres Virgos studio facility) to record the Rumble Fish soundtrack in March 1983. He later used the DMX to program drum rhythms for the sequences Sting wrote in Los Angeles for the Synchronicity tour in order to keep in time with them, and clocked the DMX to Sting's DSX sequencer live on "Synchronicity I", "Walking In Your Footsteps", "King Of Pain" and "Wrapped Around Your Finger". He referred to it as "Mr. Oberheim". Source: The PoliceWiki, Down Beat May 1984, Jeff Seitz
Stewart had this to say about the DMX in Home Studio Recording magazine:
I've been using the Oberheim DMX up till now, and that in my opinion has the best sound, the best bass drum and the best snare sound. The cymbals on all of them are crap, you need to overdub live cymbals for that. But the triggering and so on, where you put down a trigger track on channel 1 and then you can overdub anything you want just by syncing it back in, are great. In the old days you would have to record your drum box first, then put everything else on top of it. Now you record just 4 beats in a bar and a sync pulse track.
983 Computer (G.D.S., PPG, Fairlight), much better effect devices, Oberheim DMX, custom made EEH rhythm-computer, EMT plate reverb.
In this interview, Stephen is asked, "The acquisition of your first digital drum machine in the beloved Oberheim DMX of course gave you Blue Monday. It must have been like night and day compared with your Boss Dr Rhythm but how was it trying to synch up this state of the art technology with the Polysequencers in those pre-MIDI days." He replies, "It was fine, I never had a problem with synching it up because it was just a clock really. I have honestly come full circle and getting back into it again now."
Album Usage
The Oberheim DMX has been featured on the following albums:
Gentō
Steve Rothery & Thorsten Quaeschning (2025)
The Last Kumite (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Paul Hertzog (2024)
Living on Video
Trans-X (2019)
Call The Comet
Johnny Marr (2018)
Walk Into The Sea
Johnny Marr (2018)
Synthwaves
Ulrich Schnauss & Thorsten Quaeschning (2017)
Every Breath You Take (KHURSOR Remix)
Sting & Sting (2014)
Discovery
Daft Punk & Daft Punk (2001)
Rumble Fish (Original Soundtrack)
Stewart Copeland & Stewart Copeland (1992)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Remastered 2017)
Brad Fiedel (1991)
Blue Monday
New Order (1983)
The Art Of Falling Apart
Soft Cell (1983)
Synchronicity (Remastered 2003)
The Police (1983)
Future Shock
Herbie Hancock (1983)
Whammy!
The B-52's (1983)
The Message
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five & Grandmaster Melle Mel (1982)
Genre Usage
Based on how artists on Equipboard use this gear, it is most commonly found in the following genres.
Used With
Based on how musicians on Equipboard use Oberheim DMX, it is most commonly used with the following gear.
Similar
Add recommendation5 alternative and related items for Oberheim DMX, curated by the Equipboard community.
In addition to emulating the Linn LM-1, VProm can also load and play back the all the original 8-bit ROM files of the Oberheim DX, DMX, and any file created by an Oberheim Prommer.
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