The original Oberheim DMX is a sample-based instrument. Samples are programmed on EPROMs (Electronically Programmable Read Only Memory). Interestingly, thanks to Oberheim Prommer, users could program and swap the EPROMs for their own samples/EPROMs as well as purchase official and third party alternative sounds, or swap EPROMs between popular drum machines of the day.
We’ve had to do a bit of exploration to reconstitute the original DMX (1981) sound set as well as the later DMX set (1983) and the DX. We’ve added some Sequential Drumtraks sounds as played by a DMX. We’ve complemented it all with alternatives of our own.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| DMX Kick A | The classic DMX Kick sound. Unlike other sounds the kick was never updated with a new longer sound and this sound featured on the DMX and DX. We provide two versions from different DMX’s. DMX A is a bit more scooped. |
| DMX Kick B | The classic DMX Kick sound. Unlike other sounds the kick was never updated with a new longer sound and this sound featured on the DMX and DX. We provide two versions from different DMX’s. DMX B carries more mid-range punch. |
| DMX Kick (Clas) | The DMX A kick with analogue 80s EQ and tape processing. |
| DMX Kick (Mod) | The DMX B kick with digital EQ and other enhancements. |
| DMXTraks Kick | The Sequential Circuits DrumTraks kick put in an Oberheim DMX. |
| Electric Kick | Powerful electronic kick. An original Oberheim alternative sound. |
| Beat Kick | Crushed and dirty. An original Oberheim alternative sound. |
| Shot | A gunshot sound effect, we think. Works as a kick. An original Oberheim alternative sound. |
| DMX Kick (Taped) | A DMX kick resampled through a small, degrading tape machine. |
| DMX Kick (Lo-Fo) | A DMX Kick resampled through vintage value gear and totally blown out. |
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| DMX Snare A | The early DMX Snare sound from DMX A. |
| DMX Snare B | The early DMX Snare sound from DMX B. |
| DMX Snare C | The DMX Snare sound from a third DMX. We like the longer tail and present it as a bit of an unknown quantity. |
| DX Snare A | A later DMX/DX snare played with DMX A. |
| DX Snare B | A later DMX/DX snare played with a DX |
| DMX Snare A (Clas) | The DMX Snare A with analogue 80s EQ and tape processing. |
| DMX Snare B (Mod) | The DMX Snare B with digital EQ and other enhancements. |
| DMX Snare C (Mod) | The DMX Snare C with digital EQ and other enhancements. |
| DMXTraks Snare | The Sequential Circuits DrumTraks snare put in an Oberheim DMX. |
| Electric Snare | Powerful electronic snare. An original Oberheim alternative sound. This is original sound found in the Dead or Alive DMX we worked with |
| Beat Snare | Crushed and dirty. An original Oberheim alternative sound. |
| Fat Snare | Meaty Snare. An original Oberheim alternative sound. |
| Punch | A punch sound effect. Works as a snare An original Oberheim alternative sound. |
| Reggae Snare | A snare with more tone and less snares. An original Oberheim alternative sound. |
| DMX Snare (Taped) | A DMX snare resampled through a small, degrading tape machine. |
| DMX Snare (Lo-Fo) | A DMX snare resampled through vintage value gear and totally blown out. |
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| DMX Hi-Hats A | The classic DMX Hi-Hats sound from DMX A. |
| DMX Hi-Hats B | The classic DMX Hi-Hats sound from our early DMX sound set on DMX B |
| DX Hi-Hats | Later DX style hi-hats. |
| DMX Hi-Hats (Clas) | The DMX hi-hats with analogue 80s EQ and tape processing. |
| DMX Hi-Hats (Mod) | The DMX hats with digital EQ and other enhancements. |
| DMXTraks Hi-Hats | The Sequential Circuits DrumTrak hihats put in an Oberheim DMX. |
| Long Hats | A longer decaying hi-hats that took up multiple EPROMs. An original Oberheim alternative sound. |
| White Noise | We accidentally wrote white noise to an EPROM. It sounded kind of neat. Here it is. |
| DMX Hi-Hats (Taped) | DMX hi-hats resampled through a small, degrading tape machine. |
| DMX Hi-Hats (Lo-Fo) | DMX hi-hats resampled through vintage value gear and totally blown out. |
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| DMX Small Toms A | The original DMX Small Toms sound found on early DMXs. This is a very short sound restricted by the size of the chip. Available in 3 pitches. From DMX A |
| DMX Small Toms B | The original DMX Small Toms sound found on early DMXs. This is a very short sound restricted by the size of the chip. Available in 3 pitches. From DMX B |
| DMX High Toms A | The later DMX Toms sound also found on the DX. The new voice card had bigger storage space and this longer sound takes advantage to have a more natural tom decay. Unlike the early DMX, the later models only had one toms sound with 6 available pitches, as opposed to two different sound with 3 pitches each. |
| DMX High Toms B | The later DMX Toms sound also found on the DX. The new voice card had bigger storage space and this longer sound takes advantage to have a more natural tom decay. Unlike the early DMX, the later models only had one toms sound with 6 available pitches, as opposed to two different sound with 3 pitches each. |
| DMX Small Toms (Clas) | The DMX small tom with analogue 80s EQ and tape processing. |
| DMX High Toms (Clas) | The DMX high toms with analogue 80s EQ and tape processing. |
| DMX High Toms (Mod) | The DMX Toms 2 with digital EQ and other enhancements. |
| DMXTraks Toms (High) | DrumTraks Toms played through the DMX, Same sound in 6 pitches across the two toms channels. |
| DMX Conga | The older, shorter, slightly noisier conga. An original Oberheim alternative sound. |
| DX Conga | A newer, longer, cleaner conga. An original Oberheim alternative sound. |
| Electric High Toms | Electric Toms in 6 pitches across the two toms channels. An original Oberheim alternative sound. |
| High Long Noise | Pitched noise drops. An original Oberheim alternative sound. |
| DMX Small Toms (Taped) | DMX small toms resampled through a small, degrading tape machine. |
| DMX Small Toms (Lo-Fi) | DMX small toms resampled through vintage value gear and totally blown out. |
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| DMX Floor Toms A | The original DMX Large Toms sound found on early DMXs. This is a very short sound restricted by the size of the chip. Available in 3 pitches. |
| DMX Floor Toms B | The original DMX Large Toms sound found on early DMXs. This is a very short sound restricted by the size of the chip. Available in 3 pitches. |
| DMX Low Toms A | The later DMX Toms sound also found on the DX. The voice new card had bigger storage space and this longer sound takes advantage to have a more natural tom decay. Unlike the early DMX, the later models had one tom sound with 6 available pitches, as opposed to two different sound with 3 pitches each. |
| DMX Low Toms B | The later DMX Toms sound also found on the DX. The voice new card had bigger storage space and this longer sound takes advantage to have a more natural tom decay. Unlike the early DMX, the later models had one tom sound with 6 available pitches, as opposed to two different sound with 3 pitches each. |
| DMX Low Toms (Clas) | The DMX low toms with analogue 80s EQ and tape processing. |
| DMX Floor Toms (Clas) | The DMX floor toms with analogue 80s EQ and tape processing. |
| DMX Low Toms (Mod) | The DMX Toms 2 with digital EQ and other enhancements. |
| DMXTraks Low Toms | DrumTraks Toms played through the DMX. Same sound in 6 pitches across the two toms channels. |
| Low Electric Toms | Electric Toms in 6 pitches across the two toms channels. An original Oberheim alternative sound. |
| Low Long Noise | Pitched noise drops. An original Oberheim alternative sound. |
| DMX Timbale | A cutting timbale drum, a bit rough around the edges. An original Oberheim alternative sound. |
| DMX Floor Toms (Taped) | DMX floor toms resampled through a small, degrading tape machine. |
| DMX Floor Toms (Lo-Fi) | DMX floor toms resampled through vintage value gear and totally blown out. |
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| DMX Cymbals A | Like the toms, the DMX cymbals also benefited from an upgraded longer sound during its lifetime. This is the shorter early DMX cymbals. Two rides and a crash. |
| DMX Cymbals B | Like the toms, the DMX cymbals also benefited from an upgraded longer sound during its lifetime. This is the shorter early DMX cymbals. Two rides and a crash. |
| DMX New Cymbals B | The later, longer, DMX Cymbals. From DMX B. |
| DMX Cymbals (Clas) | The DMX cymbals with analogue 80s EQ and tape processing. |
| DMX New Cymbals (Mod) | The DMX Cymbals 1 with digital EQ, time stretching, and other enhancements. |
| DMXTraks Cymbals | DrumTraks Cymbals played through the DMX. |
| DMX Cymbals (Taped) | DMX cymbals resampled through a small, degrading tape machine. |
| DMX Cymbals (Lo-Fi) | DMX cymbals resampled through vintage value gear and totally blown out. |
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| DMX Perc 1 A | Two tambourine strikes and the rimshot. Early DMX A |
| DMX Perc 1 B | Two tambourine strikes and the rimshot. Early DMX B |
| DX Tamb & Rim | A different tambourine and rimshot set. The DX only had one percussion slot, normally a shaker and handclap, however these sounds could be inserted or played via a Stretch DX. They also were available on DMX. |
| DMX Perc 1 (Clas) | The DMX perc 1 with analogue 80s EQ and tape processing. |
| DMX Perc 1 (Mod) | The DMX Perc 1 with digital EQ and other enhancements. |
| DMXTraks Perc 1 | Although the DrumTraks had a different percussion set to the DMX, these are the matched sounds from the former played through the DMX. |
| Cowbell and Clave 1 | Original Oberheim alternative sounds. These ones sound older, presumably early DMX |
| Cowbell and Clave 2 | And these ones sound newer. Presumably DX sort of time. |
| Bones & Scratch | 2 DJs and a… skeleton? These were original Oberheim alternative sounds. |
| Layered Perc 1 | A mix of DMX, DX and DMXTraks percussion 1 sounds layered together and slightly offset. |
| DMX Perc 1 (Taped) | DMX perc 1 resampled through a small, degrading tape machine. |
| DMX Perc 1 (Lo-Fi) | DMX perc 1 resampled through vintage value gear and totally blown out. |
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| DMX Perc 2 A | Two shakers and the newer DMX Claps. |
| DMX Perc 2 B | Two shakers and the newer DMX Claps. |
| DMX Old Perc 2 | Two different shakers and the old DMX Claps. |
| DX Perc | The Oberheim DX only had one Percussion channel, this is it. Like many of the newer DX sounds, they were also readily available on later DMXs |
| DMX Perc 2 (Clas) | The DMX perc 2 with analogue 80s EQ and tape processing. |
| DMX Perc 2 (Mod) | The new sounds with digital EQ and other enhancements. |
| DX Perc (Clas) | The DX perc with analogue 80s EQ and tape processing. |
| DMX Click & Clap | The click sound is a sort of electric zap noise. Clap sounds the same as the newer DMX one. |
| DMXTraks Perc 2 | DrumTraks Cabasa and Claps played through the DMX. |
| Layered Perc 2 | A mix of DMX, DX and DMXTraks percussion 2 sounds layered together and slightly offset. |
| DMX Perc 2 (Taped) | DMX perc 2 resampled through a small, degrading tape machine. |
| DMX Perc 2 (Lo-Fi) | DMX perc 2 resampled through vintage value gear and totally blown out. |