In 1975, Tom Oberheim expanded on his groundbreaking SEM by creating the TVS (Two Voice Synthesizer), a pioneering duophonic instrument that combined two SEMs and keyboard. This design allowed musicians to play two voices simultaneously, opening up new realms of sound exploration. Over 40 years later, Tom released the TVS Pro, an enhanced version of this iconic synthesizer, adding modern features like an advanced step sequencer and expanded modulation options, bringing the TVS's rich legacy into contemporary music production. The TVS and TVS Pro have been used by an array of incredible artists, including Martin Gore, Adrian Utley, Peter Baumann, Lorn, The Prodigy, and Nils Frahm.
Oberheim TVS Pro sports our advanced preset browser. Presets are great starting points for producing a track or designing new sounds. The browser lets you quickly and easily find the sound you want thanks to the classification of the patches. You can also start sound design from our “Init” (i.e. basic) patch.
TVS Pro contains two individual Synthesizer Expander Modules (or SEMs). Each can be programmed entirely separately to the other for two totally different voices.
The front panel of the GForce Oberheim SEM resembles the additional hardware and contains the core sound generating elements. In the bottom right corner of each SEM is a triangular tab. Click this to view the SEM’s back panel and more advanced features we’ve added to the classic SEM design.
In between the two SEMs are the Group and Offset edit buttons. With Group enabled, moving a control on one SEM will also adjust the same control on the other SEM. The controls are locked together and have the same value. Affected knobs are highlighted Green.
With Offset enabled, the SEMs are linked as they are in group, but the relative difference of the parameters on each SEM is maintained. Affected knobs are highlighted Orange
Key to understanding TVS Pro are the keyboard modes. Are are 17 preset modes that put the keyboard, 2 sequencers and 2 SEMs in set configurations. A map of each configuration is displayed on the mode screen. More detail on the modes can be found in the Keyboard Modes page.
TVS Pro contains two views. You can toggle between them with the changing sequencer or knobs icon in the header bar, or via the SEQ/FX switch above the keyboard.
TVS Pro SEM View
The initial view displays the two SEMs, and a reduced control set for the sequencers and FX. This is the SEMs View.
Switching the view will hide the SEMs in favour of showing all sequencer and FX controls at once. We call this the Sequencer View.
TVS Pro Sequencer View