In the early 1980s Oberheim took aim at the Linn LM-1 and built a drum machine that quietly ended up on more classic records than almost anything else of its era. The DMX doesn't sample politely; it punches. Those crunchy 8-bit kicks, snappy snares, and that unmistakable handclap became the literal backbone of early hip hop and 80s new wave. New Order built "Blue Monday" on it. The Police used its kick on "Every Breath You Take". Run DMC, Prince, and the Thompson Twins all leaned on it. Twenty-four sounds across eight voices, each with its own tuning and output, plus swing, flams, and rolls to keep things human. This one has been serviced and sorted, ready to put the phattest drums in the room back to work.

FEATURES & PROS:

• That DMX Sound: Crunchy, punchy 8-bit samples that defined hip hop and new wave. Instantly recognisable, endlessly sampled.
• 24 Drum Sounds, 8 Voices: Eleven sampled instruments expanded to 24 tunable sounds, with true 8-voice polyphony, one voice per card.
• Individual Tuning Per Voice: Dial in the pitch and character of every drum, the trick behind countless signature kits.
• 8 Separate Outputs: Send each voice to its own channel for proper mixing, outboard processing, and re-sampling.
• Swing, Flams and Rolls: Built-in humanising tools that keep programmed beats from sounding stiff.
• Deep Sequencing: Up to 100 sequences and 50 songs on board for building full arrangements.
• Serviced and Sorted: Gone through with fresh diagnostics and EPROMs, playing exactly as it should.

AS USED BY

• New Order, "Blue Monday"
• The Police, "Every Breath You Take"
• Run-DMC, "Sucker M.C.'s" and "It's Like That"
• Madonna, "Holiday"
• Herbie Hancock, "Rockit"
• Phil Collins, "Sussudio"
• Davy DMX ("One For The Treble"), plus Prince and the Thompson Twins

THE WORD: Vintage Synth Explorer calls the DMX the original drum machine of hip hop and rap, the punchy heart behind records by Run DMC, Prince, and New Order. Read more at Vintage Synth Explorer.

SPECIFICATIONS

• Year: introduced 1980, produced into the mid-1980s
• Type: programmable digital (sample-based) drum machine
• Sounds: 24 drum sounds derived from 11 original samples
• Polyphony: 8 voices, one per voice card
• Outputs: 8 individual voice outputs plus mix output
• Sequencing: up to 100 sequences and 50 songs
• Tuning: individual pitch control per voice
• Interfacing: Oberheim Parallel Buss (pre-MIDI); later units and retrofits add MIDI
• Original list price: US$2,895 (1980)