1980. Oberheim releases the DMX - the second digital drum machine in history, after the Linn LM-1. Price: $2,895. Inside: 24 sounds from 11 original samples, 8-voice polyphony, eight individual outputs and EPROM chips on removable voice cards. The Oberheim DMX drum machine connected new wave and early hip-hop - and did it through one feature neither the 808 nor the LM-1 had: swing.
What is inside the DMX
According to Wikipedia, the Oberheim DMX is the second digital drum sampler on the commercial market. Samples are stored on EPROM chips placed on removable voice cards. Data format: 8-bit PCM with μ-law companding - companding expands the dynamic range to approximately 12 bits in the analog domain. The same technique was used by Linn Electronics and E-mu Systems. 24 individual sounds are produced from 11 original samples - some sounds are variations (for example, open and closed hi-hat from one sample with different envelope lengths).
Maximum 8-voice polyphony - one voice card per voice. Eight individual audio outputs allow each sound to be processed individually: kick on one channel, snare on another, and so on. This was a rare feature in 1980: the Roland TR-808 had individual outputs, but analog sound did not require such processing flexibility. The DMX, as a sampler, benefited from individual processing: each sample could be compressed, EQ'd and reverberated separately.
Eight individual outputs are not a luxury but a necessity. In 1980, studio processing was analog: each channel on the desk had its own EQ, compressor and reverb send. If all DMX sounds go through one mix output, the producer is limited to a shared EQ and shared reverb. With eight outputs, each sound gets its own chain: kick through a compressor for density, snare through reverb for space, hi-hat through EQ for brightness. This approach to individual processing became the standard of 80s studio production and remains the standard today.
Memory: 100 sequences and 50 songs. Sequences can be combined into songs - a function that turned the DMX from a drum machine into a mini-sequencer. The Oberheim Parallel Buss - a proprietary synchronisation system predating MIDI - allowed the DMX to be linked with other Oberheim gear. Later models included factory MIDI.
Swing: why the DMX grooves
Swing is the DMX's main innovation. According to the manual, swing alters the timing so that the first half of the beat gets more time, creating a "shuffling" feel. The default swing value is 50% (the first half of the beat gets 50% of the time). Increasing to 54-58% gives a light shuffle; 62-66% a pronounced triplet swing. This is the feature that connected the DMX to hip-hop: early hip-hop is built on a swinging beat, and the DMX delivered it out of the box.
The Roland TR-808 did not have swing in the modern sense - only accent on individual steps. The Linn LM-1 introduced shuffle, but the DMX elevated it to a dedicated parameter with direct control. When Run-D.M.C. recorded "Sucker M.C.'s" (1983), the swinging beat is, in large part, DMX swing. When Herbie Hancock recorded "Rockit" (1983), the same swing gave a hip-hop colour to an electronic track.
EPROM samples: a library on chips
Removable voice cards are the DMX's defining structural feature. Each EPROM chip contains a sample of one or more drum sounds. Producers could swap sets: buy a card with a different kick, a different snare, a different hi-hat. This created a secondary market: third-party companies manufactured and sold EPROM samples for the DMX, as sample packs are sold for DAWs today.
According to Wikipedia, the μ-law companding format gave the DMX a sound that was "punchy and realistic" - and this attracted producers in the nascent hip-hop scene. The DMX sounded different from the LM-1: different drum recordings, different processing, different colour. Producers chose the DMX not because it was better than the LM-1, but because it sounded different. The difference in samples is the difference in character.
Twelve known recordings on the DMX
According to Discogs and Wikipedia, the DMX appears on records that defined the 80s sound:
- New Order - "Blue Monday" (1983): one of the best-selling 12-inch singles of all time. DMX kick is the rhythm foundation.
- The Police - "Every Breath You Take" (1983): DMX kick only, layered over Stewart Copeland's live drums.
- Herbie Hancock - "Rockit" (1983): DMX beat under Grand Mixer D.ST's scratching.
- Run-D.M.C. - "Sucker M.C.'s" (1983): DMX swing as the foundation of early hip-hop.
- Run-D.M.C. - "It's Like That" (1983): the same DMX pattern, different track.
- Run-D.M.C. - "Hard Times" (1983): DMX on a beat that became a hip-hop template.
- The System - "You Are In My System" (1983): DMX in a synth-funk context.
- Cherelle - "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On" (1984): DMX in R&B production.
- Alexander O'Neal - "If You Were Here Tonight" (1985): DMX in Minneapolis soul.
- Phil Collins - 80s production: DMX used alongside LinnDrum.
- Madonna - early tracks: DMX in a pop context.
- Dancehall reggae - 80s: per Wikipedia, DMX in continuous use in the dancehall scene.
DMX versus DX: the stripped-down version
In 1983, Oberheim released the DX - a simplified DMX. Price: $1,395. 18 sounds instead of 24, 6-voice polyphony instead of 8, a four-digit 7-segment display instead of a 16-character alphanumeric one, fake plastic wood instead of walnut. But the DX kept the DMX's key feature - removable voice cards on EPROM. The DXa model added factory MIDI. The DX, like the DMX, was popular among early hip-hop artists and in dancehall reggae.
Later came the Stretch DX - an expansion with four additional voices. This was the last evolution of the line: by the late 80s, the Akai MPC and Roland TR-909 had occupied the niche the DMX/DX had held for five years.
Heritage: from DMX to MPC
The Oberheim DMX proved that a sampler with swappable sounds was a viable concept. EPROM cards became the prototype of sample packs: the producer bought not a drum machine but a platform onto which different sounds could be loaded. This principle underpinned the Akai MPC (1988) - the machine that defined hip-hop production for the next thirty years.
Today the DMX is a collector's artefact. The sound that once cost $2,895 is available as sample packs for DAWs. But the DMX character - punchy, dense, with a light swing - is not fully reproduced in software. The analog circuit after the DAC, the op-amps in the output stage, μ-law companding - all of this produces a sound that differs from a digital rip. As with synthesisers, original hardware sounds different from emulation. And the DMX is no exception. A digital sample on an analog path is not the same as a digital sample in a digital plugin.
Collector value of the DMX is rising. On Reverb.com, working units sell for $2,000-4,000 - more than the original price forty years ago. EPROM cards have become independent collector's items: rare sample sets, produced in limited runs by third-party companies, cost more than the machine itself. Collectors and producers seek not only original Oberheim cards but custom sets recorded in the 80s by enthusiasts on personal EPROM programmers.
In the Italian production scene, the DMX was used less often than the LinnDrum, not because it did not fit, but because Italian producers more often chose Linn due to established studio connections. However, DMX samples appeared in Italian tracks where an "American" sound was needed: a dense kick, a punchy snare, a warm clap. The difference between DMX and LinnDrum in a mix is the difference between hip-hop production and pop production, and Italians working at the intersection of both worlds sometimes chose the DMX.
Run-D.M.C., New Order, The Police, Herbie Hancock - four completely different artists, one instrument. The DMX connected them not by genre but by groove. The swing that Oberheim built into the machine in 1980 is still programmed in every hip-hop beat - only now the buttons are plastic, not aluminium. According to Wikipedia, the DMX remains in continuous use in dancehall reggae - a genre where a dense sample-based beat with swinging groove fits perfectly over Jamaican dub basslines. Jammy's, King Tubby, Sly & Robbie all used the DMX or DX in the 80s, and traces of that use are heard in modern dancehall, where DMX samples are still loaded into MPCs and Maschine. The rhythm patterns of the DMX remain in the production arsenal - and that may be the best epitaph for a machine that cost $2,895 and forever changed the sound of rhythm.