“I can’t talk about it, but it’s keeping me busy”: Tom Oberheim is working on a “little project” – could a new synth be on the way?Age is just a number…
Tom Oberheim, the namesake of the legendary Oberheim synthesizers that have been used in classic hits such as Van Halen’s Jump, Rush’s Tom Sawyer, and Prince’s Let’s Go Crazy, just turned 90 years old. But he’s far from done building.
In a new interview with MusicTech, Oberheim says, “I do also have a little project, which I can’t talk about but it’s keeping me busy.”

READ MORE: Tom Oberheim: “The history books say I was involved in creating MIDI – that’s such a joke”

Oberheim holds himself to silence on it for the rest of the interview, but it’s an exciting development for him. Not just because of his longevity (he makes it clear he will never retire), but because he hasn’t spent the last 47 years just making synths. He’s been on a long, arduous journey with these instruments.
Oberheim launched the OB-X, which is responsible for the unforgettable synth hooks in the three aforementioned songs, at the NAMM show in Atlanta in 1979. That came in the midst of a fierce run for the company, also releasing the DMX drum machine, the OB-Xa, and the OB-8 within the span of seven years.
Since then, the company went bankrupt. Oberheim lost the naming rights to his lawyer, whom he later sued for malpractice. Then Gibson purchased the brand, which sent Oberheim to work in Silicon Valley completely away from synthesizers.
“I decided in the mid-90s that it was time for me to go to work and pay the mortgage on the house,” Oberheim says.
Decades later, Oberheim recouped the rights to his name, which Focusrite later purchased alongside a distribution deal with Sequential. Under this arrangement, the TEO-5, OB-X8 and OB-6 have all been released to the public.
It sounds cliché, but it’s the simple joy of the work that keeps him going:
“Do the work you love, and combine that with what you like to do that isn’t work.”
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