Oberheim Prommer
Documentation on the Oberheim Prommer is thin. Nearly everything known about it traces back to what appears to be the same press release, posted in near-duplicate form. The record shows the Prommer was a stand-alone MIDI sampling device, introduced at the January 1985 NAMM show. It was designed by Marcus Ryle and Michel Doidic, who would later co-found Alesis, and it was developed while Oberheim was in the middle of financial difficulties.
It converted sampled sounds into data that could be burned into PROM chips, which were then used by Oberheim's DX/DMX drum machines. It also allowed the transfer of sounds from the Oberheim Xpander and Matrix-12 synthesizers. A user could sample a sound, store it on a chip, and load it into one of those instruments. The sampling module itself was built by Ensoniq.
Known specifications are limited but real:
- 256K RAM
- 8-bit resolution
- Sample rates: 5, 10, 20, and 40 kHz
- Maximum sampling time: 10.6 seconds at 5 kHz; 2.6 seconds at 20 kHz; 1.3 seconds at 40 kHz
The name is a bit of wordplay. Oberheim's own materials defined "prommer" as "a device which converts PROM chips to data, and data to PROM chips." A brief classified listing in Sound on Sound, December 1997, p.271 shows a used Prommer with 18 blank chips offered at £550, so the units were still circulating among sellers more than a decade after introduction. No production years, original price, or details on its user interface, power supply, or connectivity have surfaced. If you have a manual or firsthand experience with one, the archive would welcome the correction.
eBay Listings
As an eBay Partner, we earn from qualifying purchases. This helps support our independent vintage technology research.