Oberheim DMX

The **Oberheim DMX** is a programmable drum machine with samples, released in November 1981. Sting and Stewart Copeland owned one each.

## Sting's Oberheim DMX

According to Jeff Seitz, the Oberheim DMX used on "Every Breath You Take" was Sting's own, rather than Stewart's as initially thought (provided he used one on the Synchronicity tour). It's the only song on the whole record to be sequenced on a drum machine. Initially there were other DMX drum guide parts, but what's left on the record is the kick drum beat; Stewart Copeland overdubbed all the other drum parts on top of the kick.

Stewart particularly noted that Sting had bonded with the Oberheim DMX hi-hat sound, but the former insisted on playing the hi-hat part himself. In the *Stewart Copeland: Drumming With The Police And Beyond*, he even seems to recall that he'd do a hi-hat part and then Sting would replace it with one off the Oberheim and this went sort of back and forth until Stewart got his way.

As further proof, Sting is heard saying "Dennis" in the count-in to "Every Breath You Take" on the multitrack, referring to the DMX drum machine; "Dennis" was known to be a moniker Sting affectionately gave to whatever drum machines he owned (namely the Roland CR-78 CompuRhythm), which he normally used to record demos whenever a drummer (i.e. Stewart) wasn't available. In the case of "Every Breath You Take", the Oberheim DMX part was perhaps intended as a click track for the band to play to during recording.

Sting also took a complete Oberheim system with him to write songs during filming of *Dune* in mid-1983.

The Oberheim DMX was later replaced by the Linn LinnDrum when Sting started using the Synclavier.

**References**

* Jeff Seitz
* Every Breath You Take multitrack
* Sting & Jools Holland interview ("Dennis" nickname info)
* Stewart Copeland Music Radar interview
* *Stewart Copeland: Drumming In The Police And Beyond* (Hudson Music, 2021)
* 1983 photo

## Stewart Copeland's Oberheim DMX

The **Oberheim DMX** was Stewart Copeland's preferred drum machine during the early-to-mid 1980s. The *Rumblefish* soundtrack was one of the first of his projects to feature that drum machine; the one used on the record belonged to Tres Virgos studio, where he recorded the soundtrack. It's unclear if he had his own Oberheim DMX by that point, but diary entries suggest he possibly bought one as early as 9 October 1982 as part of the Oberheim system (which also included the OB-8 and DSX sequencer).

Stewart later used his own DMX to program drum rhythms to accompany sequences Sting wrote on the sequencer, and keep in time with those during performances on the *Synchronicity* tour. On tour, the DMX was synchronised to Sting's DSX sequencer for "Synchronicity I", "Walking In Your Footsteps", "King Of Pain" and "Wrapped Around Your Finger". Stewart gave the drum machine the moniker of "Mr. Oberheim" for some time. For all Oberheim equipment on the tour (the DMX included), data cassettes were used to reprogram them for each song.

The Oberheim DMX was also used for the *Rhythmatist* album and probably the first series of *The Equalizer* - it was synced to the Fairlight CMI with a Friendchip SRC (an SMPTE Reading Clock).

The Oberheim DMX was replaced with the newer Linn 9000 in 1985/86.

### References

* *Down Beat*, May 1984
* Jeff Seitz
* Various
* The PoliceWiki