GForce Oberheim Bundle Review: Seven Oberheims, One Licence

May 18, 2025

Seven Oberheims, One Licence

Tom Oberheim's synths have a sound you can pick out of a mix in two bars: wide, brassy and slightly unruly. Buying the hardware means second mortgages and service bills. GForce's Oberheim Bundle puts seven officially endorsed recreations on one licence, and the question is whether you need all seven or just one of them.

GForce Oberheim OB-X synth plugin in a studio scene

What's In The Bundle

GForce currently lists seven instruments in the bundle:

Oberheim SEM: the Synthesizer Expander Module, the monophonic building block everything else here grew out of
Oberheim TVS Pro: two SEMs side by side with a dual 16-step sequencer, the duophonic one
Oberheim OB-E v2: GForce's take on the 8-Voice, eight SEMs under one keyboard
Oberheim OB-EZ: the OB-E sound in a simpler, faster interface
Oberheim OB-1: the 1978 programmable mono synth, turned polyphonic
Oberheim OB-X: the big 80s polysynth
Oberheim DMX: the early 80s sample-based drum machine

GForce quotes over 2,000 patches across the set.

The Sound And The Architecture

The SEM is the root of it. Two oscillators with saw and pulse waves, two ADS envelopes, an LFO and that state-variable multimode filter, which is the real Oberheim signature. It's a 12dB/oct design, so it's gentler and more open than a Moog-style ladder. Basses come out round rather than heavy, and pads stay wide without eating the low end. GForce's SEM keeps the simplicity and adds enough modulation to make it useful in a modern track.

GForce Oberheim SEM synth plugin interface

The OB-E is where it gets interesting. Eight SEM voices, each subtly different and individually programmable, so a chord doesn't sound like one patch copied eight times. That voice-to-voice variation is a large part of why the 8-Voice sounds so big, and GForce have kept it. The OB-EZ is the same engine with a stripped-down front panel for when you just want the sound without the programming. The OB-E can load SEM and OB-EZ presets, and the SEM can load individual voices from OB-E patches, which makes the three of them feel like one system.

The OB-X is the polished, punchy one. It's the sound of early 80s synth pop and rock, all fat brass and stabs, and GForce's version adds modern extras without losing the character. The OB-1 widens things out: the original was a mono synth with eight patch memories, while GForce's plugin runs up to 16 voices, with sub-oscillators, cross-mod and sync, an arpeggiator and a small three-lane sequencer. It has more bite than the SEM-based instruments, which is why it tends to land in techno and electro.

The DMX is the odd one out. It's a drum machine, built from the original's sampled sounds, with 288 DMX and DX sounds across 60-odd kits. If you grew up on early hip hop and 80s pop, you'll know those snares the moment you hear them.

GForce Oberheim DMX drum machine plugin mixer

What It's Good At

Range, mostly. Between them these cover mono bass, duophonic sequenced lines, lush poly pads, 80s brass and a vintage drum kit, all with a shared sonic family. Put an OB-E pad under an OB-X lead and an OB-1 bass and the parts sit together in a way that mixing three unrelated synths doesn't always manage.

The patch libraries are deep and properly categorised, and the cross-loading between SEM, OB-E and OB-EZ means sounds aren't trapped in one plugin. Everything also runs standalone as well as in a DAW, which is handy for a quick noodle without booting a project.

GForce Oberheim OB-X patch browser

Where It Falls Short

There's overlap. The OB-EZ is the OB-E with a friendlier face, so if you're comfortable with the full OB-E you'll rarely open it. The SEM and TVS Pro also cover a lot of the same ground.

The DMX has no built-in sequencer, so you program your patterns in the DAW piano roll. GForce include a stack of MIDI pattern files, which helps, but it's a strange gap on a drum machine. A few of the factory libraries, the OB-1's in particular, also lean quite hard on the effects, so it's worth switching them off to hear what the raw engine is doing.

And the obvious one: if you only want one of these sounds, the individual plugin will be cheaper. The bundle only makes sense if you'll use at least three or four of them.

Who It's For

Synthwave and 80s pop producers will get the most out of the OB-X and OB-E. Techno and electro producers should look at the OB-1 and TVS Pro, which have more grit and a sequencer each. Film and TV composers will like the OB-E's pads, which fill a room without turning to mush. If you already own one GForce Oberheim and keep eyeing the others, this is the sensible route.

Specifications

Includes: Oberheim OB-X, OB-E v2, SEM, OB-EZ, DMX, OB-1 and TVS Pro
Patches: OB-E 700+, OB-X 400+, SEM 400+, OB-1 300+, OB-EZ 260+, TVS Pro 635+, over 2,000 in total
OB-E loads SEM and OB-EZ presets; SEM loads individual SEM voices from OB-E
Formats: Standalone, AU, AAX, VST2 and VST3
Mac: Intel or Apple Silicon, macOS 10.15 or later, 8GB RAM
Windows: Intel i5, Ryzen 5 or equivalent, Windows 7 or later, 8GB RAM

Get the sound: GForce Software - The Oberheim Bundle