Thomas Elroy Oberheim

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Thomas Elroy Oberheim (Manhattan, KS, 7 July 1936), known as Tom Oberheim, is the inventor of the first polyphonic music synthesizer.

He has been the founder of three audio electronics companies. The companies are Oberheim, Marion Systems & Seasound. He participated in the development of the MIDI standard.

In 1987, after the sale of the Oberheim company, Tom Oberheim created the company Marion Systems (named after his daughter Emily Marion) the new company specialized, once again, in sound products. The first product was a 12-bit to 16-bit option for Akai's S900 sampler. Marion Systems was formerly in Santa Monica and later Lafayette in California. After the end of Marion Systems, Tom developed Seasound.

Oberheim was born and raised in Manhattan, Kansas.