Oberheim Matrix-12

The most ambitious analogue synthesiser Oberheim ever made, Matrix-12, reborn with modern power. Twelve voices, a fifteen-mode filter and Matrix Modulation, with the routing map printed on the panel because no screen could show it. Rare, heavy and costly to keep alive ever since. This is the only official Oberheim Matrix-12 and Xpander software instrument, reimagined.

Created with Oberheim and Marcus Ryle, one of the original designers, it models the oscillators, filters and envelope shapes against the hardware, then makes the matrix visible. Drag a crosshair from any source to any knob, and watch the Flow diagram and Mod Matrix show exactly how each voice is built. Five envelopes, five LFOs, four ramps, and three trackers per voice; six keyboard zones with micro arpeggiators; full MPE; four Macros; stereo delay and matrix reverb; and over 570 patches, including 190+ originals from the Matrix-12 and Xpander. The deepest synth Oberheim ever made is now the easiest to understand.

GForce focused on the programming experience. The Matrix-12 is still a monster of a synthesiser, with modulation possibilities that can feel awe-inspiring, but assigning multiple modulations on the original hardware required navigating its complexity; now it's fast and intuitive. The result is a legendary instrument that's far more accessible to sound designers, without sacrificing any of its depth or complexity.

Highlights

• Official Oberheim, With Marcus Ryle
• The only official Oberheim Matrix-12 and Xpander software instrument, created with Oberheim and Marcus Ryle, one of the Matrix-12's original designers.
• Over 570 patches, including 380+ new patches and 190+ original Matrix-12 and Xpander patches.
• Expression That Plays Like Hardware
• Velocity, release velocity, pressure with rise and fall, full MPE with per-patch timbre curves, and four global Macros.

The Real Oberheim Experience.

Vangelis, Depeche Mode, The Orb and Technotronic all reached for the Matrix-12, and it earned a reputation for the thickest analogue pads, sweeps, basses and textures ever recorded.

Created in collaboration with Oberheim and Marcus Ryle, one of the original designers, who worked alongside the team throughout, GForce modelled the oscillators, filter, and envelope shapes against the hardware. The goal was simple and non-negotiable: sound like a Matrix-12.

A Simple Path, Deeply Modulated.

Each voice has two VCOs with triangle, saw, and pulse; the second adds noise and hard sync, feeding a filter with fifteen modes: one-to-four pole low pass, high pass, band pass, notch, phase, and the classic combinations, then two VCAs in series.

Simple on purpose. The complexity is in what moves it.

The Matrix, Made Visible.

Five envelopes, five LFOs, four ramps, three trackers and a lag processor inside every voice, alongside a dedicated vibrato. Keyboard, velocity, release velocity, pressure, pitch bend and mod wheel, plus full MPE.

A random value on every note, so no two voices ever land in quite the same place. Any source can reach any destination, including itself. Drag a crosshair from a source and drop it on a knob. Six modulation slots per parameter, each bipolar, each with quantise. A green corona on the knob shows exactly where the sound will go.

Three Views Of Every Voice.

Flow draws a live diagram of the voice: the audio path in blue, and every modulation source appears as you connect it, highlighting the whole chain when you touch a control.

The Mod Matrix lays out every connection as a grid you can sort, filter and edit. The Visualiser shows you the sound itself. Every module has its own scope, filter curve, envelope shape or tracker graph, and you can grab and drag them directly.

Twelve Voices, Six Zones.

Single mode plays all twelve voices as one instrument with polyphony, unison, detune and spread on the panel. Multi mode makes every voice its own timbre, with six keyboard zones that can overlap, each with its own voice allocation, MIDI channel and micro arpeggiator.

Solo, copy, paste, lock and disable per voice; load a single voice from any patch; and use Relative Edit to move a whole zone at once.

Enhanced Where It Counts.

GForce focused on the programming experience. The Matrix-12 is still a monster of a synthesiser, with modulation possibilities that can feel awe-inspiring, but assigning multiple modulations on the original hardware navigating its complexity; now it's fast and intuitive. The result is a legendary instrument that's far more accessible to sound designers, without sacrificing any of its depth or complexity.

GForce rebuilt the Matrix-12 workflow with drag-and-drop modulation, the Flow diagram, the Mod Matrix, and a visualiser on every module, bringing the entire modulation system into view, while per-voice load, copy and lock, Relative Edit, and a fully resizable interface make editing twelve voices fast and direct.

New sound features include six micro arpeggiators, one for each keyboard zone; tempo-synced ramps with linear-to-exponential curves; smoothing on every LFO shape; and a stepped tracker mode that turns any LFO into a four-step sequence. Full MPE, four global Macros and GForce's stereo delay and matrix reverb, with per-voice sends in Multi mode, complete the instrument.

Matrix-12 ships with over 570 patches: more than 380 new patches and more than 190 original Matrix-12 and Xpander patches.

"The Matrix-12 is the deepest instrument Oberheim ever built, but on the hardware, most of that depth was hidden behind a small display. Working with Oberheim and Marcus Ryle, one of the original designers, we set out to keep every detail of that sound and finally put the whole matrix in front of the player, where you can see it, touch it and play it." Dave Spiers and Chris Macleod, co-founders of GForce Software

Original Spirit, New Expression.

The Matrix-12 as Oberheim built it: twelve analogue voices, the fifteen-mode filter, five envelopes and five LFOs per voice, and a modulation system that lets anything shape anything, recreated with Oberheim and the engineer who designed it.

Around that core is the instrument the hardware could never be. A matrix you can see, drag, and read at a glance, with zones and micro arpeggiators, Relative Edit, tempo-synced ramps, stepped trackers, MPE, four Macros, and onboard effects. The deepest synth Oberheim ever made is now the easiest to understand.

Features

• The only official Oberheim Matrix-12 and Xpander software instrument, developed with Marcus Ryle
• Twelve voices, two modelled VCOs each with hard sync and FM, fifteen-mode filter and dual VCAs
• Five envelopes, five LFOs, four ramps, three trackers and lag per voice, plus a global vibrato, any source to any destination
• Drag-and-drop modulation with six bipolar slots per parameter, quantise, and live coronas.
• Flow diagram: a live map of every voice, drawn as you patch
• Mod Matrix: every connection in one grid you can sort, filter and edit
• Visualiser, plus a scope, filter curve or envelope display on every module
• Single and Multi modes, six overlapping keyboard zones with micro arpeggiators, per-voice load, copy, lock and Relative Edit
• Full MPE, velocity, release velocity, pressure with rise and fall, and four global Macros
• Stereo delay and matrix reverb, over 570 patches, powerful browser and fully scalable UI