Our History
Sabine, Inc., located in its new international headquarters in Alachua, Florida, manufactures professional audio equipment essential to live, installed and recording sound venues large and small. Sabine's FBX Feedback Exterminator® is the industry standard for transparent, feedback-free sound. Sabine True Mobility® wireless microphones systems (with built-in FBX) give performers the clearest sound and maximum mic mobility. Sabine Music Accessories division manufactures some of the best-selling musical instrument tuners and accessories in the industry.

A graduate of the University of Florida's School of Engineering, Sabine founder and CEO Doran Oster built the company based on innovation and quality. "Some people go into business distributing other people's products, or making products that are similar to everyone else's product, but cheaper," Oster said. "That's what I call a 'me too' product. We don't have the resources to do things cheaper than our international competitors. A Sabine product has to be something new or something substantially better than what's on the market."

Sabine, Inc. began as a guitar repair/flute manufacturing shop in 1971 in Gainesville, Florida. The company added accessories and guitars to the retail store's inventory and with a special attention to customer service, Sabine Music Center soon became the largest music and instrument retailer in North Central Florida.

Oster refocused the company back to manufacturing with the invention of the "best capo ever made." Emphasis on manufacturing continued with the introduction of the company's first electronic product, the MT-4001 quartz metronome.

Sabine introduced its first tuner, the ST-1000, in 1987, and by 1990 it became the best-selling chromatic tuner in the United States. Sabine then pioneered the world's first automatic feedback controller, the FBX Feedback Exterminator, in 1990. The FBX won the 1991 Technical Excellence and Creativity Award for "Outstanding Technical Achievement," was named "Pick Hit" at the 1992 National Association of Broadcasters Convention, was chosen as "Product of the Year" by the British Professional Light and Sound Association in 1993, and was a finalist for Discover Magazine's Technological Innovation Award in 1996.

In 1999, Sabine introduced the next step in wireless systems: True Mobility® Wireless Microphone Systems with on-board FBX Feedback Exterminator®, compressor/limiter and de-esser. No other wireless system offers the True Mobility's freedom from feedback or the ability to tailor the sound of individual inputs. The easy-to-use controls and 1-U size make it a must for performers, pastors/preachers and boardroom execs alike. Sabine recently began shipping the new SWM7000 Series 2.4 GHz Wireless Microphone Systems - a tremendous breakthrough in wireless technology. With Sabine�s onboard DSP: FBX, Compressor/Limiter, De-esser and Microphone SuperModeling™ - and the freedom of the 2.4 GHz band, the SWM7000 has set the new standard for the wireless industry.

Users of Sabine products include: The White House, the Vienna State Opera House, the Australian Parliament, the United Nations Headquarters, SeaWorld Adventure Parks, the Walt Disney Company, NASA, the Rolling Stones, the BlackEyed Peas, Universal Studios, the Vatican, the Oprah Winfrey Show, the David Letterman Show and many others.

President and Founder, Doran Oster

ALACHUA - Doran Oster made out pretty well for a guy who said he wasn't good enough to pursue his first two career interests. He was a serious classical flutist in high school - almost majoring in music - but realized he probably wasn't in the top 1 to 2 percent of those who can actually make a living at it. He studied industrial engineering at the University of Florida, but after graduation decided that wasn't for him. What he was good at was fixing his friends' guitars, a skill he parlayed into the Sabine String Shop, opening in downtown Gainesville in 1971. That evolved into one of the largest music retail shops in the region by the mid-1980s. The business would evolve again when a guitar tuner Oster developed in conjunction with a UF professor became the best-selling tuner in the nation. He closed his retail operation in 1992 and, with proceeds from the tuner, developed digital anti-feedback technology that would go in rack-mounted hardware and later in wireless microphone systems.
Today, Sabine Inc. digital audio signal processors and mic systems are used in conference halls, churches, universities, sound studios and concert halls the world over. Users include the White House, the Vatican, the United Nations, the Vienna State Opera House and Australian Parliament; performers from the Rolling Stones to Britney Spears; even the once-feuding David Letterman and Oprah Winfrey. Oster grew up in St. Petersburg and came to Gainesville to attend UF in 1965. Folk music was booming. "Music was just hugely important to college-aged students," he said. "Then, almost everybody played guitar. It's real different now. Almost everybody plays iPods, which I have to tell you is easier." He filled a need by repairing guitars, first for friends and later for strangers. "When I graduated from college, I had a long talk with myself and realized that of all the engineers I was probably the best musician and of all the musicians I was probably the best engineer." He gave up on the idea of being an engineer and became a craftsman. Oster got the name "Sabine" from a character in the French film "Jules and Jim." He didn't learn until 10 years later that Sabine is the name of the father of acoustic architecture and the word for the unit of absorption of sound energy on a wall. In addition to classical flute, Oster had also played folk banjo since high school. He set out to solve the problem of keeping his banjo in tune, eventually realizing it was because of the capo, abar that clamps down on the strings to change keys.

That led to his first patent, a capo that allows string instruments to stay in tune. Over the years, his retail shop would move from University Avenue to North Main Street and then NW 13th St.He rented manufacturing space behind Mother Earth and sold capos at music stores around the nation. Manufacturing would eventually move to NW 6th Street. He discontinued capos when the ST-1000 tuner took off and closed his retail business in 1992. With the money from the tuners, Sabine set out to solve the problem of acoustic feedback. They were able to isolate feedback from other sounds and program digital sound processors to eliminate the feedback between mics and amplifiers.The same feedback elimination technology would later go in Sabine's wireless microphones. The mic systems are built to use rechargeable batteries. Sabine built a 45,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Alachua in 1996. The company has had as many as 70 employees, but is down to about 40 as some of its metal and plastic manufacturing is now done in China. Oster said he was one of the last in the audio industry to outsource. "We add the secret sauce here - the circuit board design and assembly." Sabine products are sold directly to professional sound system installers. Oster would not reveal sales or production figures. Recent customers include Brigham Young University, which installed wireless systems in every classroom, and the Venetian casino in Macau, China. Oster said 40 percent of his products are exported.
"Our reputation is built around having some of the best sounding mics, with better bass response," in addition to feedback control, he said. Oster said he enjoys doing the mechanical and design work. "For the morning, I'll talk to the electrical guys about how to make the buttons fit mechanically and the circuit work, and in the afternoon I'll talk to the marketing guys and they'll say, 'It doesn't look right. We don't want this button here because the preacher can't reach it in his pocket.'" He even tested the durability of a belt-mounted mic transmitter himself.
"I ran it over with my Volvo."

Anthony Clark can be reached at 352-374-5094 or anthony.clark@gvillesun.com.

Time Line

2008

• Sabine releases the Phantom Gooseneck Mics, the podum mics with the Phantom Processor built right in
• Phantom Processor has two additonal lines added

2007

• Sabine releases the Phantom Processor
• The next generation of Navigator System Processors are released
• Significant updates to the SWM7000 BeltPack Transmitter

2006

• Sabine releases the Navigator System Processors

2005

• Sabine releases the Graphi-Q2 Multi-Function Digital Signal Processors

2004

• Sabine releases the FBX1200 and 2400 Feedback Exterminators.
• 2.4 GHz Smart Spectrum Wireless Microphone System is nominated for a TEC Award for Outstanding Technical Achievement
• Sabine introduces the NexTune 12z and 6z Instrument Tuners
• 2.4 GHz Smart Spectrum Wireless Microphone System wins Pro Audio Review Reviewer's Pick Award

2003

• Sabine begins shipping the new 2.4 GHz Smart Spectrum Wireless Microphone Systems

2002

• True Mobility 2.4 GHz receives Cool Stuff Award from Radio World
• MetroTune MT9000 Music & Sound Retailer Best Accessory Product 2002 nomination

2001

• GRAPHI-Q receives Readers Choice - Platinum Award (Innovation Technology, Audio: Sound/Noise Control) from AV Video Multimedia Producer
• RT7000 Series Pro Rack Tuner receives Best New Accessory Product nomination from The Music & Sound Retailer
• ZIP700 Tuner receives "The Best of the TopTen" Award (General Accessories) from The Music & Sound Retailer

2000

• GRAPHI-Q receives Prove It All Night award from Gig Magazine

1999

• Sabine True Mobility Wireless Microphone Systems (VHF & UHF) with FBX, compressor/limiter and de-esser debuts
• BackTrak BT-316M Digital Phrase Trainer with 16-bit audio and power-off memory debuts
• GRAPHI-Q receives prestigious Blue Ribbon Editor's Choice Award from EQ Magazine
• BackTrak receives Prove It All Night award from Gig Magazine

1998

• Sabine Adaptive Audio® division introduces GRAPHI-Q all digital 31-band EQ, FBX, compressor/limiter and delay
• Sabine Music Accessory division introduces BackTrak BT-300 Digital Phrase Trainer

1996

• Sabine introduces the POWER-Q ADF-4000 Digital Work Station with nine pro audio products in one 2-U box
• Manufacturing plant and corporate offices move to new 45,000-square-foot facility located on a 40-acre site in Alachua, Florida
• REAL-Q chosen as finalist for Discover Magazine's Technological Innovation Award

1995

• REAL-Q given British Professional Light and Sound Product Excellence Award

1994

• Sabine introduces the ADF-2400 Digital Workstation

1993

• British Professional Light and Sound Association selects FBX as Product of the Year
• Sabine RT-1600 rack turner receives Music & Sound Award: Most Innovative Accessory Product

1992

• FBX chosen as Pick Hit at the 1992 National Association of Broadcasters Convention. T
• The Sabine retail music store closes, Sabine, Inc. focuses on manufacturing. CEO Oster emphasizes innovation and products based on patentable technology

1991

• FBX wins the 1991 Technical Excellence and Creativity Award for Outstanding Technical Achievement presented by MIX Magazine

1990

• Debut of the world's first automatic feedback controller, the patented FBX Feedback Exterminator®. FBX automatically detects feedback and removes it with surgical precision, leaving program untouched. The result is a 6 dB gain in loudness and crisper, more intelligible sound

1987

• Sabine introduces the ST-1000 chromatic tuner, by 1990 it becomes the best selling chromatic tuner in the United States

1986

• Sabine introduces its first electronic product, a metronome

1977

• Retail business begins to give way to manufacturing as Sabine, Inc. founder and CEO, Doran Oster, adds his first invention, a capo with a patented design that doesn't throw the instrument out of tune

1971

• Sabine, Inc. begins as a guitar repair and copper flute manufacturing shop in Gainesville, Florida
• Music accessories and guitars are added to the store's inventory; Sabine soon becomes the largest music and instrument retailer in North Central Florida