Oberheim SEM released by Arturia

[Motion]

I think it sounds gorgeous.

Arturia - Musical Instruments | Intro

Great offer price for existing customers.99 euro .Thanks Arturia.

After a few days of playing with it, it didn't take long to snap this lovely little beast up.

[Dave Polich]

+1000. Arturia has taken some heat for some of their emulations, but on this
one, they nailed it. I think this is their best-sounding VA to date. The closest
to hardware that they've ever gotten, actually.

A must-have, IMO.

[PascalVB]

It's 2011, almost 2012.
229 euro for a VA plugin is overpriced imo.
You can buy Diva for half the price.

[San01]

Originally Posted by PascalVB

It's 2011, almost 2012.
229 euro for a VA plugin is overpriced imo.
You can buy Diva for half the price.

As i own some of their synths, i can buy the Oberheim for 99 euros as a loyal customer.

[cane creek]

Never Used a SEM before don't care if its accurate as long as it sounds Good and yes it does sound Good.

AU/64bit Running very Smoothly in Logic 9.6.1/Lion , GUI feels very stable/responsive and not cluttered like some other Arturia Emulations.

I've been offered the 99euro Deal too, I'm pretty sure i'll of purchased by Jan 7 deadline.

Anybody from Arturia Reading, Please get your Prophet V to run as smoothly as this new one.

[Aziak]

I was testing SEM V since the very start of development and yes it's a well crafted product. All the synthesizer line is under development as we speak, updates soon.
Enjoy SEM V!

[PascalVB]

Originally Posted by San01

As i own some of their synths, i can buy the Oberheim for 99 euros as a loyal customer.

99 euro is a fair price. But I haven't bought any Arturia stuff before.

[jonmoore]

I Personally think it's Arturia's best sounding VA to date. It certainly helps that it's available for €99 to existing customers but it must be said, they really seem to have created something unique with the SEM. Especially with the V only amendments such as the 8 voice programmer and the keyboard follow module. These extras are incredibly well thought out and help you coax out some wonderful sounds.

JM
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[Dave Polich]

Originally Posted by Aziak

I was testing SEM V since the very start of development and yes it's a well crafted product. All the synthesizer line is under development as we speak, updates soon.

Liking this!

[PeteJames]

Originally Posted by Aziak

I was testing SEM V since the very start of development and yes it's a well crafted product. All the synthesizer line is under development as we speak, updates soon.
Enjoy SEM V!

Is it really?! Sounds exciting going by how much I like the SEM. What did they say their aim was with these developments? How soon?

I'm gonna stick my neck out and say that I think this synth is brilliant. Love the sound - warm, vintage, and very Oberhiem indeed. The features are brilliant too - so flexible what you can do with keyboard follow and voice options. Its the virtual oberheim I've been waiting for. Very pleased with it indeed - some beautiful patches included too! Additionally, the envelopes deliver plenty of punch. Only a couple of small issues I found that need ironing out:

Fine tuning is really difficult for left handed people, especially laptop users, mac specifically. The one ctrl button on the macbook pro is pretty much impossible to reach whilst using the mouse with your left hand. If you changed the fine tuning shortcut to either the cmd or alt key it would work out perfectly for left or right handed macbook users.

When doing a Tom sawyer style patch - resonance fully up and sweeping through the frequency range I noticed there is some sort of sine wave lfo type wobble towards the lower end of its range which sounds plain odd. Secondly betweeen 200-300Hz there seems to be a really sharp increase in volume which drop off - also sounds very unnatural and strange and causes unwanted distortion due to the increase in volume in this small range.

Shouldn't they have added a unison function with detune knob too?

For the most part Its everything I'd hoped for though! I'll certainly be buying especially if these things are fixed - specifically the fine tuning difficulty! I don't generally like Arturia's synths that much either so wasn't expecting it to be anything like this good. This will definitely be my go to synth now...time will tell whether or not I keep my OB-8.

Just been checking out the voice sequencing - amazing stuff! Interesting arps are a doddle!

Missing features?

Love the Arturia SEM but think a few cool features are missing. I thought Unison Mode With Voice Stacking & Union Detune would be the first thing on an 8 voice. The original has a unison and chord mode and the OB-8 and OB-X benefit greatly from that feature.
The sound in poly does seem to sound thicker though by default even if only one note is pressed so is this some kind of auto unison? Either way would be good to have more control over it.

I was also expecting that with the unison mode all 8 voices would be able to be edited individual so you could play different patches on each voice whilst playing just one note. Currently unless I'm mistaken you can only get the different voice variations of the using the different modules in a sequence so you can play the different voices on after the other but not at the same time. Would be cool to strike just one note and play a percussive sound at the same time etc etc. I got the impression the original had this feature but haven't used one - even if it didn't this would be a superbly interesting addition. I know you can use multiple instances to achieve the same effect though but I thought it would be possible within one instance...the joy of multiple instances!! Layering different voices on one voice within one SEM instance would be sweet though. I thought that was a big part of appeal of the sem? Imagine that plus the existing feature being able to modify the patch per key too....the possibilities would be endless! They're pretty great already.

[Dave Polich]

Originally Posted by PeteJames

Missing features?

I was also expecting that with the unison mode all 8 voices would be able to be edited individual so you could play different patches on each voice whilst playing just one note. Currently unless I'm mistaken you can only get the different voice variations of the using the different modules in a sequence so you can play the different voices on after the other but not at the same time. Would be cool to strike just one note and play a percussive sound at the same time etc etc. I got the impression the original had this feature but haven't used one - even if it didn't this would be a superbly interesting addition. I know you can use multiple instances to achieve the same effect though but I thought it would be possible within one instance...the joy of multiple instances!! Layering different voices on one voice within one SEM instance would be sweet though. I thought that was a big part of appeal of the sem?

Not sure where you got the idea this feature was on the original SEM. That
would have been impossible because the original was not programmable.
Oberheim later developed a sequencer that would address multiple SEM's,
which led to the development of the Oberheim four-voice and eight-voice
synths.

The feature you are speaking of did find its way into production as the Sequential Six-Trac, which was a sales disaster for Sequential. It didn't
sound very good and had voice allocation problems...not one of Dave Smith's better ideas (especially since it came after the Prophet 5, which was brillliant).

If you want two different SEM voices playing at once, simply add another instance of SEM V in your host app (Cubase, Logic, Pro Tools, Sonar, whatever) and set them both to the same MIDI channel.

[dempsey1200]

Love the sounds and they've definitely improved the layout. A lot cleaner and easier to read than previous products.

Is it just me or do only half of their synth navigation codes work correctly? I have not contacted them about Oberheim yet. On some preset selections, when I scroll through the different patches, it doesn't actually move forward every time. Sometimes it goes forward and sometimes it goes backwards. It's pretty dang annoying. Anyone else experiencing this?

[PeteJames]

Originally Posted by Dave Polich

Not sure where you got the idea this feature was on the original SEM. That
would have been impossible because the original was not programmable.
Oberheim later developed a sequencer that would address multiple SEM's,
which led to the development of the Oberheim four-voice and eight-voice
synths.

The feature you are speaking of did find its way into production as the Sequential Six-Trac, which was a sales disaster for Sequential. It didn't
sound very good and had voice allocation problems...not one of Dave Smith's better ideas (especially since it came after the Prophet 5, which was brillliant).

If you want two different SEM voices playing at once, simply add another instance of SEM V in your host app (Cubase, Logic, Pro Tools, Sonar, whatever) and set them both to the same MIDI channel.

I presumed the Arturia SEM would be an 8 voice and would just be called the SEM as its a better name when branding the product - why wouldn't they make that since it has polyphony anyway? I've always been a little unsure of exactly what the 4 voice and 8 voice could and couldn't do - did they have that feature? Yeah that's what I will be doing Love multiple instances! No big deal at all. The unison detune is a little crazy to leave out though. I'd say the six-trak was a flop due to its awful user interface.

Originally Posted by dempsey1200

Love the sounds and they've definitely improved the layout. A lot cleaner and easier to read than previous products.

Is it just me or do only half of their synth navigation codes work correctly? I have not contacted them about Oberheim yet. On some preset selections, when I scroll through the different patches, it doesn't actually move forward every time. Sometimes it goes forward and sometimes it goes backwards. It's pretty dang annoying. Anyone else experiencing this?

Yeah, I think it's a bug - someone reported it to them

[paulbinns]

To get a good idea of exactly what the 8-voice could do watch this

Oberheim 8 Voice - YouTube

[kelvyn]

Mmm! I was gonna say how much I love the sound of the Arturia SEM (demoed it yesterday-buy it tomorrow) but after looking at the video? Man the original sounds unbelievable %^&@(*)@!!! I still think that Arturia have done an amazing job and it's by far the best sounding of all their synths (I got them all-love them all), but whoo! The hardware made me poop my panties.

[paulbinns]

The arturia one does sound good. I figured out how to get unison by setting up logic in the environment to replicate a single note 7 times then send it to the SEM. The sound is huge and quite incredible.
Using the 8 voice programmer i can then set each voice to sound different to the others and that really opens up the sound possibilities.
Of course once you start doing that you start feeling limited by what arturia have provided (only six slots??? I want a slot for every parameter !!!)

[kelvyn]

Update... tried it all afternoon and have to say this is the synth I have been looking for. I've been searching for a synth that is really in your face and although I think that synths like Sylenth and Dune have a great upfront aggressive sound (which I like) they are at the same time a little too brittle and digital sounding for my stuff. I have almost every other analogue emulation out there and although they are all great in their way the SEM is the first one that (very subjective) has that warm analogue bite and Ooomph! The guys who created the presets did an amazing job as well.



D Cam/Ace/Bazille/PolyAna/Tassmann4/UltraAnalogue VA-1/Korg Legacy Collection/Oditty/Alchemy/Massive/FM8/Moog Modular/CS80/JP8V/ARP2600/Xils3/Synthix/Poly KBII/

[Funkasizer]

Originally Posted by kelvyn

Update... tried it all afternoon and have to say this is the synth I have been looking for. I've been searching for a synth that is really in your face and although I think that synths like Sylenth and Dune have a great upfront aggressive sound (which I like) they are at the same time a little too brittle and digital sounding for my stuff. I have almost every other analogue emulation out there and although they are all great in their way the SEM is the first one that (very subjective) has that warm analogue bite and Ooomph! The guys who created the presets did an amazing job as well.



D Cam/Ace/Bazille/PolyAna/Tassmann4/UltraAnalogue VA-1/Korg Legacy Collection/Oditty/Alchemy/Massive/FM8/Moog Modular/CS80/JP8V/ARP2600/Xils3/Synthix/Poly KBII/

Not to discourage you from getting SEM V (I agree with your assessment) but I noticed that in your list of usual suspects one is missing: Diva by U-he. If you haven't yet, you should give it a try. Cheers, Jack

[kelvyn]

Originally Posted by Funkasizer

Not to discourage you from getting SEM V (I agree with your assessment) but I noticed that in your list of usual suspects one is missing: Diva by U-he. If you haven't yet, you should give it a try. Cheers, Jack

Going to give it a try. Thanks

[djanthonyw]

Originally Posted by Funkasizer

Not to discourage you from getting SEM V (I agree with your assessment) but I noticed that in your list of usual suspects one is missing: Diva by U-he. If you haven't yet, you should give it a try. Cheers, Jack

I think Diva definitely sounds better, plus it uses simple copy protection... no e-licenser crap.

[Silver Sonya]

In trying the demo, I was quickly able to achieve a deep, simple, satisfying, rosy bass tone that went to the base of my spine.

I've never used the original, but I find this to be a very satisfying, simple, appealing instrument and I am buying it for sure.

I love great, simple sounds, as I've stated before.

Maybe someday when I have more dough, I'll buy a real one. But for now, I'm really thrilled with this piece.

- c

[Silver Sonya]

Wow, I'm really in love with this thing now.

Feels like a nice, well-fitting black t-shirt.

- c

[Andy_bt]

Originally Posted by Silver Sonya

Wow, I'm really in love with this thing now.

Feels like a nice, well-fitting black t-shirt.

- c

Hi Chad,
Do you mean white? I think the black ones are from GForce
A.

[San01]

Anybody knows how to set the pitch bend range on this

[Ernst Eiswürfel]

was really curious to try this one, but WTF is a syncrosoft protection key? same like iLok but different? very funny.. how many of these stupid things am i supposed to plug into my two (!) usb ports on the macbook pro, in order to find out if i wanna spend 229€ on a plugin?
not to mention that i do not own this key & dont wanna bother with any of this:

thanks to our "No Key, No Problem" offer , you can order a syncrosoft key with us online. If you send back the key within the two months following the purchase date, you will be reimbursed for both the price of shipment and the key. This offer is valid for up to two months after the purchase date, after which the key cannot be returned.

no matter what funky name you make up for this deal -- it sucks.
i'm already avoiding my waves & abbey road plugs so i dont need to plug in the iLok.

pfff.. do you realize how annoyed i am? GOOD.

ok, NEXT.

[Silver Sonya]

Yeah, it's dumb.

- c

[scruffydog]

This is what it says on the site....looks like the option for a dongle is just that..an option.



What is eLicenser?

Soft-eLicenser (virtual dongle, default) It is an encrypted file on the hard disk, created and used as a container to store licenses instead of using the USB device. This container file has a serial number (2 x 10 digits)

USB-eLicenser (hardware dongle, optional) It looks very much like, but is strongly different from, an USB stick. This hardware dongle also has a serial number (2 x 6 digits) and plugs directly on a USB port of the computer.

[Ernst Eiswürfel]

hmmnope, the eLicenser control center software is still asking for the stick.
this is a quote from arturia's installation instructions:

Nota : This software is protected by e-Licenser and does not require any dongle.

A Syncrosoft protection key (also called USB dongle) may be required in order to
test this demo version .

please step forward if this makes any sense to you..

[PeteJames]

Originally Posted by paulbinns

The arturia one does sound good. I figured out how to get unison by setting up logic in the environment to replicate a single note 7 times then send it to the SEM. The sound is huge and quite incredible.
Using the 8 voice programmer i can then set each voice to sound different to the others and that really opens up the sound possibilities.
Of course once you start doing that you start feeling limited by what arturia have provided (only six slots??? I want a slot for every parameter !!!)

Genuinely can't believe they left out unison detune. I'll have to try this. Every parameter? Haha not too much to ask is it Step automation if you must

Originally Posted by Ernst Eiswürfel

hmmnope, the eLicenser control center software is still asking for the stick.
this is a quote from arturia's installation instructions:



please step forward if this makes any sense to you..

I think I solved the mystery. You only need a usb dongle if you want to use it on more than one computer.

I'm starting to think about ditching my hardware. I really don't use it much anymore anyway and with the likes of SEM V and DIVA I think this trend in my producing could very well continue. Gonna get an Ipad for when I want hands on control. Anyone else thinking the same?

[Ernst Eiswürfel]

Well the demo works without a dongle

no, it doesnt. or how did you run it?
if i launch the plugin, i get the error message "no eLicenser connected!".
then my host (ableton live) crashes.

so what's this virtual dongle thing about? how/where do i activate it?
no useful instructions to be found about it.
just this illogical statement i quoted before:

This software is protected by e-Licenser and does not require any dongle.

A Syncrosoft protection key (also called USB dongle) may be required in order to
test this demo version .

did anyone here run the demo without the USB key? if yes, please tell me how, because arturia doesn't.