Product: Oberheim SEM
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted
12/04/2004
at
08:31pm
by
Anonymous
Ease of Use
:
9
Typical E-Z mono..
Features
:
5
Standard
Expressiveness/Sounds
:
No Opinion
Nice and warm, as you'd expect from a 70s mono. Not nearly as fat as a Moog, to approximate that you'd want a 4 or 8 voice SEM. Rather, it's tight in the Arp vein, and filled with character and warmth. Nice quick envelopes and easily midied using the jacks on the back of it.
Reliability
:
8
Not a problem.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
8
High quality, warm 70s analog; similar in some ways to Arp yet of course it's different. Very good for leads or bass, and has jacks on the back to easily interface with a sequencer.
Product: Oberheim SEM
Price Paid: US $2500
Submitted
11/22/2004
at
12:51pm
by
Eight-Voice User
Ease of Use
:
10
No software, as is 1977 design. But does use optical-scan keyboard which makes it fast, very fast. Also uses a very primitive "memory" which uses a tiny computer. I think. Not sure, but know that Oberheim was always way ahead in using computer type stuff.
Hard to edit patches, in that 12-string guitar way. You tune or set the patch on one SEM module, then copy that as best you can to the next modules.
Manual is like a phone-book, but easy to read.
Features
:
10
Polyphony is 8 notes here, but two massive oscillators per voice. Big sound, especially when in either mono, or split-keyboard of two x mono voices. Huge sound. Window rattling.
Vibrato (modulation) of each SEM is never in perfect sync with neighbor, but that is the beauty of it ~ the same way a flock of cello players would never be in total sync with their vibrato.
Expressiveness/Sounds
:
10
Very expressive. Runs the gamut of sound palete from near-digital to total analogue warm, like a fuzzy sweater, that warm.
Works in all kinds of music.
Very expressive, with the pedal, the envelopes, the left-hand control section.
Reliability
:
10
I always had a spare SEM in case one went down, which it would from time to time by blowing a CMOS chip. Hard to find these days.
Customer Support
:
10
I once wrote Oberheim a letter, and they phoned back right away with the information I needed. Great guys.
Overall Rating
:
10
I sold mine a while ago, but would always make room for another.
Big, amazing sound.
