Revenge of the Synth

Hey all you synth lovers out there, does the name Tom Oberheim twirl an oscillator? In April of this year, Tom announced two new additions to his line of resurrected SEM analog synthesizers! That’s right, I said analog. The SEM-PRO incorporates 21 mini-jacks for signal access, the SO4V, or Son of 4 Voice, the return of the vintage ‘70s design. My focus is on the SO4V, 100% discrete analog, no chips what so ever. It can be used as a 4-voice polyphonic synth or as 4 individual synths under MIDI control. If that wasn’t enough, two SO4V’s can be daisy chained to create an 8-voive. There are two LFO’s that are MIDI sync capable, generating multiple waveshapes including sample and hold per voice. Each voice has two programmable ADSR envelope generators, selectable master tuning for detuning very large unison sounds, polyphonic portamento with linear or exponential response. By the way, portamento simply means; “glide.” There are independent mix and pan controls for each voice. The SO4V will be available May/June 2011 and go for about $3,495 so be on the lookout. Now, it goes without saying, even the most beautifully designed pieces of gear have some frustrating points. What some may find a bit frustrating is that the MIDI version of the SEM responds to note on/off and pitch-bend, plus a choice between velocity, aftertouch, or a single user-defined MIDI CC number. This is quite the limitation to preserve the architecture of the sound of the original. Also, there are no patch memories; you can only store a single setup. However, to keep costs lower it is sometimes more important to focus resources in other areas. Regardless, for the price and the quality that Oberheim synths always offer, it is a must have. Despite the insignificant issues one may find with these new synths, the Oberheim SEM analog synths are worth every penny and will recreate some great synth sounds for today’s music.

References:
Reid, G. (2010, September) Tom oberheimsem, Retrieved, June 15, 2011 from, http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep10/articles/tom-oberheim-sem.htm

For more on Tom Oberheim, visit: http://tomoberheim.com/