The New Tom Oberheim SEM Thread

[iProg]

So if it's really going to be around $1k like Mr. Oberheim said, will that bring the price of vintage SEMs back down to earth?

I told my studio owner friend about the new SEM (as I mentioned before, he has an original one) and he was very excited and pleased to hear it will be priced reasonably.

I doubt it. A lot of the overpriced synths are that way because of the sellers, not the synths themselves.

+ 23578

[pflosi]

I think if Moog started cobbling together model D's with the same discrete components people would be tripping over themselves to get one...especially if it had midi.

That'd be great! I reckon if they're gonna add midi though they should also add a whole lot of CV patch points as well, seeing as it wouldn't be exactly the same as the original. It'd be cool if they added something like an XY pad too, I'm sure they would have put one of those on the original mini if they had the technology. I'd love to see them add presets as well, and maybe two filters that you could change the spread of. Yeah, that would be an awesome synth.

[Naive Teen Idol]

As the generator of the "Why Aren't More Classic Synths Produced Today?" thread, I think this is pretty exciting stuff (although I do find the fawning guys in that video hilarious: "Wow, that horribly overdriven sound Tom is playing without any filter at all sounds *exactly* like an Oberheim!").

I'm with folks here who think a Four Voice with the sequencer would be pretty hard to to beat and would fill a very nice niche in the market Not sure if Tom is as in to doing this for the marketplace as he is for his own edification, but given the expressiveness of these things based on this video of a Two Voice, it would be pretty sweet:

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The bass sound at the beginning and lead sound about a minute or so in are both just amazingly delicate things -- very hard to reproduce on something else, IMO.

[flowthrough]

for a *truly* classic reissue-

The new SEM should come in a 'deluxe' model- with an Oberheim Ring Modulator

[Cybercardinal]

A Moog dealer told me that Moog is working on a new polysynth.

Don't know if that's correct though...

[pflosi]

A Moog dealer told me that Moog is working on a new polysynth.

Don't know if that's correct though...

that'd be nice.

hope it doesnt cost "price of voyager * voices"...

[Christopher Winkels]

I hope not too, but if it costs (Little Phatty * Voices - a few hundred $) then they'll be on to something. Given that they only need to implement one power supply, one keyboard, one chassis and one user interface, I'm sure they could do a PolyPhatty six-voice for three or four grand.

And now for a small prayer. "Please, Ceiling Cat, make sure the good people at Moog don't recycle the "Phatty" name into some other attempt at cleverness... spelling "fat" with a "ph" was a dated conceit at least decade ago. Amen."

[otto]

At roughly $1500 a piece used, I suppose you could have your own moog voyager 4 voice for $6k. I'm really surprised moog hasn't made a poly yet. Perhaps they are having a hard time deciding how to do it. After all, their memorymoog had discrete moog filters but it also had chips shared with the other polysynth manufacturers of the time. Getting overly amibitious killed many synth manufactures in the day. They would have to find a way that their niche so to speak. I mean they would have to find a reason for owners of the andromeda, P'08, code, and vintage polys to want this in addition or as opposed to their current synths. Obviously their brand name doesn't hurt them but they can't rely solely on that.

[tasters]

Here some news!

http://tomoberheim.com/



The pricing is as follows:

* SEM with MIDI input and MIDI to CV routing panel (as shown in above photo): $899

* SEM with patch panel connections to internal inputs and outputs (no MIDI input, same as above photo but left panel controls are replaced by CV/gate/audio I/O patch panel): $749

* Basic SEM module with front panel (no case or power supply, good for drop-in replacement of original SEM): $599

Thanks for stopping by!

[CZ Rider]

Just noticed that on Matrixsynth!

$599.00 sounds very reasonable for a drop in SEM!
Perhaps Tom will offer just the case too. I have a rack mounted SEM would look nice in that new enclosure.
Nothing mentioned about MIDI chaining together to make a four-voice, although you could roll your own for $2396 plus a case, P/S, and polyphonic MIDI/CV.

[nadafarms]

God I just hope he gets some people working for him... I mean I sure wouldn't mind a 5 voice

I imagine once he starts building them he will be backed up for a year if it's just a one man operation.

[Synthaholic]

I thought my Andromeda was a cure for analog GAS, and then Tom comes up with THIS!!

A four-voice for 3 grand is super drool-worthy. Now with new SEMs being made, all he would need to offer is a case, PSU, and a poly MIDI-CV to provide us with a modern 2/4/8 Voice.

Or, offer a poly MIDI-CV in a single SEM that can be connected to additional SEMs to make a poly.

Now if some major artists snap some of these up and start making music with them, it'll be like the 70s/80s again!

[Z]

Time to find one of those FVS-1 keyboards with all the SEMs removed!

[Sir Ruff]

This is great news... not even a question now about affordability. I'm glad my earlier price predictions were wrong! Frankly, with Doepfer's 4 voice midi>cv thing, a 2 voice one of these could be had for like less than 1800... ANNNNNDDD it could be patched out right off the bat!: He has stated there will be a version available with patch points available for all the relevant connections (thus eradicating my other previous pre-emptive complaint )

in regards to the post about what moog would have to do to compete with the other current crop of ana. polys: not much me thinks. In fact, they could do way less than DSI or alesis and still have a winner... I think their best bet would be to make something like a poly little fatty... just a straight ahead no frills analog polysynth. the emphasis would be on sound and build quality. no sequencers, no infinite modulation options, no infinite knobs, no wobbly knobs... if it was VCO based, had 6 or more voices, sounded good and was fun/easy to program, I would buy it.

[hyphen nation]

no infinite knobs, no wobbly knobs

I am guessing this is a DSI lament...I detested the fact that those effing encoders would jump in value, barely move in value, go in the opposite direction from the value I was trying to dial in...freaking amazing little synth in terms of architecture/power...just never clicked with me personally, which I would attribute to two main things, the tactile qualities of the nobs, and the filter section never did much for me...

This SEM seems to fall right into the type of synths that I am in fact, into though...beautiful sounding, well built simple little beasties...