KVR Audio

fluffy_little_something · Tue Sep 04, 2012 8:30 pm

Nielzie wrote:
fluffy_little_something wrote:No offense, but Latte does not offer the sound quality I am after, it sounds weak like the average synths made from SE stock modules. The WOK sounds so much better in my view.
Not to mention those utterly irritating rotary controls
You do realize that both of them are developed in SE?

I do agree with the "irritating" rotary controls though. Max, could you finetune them a bit so they feel a bit more "natural" to use?

Yes, I know, BUT there is a SDK for SE, which you can use to code your own modules, especially filters, in C++, which some developers of more advanced SE synths do.

Peter999 · Post by **Peter999** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 8:50 pm

If it has not to be the original SEM user interface: OP-X PRO-II has all SEM features including its state variable filter.

donato · Post by **donato** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 8:52 pm

To the OP- I am a fan of the Arturia version. I'd recommend demoing it.

MaxSynths · Post by **MaxSynths** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 8:59 pm

fluffy_little_something wrote:I don't think your synth has a typical Oberheim sound in my view. It lacks that fine electrified rasping element in the sound.

Just like I said before Latte IS NOT an Oberheim SEM emulation!

Not to mention the rotary controls you used, they alone would be reason enough for me not to buy your synth, frankly.

I do agree with the "irritating" rotary controls though. Max, could you finetune them a bit so they feel a bit more "natural" to use?

I'm not sure here... what's wrong with the knobs? Any strange behaviour? Something not working properly?

Did you code the filters yourself? I noticed that basically all good synths use proprietary filters, even if they are otherwise made using SE.

What you don't know is that a lot of "coded" 3rd party modules are just "coded" for convenience, so that the developer can load up a filter or any other module very quickly. No I do not "code" stuff; people use to think that SE is only about drawing lines between the modules... but it's not like this. The way you put things together, the way you use the modules using formulas make the difference. If you take Crisalys as an example you can see that the synth feature 12 different filter types and no proprietary or 3rd party modules for the filters... Everything is done inside the SE project and if writing formulas can be considered as coding, then, yes... I code my own modules

That said I'm not angry or anything else

Just spotted this thread and wanted to explain that Latte is not a SEM emulation (even though many people think that it is).

The comment about SE coding makes me want to explain, once for all, that there's a lot of stuff going on under the hood, a lot of things that users don't know. Sometimes I read comments about SE instruments that do not make sense at all. A SE synth can be ported into a C# IDE very easily (believe it or not there are many C# synths that, in fact, are entirely developed in SE and maybe are into your VST folder) and the user would never know they were developed in SE. I found very irritating this psychological thing about the typical SE sound, to be honest.

A.M. Gold · Post by **A.M. Gold** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 8:59 pm

This is sort of a hopeless quest. SEM remains one of the best synths ever made, IMO, in terms of pure sound quality.

Plus, Gibson owns the Oberheim name and has decided to sit on it, which is one reason why direct emulations have been few.

braj · Post by **braj** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 9:03 pm

OP-X ProII is great, all my Oberheim stuff I feel is handled nicely by it.

braj · Post by **braj** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 9:17 pm

I like the Or2v and all the ElectroStudio synths

I don't know how accurate they are but for what they are they sound nice and are fun to use, great GUIs!

Try playing with the sequencer on that thing, very fun, 'on the run' stuff is great

I really really like it.

fluffy_little_something · Tue Sep 04, 2012 9:33 pm

MaxSynths wrote:
fluffy_little_something wrote:I don't think your synth has a typical Oberheim sound in my view. It lacks that fine electrified rasping element in the sound.
Just like I said before Latte IS NOT an Oberheim SEM emulation!

Not to mention the rotary controls you used, they alone would be reason enough for me not to buy your synth, frankly.

I do agree with the "irritating" rotary controls though. Max, could you finetune them a bit so they feel a bit more "natural" to use?
I'm not sure here... what's wrong with the knobs? Any strange behaviour? Something not working properly?

Did you code the filters yourself? I noticed that basically all good synths use proprietary filters, even if they are otherwise made using SE.
What you don't know is that a lot of "coded" 3rd party modules are just "coded" for convenience, so that the developer can load up a filter or any other module very quickly. No I do not "code" stuff; people use to think that SE is only about drawing lines between the modules... but it's not like this. The way you put things together, the way you use the modules using formulas make the difference. If you take Crisalys as an example you can see that the synth feature 12 different filter types and no proprietary or 3rd party modules for the filters... Everything is done inside the SE project and if writing formulas can be considered as coding, then, yes... I code my own modules

That said I'm not angry or anything else Just spotted this thread and wanted to explain that Latte is not a SEM emulation (even though many people think that it is).

The comment about SE coding makes me want to explain, once for all, that there's a lot of stuff going on under the hood, a lot of things that users don't know. Sometimes I read comments about SE instruments that do not make sense at all. A SE synth can be ported into a C# IDE very easily (believe it or not there are many C# synths that, in fact, are entirely developed in SE and maybe are into your VST folder) and the user would never know they were developed in SE. I found very irritating this psychological thing about the typical SE sound, to be honest.

Be that as it may, I AM looking for a synth with the typical Oberheim sound. If yours is not intended to deliver that, fine with me. I am sure there are lots of uses for your synths as well

And I am pretty sure I can detect 95% of SE synths just by testing and listening to them.

About the pots, there is something about the motion required to operate them I just don't like. I would not spend a cent on any synth with such controls, frankly.

MaxSynths · Post by **MaxSynths** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 9:47 pm

fluffy_little_something wrote:About the pots, there is something about the motion required to operate them I just don't like.

Ok I know what you mean. The knobs work in linear/circular mode. If you select the knob in the center the knob work in circular mode. If you pick the knob slightly on the edge it works in linear mode.

I would not spend a cent on any synth with such controls, frankly.

You can use the free version

A.M. Gold · Post by **A.M. Gold** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 9:52 pm

Almost all newer plug-ins that have circular motion also offer linear as an option.

I agree that circular never made sense because it is a totally different motion using a mouse vs. twisting a physical knob.

penguinfromdeep · Post by **penguinfromdeep** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 10:04 pm

There's no satisfactory Oberheim Sem emulation yet for me (YMMV). I'm hoping Urs or some other wizard with deep knowledge of mystical circuit emulation techniques would take a shot at it.

Peter999 · Post by **Peter999** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 11:41 pm

That's how the Oberheim 4-Voice (4 x SEM) bank already released years ago for the former OP-X PRO library programmed alike the examples in a real hardware test on Amazona.de sounds:

Listen: OP-X PRO - Oberheim 4-Voice Bank

...

fmr · Post by **fmr** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 11:48 pm

penguinfromdeep wrote:There's no satisfactory Oberheim Sem emulation yet for me (YMMV). I'm hoping Urs or some other wizard with deep knowledge of mystical circuit emulation techniques would take a shot at it.

Really? What exactly do you feel is lacking in the current emulations? I never owned the original, but I have both the WOK and the Arturia, and they sound great to me. And the video of Ubukata comparing the SEM (I think it's the newer version made by Tom Oberheim) with the Arturia SEM V is impressive.

braj · Post by **braj** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 11:59 pm

Peter999 wrote:That's how the Oberheim 4-Voice (4 x SEM) bank already released years ago for the former OP-X PRO library programmed alike the examples in a real hardware test on Amazona.de sounds:

Listen: OP-X PRO - Oberheim 4-Voice Bank

...

Are these available for OP-X Pro II? BTW your post made me go looking for the bank and I found 5 more banks I didn't have before

I have a crazy amount of patches for this synth and they are arranged in pretty useful banks, thanks for that

penguinfromdeep · Post by **penguinfromdeep** » Wed Sep 05, 2012 7:35 am

fmr wrote: Really? What exactly do you feel is lacking in the current emulations? I never owned the original, but I have both the WOK and the Arturia, and they sound great to me. And the video of Ubukata comparing the SEM (I think it's the newer version made by Tom Oberheim) with the Arturia SEM V is impressive.

Yes, they are great synths in their own right. The Arturia SEM is pretty good but still leaves some things lacking, you can hear it in video too when he goes beyond just playing sawtooth with filter open. I demoed Arturia Sem and I have real Sem module sitting here too (same as in video), Arturia lacks the depth of the real thing (yes it's worn out phrase but that's how it sounds to me, again YMMV). And when you start modulating things etc things get more obvious.But it's pretty good shot from Arturia, probably my favourite of their synths

Oberheim SEM emulations