Oberheim SEM emulations

[fluffy_little_something]

Hey, you have both emulations, a rare case it seems So, how do they compare in terms of dry sound, i.e. without the effects on the Arturia being used?

I got both too but i hardly used the WOK plugin since i got SEM V.

Ingo

Out of curiosity, may I ask why? How do they compare in terms of sound quality? Again, I don't care for effects, arps etc.

[Lotuzia]

I only have the SEM V, so I wont comment the other one.

Sound is very clean and solid. Its more than a strict emulation due to the additional modulators Arturia included, effects, etc.

I dont feel I will ever need another sem module emulation, unless it would add some other and different "modern" features, but emulation and sound wise, I'm totally happy with it.

LtZ

[Ingonator]

Hey, you have both emulations, a rare case it seems So, how do they compare in terms of dry sound, i.e. without the effects on the Arturia being used?

I got both too but i hardly used the WOK plugin since i got SEM V.

Ingo

Out of curiosity, may I ask why? How do they compare in terms of sound quality? Again, I don't care for effects, arps etc.

The SEm V just sounds awesome, maybe the best synth Arturia made so far and the latest version seems to be very stable. Besides that the additional features, the effects and the awesome presets are the icing on the cake. The additional Sub Osc is a cool addition.
At the time it was released i got it for 99 Euros as an existing customer (i alread had Prophet V) which now is the standard price.

Two demos i made during the first days after i got it using my own presets:
SEM V Brass Noodling 1

SEM V Jump Brass Demo 1

In the WOk plugin also the parameters don't seem to be calibrated with using the real synth. With the Arturia version like in most cases i'm sure they calibrated the parameters quite well. If i copy the settings of a SEM V preset 1:1 to the WOK plugin the sounds are totally different.


Ingo

[4damind]

The SEM V cuts very nice through the mix. I use it often for lead, plucks and arpeggios. Works without much processing only a bit delay and reverb.. that's all.

In this track, the main lead in the intro and the verse is the SEM V. Remembers in some parts to a Nord Lead but it's the SEM. Very distinct and solid sound and don't uses much resources (and not to forget very easy to program).
http://soundcloud.com/52degree/frank-arnold-meta-city

[mclane]

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

So cool, I didn't know that this bank exists. Just downloaded it...

[tapper mike]

Adding my voice to the choir. I love OPX Pro II, Yeah it takes sometime getting used to, well worth it for the effort and patches.

[fmr]

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.

Hey, you have both emulations, a rare case it seems So, how do they compare in terms of dry sound, i.e. without the effects on the Arturia being used?

I'm away right now, and I usually don't care that much with A/B comparisons (have a tendency to think of each synth on its own, even when they are emulations, and even more in this case because I never touched the original). Will try to have a face to face and will post my conclusions.

[fluffy_little_something]

OK, today I was a daredevil and simply decided to buy the SEM emulation by WOK and I must say it sounds great, no regrets so far I have not even tried the Arturia, mainly because I did not feel like registering just because of the demo, but also because I didn't feel like paying 99 Euros for such a simple synth. But the Arturia can't be much better anyway, if it is any better at all. I have combined the WOK thingy with external chorus, reverb and other effects, sounds very nice, no aliasing as far as I can tell I can even use many instances at once, despite the fact that it's made with SE. The only bad thing is that the presets are mostly crap, but programming is easy, so no need to use the factory presets.

I am almost a bit surprised the WOK sound so good, after all I had never even heard of WOK before, the company doesn't seem to be known for anything so far, there is hardly any information on WOK on the Internet, except meaningless press releases copied by various sites. It seems to be a very small company, maybe even just one developer. Despite Paypal it took almost the whole day before I got my license, and the treatment is not exactly cordial to put it mildly But who cares, the product was worth the wait

[braj]

How is the copy protection on the WOK?

[donato]

The Arturia can be had for around US$80 or even less I think. Too bad you didn't even try the demo.

[fluffy_little_something]

How is the copy protection on the WOK?

Actually, I have no idea. It is simply a download link to a zipped full version, no installer, just the dll, a pdf manual and a couple of text files to read, no key or anything to enter anywhere.
But at 41 Euros I think it is only fair to pay and thus help a small business

[fluffy_little_something]

The Arturia can be had for around US$80 or even less I think. Too bad you didn't even try the demo.

Well, as I said, they wanted me to register just for trying the demo. No way.
Also Arturia is a bigger company, I try to avoid feeding established companies...

[braj]

How is the copy protection on the WOK?

Actually, I have no idea. It is simply a download link to a zipped full version, no installer, just the dll, a pdf manual and a couple of text files to read, no key or anything to enter anywhere.
But at 41 Euros I think it is only fair to pay and thus help a small business

Of course if they ask for payment it should be paid. But I like the 'no copy protection' thing on the synths that I own that use that 'system' it is by far my preference.

[fluffy_little_something]

I love the new, expanded version of WOK's Sam, which they call Uncle Sam It is quite flexible now, and a bit addictive, frankly. With the right tweaking (which can take some time because of all the options, especially in the filter section) one can get almost any sound out of it, even quite unusual ones The envelope generators are complete now, i.e. adsr, which I prefer.

The only problem is that it doesn't seem to be compatible with the regular version of SAM, i.e. one cannot open SAM patches in Uncle Sam. I guess I will have to open both versions side by side, load the SAM patch I like, visually set the parameters shared by both versions in Uncle Sam, and continue from there with the creation of the new patch in Uncle Sam.

Sure, the new version goes way beyond the original SEM, so it is not really an emulation anymore, but who cares

[WOK]

How is the copy protection on the WOK?

There is no. Just copy the .dll into your VST directory and go. Uninstalling: delete .dll and subdirectory. No changes are made to the system.
Apart from the effort of a copy protection I personally hate things like Syncrosoft and these other drivers that mess up my system. (And it will be cracked anyway, so for what).

The only problem is that it doesn't seem to be compatible with the regular version of SAM, i.e. one cannot open SAM patches in Uncle Sam. I guess I will have to open both versions side by side, load the SAM patch I like, visually set the parameters shared by both versions in Uncle Sam, and continue from there with the creation of the new patch in Uncle Sam.

That was not possible because of the new options/parameters. But updaters can keep there old SAM for old projects.