bx_oberhausen from Plugin Alliance has landed

[fmr]

Dunno if the SEM maybe had differen revisions, and different filter chips were used, which could explain the difference.

AFAIK, the SEM filter was a discrete circuit, not based in any chip. Curtis chips were used in later models, AFTER the OB-X (OB-Xa, OB-8, etc.)

[Aloysius]

On the product page it says ''Soft Launch April 9 - Sales Start April 16.''. No official price is mentioned yet.

[fmr]

On the product page it says ''Soft Launch April 9 - Sales Start April 16.''. No official price is mentioned yet.

I didn't say I got it from the site. I said it is from an official source. It's your choice to believe it or not

[Tj Shredder]

They observe these discussions and decide in the last moment. I would only buy it if it was $49!

[Urs]

Dunno if the SEM maybe had differen revisions, and different filter chips were used, which could explain the difference.

AFAIK, the SEM filter was a discrete circuit, not based in any chip. Curtis chips were used in later models, AFTER the OB-X (OB-Xa, OB-8, etc.)

They use CA-3080 OTAs, which were... on chips! A "truely discrete" version would have involved a few dozen of matched transistors.

[Teksonik]

"bx_oberhausen is available for purchase — as an AAX Native-, AU-, VST2-, and VST3-supporting Virtual Instrument plugin for MacOS (10.9 through 10.14) and Windows (7 through 10) — exclusively from Brainworx Audio’s US-based sister company/distribution partner Plugin Alliance for an introductory price of $179.00 USD, rising to $249.00 USD thereafter."

I find the BX/ PA plugins to have a highly unrealistic list price. Better just to wait for the $29 sale.

For example I just picked up the BX Rooms verb for $9 which normally lists for $199.

After trying to put it to use I think I might have wasted $9.....

When you think about how much synth $179 buys you these days this seems like an unrealistic price for a simple SEM based synth.

But I guess if someone just has to have that sound then they could justify the purchase.

I'll try the demo just to be fair. Maybe my opinion will change but I wouldn't bet more than $9 on it....

[fmr]

Dunno if the SEM maybe had differen revisions, and different filter chips were used, which could explain the difference.

AFAIK, the SEM filter was a discrete circuit, not based in any chip. Curtis chips were used in later models, AFTER the OB-X (OB-Xa, OB-8, etc.)

They use CA-3080 OTAs, which were... on chips! A "truely discrete" version would have involved a few dozen of matched transistors.

I stand corrected

[abernathy]

There was also an announcement post on GS, now deleted that I quote a few pages before (or was it on the other thread), that mentioned $149 and I believe $179 or $199.
rsp

All though those prices might be correct, I will wait until it comes up at the official PA website. Anything else I would consider to be speculations at this point.

I have an official confirmation:

"bx_oberhausen is available for purchase — as an AAX Native-, AU-, VST2-, and VST3-supporting Virtual Instrument plugin for MacOS (10.9 through 10.14) and Windows (7 through 10) — exclusively from Brainworx Audio’s US-based sister company/distribution partner Plugin Alliance for an introductory price of $179.00 USD, rising to $249.00 USD thereafter."

Hmm, 249 is quite high. The bx may have a "stronger signal" if you know what I mean, but I find the Arturia SEM more musical. And I only pay 250 bucks for stuff that is REALLY good and pretty unique.

I was very excited about this synth, but I lost a bit of my excitement playing with the demo. It may be really accurate (I have no way to know), but it isn't super pleasant to my ears... At least the presets have a hot/harsh sound to me. And maybe it's just my ears and my HD 600 headphones, but all the presets sound vertically high in the stereo spectrum, if that's the way to describe it. I went back to the Classic OB presets in Diva, and Repro-5, and they sound more grounded and balanced - more musical. And I'm spoiled rotten by u-he's preset manager - so friendly. I do love the way bx_oberhausen looks - the one thing that drove me nuts was not being able to disable effects in the preset manager view - Repro has me hooked with that feature.

[waltercruz]

Tested it a bit against the Arturia, using only the common part between the two and Arturia holds well. Arturia has a more veiled sound, bx_oberhausen sounds a bit more hi-fi. Pulse waves seems somewhat different between them. But bx_oberhausen has unison mode, that Arturia doesn't.

[Tj Shredder]

To get a real idea of the magic of an 4-voice SEM you should play it with an MPE controller and have 4 different instances each slightly differently set. Unison has not so much to do with the original but can be achieved the same way...
Get creative in your DAW...

[FapFilter]

I find the BX/ PA plugins to have a highly unrealistic list price. Better just to wait for the $29 sale.

Which might happen sooner than later. Ok one shouldn't expect $29 already close by, but their Opticom compressor for example - not sure about it's initial price... think it was around $250 or so - got on sale just a few weeks after launch for just $70 if i recall correctly.
The Opticom is a very nice compressor, but no way i would've paid the full asked price.
I can imagine though that people who instantly bought felt slightly shafted, considering the timespan in which this happened.
Thorn suddenly got a nice $100 or so added on top of it's initial price when it was offered by PA, so one can figure out what margins they are expecting.
The Oberhausen intro price is still ok-ish though, but you really should consider what you can get from the competition for such a price tag. Even from professional businesses like u-he who are not a one man show who programs his plugins more or less just for fun in his spare time.
Dunno how often such things like my example with the Opticom plugin happen, but you should definetly be aware that it's possible you have easily paid >$100 more at release, than someone who just held on for a few weeks

[Teksonik]

Just gave the demo a quick go and here's my review......

Someone must have sustained a head wound.

Anyway if it goes on sale for $9 I might buy it just for grins and giggles......

[Teksonik]

but you really should consider what you can get from the competition for such a price tag.

Like I said a few minutes ago......

When you think about how much synth $179 buys you these days this seems like an unrealistic price for a simple SEM based synth.

Anyway good luck to BX/PA when you get near a clue jump on and maybe I'll have another look.

[FapFilter]

Oh- the Repros are basically also more or less “just simple synths“ though one might argue that you get 2 synths when you buy it.
If the sound is stellar to you and you really enjoy the workflow, i don't see a problem in shelling out premium prices for a premium product.
With premium prices i'm referring to what the competition is asking though.
$179 would have still been competitively in my book, even though i would give Repro the edge on cutting edge analog modeling technology, despite i seem to enjoy oberhausen's basic sound more - except for it's effects, which i find to be pretty weak - though that's not a big issue for me anyway.
But that's probably just because i would enjoy the sound of a real SEM more than that of a Prophet, and not because Oberhausen is sounding more analog than Repro, which it imo doesn't from what i can tell.
$179 should have been it's normal price though, $249 seems unrealistic to me in the current market.

[Angle Loss]

I listened to the demo and like the sound, but even at supposed $179 intro price, it is silly expensive for what it is. If it were $79...then maybe.