Pim

The (somewhat) hidden gem in the Arturia SEM V2 While recently watching I immediately realized how much I love the sound of Oberheim synthesizers. Back in the days I was lucky enough to work for the Oberheim distributor in the Netherlands so every working day was an Oberheim day. In the video about the 8-Voice it"s clearly showed that this polyphonic synthesizer is actually a combination of 8 SEM mono synths patched together. ('I hear voices Doctor' â Interesting, you have 8 different personalities in your headâ¦) On the 8-Voice you have to program EACH of the 8 VOICES in order to achieve a certain sound (Imagine the drummer counting down and you have to adjust 8 mono synths to get that brass sound for the introâ¦) What"s the effect of having 8 mono synths acting like one polyphonic instrument? 8 Different sounding voices, no matter how meticulously you program them. 8 Voices with per voice 2 VCO"s, LFO"s and Filters - operated by pots which are non-stepped. Try to create 8 consistent tones with these specifications. Impossible. And then the Prophet 5 hit the marked. A far superior memory system, consistent sounding polyphony â I traded in 8-Voice Oberheims for almost nothing. Instantly they became worthless pieces of junk. And so the 19-eighties said goodbye to the white, unstable sounding log. End of the 8-Voice story. Almost forty years later. #coronatime #quarantine I treated myself with the Arturia SEM V2. A nice sounding virtual analogue synthesizer modelled after an Oberheim SEM/OB-1. Twist the knobies time! Recording time! Lack of sleep time! The sound reminds of the old days and as all true Synth Gods act, every switch and knob is not left untouched. So I stumbled onto the '8 voice programmer" (8VP) which functions in the factory programs as a step sequencer. Fun to use. Kraftwerk to the max. Filter modulations in a 16th rhythmic pattern always inspiring to play with. To be honest: fun, but actually nothing really special. Nothing special until I watched the video and realised what the 8VP of the Arturia SEM V2 really represents: instant 8-Voice in-the-box! (well, almost instant because you have to set the parameters yourself) As soon as you set the first row of the 8VP with very subtle changes to the fine tuning of osc 1, repeat that at the 2nd row with somewhat opposite values to the fine tuning of osc 2, the magic fairy dust starts sparkling in. Imperfection. Inconsistent tones. Unstable. Lovely. Finally I have the old working days back! Try this for yourself: Parameter values for each row â the extremer the values (both + or -) the more significant the imperfections will be. These values for a 'Sweet Dreams" bowed string ensemble sound really nice. 1. VCO1 Fine | -1.60% | -1.70% | 0.50% | 0.85% | -1.60% | 0.30% | -0.60% | -0.30% | 2. VCO2 Fine | 1.30% | 0.90% | 2.30% | -1.10% | 2.50% | 0.80% | -1.40% | 0.55% | 3. VCF Freq | -3.05% | 1.25% | -0.50% | 0.60% | -0.45% | 0.20% | -1.10% | 1.20% | 4. VCF Mode | 0.00% | 0.80% | -4% | 4.80% | -5.60% | 1.60% | -6.40% | 1% | 5. LFO1 Freq | 0.80% | 1.35% | 0.95% | -4.80% | 1.85% | -6.85% | 3% | -4.75% | 6. VCA Pan | -3.20% | 5.60% | 12% | -13.60% | 13.60% | 4.80% | -8.80% | 12.55% | In the audio example you can hear the same piece for two bars with the 8VP on and for two bars switched off. Can hear (an feel!) the difference? Please share your thoughts on this matter! Thank you. Audio example on Soundcloud: Arturia SEM V2

I a ride a Triumph Legend TT motorcycle and riding it inspired me to this song: The Legend TT

Thanks. Yes, it's me. The drums in the intro and break are made with the Roland System 100 and sampled into the Akai MPC60. The other drums are samples from a Linn, DMX and Drumulator. Synths used: Minimoog, Andromeda, Prophet VS.

Why not? Check my version of Fade to Grey (originally by Visage)

Let's see if I can contribute to a six pager... My name is Pim, I live in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. I am from 1961 and that makes me... eh 40 years old. I am from the generation that watched Batman and Robin, Neil Armstrong, Startrek and Ivanhoe. (did Ivanhoe reached the US? - It was Roger Moore as a knight) I listened a lot to the radio in the late sixties and early seventies. We had a few radiopirates, illegal stations transmitting from a ship on the Northsea. My older brother played records of Jimmy Hendrix, Velvet Underground and Deep Purple. I got into synthesizers thanks to the brother of a friend of mine; he discovered Kraftwerk. I bought my first one after saving a lot of money in '81-'82 I believe. In '85 I started to work at a music store, Nederland Muziek, were I still work today. It was the beginning of the midi era: lots of JX3p's DX7's. By the time the Roland D50 came out, nobody wanted analogue anymore. Our store was filled to the ceiling with old Yamaha's, Moogs and ARPs. I gave them away for free to all who bought a D50..... http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/eek.gif I rescued a Roland SH09 for myself and I still use that little black synth. When the Atari ST hit the market I was totally hooked. Hybrid Arts SMPTE-Track was my first soft sequencer. Cubase the second and the also the last. Today I work with an MPC 60 and an Akai DR4, Soundcraft Ghost, some compressors and FX. My synths: Minimoog, Kawai K5000s, Sequential Prophet VS, Roland Jupiter 6/SH-09/System-100, Micromoog, Waldorf Microwave XT and an Alesis Andromeda. (Red, serial number 10) I did some Andromeda sound designing and beta testing for Alesis, made a few CD's (sold a lot in Japan) and the last three years I am into webdesign as well. I have a dutch synthesizer website http://www.dancewave.nl where I share all my secrets. (almost...) I consider the sound designing for Andromeda as the highlight of my musical career. I will spare you all depths http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/wink.gif I am a great fan of a sabbatical life. I work just enough to make the money I can live from, that leaves me a lot of time to what I like: drive my Triumph Legend TT motorcycle, walk through Amsterdam (dB's feet still hurt!) and joy the lusts of live. (food mainly) ------------------ -- Pim -- www.dancewave.nl

A very old recording of mine. '93 or so. Used instruments: Minimoog, Korg Wavestation A/D, Roland Jupiter 6, Roland System 100, Oberheim OB-1, Alesis Quadrasynth (Mellotron), Dynacord ADD-Two drumsampler. The vocoder is a Roland SVC-350, backing vocals Tanja, computer voice Amiga 1200 computer, communicator bleeb by Startrek Combadge. I used one sampled drumloop, all other drum sounds were made on the System 100 and sampled into the ADD-Two. ------------------ -- Pim -- www.dancewave.nl