A classic synthesizer has been reimagined: it’s the Arturia iSem software for iPad 2 and OS 6.0 or later. Included, you’ll find all original parameters of the classic Oberheim SEM as well as other goodies. For example, you’ll have two oscillators with the sawtooth waveform and a variable pulse wave to enhance with sine wave LFO and two ADS envelope generators. Arturia also added an extra LFO, a noise generator, a sub-oscillator, a portamento, an arpeggiator, and the great modulation matrix module. This software also has an eight-voice programmer module with variable playback modes. Plus, it offers more than 500 sounds to get creative on your music production venture.
Oberheim SEM: the Context
In the 70s, Tom Oberheim was a talented effects maker. He founded his company, named Oberheim Electronics, where he designed two major effects. These were very popular in the USA at that time: the Phase Shifter and the Ring Modulator. Later, Oberheim joined forces with Dave Rossum. Together, they created and designed the famous Expander Module (SEM). Afterwards, they made the debut of this invention in the Audio Engineering Society Convention in LA back in 1974. Overall, it became a success and gained popularity for its innovative sounds and multimode filter.
Arturia iSem: Features
With the Mod Matrix, you’ll be able to design or create your own custom signal flows by sending up to eight source signals to 25 destinations. Another great feature is that the app is Core MIDI compatible. In other words, this means that you can assign knobs to your controller keyboard. This is a great feature if you want to take the feel of the knob instead of tweaking the screen. In short, the Arturia iSem is a great analog sounding synth that will definitely take you back to the SEM times back in the 70s. However, it’s more than that synth: it possesses some great extras that Arturia added to make it stand out from the rest of the similar software out there.
Image Arturia
