MOTM

On 12/13/03, cormallen put forth:
>
>  > 470 - SEM filter
>
>So what is the general nature of the SEM's filter?  Warm? aggressive?
>nasal?  I've never had a chance to play with one and have no idea what
>they sound like...

I would describe it as warm, aggressive, and a bit dirty.  It's a 
12dB filter, but more throaty and less nasal than the MS-20.  It is 
also a multimode filter -- LP, HP, BP, BR.  I heard that JH came up 
with a way to make the modes voltage controllable, but I do not know 
if that feature is part of the MOTM-470.

While it was used by Vince Clark, 808 State, and many other artists, 
imho, the best way to hear the sound of the SEM filter is to listen 
to early European techno trance -- many are minimal compositions that 
used SEM in a dominant role.  Pete Namlook even had a project named 
Four Voice.  Unfortunately, almost all of this seminal music is long 
out of print.

Please keep in mind that the sound of an Oberheim [even number}-Voice 
is the result of many different factors besides the filter.  They 
were multitimbrel as well as polyphonic in that each voice had a 
completely separate set of controls, and could cycle through 
different patches using various assignment modes.

>(The only Obie that I've owned is the Xpander, whose filters I didn't
>like the sound of at all.  Very flexible though).

Yes, that's a completely different filter.