Arturia Forums
Software Instruments => SEM V2 => SEM V2 - Users Community => Topic started by: sbDigisound on May 20, 2016, 09:24:47 pm
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Anybody got any opinions on the sound quality of the new version compared to the original SEM vst ?
I am struggling to replicate particular tones with exact settings.
Is it using the same engine or a rework / upgrade.
The GUI is a big improvement tho.
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Well, the V5 video says "new sound engines."
I'm recreating some of my own old SEM V4 presets and the one problem I am currently noticing is that while the VCF Mode knob visually snaps from Low-pass to Band-pass mode, the Low-pass mode itself doesn't seem to kick in until the knob is rotated to the .088 position.
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Well, the V5 video says "new sound engines."
I'm recreating some of my own old SEM V4 presets and the one problem I am currently noticing is that while the VCF Mode knob visually snaps from Low-pass to Band-pass mode, the Low-pass mode itself doesn't seem to kick in until the knob is rotated to the .088 position.
Wait wait wait wait wait ....
Why are you re-creating your old SEM V4 presets. You can't just load them up into the new version?
I've been told, by someone who worked on presets for the new Jup-8, that this is supported.
Now, if you're telling me the new V5 synths WON'T support the V4 presets .. well ..... along with removing the Sound Map, this would be THE deal breaker. I spent many many hours designing my own sounds. If those aren't transferable to the new V5 synths, then Arturia has done f***ed up in a SERIOUS way.
VERY not cool, if that's the case. :-\
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Well, the V5 video says "new sound engines."
I'm recreating some of my own old SEM V4 presets and the one problem I am currently noticing is that while the VCF Mode knob visually snaps from Low-pass to Band-pass mode, the Low-pass mode itself doesn't seem to kick in until the knob is rotated to the .088 position.
Wait wait wait wait wait ....
Why are you re-creating your old SEM V4 presets. You can't just load them up into the new version?
I've been told, by someone who worked on presets for the new Jup-8, that this is supported.
Now, if you're telling me the new V5 synths WON'T support the V4 presets .. well ..... along with removing the Sound Map, this would be THE deal breaker. I spent many many hours designing my own sounds. If those aren't transferable to the new V5 synths, then Arturia has done f***ed up in a SERIOUS way.
VERY not cool, if that's the case. :-\
Yep, definitely not happening - presets incompatible between versions. A conversion utility rumoured...
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I'm not certain about the entire collection, but most of the V5 Collection does not seem to support old presets. For instance, Oberheim SEM V imports/exports .obsx files while SEM V2 imports/exports .semx files. I'm certain they had to do that for some reason. A conversion utility certainly would be handy though.
I'm noticing certain knob numerical readouts don't correspond between the V4 version and V5 version, like the Portamento and Decay knobs.
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Well, the V5 video says "new sound engines."
I'm recreating some of my own old SEM V4 presets and the one problem I am currently noticing is that while the VCF Mode knob visually snaps from Low-pass to Band-pass mode, the Low-pass mode itself doesn't seem to kick in until the knob is rotated to the .088 position.
Wait wait wait wait wait ....
Why are you re-creating your old SEM V4 presets. You can't just load them up into the new version?
I've been told, by someone who worked on presets for the new Jup-8, that this is supported.
Now, if you're telling me the new V5 synths WON'T support the V4 presets .. well ..... along with removing the Sound Map, this would be THE deal breaker. I spent many many hours designing my own sounds. If those aren't transferable to the new V5 synths, then Arturia has done f***ed up in a SERIOUS way.
VERY not cool, if that's the case. :-\
Sound map is missing? Is this across the board on all synths?
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Well, the V5 video says "new sound engines."
I'm recreating some of my own old SEM V4 presets and the one problem I am currently noticing is that while the VCF Mode knob visually snaps from Low-pass to Band-pass mode, the Low-pass mode itself doesn't seem to kick in until the knob is rotated to the .088 position.
Wait wait wait wait wait ....
Why are you re-creating your old SEM V4 presets. You can't just load them up into the new version?
I've been told, by someone who worked on presets for the new Jup-8, that this is supported.
Now, if you're telling me the new V5 synths WON'T support the V4 presets .. well ..... along with removing the Sound Map, this would be THE deal breaker. I spent many many hours designing my own sounds. If those aren't transferable to the new V5 synths, then Arturia has done f***ed up in a SERIOUS way.
VERY not cool, if that's the case. :-\
Sound map is missing? Is this across the board on all synths?
Yes. The Sound Map has been removed from all the synths that had it. Real dick move there, and utterly inexplicable.
And regarding preset compatibility ...
They damn well BETTER make a converter, and FAST!!! This is a HUGE freakin issue, and Arturia REALLY dropped the ball here. I'm sure this will make many many people more than a little angry.
And if they can make a converter, then why couldn't they just do it within the new synths in the first place?
Preset backwards compatibility seems to be an afterthought to them here. Who the HELL thought people wouldn't want to transfer their old custom made presets on which they spent hours upon hours upon hours making and tweaking? THAT person should be fired. Terrible decision. I don't care if it IS a new engine. Backward compatibility for the presets is ESSENTIAL!!!
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Well, the V5 video says "new sound engines."
I'm recreating some of my own old SEM V4 presets and the one problem I am currently noticing is that while the VCF Mode knob visually snaps from Low-pass to Band-pass mode, the Low-pass mode itself doesn't seem to kick in until the knob is rotated to the .088 position.
Wait wait wait wait wait ....
Why are you re-creating your old SEM V4 presets. You can't just load them up into the new version?
I've been told, by someone who worked on presets for the new Jup-8, that this is supported.
Now, if you're telling me the new V5 synths WON'T support the V4 presets .. well ..... along with removing the Sound Map, this would be THE deal breaker. I spent many many hours designing my own sounds. If those aren't transferable to the new V5 synths, then Arturia has done f***ed up in a SERIOUS way.
VERY not cool, if that's the case. :-\
Sound map is missing? Is this across the board on all synths?
Yes. The Sound Map has been removed from all the synths that had it. Real dick move there, and utterly inexplicable.
And regarding preset compatibility ...
They damn well BETTER make a converter, and FAST!!! This is a HUGE freakin issue, and Arturia REALLY dropped the ball here. I'm sure this will make many many people more than a little angry.
And if they can make a converter, then why couldn't they just do it within the new synths in the first place?
Preset backwards compatibility seems to be an afterthought to them here. Who the HELL thought people wouldn't want to transfer their old custom made presets on which they spent hours upon hours upon hours making and tweaking? THAT person should be fired. Terrible decision. I don't care if it IS a new engine. Backward compatibility for the presets is ESSENTIAL!!!
Arturia really screwed the pooch with this 'upgrade'. 5 new instruments with only one or two that are at all usable (Synclavier and Farfisa) and they mucked up the existing ones without so much as a thought to those of us with a lot of work done in the now 'legacy' product.
I wonder of the VC5 collection can co-exist with existing VC4 stuff or does it overwrite the older stuff? I understand the VC5 demo can co-exist but I'm talking about the paid-for upgrade. At least I have two boot partitions and can put the VC5 collection on one and leave the VC4 collection untouched on the other (I actually have VC4 on both partitions).
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Well, the V5 video says "new sound engines."
I'm recreating some of my own old SEM V4 presets and the one problem I am currently noticing is that while the VCF Mode knob visually snaps from Low-pass to Band-pass mode, the Low-pass mode itself doesn't seem to kick in until the knob is rotated to the .088 position.
Wait wait wait wait wait ....
Why are you re-creating your old SEM V4 presets. You can't just load them up into the new version?
I've been told, by someone who worked on presets for the new Jup-8, that this is supported.
Now, if you're telling me the new V5 synths WON'T support the V4 presets .. well ..... along with removing the Sound Map, this would be THE deal breaker. I spent many many hours designing my own sounds. If those aren't transferable to the new V5 synths, then Arturia has done f***ed up in a SERIOUS way.
VERY not cool, if that's the case. :-\
Sound map is missing? Is this across the board on all synths?
Yes. The Sound Map has been removed from all the synths that had it. Real dick move there, and utterly inexplicable.
And regarding preset compatibility ...
They damn well BETTER make a converter, and FAST!!! This is a HUGE freakin issue, and Arturia REALLY dropped the ball here. I'm sure this will make many many people more than a little angry.
And if they can make a converter, then why couldn't they just do it within the new synths in the first place?
Preset backwards compatibility seems to be an afterthought to them here. Who the HELL thought people wouldn't want to transfer their old custom made presets on which they spent hours upon hours upon hours making and tweaking? THAT person should be fired. Terrible decision. I don't care if it IS a new engine. Backward compatibility for the presets is ESSENTIAL!!!
Arturia really screwed the pooch with this 'upgrade'. 5 new instruments with only one or two that are at all usable (Synclavier and Farfisa) and they mucked up the existing ones without so much as a thought to those of us with a lot of work done in the now 'legacy' product.
I wonder of the VC5 collection can co-exist with existing VC4 stuff or does it overwrite the older stuff? I understand the VC5 demo can co-exist but I'm talking about the paid-for upgrade. At least I have two boot partitions and can put the VC5 collection on one and leave the VC4 collection untouched on the other (I actually have VC4 on both partitions).
V4 and v5 (upgrade) coexist. Just dont share presets. And that is mighty inconvenient.
I am not entirely convinced about the engine upgrade either - I am struggling to reproduce some SEM filter tone that I preferred in V4.
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V4 and v5 (upgrade) coexist. Just dont share presets. And that is mighty inconvenient.
I am not entirely convinced about the engine upgrade either - I am struggling to reproduce some SEM filter tone that I preferred in V4.
The VC5 upgrade doesn't overwrite the existing VC4 install? I'm talking the full/paid-for upgrade and not the free VC5 demo. That's good because when I try and open existing projects that already have Arturia synths whether they have custom patches or not I don't need surprises. IIRC I think some of those existing projects have custom patches saved inside the daw in use at the time and not the synth itself (my error when I hit the wrong save option)
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V4 and v5 (upgrade) coexist. Just dont share presets. And that is mighty inconvenient.
I am not entirely convinced about the engine upgrade either - I am struggling to reproduce some SEM filter tone that I preferred in V4.
The VC5 upgrade doesn't overwrite the existing VC4 install? I'm talking the full/paid-for upgrade and not the free VC5 demo. That's good because when I try and open existing projects that already have Arturia synths whether they have custom patches or not I don't need surprises. IIRC I think some of those existing projects have custom patches saved inside the daw in use at the time and not the synth itself (my error when I hit the wrong save option)
Nope, def not. I have both new V5 (not demo) and old V4 VSTs available on the desktop and in DAW.
Just not quite convinced of the sound quality of V5....
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V4 and v5 (upgrade) coexist. Just dont share presets. And that is mighty inconvenient.
I am not entirely convinced about the engine upgrade either - I am struggling to reproduce some SEM filter tone that I preferred in V4.
The VC5 upgrade doesn't overwrite the existing VC4 install? I'm talking the full/paid-for upgrade and not the free VC5 demo. That's good because when I try and open existing projects that already have Arturia synths whether they have custom patches or not I don't need surprises. IIRC I think some of those existing projects have custom patches saved inside the daw in use at the time and not the synth itself (my error when I hit the wrong save option)
Nope, def not. I have both new V5 (not demo) and old V4 VSTs available on the desktop and in DAW.
Just not quite convinced of the sound quality of V5....
You and me both, at least working with what's inside Analog Laboratory 2. Some sounds sound different and I can't quite put my ear on what's what but I do know there are level differences between the two and some of the newer patches seem to have fx on them the originals don't have. I put up the same patch in both the original standalone Sem and the newer one in AL2 and in many cases they're close but not identical. Ditto for the Matrix 12.
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There is help on the way for a patch converter but it looks like it won't be for months and considering Arturia's past performance not until 2017. See this page: https://www.arturia.com/faq/utilization/2016-mid-may-major-update-%E2%80%93-factory-user-presets-compatibility (https://www.arturia.com/faq/utilization/2016-mid-may-major-update-%E2%80%93-factory-user-presets-compatibility)
Got wind of this through another forum I belong to (and no it's not Gearslutz).
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Yeah, I am not holding my breath....
However in my case I can work round the compatibility if it were possible to manually match presets , laborious as it is, and the result were to sound at least as good ( - al little subjective that...) between the older and new versions. I cant get quite the same tone from the SEM filter despite (numeric) matched settings and that is a disappointment.
If anybody at Arturia is interested I will send an old & new version that should as far as I can see sound identical - but dont.
Having paid for the upgrade I wish now I had more thoroughly comparatively tested the new VST.
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Have you matched old and new factory presets? To me, they sound they same. I've been unable to recreate my old ones accurately though. Some lack a certain punch and I'm finding it's because the knob positions don't completely correspond to the older version.
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Have you matched old and new factory presets? To me, they sound they same. I've been unable to recreate my old ones accurately though. Some lack a certain punch and I'm finding it's because the knob positions don't completely correspond to the older version.
No, not really matched factory presets - hadn't actually realised they were the same?
I am working on a user modified factory preset I adapted and despite modification to the filter parameters don't seem to be able to get the same quality of filer response.
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Just got a bit closer - passable replication now.
Big issue is the representation of the "Notch" filter type knob in V2 - pointer doesnt seem to match indicated type.
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Have you matched old and new factory presets? To me, they sound they same. I've been unable to recreate my old ones accurately though. Some lack a certain punch and I'm finding it's because the knob positions don't completely correspond to the older version.
As I mentioned above in post 11 I spent a good deal of time trying to match up presets once I figured out the name changes between the old and new ones. Some patches are close but there are noticeable differences with some of the newer ones having a bit of a 'sheen' to them the originals don't have. This is not just in the SEM but in others as well.
Disappointing to say the least.
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Just got a bit closer - passable replication now.
Big issue is the representation of the "Notch" filter type knob in V2 - pointer doesnt seem to match indicated type.
Yeah; I submitted that as a bug. The VCF Mode knob visually snaps from Low-pass to Band-pass mode, but the Low-pass mode itself doesn't seem to kick in until the knob is rotated to the .088 position. To me there also doesn't seem to be any way to currently fine tune the oscillators (unless I'm doing something wrong). They can be adjusted in semitones, but using the CNTL-key doesn't seem to control the cents. I can't recreate any old patches without that being fixed, but perhaps I'll just wait for the upcoming patch utility.
I opened the old and new SEM patches side by side and the Portamento knob, decay knobs, and the VCF Frequency knobs don't seem to correspond to their old settings. Most SEM patches seemed to sound similar to me except that maybe the volume levels have all been a bit better balanced on the new version. It wasn't too long ago that I beta tested the first SEM, so I doubt that much was changed with this particular instrument.
(My big complaint with the new version is the extremely tiny font size in the top panel. I like the 60%-70% size setting and my aging eyes struggle to read the text).
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I can agree and confirm. That need to be fixed.
Also that there don't seem to be any notchfilter working.
Big GUI's was to be able to see things. The font's used is to small.
I find there is quite a big sound difference. I'm not sure i'm thrilled about the direction the sound is going. Seems more bright and thin.
Would be nice to compare to the real thing on certain characteristic unique sounds for the synths. I miss that in VC5 too.
Seems to me the values in the display perhaps not allways reflect the correct value.
And it's not so good to have the display in the bottom. It disapears when opening other modules so you have to resize the GUI smaller. So the very tiny Fonts get even smaller. And it's bad workflow.
CC4 - I can fine tune if i use right mouseclick. That's good. But i can't see the fine tuning values in the display.
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I can agree and confirm. That need to be fixed.
Also that there don't seem to be any notchfilter working.
Big GUI's was to be able to see things. The font's used is to small.
I find there is quite a big sound difference. I'm not sure i'm thrilled about the direction the sound is going. Seems more bright and thin.
Would be nice to compare to the real thing on certain characteristic unique sounds for the synths. I miss that in VC5 too.
Seems to me the values in the display perhaps not allways reflect the correct value.
And it's not so good to have the display in the bottom. It disapears when opening other modules so you have to resize the GUI smaller. So the very tiny Fonts get even smaller. And it's bad workflow.
CC4 - I can fine tune if i use right mouseclick. That's good. But i can't see the fine tuning values in the display.
Not nuts about values being displayed in the lower panel and in some instances they're hard to see with my aging eyes (yep me too CC4). Why can't we have them as floaters like tool tips night next to the control? Or even a pop-up windowlet?
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I realize that it has been a year since the last post. I just had to add my two cents. Last night I compared the old and new versions of the Mini and the Prophet on my studio system. To put it lightly, they are MAJOR improvements... More definition, greater depth, more engaging filters. Everything. Going back and forth, I couldn't believe how much smaller the older ones sounded... and I really love the Mini v2. And this is even when favouring the older one level-wise. Ignore the patches and simply create a basic sound with the oscillators and filters, you will hear it. THANK YOU ARTURIA!
That being said, I am disappointed that the new Mini uses lower note triggering. I prefer the higher note triggering of v2.
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I realize that it has been a year since the last post. I just had to add my two cents. Last night I compared the old and new versions of the Mini and the Prophet on my studio system. To put it lightly, they are MAJOR improvements... More definition, greater depth, more engaging filters. Everything. Going back and forth, I couldn't believe how much smaller the older ones sounded... and I really love the Mini v2. And this is even when favouring the older one level-wise. Ignore the patches and simply create a basic sound with the oscillators and filters, you will hear it. THANK YOU ARTURIA!
That being said, I am disappointed that the new Mini uses lower note triggering. I prefer the higher note triggering of v2.
I don't remember but can't that triggering be changed? It may be called a different name in the new version.