iSEM Synthesizer 4+

Arturia

Designed for iPad

    • 4.4 • 31 Ratings
    • £9.99

iPad Screenshots

Description

COMPATIBILITY
Apple’s AudioUnit v3, Inter-App Audio connectivity, AudioBus 3, Korg’s WIST and Apple’s CoreMIDI are all supported.

Furthermore, iSEM is fully compatible with the Audio Unit Extension format. It can be directly launched in any Audio Unit host applications.


DESCRIPTION
iSEM is a recreation of the classic 1974 Oberheim SEM (Synthesizer Expander Module), one of the world's first self-contained synthesizer modules and the first to bear the "Oberheim Electronics" name.

The Oberheim SEM was made famous by artists and bands such as Lyle Mays, Jan Hammer, Joseph Zawinul, Supertramp, 808 State, Vince Clarke and Depeche Mode.

Based on the TAE® technology found in our Oberheim SEM V software, iSEM brings back the sound and special characteristics of this iconic synth in an sonically accurate and expanded touch-based emulation.


What you can do with the iSEM?

The iSEM is a powerful instrument capable of producing a wide range of warm analog sounds. 

Reproducing the unique SEM architecture, with its oscillator sync, characteristic filter shape and specific envelope response, the iSEM is able to generate the fat basses that have made the Oberheim brand so popular. Thanks to its simple and clever PW and pitch modulations, it is also very easy to produce moving and lively leads.

Its remarkable 12 dB/oct multimode filter is a real blast from the past, becoming an awesome weapon in the context of current electronic music. This unique module can instantly tailor your sound to fat, crisp, or spectral textures with access to all the nuances in between…

iSEM comes with over 500 sounds that you can browse through and play. You can also easily create your own sounds with the easy to use interface.

Play iSEM's numerous sounds from the iPad keyboard or control iSEM from a MIDI keyboard or other app via CoreMIDI and integrate it into your studio or live performance.

If you are an owner of of the Arturia SEM V software on your Mac or PC, you can even import and export sounds between your laptop or desktop SEM V and iSEM.



FEATURES
All the original parameters of the Oberheim SEM: two oscillators, each offering sawtooth wave and variable-width pulse wave with PWM, sine wave LFO, 12dB/oct multi-mode Filter with low-pass, high-pass, band-pass and notch, two ADS envelope generators.

Added functionalities: New LFO, Noise, Sub oscillator, Arpeggiator, Portamento.
Polyphonic playability
8 Voice Programmer module allows each voice to have different settings
HOLD and CHORD modes.
Virtual Analog Chorus.
Virtual Analog Delay.
Full user MIDI mapping of panel controls.
Supports WIST sync to other iOS devices.
Support of AudioUnit Extension, AudioBus 3 and Apple’s Inter-App Audio connectivity.


The Oberheim™ name used here is a trademark of the Gibson Guitar Corp. The trademark is used by license to Arturia.

What’s New

Version 1.5

- Updates and bugfixes for iOS 13
- Upgrade AudioBus to Version 3
- Improved Startup Time

Ratings and Reviews

4.4 out of 5
31 Ratings

31 Ratings

willhindson ,

Great but needs some AU fixes

I love the sound and flexibility of this synth but am getting increasingly frustrated with it taking an extremely long time to load as an Audio unit within Cubasis (all my other AU apps load almost instantaneously, on an iPad Air 2). Sometimes it doesn't load at all and will throw an error. I imagine this is a relatively heavy app to load compared to other audio units but it would be great if it was possible to further optimise this.

Additionally, when used as an AU in Cubasis, the preset will more often than not load incorrectly, so I usually have to re-find the preset after loading a project. I'm not sure how much of this is the fault of iSem or Cubasis but it can be quite frustrating.

I am hopeful for some upcoming optimisations to these issues :)

sleekitwan ,

iSem Audio Unit won’t load in Cubasis 3.6.1

Well, it’s been a year since I notified Arturia of this exact issue using Cubasis 3.4.1, and sadly we are at that point where iSem seems to be forgotten. 4 years since a revision. Pulling up Cubasis 3.6.1 (latest Jan 2024) on an iPad Pro M1 12.9 inch, with 2Tb SSD and lots of room on there, and so on, trying to add an instance of the iSem Audio Unit, results in it possibly seeming to work, but close down Cub3 and restart, and there’s no way to get iSem to show its face/fascia. Also, add a second instance/track of the iSem AUv3, and it never shows its face not even once. Any midi track info obvs does not play, and the fact the fascia won;t load once you duck out of Cubasis 3 even temporarily, and return, is indicative of no state being preserved etc. Useless as an AU in Cubasis essentially - every other Audio Unit instrument, and I tried a dozen, all invoked fine, saved their state on shutdown of Cub3, etc. Other weirdness includes the fascia of the previous instrument you had up, remaining in place, it all seems connected to iSem not loading up? Over to you Arturia, sorry, iSem’s dead in the water for me as it stands.

Whigfhhgyhghv ,

Beautiful

This is probably my favourite 'virtual analog' synth. It has everything I'd want o a real SEM module - additional, dedicated LFO, sub osc, even an arpeggiator and a nice sounding delay. It doesn't seem too resource hungry, and I've had no problems with crashes or conflicts/incompatibilities.
It sounds absolutely beautiful, and has lead to me wanting the real thing too. However, this is also polyphonic (if wanted), so it's a very capable instrument.
I own a variety of real analog synths too, and find the snobbery about software synths ridiculous and mostly uneducated. Quality software such as this proves their worth.

App Privacy

The developer, Arturia, has not provided details about its privacy practices and handling of data to Apple. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy.

No Details Provided

The developer will be required to provide privacy details when they submit their next app update.

Supports

  • Family Sharing

    Up to six family members can use this app with Family Sharing enabled.

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