Tom Oberheim has put up pricing on his site for his new Synthesizer Expander Module (SEM).
Here are the details:
The SEM has the same single-voice analog circuit design as the original – 100% analog! – and is paired with a versatile MIDI to CV converter that allows the routing of MIDI messages to the various control voltage inputs. I’ve been showing the prototype around a little and musicians love the sound.
The pricing is as follows:
- SEM with MIDI input and MIDI to CV routing panel (as shown in above photo): $899
- SEM with patch panel connections to internal inputs and outputs (no MIDI input, same as above photo but left panel controls are replaced by CV/gate/audio I/O patch panel): $749
- Basic SEM module with front panel (no case or power supply, good for drop-in replacement of original SEM): $599
You can sign up to get on Oberheim’s mailing list by sending a message to tom (at) tomoberheim (dot) com.
Expensive?
30 something years ago an SEM was $695 and minimum wage was less than $4/hr.
A personal computer was $1300 and came with 48K of memory and a floppy disk.
It's not overly retro. You're just overly ignorant of history.
To be fair I guess it is technically 'retro'. Then again, people have been making music with flutes for thousands of years. One suspects a decent instrument like this Oberheim desreves more than thirty years' worth of attention 🙂