Bohm sempra

[Zenithporsche]

Any thoughts on the Bohm sempra organs and their ability to incorporate hauptwerk

What’s their reliability like

Cabinets look great

[abacus]

Have not tried the new Sempra (Like Wersi they come in all shapes and sizes) but Bohm are normally good and reliable, (Sounds and OS are personal so always try before you buy) however to be able to use Hauptwerk you need the PC expansion which according to the Bohm website is about €5000, it does however come with a 17” screen and I believe Steinberg VST Software (But don’t quote me on this) is included. (Not sure if a Hauptwerk VST is included as standard)

Wersi OAX instruments have a VST Host as standard on all instruments so all you need to do is purchase Hauptwerk software and load it into the instrument to use it, or other VST instruments. (NOTE: You may need to expand the Ram and/or SSD memory for some of the larger Hauptwerk instruments)

Both manufactures continually update their instruments with new sounds and features so are as futureproof as you can get in this day and age. (There is also the new Bemore range of organs to consider which look similar)

Don’t forget to also have a look at used Roland’s, as while more limited in features and sounds then the above, (They can’t use VST on-board and Midi control is limited) they already have some cracking organ sounds on-board so may be all the organ sounds you need.

Bill

[Zenithporsche]

Thanks Bill for your thoughts

Do you think the best way to use hauptwerk is in a dedicated organ ie built for this in mind only. Already have the Roland 900 which I find great having gone from a Wersi Sonic 1000 to this due to reliability issues. Only restricting thing with the Roland is 2 keyboards and not 3 and also the short upper keyboard on the lower octaves. Only reason considering Bohm is to regain the 3 keyboards and full pedalboard, concern is these are windows based but unlike the Wersi the hauptwerk runs separately from the organ computer I believe on the Bohm.

[abacus]

As far as I am aware the Sempra continues the same as previous instruments and are the same as your Roland, however for additional cost they will build in a high end Windows PC with a large monitor built into the music rest (Or elsewhere) to allow the use of VSTs, and also provide an easy to use interface to use them together as one. (You could add a dedicated computer to your Roland to run VSTs, but the Roland Midi is very limited to get the best out of them)

Building a dedicated console and integrating the computer on-board specifically for Hauptwerk is always the best way, but a conventional organ console is not ideal if you wish to use other types of VST.

Curious: what where the problems with the Sonic 1000, and did you have any problems returning it when it didn’t suit.

Bill

[Zenithporsche]

Hi Bill

Had many software issues, one which a certain company didn’t even respond too. Hence why I ditched them, as I had a 500 and the 1000, at a loss to myself for the Roland’s.

Mark

[KRG]

The Wersi runs on a PC but the Bohm does not. The Cloud expansion is a separate PC built into the console purely for running music manuscript handling software and software such as Hauptwerk.

[Claus]

Bohm is going this way, consciously. The SEMPRA organ itself is based on an extremely fast and safe realtime cpu (industrial standard). The Windows PC of the optional Cloud Studio system will be used only to produce VST sounds, Hauptwerk, etc. You can use it also to display notes on the big touch screen and to service your sheet music collection.
The Cloud Studio it's controlled by the organ as a MIDI sound module. So the organ gets the full power of it's CPU and OS to work as an organ, and the PC can use it's full power only for creating VST or Hauptwerk sounds. The price for that unit is also fair, compared with prices of other high-grade Hauptwerk PC systems with same standard of hardware quality. This is of course not the cheapest, but the most forceful way to do it.

If anybody is interested: I'll demonstrate the SEMPRA line at Allens Music organ expo in Great Yarmouth on April, 21st.

regards,
Claus

[seamaster]

That’s interesting. Are Böhm about to become another notch on Allens’s bedpost? They quietly disappeared from the Musictraders site a while ago.

[Zenithporsche]

Hi Seamaster

To my knowledge Allens are already dealing in Bohms......considering how they used to slate them!

[Victor Jules]

Can I ask a dumb question -- what are all those buttons in grids covering a Sempra? Can they be used as organ stops with Hauptwerk or whatever? I realize that's not what they intend.
I tried researching this but couldn't find a diagram (my normal way of cutting to the chase) in a Böhm user manual.

[KRG]

I believe that the answer is yes in that the grid of 18 buttons is for the quick assignment of 15 chosen instruments. They are marked in categories (strings, brass etc.) for convenience but any of these buttons can be very easily configured to select any sound present in the instrument. The other three buttons are for upper/lower/pedal or solo. Because you can have different accounts you could set up a theatre organ account with all your usual theatre organ presets and have additional voices assigned to those buttons to add to your presets as and when required. Different accounts could be used for classical organ, Real Organ, church organ or whatever. Bohm users are fond of saying that if you can imagine doing something then you can probably do it.

[Victor Jules]

Thank you. "accounts" -- so it's only for use with HW or whatever? I the googling king am find basic info tuff to come by on this.
I don't suppose anybody's played the one-manual Sempra whose serial number seems to be SE 20, and shared with a 2m model?

[Claus]

I believe that the answer is yes in that the grid of 18 buttons is for the quick assignment of 15 chosen instruments. They are marked in categories (strings, brass etc.) for convenience but any of these buttons can be very easily configured to select any sound present in the instrument. The other three buttons are for upper/lower/pedal or solo. Because you can have different accounts you could set up a theatre organ account with all your usual theatre organ presets and have additional voices assigned to those buttons to add to your presets as and when required. Different accounts could be used for classical organ, Real Organ, church organ or whatever. Bohm users are fond of saying that if you can imagine doing something then you can probably do it.

In principle, yes! However: The sound buttons naturally trigger each other, as is the case with all these "universal" organs. So you cannot add them up directly like the stops of a digital church organ. So you have to add several single stops through several parts on each keyboard of the SEMPRA.
But you can certainly switch Setzer (and anything else to control by Midi) in Hauptwerk via them.

the other point: If you are a classical organ player, you should try out the fantastic "on board" church organ sounds at first! Maybe there is no need anymore for a Hauptwerk system. ;) Hector Olivera was absolutely impressed when trying them for hours in Herdecke in October. On the big models you have up to 10 parts/instruments as standard on each keyboard, more are possible with additonal User Part packages. And there are a lot of very interesting facilities to design your registrations: individual swell amount for each Amadeus sound, Distance parameter for each sound to move it more to the front or to the back of your imaginary church or concert hall, C/Cis windchest separation, individual fine tuning and panorama for each part, real quadrophony with 4 separate output channels, etc. etc.

regards,
Claus

[Victor Jules]

When using Hauptwerk or whatever, is it possible to assign that program's individual sounds to those buttons, even on a one-manual Sempra?

Is there a list of those church organ sounds somewhere? How are prices compared to Johannus et al. I know they're markedly different species of instrument. I'd also love to see a history of this exciting new company.

[Claus]

Hi Victor!

Sorry, I just saw your questions in the commentary. The sound buttons of the SEMPRA are freely assignable, you can put any sound preset on them, including those that address external sounds. The info about bank and program change number is included in the sound preset.

Yes, we've (also English) instruction manuals for the church and theatre organ packs with sound and preset lists in. May you could send me an email to [email protected]?

[Claus]

Thank you. "accounts" -- so it's only for use with HW or whatever? I the googling king am find basic info tuff to come by on this.
I don't suppose anybody's played the one-manual Sempra whose serial number seems to be SE 20, and shared with a 2m model?

Hi!
"account" means that you could work with sevaral user accounts on the SEMPRA. A user account contains a complete configuration of the instrument with all user and also factory data. So, if you need completely different configurations for different music styles, or if more than one player are using the same instrument, etc., this is a fantastic feature. Also you can transfer your account to a USB stick. With this stick you could go to another SEMPRA and play your account on that instrument completely from the stick. So everything will be the same as on your own organ, as long as you playing from the USB account. Very helpful for us demonstrators! :)

Claus

[Victor Jules]

Thanks for your offer of the manuals -- just emailed you. Can a SEMPRA be treated as one division (e.g. Great or Swell = 'upper' or 'lower' as you called it) and all 12 or 15 buttons assigned to it?

Wonder if they'd permit you to post the manuals here, maybe in a blog about your company. If they don't allow outright official brand promotion, a real pity.