Bohm Sempra English Brochure

[abacus]

Click on image to expand:

http://www.youblisher.com/p/1893328-...A-Prospekt-EN/

Enjoy

Bill

[seamaster]

"Sempra is not yet another PC organ ... not made from cheap pressed wood or MDF ..."

Ouch.

[andyg]

Am I reading this correctly, just 6 presets per song??? I can only see 6 pistons on the three manual one. Surely not, but if so, that's one big hole in the foot from the gun......

[abacus]

Hi Andy

Hopefully Claus will pop his head in, but I believe the 6 limit relates to the song parts in a single pre-set, (See video below) if you want more parts you use 2 pre-sets, whereas on the Roland (And most others) you would need to set up multiple pre-sets. (I.E. for a 12 part song you would need to set up 12 pre-sets, whereas with the Bohm you would only require 2 pre-sets)
I May be wrong in this, but when you combine the video with the brochure text, it seems to fit.

Bill

[Claus]

Hi Andy!

The new "3D" preset concept with several types of organizing and grouping of your SONGS/Presets makes it much easier to keep the overview also over extensive preset libraries.
Each SONG (a SONG is like a "folder") can contain up to 6 single global presets, yes. And for a lot of tunes 6 is more than enough.
But if you need more, for example for classical arrangements, etc., also no problem: Create two or more SONG files for the same tune (maybe "Beethoven 9th 1, Beethoven 9th 2, Beethoven 9th 3, etc...) and put them in one ALBUM (you can define up to 100 albums with up to 6 SONGS each. Albums can be called up in chains). With the preset forward/backward functions you can circle between the 6 single presets of a SONG, or - if you need more than 6, jump also into the next SONG and call up the next 6 presets.
You see: The system allows you every individual type of use.

BTW: The additional drawbar organ types of the SEMPRA RealOrgan module (based on the well known HX-3 Hammond clone) are finalized, soon. Currently I'm testing the H-100 (with all 11 footages, of course) and the Böhm types (Professional 2000, Orchestra DS 3003). They are absolutely stunning! And more organ types will follow. There are already Vox, Elka Rhapsody string ensemble (with a very nice, absolutely "analogue" Ensemble-effect). And more types are planned ;)
Now there is an organ which offers the typical drawbar characters of the most famous vintage organs in superb quality on it's drawbar section. As a lover of Klaus Wunderlich's H-100 recordings and Ady Zehnpfennig's LPs on the Professional 2000 I'm absolutely on "drawbar cloud 7 no. seven", now! :)

regards,

Claus

[andyg]

Sorry, but that sounds more like a work around to me, Claus. Jumping to another bank is what I have to do when playing keyboards where I only have 8 memories in a bank. For my organ playing, I now NEED 12 or 16 presets instantly available on buttons at all times. Not all my arrangements go 1,2,3 etc, and if I'm playing something on the fly with 12 or 16 'generic' settings, I'll be moving around them randomly. That means more physical buttons than six. I'm not alone, I was watching a friend play a concert a couple of weeks ago and he was doing the exact same thing, moving around all the 12 presets on his Roland - and switching banks for good measure, with another 12 then available.

Or am I missing something fundamental here?

[Claus]

Hi Andy!

you can exactly do like you want! With the ALBUM buttons, you've always 100 Albums (with up to 6 SONGS each) in direct button access. And you can sort them as you want or need it. So, you've much more presets in direct access as with the Roland system, for example. And all your SONGS/presets are permanently loaded, there's no need to feed banks from an USB stick, all the time.
But you can also sort your SONGS by banks (32 User banks with up to 32 SONGS each), by styles categories (it shows you only the SONGS using a particular style type), by musical genres, alphabetical or numeric order, etc.... You can also direct type in a SONG name and it will jump directly to the SONG. So, every user can go the way he prefer.

The SONG/Preset system is of course different to Roland, for example, but it offers much more flexibility. Be sure, it's very easy and comfortable to handle! The reactions from customers about the new preset management are throughout positive! And there are customers coming from a lot of different brands they've played before. The system offers a lot of options to find your favourite preset organisation, but it's - in opposite also to the former Böhm generation - absolutely easy to understand and to handle. And this was the idea of the inventors of this system.

regards,
Claus

[andyg]

With less than 12/16 physical buttons, I still remain unconvinced. However, I'll reserve judgement until I've played one, perhaps at one of the UK organ festivals near to me.

[Claus]

How many buttons should they do, with thousands of internal SONGs/presets. So the idea was to have the same range of buttons as presets inside one SONG, also to keep it clearly arranged.
And with the two buttons on the left, you can change them also in sequence, with the ALBUM function also to the next or previous SONG.

But interesting: A few people (even Mark Whale for example) asked for this preset buttons between the keyboards. Now Bohm has them, but especially those playser (was the same with Mark :) ) do not use them and change their presets still on the upper panel, now directly on the display. You see: there are so many individual preferences how to call up presets. But this system now covers the most of them. So, everybody can choose his or her favourite type.

regards,
Claus

[abacus]

Bohm Sempra English manual in PDF format are available here https://www.keyswerk.de/downloads/ma.../pdf_Datei.pdf

There is also a manual in English for the Cloud Studio option here https://www.keyswerk.de/downloads/ma.../pdf_Datei.pdf

Bill

[andyg]

They are between the manuals for a good reason, of course! You can, with a little thought and practice, get to them faster than buttons on the panel or on screen. And it's very much organ tradition, look at any theatre organ or larger classical organ. So it's no surprise that organists want them!

[wilsons1003]

I skimmed the Bohm manual. The 6 presets seem to derive from the intro, verse, repeats, end set ups on the touch screen. I get that you can expand by limitless (almost) folders of 6 and group these for a song, or just a group that you play from. BUT you still switch back and forth from just six presets. BAD IDEA. I got worked up when I got my Roland missing my 16 presets on the Yamaha. But 12 is ok. The Lowrey has 5 sets of 11 each total 55. More than enough for a big medley or working groups.
Even my old Technics has 7 for goodness sakes.
I would have liked to be at that design meeting.......

[Claus]

...and if you forget your stick with your user presets, you've ONLY 12 on a AT900 for example! :) As you habe always to load in the next bank.
That's what I won't to have.
You're NOT limited to 6, that's only the amount per SONG. But you can directly switch to the next SONG of an Album with PRESET + (or the previous SONG with PRESET-). So you have up to 36 single presets in one Album, which you can directly get with the manual buttons.
And if you like to do as on the Electones, for example: Soon there will be added the SIDELINE feature to the SEMPRA, which allows you to determe the complete preset and accompaniment sequence of a song (similar to the registration sequences on an Electone).

BTW: the INTRO....ENDING lettering on the preset fields is only a lettering. You can also select alternatively also "Variation1...Variation6" as lettering.

regards,
Claus

[andyg]

...and if you forget your stick with your user presets, you've ONLY 12 on a AT900 for example!

Er, no!!!

All AT800 and 900 models have an internally mounted USB stick, not sure of the size, but with the data files as small as they are, you're talking hundreds, maybe thousands, of folders, each one with 99 banks of 12 registrations. I only use the external USB stick on mine for data backup, audio and MIDI recording and for taking my registrations 'on the road' for playing on other Rolands.

For the sake of clarity, would you explain this very simply for us non-Bohm experts please. I have a new arrangement of a song - it happens to be "If we were in love", a ballad originally sung by Pavarotti, but now arranged in theatre organ style - for which I need 12 presets. The order required happens to be 1,2,3,1,2,4,5,6,1,2,7,8,9,10,1,2,11,12. That's easy on the Roland. I can use the + shift on the right expression pedal switch for many of these changes and manually press the other pistons when needed. How do I do that on the Sempra with just 6 buttons?

[Claus]

Hi Andy!

I know the AT800/900. Wrote a dedicated workshop serial in our OKEY magazine for Roland AT a few years ago. And yes, the data are on a stick, but not inside the internal storage. :)
I like the Roland, especially the orchestral voices, but the drum section or the drawbars are far behind for example Bohm or Wersi. What I cannot understand, as Roland has all the technology for that in stock. I don't know all the addings they introduced with the last platinum upgrade, because that was after the time I was working with that organs. I know they've improved the drawbar sound with that upgrade, ok, but it's still not the same as an Roland VK organ keyboard, for example.
But is also faineant to think about, as the organ developement at Roland is history, now. What is a shame!

The sequence of your presets I'ld put into 3 songs of an album, called If we were in love. The songs would be called "If we were 1"...."If we were 3", and then I'ld set all the 18 presets in the sequence I need them into these three songs. So I could cal up all of them only with PRESET + from the footswitch. As you've no limitation in the amount of SONGS/Presets it's no problem to put doubles on the position where you need it. But of course, you've also access to the 6 positions of the currently used SONG on the manual buttons.
But: As you can divide much more sounds at the same time on each keyboard of the Bohm, you maybe will not need such a range of 12 presets for such an arrangement. Because you could pack much more sounds and zones in only one preset. Even a fully equipped SE20 offers up to 11 parts on each keyboard, 8 for Amadeus sounds, 1 for MIDI (could also be used for internal sounds), one for Solochord (could also be used as a standard part) and one for drawbars. Each of them could get it's own key range on the manual, dynamic range, etc....

It is a different concept as a Roland, of course, but below the line in my opinion it is much more flexible.

regards,
Claus