[NAMM] Marion Systems SEM-X, PS-1A & RM-1B

Published on Jan 21, 2017 Audiofanzine in English

"Here's a presentation of Marion Systems SEM-X, PS-1A & RM-1B at the NAMM 2017."

See this post for a video with Tom Oberheim and a pic of the SEM-X.

NAMM 2017: Tom Oberheim and the New SEM-X

Published on Jan 20, 2017 sonicstate

Some great Oberheim synth history in this one.

Pic via @analoguezone

NAMM2016: Tom Oberheim Mini Sequencer & SEM Plus Eurorack

On the heels of the recently announced Marion Systems SEM*PLUS eurorack module, Tom Oberheim shows us a look at the new MINI*SEQUENCER.  16 steps, MIDI as well as CV, onboard storage, Portamento, Rachetting, and more.

Some of you might remember this post way back in June of 2015. It looks like it happened.  Marion Systems is back.  Two VCOs, LFO, VCF with variable LP, Notch, and HP modes along with a Band Pass mode.  Two envelopes and extensive patch panel & modulation.  Two AUX ins.


Published on Jan 21, 2016 sonicstate

"NAMM2016: Tom Oberheim Mini Sequencer & SEM Plus Eurorack Nick talks to Tom Oberheim"

Update:

[NAMM] Marion Systems

Published on Jan 22, 2016 Audiofanzine in English

"Here's a presentation of Marion Systems' new products by Tom Oberheim."

Tom Oberheim OB 6 SEM

Published on Jan 21, 2016 musicianews

"Wow great to see Tom Oberheim and his take on the OB-6, Eurorack SEM and the world of Analog design in the 21st Century!"

Tom Oberheim Introduces New Marion Systems MINI SEQUENCER Euorarck Module

On the heels of the recently announced Marion Systems SEM*PLUS eurorack module, Tom Oberheim shows us a look at the new MINI*SEQUENCER.  16 steps, MIDI as well as CV, onboard storage, Portamento, Rachetting, and more.

See this post for additional details and NAMM floor demos.

Tom Oberheim Introduces the Marion Systems SEM*PLUS Eurorack Module

Some of you might remember this post way back in June of 2015. It looks like it happened.  Marion Systems is back.  Two VCOs, LFO, VCF with variable LP, Notch, and HP modes along with a Band Pass mode.  Two envelopes and extensive patch panel & modulation.  Two AUX ins.

via @moodulator

See this post for additional details and NAMM floor demos.

Giorgio Moroder - The Chase (live by Kebu @ Sthlm Italo Disco Party 2015)

Published on Jul 31, 2015 Kebu

"Kebu's all-analog synth cover of Giorgio Moroder's The Chase, performed live at the Sthlm Italo Disco Party 2015 at Nalen, Stockholm, 16.5.2015.

Thanks to Jean-Paul Meulendijks, Alexander Guskov, Heidi Väisänen, Tuulikki Väisänen, and Renaud Guérin for operating the cameras!

This cover version is a mixture of the both the original version and JAIA's Express Remix - with a few of my own additions thrown in.

The song was performed using only analog synthesizers, either played live or sequenced. The performance was recorded directly from the mixer to a stereo track and later mixed together with the ambience from the room. A few mistakes have been cut out and replaced with the audio from a rehearsal take.

Equipment used in this song: Logan String Melody II; MXR EVH117; Roland TR-808, Juno 60, Alpha Juno 1&2; Korg Polysix, Poly 61, Mono/Poly, Micro-preset M500; Moog Source; DSI Tetra; Jomox AirBase99; Touched-by-sound DRM1; Oberheim Matrix 1000; Marion Prosynth; Akai MPC2500 (only for MIDI sequencing), M-Audio Trigger Finger; Yamaha 01v96; Lexicon MPX500 & MPX550, as well as a midi patchbay and additional preamps for my mixer.

My debut album, "To Jupiter and Back", and latest single "Deep Blue" can be bought here: http://www.kebu.fi/"

Tangerine Dream - Le Parc (L.A. - Streethawk), performed live by Kebu @ Sthlm Italo Disco Party 2015

Published on Jun 14, 2015 Kebu

"Kebu's all-analog synth cover of Tangerine Dream's Le Parc (L.A. - Streethawk), performed live at the Sthlm Italo Disco Party 2015 at Nalen, Stockholm, 16.5.2015.

http://kebu.fi

Thanks to Heidi Väisänen, Tuulikki Väisänen, and Renaud Guérin for operating the cameras!

The song was performed using only analog synthesizers, either played live or sequenced. The performance was recorded directly from the mixer to a stereo track and later mixed together with the ambience from the room. A few mistakes have been cut out and replaced with the audio from a rehearsal take.

Equipment used in this song: Roland TR-808, JX8P, Juno 60, Alpha Juno 1&2; Korg Polysix, Poly 61, Mono/Poly, Moog Source, DSI Tetra, Jomox AirBase99, Touched-by-sound DRM1, Oberheim Matrix 1000, Marion Prosynth, Akai MPC2500 (only for MIDI sequencing), M-Audio Trigger Finger, Yamaha 01v96, Lexicon MPX500 & MPX550, as well as a midi patchbay and additional preamps for my mixer.

My debut album, 'To Jupiter and Back', and latest single 'Deep Blue' can be bought here: http://www.kebu.fi/"

Marion Systems ProSynth by Tom Oberheim

Published on Nov 14, 2014 SSM Curtis

"stepping through some patches"

Oberheim/Marion Systems ProSynth - demo track

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.
Published on Mar 6, 2014 rezazel·1 video

via this auction

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OBERHEIM DESIGNED MARION SYSTEMS MSR-2 ANALOG MODULAR 8 VOICE SYNTHESIZER

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via this auction

Update: link fixed.

"Rare Rare Rare. Not many of these were made and the almost never pop up for sale! The Marion MSR-2 8 voice polyphonic analog synthesizer was designed by Tom Oberheim and so it is known for having the 'Oberheim sound' packaged inside a compact single-space rackmount module with modern digital reliability and MIDI implementation. Extremely flexible routing and modulation possibilities including analog inputs to each of the 8 filters for processing external signals! This one works perfectly, sounds awesome, has a brand spanking new battery, and includes the original manual."

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Oberheim SEM Pro Analog Synthesizer With Modular Patch Panel SN 0772

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.
via this auction

Interesting that the auction mentions Marion Systems which was Tom Oberheim's last synth company.

"Marion Systems SEM-Pro synthesizer expander module, signed by Tom Oberheim. This is the version with built in MIDI to CV convertor and the full modular patch panel."

There is no mention of Marion Systems on http://tomoberheim.com, but it would be interesting if his previous Marion Systems was the parent company.

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Marion MSR-2

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via this auction

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Tom Oberheim Marion Systems MSR-2

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via this auction

Note the Oberheim blue (and white) pinstriping.

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Marion Systems MSR-2 Analog Oberheim Module

via this auction

"What we have for auction here is a legendary and ultra rare Tom Oberheim designed Marion Systems MSR-2 Module in an almost mint conditon! It was basically designed as a modular 8-Voice Polysynth (expandable to 16-Voice) in the vein of the Matrix 12/6 series but much better sounding! Unfortunately due to the onset of the digital synth era Marion Systems never had a chance. As as a result it is extremely difficult to find these units."

" Polyphony - 8 voices (expandable to 16)
Oscillators - 2 oscillators per voice
LFO - matrix modulation built-in (up to 10 routings at the same time with 24 sources/33 destinations)
Filter - 12/24 dB/oct filter
Memory - 500 patches
Control - MIDI"

More pics here.

Marion Prosynth

via this auction

"The Marion Systems Pro Synth is the latest in a series of modern instruments attempting to recapture the sound of analogue monosynths, but without their inherent tuning problems and unreliability. Housed in a 1U rackmount, and proudly bearing the name of its creator Tom Oberheim.

The Pro Synth is 8-voice polyphonic with just a stereo output pair, no headphone socket, no effects, and no sampled waveforms. A simple multitimbral implementation allows up to eight different sounds to be driven from their respective MIDI channels"

oberheim marion msr-2

via this auction

Note the Oberheim style blue stripes.

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Synthesizerstudio

flickr by Pablo Gregor
(click for more)

Minimoog
Marion Systems MSR2
SEI Mini
Oberheim OB-Mx
Novation BassStation
SEI Mini Remote
Green Waldorf Microwave
Studio Electronics SE-1

How to Reset the Marion MSR2 to Facory Settings

via Synth80s on the AH list:

"'Press system button + unit number button (1 or 2) and hold em and then power the Marion on. Just hold SYSTEM and one of the unit (card) number buttons and flip that POWER switch ON and watch it reset. It will kill all your original saved patches but restores the factory stuff and makes it usable again.'

Obviously this will wipe your patches. I can't recall for sure, but when the internal battery died on my MSR-2 many years back, I *think* I used this procedure to get it back to normal, then I recovered my patches from backup using SoundDiver (which wasn't easy).

You may know this already, but there is an MSR-2 owners group/list on Yahoo. Communications on the list are not frequent these days, but you might find more info from those list members."

Synth80s on the Marion Systems MSR-2

Synth80s posted the following on the Analogue Heaven mailing list. I thought it was worth posting here as there isn't much information on this short lived and rare synth by Tom Oberheim. I asked Synth80s if I could put it up and he gave the OK. via Synth80s:

"My two cents from having previously owned a MSR-2 for many years:

The MSR-2 is certainly not a do-all synth, but it has some strengths. For one thing, it's an 8 to 16 voice analog in a 1U rack format (if you have one ASM card inside or two), which is certainly not common. Because it's a 1U rack synth, it obviously doesn't have an ideal UI for quick tweaking (no faders, few knobs, etc.), but the OS is very logical and usable -- it's very similar to the eminently logical OS in the E-mu Proteus line. The modulation possibilities are fairly thorough and the filters are really interesting, especially using FM. The MSR-2 also has a DB-25 input for running external audio through the interesting filters, but I never tried it. I may be incorrect, but I recall that the pin-outs on the DB-25 didn't follow the Tascam standard that most other equipment used/uses, so I think one would have to make or have made a custom cable to use this feature. At least it's fully documented in the well-written manual.

The oscillators were deemed HROs (High Resolution Oscillators), which I understand to be DCOs that allowed waveshaping to bridge between the common waveforms (square/pulse, saw, etc.) My understanding is that they are DCOs with finer control than those in Tom Oberheim's previous design with his old company (the Matrix 6 / Matrix 1000, with which the MSR-2 shares a similar synthesis architecture). The HROs are a custom CEM part that's related to the current part used in DSI synths and I think the filters are CEM as well. A couple years back, I had a brief e-mail Q&A with Dave Smith about the analog synthesis parts in the DSI Evolver line -- Dave gave me permission to relay his description to the AH list, which I did back in 2007. In short, he said "the synth chips are an improved version of the Marion parts; the originals had some nasty oscillations and noise in them. Plus we drive them with much faster update rates and precision from the DSPs, so the overall quality of sound is much better. Cheers, Dave." I'm not sure if the same chips are used in the P08, but it would make sense.

Regarding the envelopes, this is from memory, but I recall that the early units had some issue that caused them to be very slow, but that the issue was fixed later in the production run. I also recalled that Tom Oberheim offered to fix the earlier units at no cost (I don't know if the fix was hardware, software or a combination), but I think the reputational damage had been done because the early review and demo units all had slow envelopes. My unit had the faster envelopes which were still not what I'd call fast, but also not slow enough to be an issue.

One solely practical negative: the power brick is beastly and proprietary with a MIDI-like DIN connector, but with a few more connection points than a MIDI cable as I recall. It had to be tethered to something or placed on top of the unit to avoid pulling the connector out!

So, given all that, my opinion is that the MSR-2 is definitely not a great synth for basses, percussion and strong, beefy analog sounds, but it's very good at deep, complex, evolving sounds. The oscillators can be made to do very interesting things with PWM and other modulation of the waveshaping features, though the effects are subtle. The best feature is the interesting filters which can do all kinds of nonsense using resonance and FM. Oddly, if you're good at programming digital devices with menu-based OSes, it's a good programmer's analog synth -- very capable and deep, but not immediate.

I think the MSR-2 biggest problem was the timing of its release. Who was buying new analog in 1994? Who was even making new analog in 1994? ;-) As I've said before, I thing the MSR-2 was a "synth out of time," out of step with current trends of the day, but more valuable than people may have given it credit for at its time of release. Lastly, FWIW, my MSR-2 recently sold for $775 on eBay including U.S. shipping.

-Synth80s"

Followed by:

"With regards to architecture and sound quality, I agree that the Matrix 6 / 1000 and MSR-2 are substantially similar, but the MSR-2 oscillators sound significantly different to my ears. I'm not saying they're a lot better (maybe they're worse to some ears), but they're different enough to be worth noting. The Matrix 6 / 1000 always sounded a little more generically mid-80s' DCO to me. The MSR-2 is hard to put a finger on -- it does sound different than anything else I've played. While still soft sounding, the HROs are fairly rich and a little grainy in an interesting way. I don't recall how the filters sound on a Matrix.

Lastly, with regards to price, I'm sometimes shocked at what the market will bear for certain items as well, but I think the value of the MSR-2 may be driven in part by its relative rarity. For better or for worse, it's one of the only analog synths of its era and it was produced in low numbers by one of the all-time legends. I just wish the first model had been more successful for Tom so he could have expanded the company in other areas -- the MSR-2 chassis is modular and was intended to eventually incorporate other models of sound generation, but that never materialized.

Some good links:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1994_articles/mar94/tomoberheim.html
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1994_articles/dec94/marionmsr2.html
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1995_articles/nov95/marionsynth.html"

Marion MSR-2 Analog Synthesizer - RARE (Oberheim MSR2) A- 01307

via these auctions

"Tom Oberheim (of Oberheim synthesizer fame) founded Marion Systems in the early 1990s to develop a mainframe modular synthesizer that was planned to accomodate differerent synthesis technologies as plug-in boards. The MSR-2 chassis, which is 1U rackmountable, supports 2 plug-in boards. The subtractive analog ASM was the only plug-in board ever offered for the MSR-2 -- it offers 8 voices (16 HROs) of analog synthesis using Oberheim's new DCO-based HRO (High Resolution Oscillator) technology with continuous waveshaping to create waveforms that bridge the gap between the usual saw/square offerings. A derivative of this CEM chip-based HRO design lives on today in Dave Smith's Evolver and other DSI instruments.

A slightly less expensive version of the MSR-2 was sold as the Pro Synth which included a single ASM board but I don't believe the Pro Synth was expladable like the MSR-2. Like most MSR-2s, this unit has one 8-voice ASM board, so it has room for another ASM board in the 1U chassis if you can track one down. If two ASM boards are installed, they can be used as one 16-voice (32 HRO) synthesizer, or they can be layered.

The best features of the MSR-2 are the filter section with very powerful FM capabilities and the deep modulation routings offered -- not surprisingly, they are very similar to the modulation capabilities of Oberheim's Matrix 6 and Matrix 12 synthesizers which preceeded the Marion. Also, even though the unit only has a few knobs, it is very easy to program even with complicated patches. The MSR-2 operating system is very similar to that of E-mu's Proteus line -- very logical."

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