Synthoid Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 Well that was intense. Thanks for explaining. When an eel hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a Moray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Coda Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 Well that was intense. Thanks for explaining. It´s very hard to do short explanations in this department and for any potential buyer of a Solaris, it might be interesting to know whether Solaris is at it´s limits DSP wise or not. I´d say, it´s not, comparing to what you´d get out from a S|C Xite-1 rackmount device and Solaris. Solaris alone uses 6 DSPs while Xite-1 uses 12 of these. We´ll see more optimization as also more features in Solaris soon. Eventually we´ll also see some kind of interfacing between Solaris and actual or upcoming Sonic Core products. Usage of Solaris as a standalone hardware machine but controlling a S|C Xite-1 would make the ultimate synth rig, offering a shitload of synthesis, high voicecount, mixer and incredible audio I/O routing, MIDI interface, FX and portability, all with high audio quality. It´s my dream rig together w/ my Kurz PC361 and a weighted 88-keys board, thinking of a pure simple masterkeyboard like Doepfer PK88 midied into PC361 and Solaris in L-config. to the right, all connected to Xite-1 and active speakers or in-ear. I´d need a older laptop (min 1.2 GHz) w/ PCIexpress card slot to control Xite-1 which could also run VB3,- but Xite-1 (and Solaris !) eliminate a big rack if not several ones. I want both next year. A.C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matocaster Posted December 3, 2011 Author Share Posted December 3, 2011 I enjoyed all your vids posted and I´d wish you´re willing and have the time to post examples of some of the classic vintage synth patches. Thanks Al Coda! I really appreciate that. When I have time I will record more videos showing some classic vintage synth preset sounds of the Solaris. Mat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonglow Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 but probably too much synth for me! yeah, right... I looked around the room and considered what it would take to sell, including my blood, to pop for one of these. There is no such thing as too much synth! Point well taken, but more than I'd know what to do with! "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Coda Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Thanks Al Coda! I really appreciate that. When I have time I will record more videos showing some classic vintage synth preset sounds of the Solaris. Mat Great ! Thank you too ... Looking forward your demos. Video is much mote work, so some mp3 would be pretty cool. Maybe you´d like to post these in John Bowen´s Forums "Solaris hardware synth audio examples". It seems, John doesn´t have much time to do musical audio demos and if he does, he is going into the details demonstrating the engine. I believe, beneath all the modularity, modulation routings, sources and destinations,- Solaris is also a great synth for the daily work w/ classic lead- and basslines as well as comping and pads. J.B. w/ Solaris and Sonic Core will be on the winter NAMM again. Good for the US fellows. I have to wait for Frankfurt Musikmesse and hope for the updates done then. A.C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
engineerjoel Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 Dude, you just bought a $4,000 synth. Don't you think that you could afford a $29 Tripod for your camera? Yamaha CP-80/S80/S90es/P125/DGX-670/AN1x/MOTIF XS-Rack/CS6R/Roland D-50/Prophet 5(Rev 3.3.)/OBX8/Prophet 5 (Rev 4)/OB-8/Juno-60/Jupiter-6/Studiologic Numa Organ with Neo Ventilator/Korg Kronos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zahush76 Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 Can its lfo's reach audio rate? Vermona Perfourmer mkii, Nord Stage 3 76 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marzzz Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 Can its lfo's reach audio rate? You could always ask here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Coda Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 Can its lfo's reach audio rate? There´s a review in Keyboard Mag ... http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/newbay/kb_201201/index.php#/70 And there´s a thread John Bowen commenting the cons of the review, explaining DSP optimization which is the same as DSP offloading I described in my posts above. He also confirms 4 part MIDI multitimbrality is planned as one of the next updates and an OS update implementing DSP optimization will extend polyphony to 15 or 20 voices which won´t be a fixed factor but depending on whether all 4 OSCs will be in use per voice or not. Is not sure the designers will decide for dynamic voice allocation across the MIDI multimode parts or for user definable polyphony per part (what J.B. prefers). Read here,- 5th post from J.B. dec 22 http://forums.johnbowen.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=965 You have 4 LFOs and 1 vibrato LFO. From the manual: Each LFO supports sine, triangle, ramp, saw, square, and sample-and-hold (S/H) or random wave shapes. Frequency is adjustable between 0.000Hz and 500.000Hz. 500KHz is audio rate,- isn´t it ? A.C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SVG Posted December 24, 2011 Share Posted December 24, 2011 500KHz is audio rate,- isn´t it? No, it's about 5 octaves above human hearing. But the 500Hz that John Bowen quoted is just below C5. Stephen . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tusker Posted December 24, 2011 Share Posted December 24, 2011 With 500Hz modulation you can get some nice warbles and grunts, but not the complete sweep through crinkles to nothing. Still as long as there is osc to osc fm, and osc modulation of filter, (which has got to be there, because of the prophet 5 lineage) the tones you want are pretty much covered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Coda Posted December 24, 2011 Share Posted December 24, 2011 500KHz is audio rate,- isn´t it? No, it's about 5 octaves above human hearing. But the 500Hz that John Bowen quoted is just below C5. Stephen. I 1st typed 500Hz too because that´s what I understood from the manual´s 1st edition,- then edited the post after reading the review in Keyboard Mag which reports a rate up to 500KHz ! So,- who´s wrong now ? Anyway,- 500Hz is audio rate too and that´s much better than the crappy LFO stuff we find in the PC3 p.ex.. A.C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SVG Posted December 25, 2011 Share Posted December 25, 2011 Anyway,- 500Hz is audio rate too and that´s much better than the crappy LFO stuff we find in the PC3 p.ex. Amen to that brother... As much as I love the PC3 for much of its functionality, envelopes and LFO's are currently not high on their list of quality virtual analog. Stephen . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Coda Posted December 25, 2011 Share Posted December 25, 2011 Amen to that brother... As much as I love the PC3 for much of its functionality, envelopes and LFO's are currently not high on their list of quality virtual analog. Stephen. I like mine too and both, PC3 and Solaris, would complement one another pretty good. A.C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zahush76 Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 Here's an extensive solaris review by Theo Bloderer, with more than 50 minutes of sound demos. Vermona Perfourmer mkii, Nord Stage 3 76 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orangefunk Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 Much better demos... but I dunno... it still lacks something for me... I think the comment the author makes about his JD800 sounding warmer confirms something I feel when I listen to those demos... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Coda Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 Much better demos... but I dunno... it still lacks something for me... I think the comment the author makes about his JD800 sounding warmer confirms something I feel when I listen to those demos... Just read the report and now listening to the audio demos. I have to mention, the author of the report is telling some BS already in his introduction about reliability of the Oberheim OB-8 (mine was not that reliable !) but my Xpander is up today since I buyed it new,- and old analogues never leaved their beta-state and are/were unreliable always. That´s not true and I feel free to say this because I toured w/ tons of old gear up to the end of the 90th. Depending on sounds,- yes it´s a digital synth and keeps one, but in the end it´s all a matter of programming skills. A synthesizer is a machine and for me, functionality counts. Since I´m using DSP based SCOPE virtual synthesizers, I know you get the most out of these compared w/ VST/AU based synths and latency is practically a loadword as long bi-directional VST connections to and from a VST host are not in use,- which only happens in a recording/sequencing environment. I won´t say a SCOPE DSP based virtual synth replaces the original if you own the original, but it´s a excellent replacement if you don´t own the originals. Solaris is a digital synth based on SCOPE SDK and the same DSP platform. Quality of manufacturing: Manufacturing of Solaris moved to the manufacturer of Access Virus TI2 shortly. Cut notes w/ long releases and fixed 10-voice polyphony will be history when Solaris (and also SCOPE on the Xite DSP platform) come up w/ DSP offload and automatic DSP assignment improvements. I´d wait for the next 3 month before buying Solaris, looking what kind of improvements will be present @Frankfurt Musikmesse. A.C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Mizzell Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 There's some new Solaris examples by Ken Elhardt posted 3 days ago on SoundCloud: Les Mizzell ---------------------------------------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marzzz Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 I´d wait for the next 3 month before buying Solaris, looking what kind of improvements will be present @Frankfurt Musikmesse. Not much choice on that, given that Bowen has sold out the first production run, and is now taking orders for the next run beginning March 2012. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Throbert Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 I'd love to have a 76...Oh never mind i'll pray and then ask John. Triton Extreme 76, Kawai ES3, GEM-RPX, HX3/Drawbar control, MSI Z97 MPower/4790K, Lynx Aurora 8/MADI/AES16e, OP-X PRO, Ptec, Komplete. Ashley MX-206. future MOTU M64 RME Digiface Dante for Mon./net Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matted stump Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 There's some new Solaris examples by Ken Elhardt posted 3 days ago on SoundCloud: Ken sure is a wizard at imitative synthesis using analog or analog style synths, isn't he? Moe --- "I keep wanting to like it's sound, but every demo seems to demonstrate that it has the earth-shaking punch and peerless sonics of the Roland Gaia. " - Tusker http://www.hotrodmotm.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zahush76 Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 There's some new Solaris examples by Ken Elhardt posted 3 days ago on SoundCloud: Ken sure is a wizard at imitative synthesis using analog or analog style synths, isn't he? Yeah. That's pretty amazing stuff, the timbres he manages to achieve from that synth. I wonder, though, if some of these sounds are from the sample osc. I mean, is the guitar sound "sampled" or "synthesized"? in your opinion? Vermona Perfourmer mkii, Nord Stage 3 76 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Alfredson Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Some very neat tones he's getting. I would love to mess around with a Solaris. Keep it greazy! B3tles - Soul Jazz THEO - Prog Rock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Coda Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Not much choice on that, given that Bowen has sold out the first production run, and is now taking orders for the next run beginning March 2012. Don´t know exactly how it is in the US,- in germany we can buy Solaris at Music Store, Thomann and E.M.C. without preorder. A.C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Coda Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 I wonder, though, if some of these sounds are from the sample osc. I mean, is the guitar sound "sampled" or "synthesized"? in your opinion? AFAIK, samples loaded in Solaris just work like OSC waveforms and there is no polyphonic multi sample mapping across the keyboard. A.C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matted stump Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 There's some new Solaris examples by Ken Elhardt posted 3 days ago on SoundCloud: Ken sure is a wizard at imitative synthesis using analog or analog style synths, isn't he? Yeah. That's pretty amazing stuff, the timbres he manages to achieve from that synth. I wonder, though, if some of these sounds are from the sample osc. I mean, is the guitar sound "sampled" or "synthesized"? in your opinion? Knowing how he works, he is not using samples. I have heard him get those same medieval instrument sounds out of an analog modular. Moe --- "I keep wanting to like it's sound, but every demo seems to demonstrate that it has the earth-shaking punch and peerless sonics of the Roland Gaia. " - Tusker http://www.hotrodmotm.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zahush76 Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 There's some new Solaris examples by Ken Elhardt posted 3 days ago on SoundCloud: Ken sure is a wizard at imitative synthesis using analog or analog style synths, isn't he? Medieval sounds (recorder, flute, trumpet, oboe and such) from analog is understandable. But i was wondering about the guitar sounds. Especially the strumming. How does he do that? No samples? Yeah. That's pretty amazing stuff, the timbres he manages to achieve from that synth. I wonder, though, if some of these sounds are from the sample osc. I mean, is the guitar sound "sampled" or "synthesized"? in your opinion? Knowing how he works, he is not using samples. I have heard him get those same medieval instrument sounds out of an analog modular. Vermona Perfourmer mkii, Nord Stage 3 76 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marzzz Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Not much choice on that, given that Bowen has sold out the first production run, and is now taking orders for the next run beginning March 2012. Don´t know exactly how it is in the US,- in germany we can buy Solaris at Music Store, Thomann and E.M.C. without preorder. My understanding is that those retail stores (Germany and Austria) have reserved part of the currently existing preorders for their retail stock. Bowen is about half-way through delivering on the preorders, not sure where the retail stores are in the queue; but if you live in Austria or Germany you can't preorder directly, you have to go through the retail stores. I am guessing those stores don't have any Solari available yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orangefunk Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 I've seen them advertised on Thomann over the last months. It sure looks a beauty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Coda Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 I am guessing those stores don't have any Solari available yet? Thomann expects arrival this week (01/05/2012) and Music Store 01/16/2012. Price is EUR 3.590.- incl. 19% VAT and free shipping in germany at both stores. E.M.C. has no details about price/availability. http://www.emc-de.com/ Seems, they also sell the Mojo. A.C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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