John Bowen Synth Design

Thanks, those are very nice... both 2 and 3 rack... the price seems fair.
I wonder if they do custom work ?... and why there aren't any U.S. dealers ?
I'll contact them when the time is right. Thanks again !

Hi R.M., welcome to the forum. No I did not have that problem - I still use the legacy stuff from Ultimate Support. There is a company in Germany that builds stands and components that are compatible, and I ordered from them to extend my stands - worked well. Might be interesting for you, if the shipping costs from D to U.S. are not prohibitive: http://www.jaspers-alu.de/

Greetings from the Deep South,
Saving my pennies for a downpayment... while looking around in my bedroom studio to decide where the Solaris would fit.. ?
My Roland V-stand has upper arms that tilt and my only other stand is a K&M Baby Spider Pro with only one set of arms and a laptop holder on top.
The Ultimate Support APEX AX-48 Pro seems to be the only stand with two sets of arms that do not tilt but not sure if they're deep enough for the Solaris.
Have any of you also had trouble deciding on a studio stand ?
Thanks !! ~R.M.

marzzz wrote:...Analog drift and an ability to "harshen up" the tone will be welcome features, are you listening JB?

Yes....

Wait until you actually play one!

I would venture that you will sell the Virus; but still hold on to the Voyager (just because it is so much fun in its own right). I am right with you there with regard to the Andromeda and the "modern 8-voice real analog module," I have owned both and think the Solaris sounds better. Analog drift and an ability to "harshen up" the tone will be welcome features, are you listening JB?

Welcome to the fold!

Hi, I've just ordered a Solaris (in black) on the strength of some excellent demos I heard at Great Synthesizers. I reached a milestone in that I'm just about done with 'old' Analog... I sold my Jupiter 8 earlier this year and I'm currently in the process of selling my MKS + Programmer. I've also owned an OBXa and Andromeda. All good synths but limited in one way or another (well, maybe not the Andy but I wasn't too struck on the sound). I still have and will probaby keep the Virus TI, Voyager and MKS70...maybe. I own a few other hardware VAs and generally find them a little flat and lifeless or horrible at the high-end compared to real analog, but they are fine for trance arps and stuff like that. Some softsynths are usable but they require the computer all the time and tweaking isn't anywhere near the same amount of fun. I've been looking for something with natural warm 'soul' like a vintage poly... that hard-to-pinpoint 'thing' that analog can bring to the table. As soon as I heard those Solaris demos I started reading more about the Solaris and what it can do. Wow! I think it's a real breakthrough synthesizer. To me, it sounds as good as analog (if not better), but doesn't immediately send you back to 1974 - it's quite modern as well. When 'analog drift' is implemented then maybe time-travel would be possible... I did have a choice between the Solaris and a modern 8-voice real analog module which also sounded very good with all the filter cards fitted but if digital can do it I'd rather have the piece of mind that comes with that. End of the day it's all about the sound quality, interface and flexibilty and the Solaris seems to stand head and shoulders above anything else... and I can't really see that changing anytime soon. Nice work John.

Convolution reverb seems to be very DSP intensive

It is. I mentioned a convolution filter at 96Khz only to make it sound more analog right out of the box, without having to plug some external processor.

please preserve the solaris CPU resources for sound synthesis. for FX, we have outboard FX processors.

I rather have that great 96khz sample accurate sound anyday. A deccent reverb would be good.

+1 from me

Hello:

bio and info:

Name is Luis Duran, been in the music industry for many years and have done countless releases in the electronica world as "OSS", been out of that area for the past few years working for TV and radio production based in Miami and have a partner in NY whom I share the work with. Were working towards film audio production and other newer mediums of music and video. Needless to say die to my electronic background Im constantly trying to be ahead of the curve from a technological aspect and Im very impressed with this synth your creating...Its just what the doctor ordered...

We need a new modern controller/synth with everything in your face to get your hands on...VSTis and softsynths are opening up many capabilities but i so miss messing with my memorymoog plus or my old Oberheim 4 voice etc. modern manipulation is important but the tactile sense is lost and in limbo..

I have been searching for a quality instrument that meets todays standards and ran across a few like Andromeda or voyager or polyevolvers but they just fall so short of expectation whether in sound quality or capabilities or work flow type issues and everything else out there other than real analog monsters is just off the mark due to the fact that their just trying to recreate the past withought the concerns of the modern DAW user... I ended up purchasing a Virus Polar TI to fill in the gap and Its just not worked out either... very unfriendly front panel and not very fluid to modulate and exploit. And lets not talk about their modern features as they have become more of a headache than anything else.... I end up going to the VSTis anyways and just working it out that way.

I commend you for putting together this machine that seems like a great solution to our hand on needs...I'm very curious about it and would like to help in any way during its development!...Don't hesitate to ask.. Ive helped a few plug in companies designing their plugs adding features etc so I'm familiar with that process as well if you need me.

once again congratz!

Here Here ! !

and i'd prefer not too many too sophisticated built in FX, all of them eating up valuable resources. somebody who can afford a solaris most probably will also have enough outboard to generate decent FX.

please preserve the solaris CPU resources for sound synthesis. for FX, we have outboard FX processors.

It makes sense Mitch, I rather have that great 96khz sample accurate sound anyday. A deccent reverb would be good. It is assumed that anhyone who can shell out the clams for this beauty is probably using PT, Nuendo, or Cubase or some other DAW.

A good 32-bit reverb would be nice though, as well as some great compressors,delays,distortion, and EQ just to put the icing on the cake. Come January please !!!!!!!

I wouldn't bother putting convolution reverb in a hardware synth... That's more of a production tool than something you'd use live... A simple algorithmic reverb for live use would be great though, or even a modulated reverb so its more of an "effect" then just polish.

Hi John,

Answers to your questions:

1. Saturation post filter would be good, or if possible after the amplifier, unless it's possible to bypass the standard amplifier and use the Saturation, hence "saturation" can be a function of the amplifier within the signal path itself. In the case of a modeled VCA you'll have: OSC 1+2+3+noise->Filter (HP,LP or BP-parallel or series for each/all OSC's) -> VCA (Saturation option as function of the VCA model w/bypass of the amplifier)-> Outputs..... well something generally along those lines, not sure if i got the wiring right, but i stand to be corrected.

2. Convolution reverb seems to be very DSP intensive, so i think a nice 32-bit floating point reverb would be nice . Excuse me ignorance, but is it possible that convolution reverb can be modeled ?

thanks for your reply & answers

Peace.

B787 wrote:Thanks John,

You answered my question, i looked at the panel, i guess the way it's displayed was my real concern. About the modeling saturation, it would be cool if the algorithms for saturation could be added, so your Solaris can have a variety of DSP saturation effects on the outputs,instead of a standard algorithm, I am talking about variety, it is maybe more ambitious than practical, but it'll be a cool software algorithm to have as a choice. Will you be designing algorithm which can emulate the convolution reverb, it maybe way out of the ball park, since the Solaris has DSP hardware chips.

2 questions:

1) Where would you want the saturation to be placed in the signal path?
2) Convolution Reverb - do you mean in place of the synth functions? These can be pretty DSP-intensive...unless you are talking about not having any synth functions and just a reverb (sort of like some synths can be vocoders as well, but not both at the same time).

john b.

Thanks John,

You answered my question, i looked at the panel, i guess the way it's displayed was my real concern. About the modeling saturation, it would be cool if the algorithms for saturation could be added, so your Solaris can have a variety of DSP saturation effects on the outputs,instead of a standard algorithm, I am talking about variety, it is maybe more ambitious than practical, but it'll be a cool software algorithm to have as a choice. Will you be designing algorithm which can emulate the convolution reverb, it maybe way out of the ball park, since the Solaris has DSP hardware chips.