mrdan wrote:
I was wondering how you're getting on with the Accelerator? - how's the oscillators and filters in comparison to the Solaris? Any issues or major features you've encountered?
I like the sound; it is more digital than the Solaris and, as I pointed out above, complements the Solaris well. I have yet to sit down and program the thing, I blush to disclose though.
Quite a lot of knobs (that double as buttons) and a matrix setup but there are also an awful lot of parameters and a menu system that is not fully documented, as far as I have gathered. There have been updates to the OS that are not reflected in the documentation...
There is this german chap, Jörg, who runs the show and in a sense the Accelerator and the Solaris share a common family situation - a very enthusiastic parent with limited resources and time. There are a fair number of bugs but no visible roadmap, so in that sense I would say the Solaris wins as John is very clear with what is going on.
For me was one of the most annoying bugs the MIDI implementation. I tried to use it as a master keyboard (there is a lot of support for that - impressive handling of different ways of storing and addressing patches on outboard equipment) but I had a very simple problem: I have an Origin that I had connected to the Accelerator and I could never be sure if I could play it or not. No sound meant reboot...
Once I got the P12 I moved the Origin to that one and I can tell you that Dave Smith knows his way around MIDI, that is for sure (which is no wonder since he invented the thing). No problems at all. If this is a problem with the MIDI on the Accelerator or the Origin or a combination, I don't know, but once on the P12 everything worked as expected.
The keybed of the Accelerator is not as good as the one on the Solaris (which is the best I have tried) but better than the P12. To be frank: the P12 is a bit finicky to the touch and would have, in my opinion, deserved a better keybed. Still, it is a lovely machine.
And here's the rub: the P12 (as the Solaris) sports lots of knobs so if that is your thing, I think you would love it. The way you assign modulation is rather clever for instance: press and hold "assign mod source", fiddle with a control, press and hold "assign mod destination", fiddle with a control and you are done. Neat-o!
K