parts, oscilators, filters etc

Discuss John Bowen Synths - Solaris
Zahush76
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parts, oscilators, filters etc

Post by Zahush76 »

Hi everybody. I ordered a Solaris which is due sometime on march 2013.
Anyway, i've been reading the manual and looking at some tutorial vids, and i'm a bit confused.
There are four possible parts to each presets, that you can enable or disable with the dedicated buttons.
What's in each of the four parts? Are there four oscilators, globaly? Or are there four oscilators per part (that is, a total of 16 oscilators when all four parts are enabled?)? Same question about filters, lfo's etc.
scope4live
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Re: parts, oscilators, filters etc

Post by scope4live »

It's not like other synths, and explaining it w/ the Manual + diagrams and flow chart is much easier than a long winded confusing post.
I would get the manual, and read it 3-4 times, as it will need that many reads to sink in.
The UI and routing go far beyind conventional layouts.

Best synth I ever owned, especially if you always wanted more than subtractive, while retaining it's best traits.


Congrats.
Magnus C350 on a TV Dinner Tray Stand with 2 x PigNose Amps for stereo


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John Bowen
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Re: parts, oscilators, filters etc

Post by John Bowen »

Zahush76 wrote:Hi everybody. I ordered a Solaris which is due sometime on march 2013.
Anyway, i've been reading the manual and looking at some tutorial vids, and i'm a bit confused.
There are four possible parts to each presets, that you can enable or disable with the dedicated buttons.
What's in each of the four parts? Are there four oscilators, globally? Or are there four oscilators per part (that is, a total of 16 oscilators when all four parts are enabled?)? Same question about filters, lfo's etc.
No, this is simple to explain.

There are 4 each of the following: Oscillators, Mixers, Filters, VCAs. That is your basic signal path.

The simplest application would be to have 4 single oscillator/mixer/filter/VCA routings, but there is no hard or fixed arrangement of these, until you get to the VCAs. (Each VCA can only connect to the output of either the same-numbered Insert FX or Filter module, i.e. VCA 3 can only have Insert FX3 or Filter 3 as an input.)

The 4 Part buttons essentially turn on (or off) each of the VCAs, which are at the end of any signal path. (Technically, there is also a 5th VCA that controls the overall output of the entire synth. Envelope #6 is permanently tied to this 5th 'Master' VCA, but there's no other adjustable parameters for this 5th VCA.)

The 4 buttons are labeled Part Enable. This actually was for future planning, so that once we had MultiMode implemented, you would have 4 Parts easily accessed. When I was working with more complex presets, however, I found it really nice to be able to quickly mute a part (or element, you might say) of the patch to hear better exactly what was going on for each element. (Similarly, when you are creating a MultiMode setup, it's nice to selectively mute each part to check the balances and character of each).

I hope this makes it a bit more clear.

john b.
Zahush76
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Re: parts, oscilators, filters etc

Post by Zahush76 »

Ok. So let's see if i understand correct.
Can i, in theory, set oscilator 1 to sawtooth, set each of the four mixer's input to have osc1 on all four, but use different filter type on each mixer, and summing all of this to vca 5? Thus creating parallel filtering? The result should be hearing osc1 four times going thru different filters, at the same time. Right?
And then you can go "crazy", and instead of parallel - feed one mixer to the other in serial, etc..?
John Bowen
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Re: parts, oscilators, filters etc

Post by John Bowen »

Yes, that's correct.

John b.
scope4live
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Re: parts, oscilators, filters etc

Post by scope4live »

What is VCA 5..?
Did I miss a firmware upgrade..?
Magnus C350 on a TV Dinner Tray Stand with 2 x PigNose Amps for stereo


https://soundcloud.com/jimmyvee/wormhole
John Bowen
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Re: parts, oscilators, filters etc

Post by John Bowen »

Jimmy,

Please read my explanation about "VCA 5" above.....
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