Solaris keyboard - specifications

[rsmus7]

ok there are enough envelopes then, I think,

it would be really great if you could make it,
that two different sounds can be played.

[HUROLURA]

OK John, this is just even more than I would have expected from you.

What I would still expect now is that you can achieve a 4 part multitimbral system out of this jewel and ... have a lot of success with this synth ... so that you can also design a downsized, more affordable desktop model out of it.

I will wait a bit for it and maybe start-up with the scope plug-in meanwhile as soon as I have enough DSP to make it run (I have 13 but 10 of them are inside my NOAH EX, I am just waiting for 15 extra ones ...)

How many units do you intend to produce for the first series models ?

Once again, I wish you a lot of succes with the SOLARIS.

[John Bowen]

Hurolura,

No news yet as to how many parts we can have for a multitimbral system, but 4 is what we are hoping for.

The first run will be 100 units, and there will be a pre-order waiting list for those interested.

regards,
john b.

[B787]

Hi there guys and John,

I'm new to this forum, but i've been eagerly following the Solaris and I am pretty much stoked on getting this machine. I am tired of soft synths really, I write for films and documentaries and i like the specs. I hope it looks and has all the features in the spec list. About multitimbral capability,if it's only 4 i think it's adequate. Remember it's not a "workstation" but a monster synth. I don't recall making any noise about the Moogs being mono-timbral. Good luck John, congrats on the work of synth art.

Ironic how we've come full circle in the hardware/software game huh ?

cheers

[Analog Kid]

I'm still looking forward to seeing this beast released to the wild!

[edit] since i notice this forum is rather slow, I invite anyone who wants to talk about the Solaris or other John Bowen designs (i still love my OASYS plugs!) to check out the Analogia forum linked in my signature. And, John, feel free to come by and spam us with details news and hype of your new synth!
Analogia is a fan driven site with no corporate sponsorship... we just love synths!

[N8sound]

You are the man!
everything that pops out of your head that becomes gear
is great really.
The work flow on the new synth is unbeatable!
This is all the talk in Santa Monica
Can't wait to get one and not sleep for weeks.

Keep Rocking

Vector Synthesis sick man sick....

all you need now is a cup holder

Thanks
N8

[synthvince]

Here's a few suggestions & challenges - probably already considered.....from some great synths of years past....

-full-fledged arpeggiator, including "random" mode

YES! I as well would most definately like to see this sort of
user-programmable, polyphonic arpeggiator assignable to
both mono/unison/poly modes. Terrific!

-method for importing new waveforms

Yep..with non-volatile ram storage so they remain within memory
upon powerup Perhaps USB sample storage as well ?

-audio inputs

+1

[John Bowen]

"Polyphonic arpeggiator"? Do you mean you play a chord or some such thing and all the notes arppegiate together at the same relative intervals, etc., like a chord stacked? Our current "model" for arpeggiation functions is most likely the Virus TI...any comments in addition would be appreciated.

As for sample RAM, we certainly have it, and we plan on user waveshapes, etc. Samples will be loaded over the USB connection.

And yes, there are 2 audio inputs, as stated elsewhere.

I know I need to post one place where all the specs are listed, as right now there are several postings in separate Topic areas that go over similar info.


-john b.

[nachtsmeer]

I mentioned this some time ago, but I'd highly value a 48 note pitch bend to control the Solaris from my Etherwave-Pro.

[John Bowen]

We can have a 48 note range, but it will need some smoothing control, as regular MIDI values for that large of a range would probably cause some stepping.

-John b.

[valis]

The Etherwave-Pro uses CV for pitch and volume doesn't it? What are you using to convert the CV data to midi? (wondering where the 48 note constraint comes from as the Etherwave-Pro claims to span 6.5 octaves).

[nachtsmeer]

The Etherwave-Pro uses CV for pitch and volume doesn't it? What are you using to convert the CV data to midi? (wondering where the 48 note constraint comes from as the Etherwave-Pro claims to span 6.5 octaves).

This is really off topic, but I use a MCV1a theremin to MIDI converter.

To bring it back on topic, it would be a TOTALLY NEW use for John's synth. I love to push the boundaries as this creates new interesting sounds. Anyone who listened to my efforts in Solaris (softsynth) presets might get an idea of my "type" of sounds.

I don't want a synth that recreates yet another MOOG lead or another thumping bass or brass sound. I want something to knock your sox off

Kurzweil K2xx use 4800 cents, so I used 48 notes purely as an example. I realise that technically this is not as simple as it sounds.

I'll gladly answer any further associated thereminic questions off topic

[valis]

I did a brief search on the MCV1a and found more generic forum discussion than I did technical specs, but I was wondering if your 48 note constraint came from there. It's true though that many synths offer up to 4 octaves (4800 cents) of pitchbend, but I don't see why John couldn't make that assignable as wide (or narrow) as the user wishes.

6.5 octaves is 7800 cents, and if you were to convert to pitchbend data you'd have a 14bit datastream, which would yield 16384 values, or slightly more than 2 values per 'cent'. That's as long as your converter supports full 14bit pitchbend output. Is half a cent stepping audible?

Also you're constrained by the speed of the midi specification which yields about .6ms for a 2-byte midi message (which pitchbend is). When you combine that with your Amp CV signal converted to another message (volume?) you'll get in the very best case scenario another 0.3 ms added for that message so 0.9 or about 1ms between pitch messages (best case theoretical scenario). It's likely to have worse resolution though if the CV2Midi converter isn't very exact in its method of converting data.

None of this is an argument against smoothing (slew limiting) of course, as that would still insure that less than stellar pitchbend implementations didn't suffer from audible stepping. A lot of the cheaper midi controllers on the market set the lower 7bits of the pitchbend datastream to 0000000 due to low quality digital converters on the pitchbend stick/wheel (they only have a resolution of 128 bits) and others do funny things like output pitchbend across the first 4 midi channels at once (CME does this until you change it from the default I believe).

However, there's another interesting (but perhaps not feasable, John would have to answer) way to interface with your theremin. There was some talk of eventually licensing some of Flexor's modules in the Solaris, and Flexor3 has pitch2cv and other useful CV based modules now. Since the Solaris has 2 inputs and support for the same audio rate resolution for mod signals, it would only be necessary to have an input processing section that supported loading the necessary modules to enable pitch tracking of input audio signals. However I haven't a clue what their implementation is so John would have to respond on this point. I think that it's an interesting idea though beyond just use with your theremin...

[John Bowen]

Inserting a pitch to CV module for the audio inputs would be just like expanding on the Envelope Follower section - just a different way to process the input, so it seems it should be possible.

I do hope to license a number of Flexor modules for Solaris, but we just don't have time in the schedule to do that for the v1.0 release.

cheers,
john b.

[valis]

But that definately points towards the flexibility of your architecture and the possibilities for future expansion.