Solaris Visual / Patch Designer Software / Librarian

Discuss John Bowen Synths - Solaris
galaxiesmerge
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Solaris Visual / Patch Designer Software / Librarian

Post by galaxiesmerge »

Hi,

I looked on the site and perhaps I am getting blind in my senior days but I didn't notice anything about an editor/librarian for the Solaris. For example, while it is really great to have all the knobs to tweak, I am wondering if there are any plans for an editor/librarian (maybe in Max/MSP) or in some other software or as an original software.

Here is what I would like as features:

1) Ability to have a nice HTML like search view (like Web-Pages for patches with nice notes --- the samples, the intended use, the tweakable parameters, perhaps even a sound-bite of the sound (in small audio file) tp audition

2) Alphabetic search or Mood search ("light ambient", "dark atmos" etc...)

3) Click through to a parameter page to randomize *some* parameters selectively but not all for quick inspiring variants: color coded for performance oriented knob tweaks (i.e. Tweak these knobs on your Solaris synth first).

4) Common User Group library so that the patch editor can upload or download a whole patch, complete with all samples from a common "Solaris Synth Online" librrary (like a Wiki for Sound Patches)

5) Color schemes and theme preferences to personalize the editor (I know this is not really a sound thing, but human factors *does* matter for the non-functional intangible elements).

Anyone care to comment? John?

(PS: I am very, very eagerly awaiting when my Solaris is ready for shipping!)

Thanks in advance,

Arun :idea:
Solaris, Jomox Sunsyn,Modcan, Prophet-T8, Rhodes-Chroma, Pacarana,CS-80, Andromeda,M3,Nord-G2X,DK-Synergy
n1nj4
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Re: Solaris Visual / Patch Designer Software / Librarian

Post by n1nj4 »

galaxiesmerge wrote: (PS: I am very, very eagerly awaiting when my Solaris is ready for shipping!)
They're shipping at the end of June, no?
Even a stopped clock gives the right time twice a day.
John Bowen
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Post by John Bowen »

We have had preliminary discussions with Psicraft Designs (creators of the Vyzor product line) to create an editor for Solaris. Here's what they've done for other synths so far:
http://www.vyzor.com/

I will copy your suggestions and send them along to the people at Psicraft. Once I can get them a prototype unit to start work on the Editor, they can take a look at all suggestions and see what they want to do.

-John B.
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Re: Solaris Visual / Patch Designer Software / Librarian

Post by John Bowen »

n1nj4 wrote:They're shipping at the end of June, no?
No, production is scheduled to start end of July.
-jb
marzzz
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Post by marzzz »

John Bowen wrote:We have had preliminary discussions with Psicraft Designs (creators of the Vyzor product line) to create an editor for Solaris. Here's what they've done for other synths so far.
My experience with Psicraft has been at best, abysmal.

http://www.vyzor.com/support/viewtopic. ... p=882#p882

http://www.vyzor.com/support/viewtopic. ... t=50#p1122

I gave up on them a long time ago......
Last edited by marzzz on Thu Jun 17, 2010 6:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
John Bowen
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Post by John Bowen »

marzzz,
Thanks much for the info. I'll bring this up with Tony.
John B.
marzzz
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Post by marzzz »

John Bowen wrote:marzzz,
Thanks much for the info. I'll bring this up with Tony.
John B.
Great, tell him he owes me $79. I'll either take a refund, or he can credit it toward the Solaris software, but only if it is released before the end of the decade.
galaxiesmerge
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Post by galaxiesmerge »

John Bowen wrote:We have had preliminary discussions with Psicraft Designs (creators of the Vyzor product line) to create an editor for Solaris. Here's what they've done for other synths so far:
http://www.vyzor.com/

I will copy your suggestions and send them along to the people at Psicraft. Once I can get them a prototype unit to start work on the Editor, they can take a look at all suggestions and see what they want to do.

-John B.
Hi John,

I have been a doing a lot of work in various things and what I am sharing in my response is really just food for thought ... I hope you will find some or all of it useful or as a possibility to consider:

1) Some kind of community enabling interface is more important today in an era of social networks, social engineering and of course, one of the largest collaborative art forms in the world: making music with others.

HTML and Javascript as well as things like AJAX can give you the web-based presence as well as the personal individual editor features : however, given what I know of the Soundquest product, it will take getting a browser component integrated into the VST Gui layer.

2) The second aspect of this kind of approach is networking and community-building. The power of enabling a community to share, to have those individuals that are maybe brilliant at sound design but hopeless as players is a way to connect people that complete and complement each other's skill bases: this can make your synthesizer very successful because through networking you can open the doors for the floodgates of the creative processes to provide inspiring sounds to the technologically great SOLARIS instrument. You might want to consider a Wiki like setup and think about the design elements of your VST Gui or Editor for SOLARIS from the point of view of being in an online network: Just HTML by itself is a powerful first step.

3) Sound Libraries: no matter how good a technology is, and yours is good, there is not a doubt in my mind: you will need to foster a vibrant sound culture --- this may quickly lead to major stars adopting it : a sound culture in my mind is a community of people designing sounds (and they might choose to give away some but sell other collections through your site). The users of the sounds, the instrument and the people making music (not always the same people, much like a lot of instrument designer s are not rock stars) can form a collaborative community just by itself where the attraction is itself the ease of participating and getting the value of just that special sound inspiration you were looking for. Technically, this means building in a network layer into your Gui (I recommend using a browser component) and setting up a basic server on your end. If you build in a Peer-2-Peer layer, then those folks, like the old Napster community, instead of sharing music, share sound designs if you do not want the upload/download bandwidth hassle (though now that's really a thing of the past).

4) GUI's are not what they used to be, just GUI's: now, a gui is a communications medium and it will define the character of your company and its positioning and image: it is very, very important --- for example, a GUI that makes basic keyword search available will save hours of wasted time which in a studio pay-for-play environment is absolutely critical. This is not hard to do, and some companies have this, like Native Instruments and Spectrasonics and Kyma : what they have not done is have an online searchable P2P service so you can get a much larger universe of sounds nor have they pushed the envelope on building communities of interest (*like designers of sounds versus players of sound) ... it is marching there but consider the human factors and technical elements needed.

5) I would also suggest for your consideration that we, as your early adopters, are here to help and that we might contribute more than at first glance may seem possible: a wonderful text by James Surowiecki called "The Wisdom Of Crowds" has been inspiring in several online and successful services --- you might even find that an online community of Coders/Programmers for your algorithms might promote your hardware platform in ways that you never dreamed of or with algorithms no one thought of ... that is another community of interest --- people who can write software for your platform: consider as a business model that providing the SDK for folks to write for SOLARIS may open up the open-source doors in ways that are unique and that may propel SOLARIS beyond what any single individual could achieve alone.

I hope these are useful as you consider your options for the GUI which will invariably impact your business model.

Cheers and thank you for the feedback on this issue.

-Arun :D
Solaris, Jomox Sunsyn,Modcan, Prophet-T8, Rhodes-Chroma, Pacarana,CS-80, Andromeda,M3,Nord-G2X,DK-Synergy
galaxiesmerge
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Post by galaxiesmerge »

marzzz wrote:
John Bowen wrote:We have had preliminary discussions with Psicraft Designs (creators of the Vyzor product line) to create an editor for Solaris. Here's what they've done for other synths so far.
My experience with Psicraft has been at best, abysmal.

http://www.vyzor.com/support/viewtopic. ... p=882#p882

http://www.vyzor.com/support/viewtopic. ... t=50#p1122

I gave up on them a long time ago, and 2 1/2 years later they STILL haven't updated the Evolver editor.

You can build good interfaces with MAX/MSP and now also those will run in MAX For Love (Ableton Live). The MAX runtime is free ... it is an alternative and can open up the user community for programming interfaces and algorithms for SOLARIS ... however, I would see at as a stepping stone that may be better than when these guys do or have done if they really are that bad. I am sure there is more to it... but, I've never dealt with them. OF course I am a Max/Msp user so I am totally biased :lol:
Solaris, Jomox Sunsyn,Modcan, Prophet-T8, Rhodes-Chroma, Pacarana,CS-80, Andromeda,M3,Nord-G2X,DK-Synergy
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Post by scope4live »

Damn Marzzz............ :shock:
I can't believe what a well mannered chap you are.....
That guy should just shut down that thread all together, it is most embarrassing.
Judging by the way that Evolve is his top priority I'd say he has a day gig as an IT guy somehwere and does this on his day off in between the hours of 2pm to 3pm.
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Post by ThreeFingersOfLove »

There is absolutely NO WAY I will buy a Solaris if that crap Psicraft company is in the game.

:evil:
marzzz
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Post by marzzz »

Well, I don't think that whether or not a software company is going to write a software editor would effect my decision to buy the Solaris; certainly, a synth with a limited interface like the original Evolver or the PolyEvolver Rack would definitely be significantly enhanced by using a software editor (and Psicraft had the chance to step in because the original SoundTower editors were sub-par). But the Solaris is all about the interface, and would not need much more than a simple patch librarian/storage application. I think that trying to write a patch editor would be an extremely difficult, and perhaps ultimately unnecessary exercise.

But given my past experience, there is absolutely no way whatsoever that Psicraft will ever receive another penny of my money. btw- I checked back on that thread, and the Evolver 2.0 software is still not available, 2 1/2 years after it was announced.
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Post by John Bowen »

I've sent Tony at Psicraft the link to this thread, and I expect he is aware of the postings. I am certainly interested in making sure my Solaris customers have a satisfying experience with any 3rd party applications, and I see no reason why others could not create additional editors as well, especially if they are needed to address issues such as have been mentioned here. Let's see how it goes....

john b.
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Post by John Bowen »

I wasn't familiar with Midi Quest, so I went to have a look. I was surprised they did not list any DSI products (Evolver, Prophet 08, etc.)...but certainly there's many they do support. I have a feeling the Solaris would have to be pretty high in number of units sold before they would be interested in adding it to their list.

Just to be clear - we are not limiting anyone from making whatever editor software they might want for Solaris. Tony from Psicraft was the first to express interest, and has been very enthusiastic about the project...but it is an independent development, not something 'commissioned' by me. Psicraft will have support from us to get their product working, but they will sell it themselves.

I am open to seeing what other companies are out there to do some kind of computer software editor/librarian package, but at this time I am not able to pay for such software to be created. We can certainly cooperate with those companies who would like to provide something, however.

Cheers,
John B..
Last edited by John Bowen on Wed Jun 23, 2010 12:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
galaxiesmerge
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Something Like Sourceforge for Sound for Solaris ... ?

Post by galaxiesmerge »

John Bowen wrote:I wasn't familiar with Midi Quest, so I went to have a look. I was surprised they did not list any DSI products (Evolver, Prophet 08, etc.)...but certainly there's many they do support. I have a feeling the Solaris would have to be pretty high in number of units sold before they would be interested in adding it to their list.

Just to be clear - we are not limiting anyone from making whatever editor software they might want for Solaris. Tony from Psicraft was the first to express interest, and has been very enthusiastic about the project...but it is an independent development, not something 'commissioned' by me. Psicraft will have support from us to get their product working, but they will sell it themselves.

I am open to seeing what other companies are out there to do some kind of computer software editor/librarian package, but at this time I am not able to pay for such software to be created. We can certainly cooperate with those companies who would like to provide something, however.

Cheers,
John B..
Well perhaps the community can build a WIKI if an initial wiki is set up, and links and a repository for sounds/patches.

This would be incentive to build an editor that could do p2p or other network based communications.

As you can probably see, I am all in favor of community and open source :)
Solaris, Jomox Sunsyn,Modcan, Prophet-T8, Rhodes-Chroma, Pacarana,CS-80, Andromeda,M3,Nord-G2X,DK-Synergy
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