John Bowen Synth Design

There is a new set of 53 presets by Ken Elhardt for owners to download. Please check the Data Files section.

John b.

Nice !
Downloaded.
Thanks !!!

Impressive works !

Hmm... Pretty disappointing IMO. I don't think the Solaris was meant to recreate acoustic instruments. No offense, just not my cup o' tea.

Jay, just something different than what got shipped. I love the trumpet, for example, but obviously, samples have replaced most synthesized orchestral and instrumental sounds nowadays. I just wanted Ken to ‘do his thing’.

Users take note - a lot of the levels for these presets are going to be lower than you might expect, so...you’ll have to adjust accordingly at the mixer end.

Understood... Just not what I had expected for the 1st expansion set.

Well, there’s only 1 unit that I can send around for preset making, so it’s going to be a slow process if each guy keeps it a month (which is what most have been doing).

Let me ask, then....what did/do you expect?

JB

Absolutely incredible !! IMHO, nothing this impressive could be disappointing, even if it's not what you personally would use (even though I have a Kronos 88, I'll use these). I can't wait to try to take these apart, and see just how KE made them. They show off an aspect of this instrument that frankly I did not think possible. Thanks, and please keep 'em coming !!

Wow I'm really surprised someone would complain about a free soundbank. There will be more in the future. If you're not into it roll your own. This has always been a place where we could share our opinions without being disrespectful of other people’s hard work. I wholeheartedly agree with serena-5's statement. Absolutely incredible job!!!

If I had designed these patches, I would want to hear all criticism. Good or not so good. I believe it is helpful for present, and future sound designers to know what people would like to hear. My apologies to Ken if I offended you in any way. And a big thank you for the time you took to create these. I do like the patches it just wasn't what I expected at the time.

I really didn't read jaykeel's comments as critism per se...KE's patches were great, no matter if someone found them to be their cup of tea or not. I just feel that the old adage of "not looking a gift horse in the mouth" applies here. I am never disappointed by a gift given freely.
Thank you again, John, for soliciting and posting these sounds. For years, I used to have to buy from Kid Nepro and others to get different sounds that I was unable to program myself. I am so thankful that you are now doing what Clavia and Access do in going above and beyond for your musician cliental (take note Roland, Korg, and Yamaha).
John, I wonder if maybe KE could give us a little help/advice on how he goes about coming up with his patches (without giving away his trade secrets)...how to integrate samples, how to realistically achieve acoustic sounds such as he has done integrating analog-type, samples, and more digital oscillator types. That would be greatly appreciated by a lot of Solaris owners, I'm sure.

My comments are not for you or any body else but Ken. Let it go...

Hmmm, getting a little warm in here....

serena-5 wrote:John, I wonder if maybe KE could give us a little help/advice on how he goes about coming up with his patches (without giving away his trade secrets)...how to integrate samples, how to realistically achieve acoustic sounds such as he has done integrating analog-type, samples, and more digital oscillator types. That would be greatly appreciated by a lot of Solaris owners, I'm sure.

Well, he didn’t integrate any samples in these presets, or any of the sound demos posted - everything is pure synthesis using only the Solaris. So, I would expect Ken wouldn’t have much to say specifically there. (He did lament to me that, since sampling came on the scene, there is little interest in learning how to create acoustic instrument sounds by pure synthesis.)

I can ask him on his advice - although, simply by examining the Presets, you can easily discern what went into making them - I’ve already learned one or two new tricks!

cheers,
John b.

These sounds are great. Thank you, John and Ken!

It is impressive to hear what can be achieved with the advanced synthesis capabilities of Solaris. I'm sure I'll learn many useful tricks when analysing the presets. Since I prefer to play the synth myself rather than have an arpeggiator do the playing, I find these presets very inspirational.