John Bowen Synth Design

I personally like the idea of the dark colored solaris with the wooden sides from the silver one...

How can anyone *not* think this is oober-seksee..?

I'm not wild about either...but prefer the silver case. With that many LCD screens, the aesthetics get MUCH tricker.

i voted for " dark with wooden ends ", but only if it isn't a light wood, so something like walnut would be fine. Oh, i have some pieces of Olivewood here, i never noticed that thess have a very nice and interesting masur (is this the word for the structur?)...

I think you mean the grain of the wood

I also like the idea of a dark Solaris with wooden sides

we are looking at perhapes the finest hardware synthesizer of its time and black and wood has been done over and over . The panel is very modern and timeless and so the complete architectural should be true to the total design.
Light and aluminum sides makes the best visual impression.
Lastly , for us that are fifty and older, white or light makes it easier to see our way around the board .
good luck John and i will be amoung the first to have this wonderful synthesizer in my life.

Blue with wood ends makes it look too much like an Evolver.

I still haven't seen a photo of dark/wood sides, have I? It's always been light/wood or dark/metal.

polardark wrote:Blue with wood ends makes it look too much like an Evolver.

A good point... A day later, the lighter one with wood sides seems like the better choice...

synthetic wrote:I still haven't seen a photo of dark/wood sides, have I? It's always been light/wood or dark/metal.

In a few days time there will be more material on the main website. There are prototype renderings of all 4 possible combinations, along with other updates coming. I've been swamped with work this week sorry for the delay (it's my fault!).

the new synths era : Lghts Era XXI Century

I haven't actually seen all 4 pictures

But the light coloured body (like the access T1 polar) is very sexy and should look good on TV.
So I don't understand why the dark body is in the lead at the moment? In dim gig lighting, a light body is also more functional and I don't think lighting reflection glare is much of an issue

However I've opted for aluminum sides, as wood has been done and marks too easily.
My preference would be for black metal end cheeks, or some kind of duo tone thing, like a dark red.

Losing reality I'd also like a neon light in the end cheeks - just a subtle pulsating glow off of one of the LFOs.

I know that is "insane" for such a pedigree keyboard, but it doesn't want to look like any other keyboard on TV. The Solaris back panel logo isn't enough imho.

Going for a sheer black or dark red (with subtle glowing) is a risk, but it would absolutely differentiate it visually.

SO I think the only sensible choice is to have end cheek options, and end cheeks that third parties can build. That way you can "personalise" your keyboard (and buy replacement end cheeks if they get damaged).

Personally I'm still sold on a light body though...

beej wrote:How can anyone *not* think this is oober-seksee..?

yes .... YES!!!

light with wooden end cheeks has grown on me A LOT!!

dark with wood would be my choice

Dark with wood end caps