John Bowen introduces the Solaris hardware synth

faxinadu · Post by **faxinadu** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 1:31 am

i think i might have to rethink my policy of
"i'm selling all my hw, i can do it all in sw and dsp" policy for this one

katano · Post by **katano** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 2:53 am

great news!

Liquid Len · Post by **Liquid Len** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 3:10 am

Congratulations John! Looks very well designed. I'm sure it sounds fantastic. Now I have to get a better job so I can afford one.

darkrezin · Post by **darkrezin** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 3:17 am

Nice work John, I've been dreaming of a synth like this for years

kylie · Post by **kylie** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 3:27 am

darkrezin wrote:Nice work John, I've been dreaming of a synth like this for years

now it's a matter of pricing whether it will remain a dream for most people or not

I assume production has not started yet, so calm down everybody and start saving pennies and selling stuff...

nevertheless, congratulations, john.
maybe more stuff like this if sales go well? I think I would have a hard time trying to resist a pro-one from you...

-greetings, markus-

ReD_MuZe · Post by **ReD_MuZe** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 3:41 am

wow!
that looks tasty!!!!

Amaizing work John! cant wait to hear how it sounds!

darkrezin · Post by **darkrezin** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 3:43 am

kylie - well to be honest I'm not in the market for more digital synths (I have enough). But to me it's great that something like this exists - firstly for technology reasons, because it will be way cooler than for example the Nord Mod G2X - and secondly because it will give our platform a chance of survival.

kylie · Post by **kylie** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 4:13 am

darkrezin wrote:kylie - well to be honest I'm not in the market for more digital synths (I have enough). But to me it's great that something like this exists - firstly for technology reasons, because it will be way cooler than for example the Nord Mod G2X - and secondly because it will give our platform a chance of survival.

it's chances on the market may somehow depend on a pricing that is moderate enough to be affordable for the amateurs league (which I consider myself to be in). well, unless it's such a damn great item that john does not have to care for a good price and still gets it ripped off his hands... should this be the case I'm afraid this won't be my first hardware synth (I don't have any, unlike you

).

-greetings, markus-

darkrezin · Post by **darkrezin** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 4:24 am

Of course price is an issue, but most musicians tend to understand that a good instrument costs serious $$. The Waldorf Q cost £2000 when it first came out, a Nord G2 keyboard isn't cheap, and you can't even patch it without a computer. This new keyboard *is* revolutionary... *way* more than any of the Creamware ASB's. I can't think of any other truly semi-modular VA.

Mr Arkadin · Post by **Mr Arkadin** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 4:33 am

Excellent stuff. The only thing i would add would be a ribbon controller (hint

)

Miikka · Post by **Miikka** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 4:40 am

Looks good!

kylie · Post by **kylie** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 4:50 am

darkrezin wrote:Of course price is an issue, but most musicians tend to understand that a good instrument costs serious $$.

I agree. but it would be sad if this one would be another thing most people could only dream of.

The Waldorf Q cost £2000 when it first came out...

yeah, but waldorf left the market and hace only just been reborn these days. it's no easy job having revolutionary products and surviving with it (or despite it)... think further. there was also hartmann...

I just don't want that story to happen again.

may they sell lots of it

-greetings, markus-

darkrezin · Post by **darkrezin** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 5:01 am

The Nord keyboard costs £1200 and you can't patch on it... it's got to be one of the most successful synths of recent times.

petal · Post by **petal** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 5:08 am

Congratz on having your dream come through (and many others) and on a well chosen name for your company!

Could we be so lucky that you perhaps could find the time to produce just a few sound examples and stick'em up somewhere on the net (here?) so we can have a taste of the sound of your new baby?

Cheers!
Thomas

darkrezin · Post by **darkrezin** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 5:11 am

Also I hope this thing is sold initially on its standalone capabilities. IMHO it's shooting yourself in the foot to announce a software editor that ships with the unit - because software is such a bitch to finalise it always ships with bugs initially. It's better to make sure it's totally rock solid and then announce it as a new free feature for the already awesome standalone synth. OK I'll stop rambling now.

firubbi · Post by **firubbi** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 5:49 am

Congratulations JB.

sbp · Post by **sbp** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 6:33 am

And to think that somebody commented on one of the teaser photos on another synth blog a day or two ago saying "it must be a hoax, no synth has more than one LCD" :-)

Cool, keep up the good work and hope it all works out.

Sean

next to nothing · Post by **next to nothing** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 8:38 am

... and here's some video of the man himself.

http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/2006/10 ... about.html

he talk about sequential btw

hifiboom · Post by **hifiboom** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 9:07 am

my congrats too, John.

IThis surely is a true beast synth...
Thats especially great if you consider that this is somewhat the first "ASB", that is not an emulation of a classic thing... Just something unique..

Absolutly great.

Shayne White · Post by **Shayne White** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 9:38 am

Hey John, it looks awesome! The really cool part is that it's all-new: no old Scope atoms from seven years ago.

I'm sure it sounds fantastic!

I assume more information will be released soon so that we'll have an idea of its features? Does it do the things the software Solaris could do, like analog, FM, rotor, vector mixing, wavetable, etc.?

It looks like the original idea of Noah, but done right this time.

I hope it does really well! Good job!

Shayne