PlanetZ forums - scopeusers.com

"John Bowen presents the Solaris at the Synthesizer Meeting Munich 2010"
37 mins of gear pr0n @ http://vimeo.com/16004667

Cool stuff, esp. in the end IMO, but he doesn't go over that full-range ribbon... oh well =] It's a unique feature, which I previously only knew from the Ondes Marthenot.

[edit: home page of Solaris: http://www.johnbowen.com/solaris-overview.html ]

Yes the time is drawing nearer for the release.
I will be using Solaris through the XITE-1's digital I/O's.
There's way to many treats to mention here, but it looks to be another monster, and also another feather in Soniccores' hat.
Here's the ribbon being demo'd @ Messe 2010.
http://forums.johnbowen.com/viewtopic.php?t=638#p2484

Awesone Video.
Great to see/hear the Solaris up and living.
Nice explanation from John.

Jupiter 8
Matrix 12
Prophet VS
Waldorf Wave
Andromeda A6
Hartmann Neuron
...
...
Solaris

I enjoyed listening to the wavetable en vector stuff. I have a lot of different types of hardware synths (not from the list above btw, except for the Andromeda) like analogue mono, analogue poly, FM, virtual analogue, virtual modular, analogue drums, virtual analogue drums, rompler. A wavetable/vector synth is still on my list (and an additive synth, can the Solaris do that also?). I will keep my eye on this one, but also on the Waldorf Stromberg which I hope it will see the light of day.

wouterz: more info over at John's website, http://www.johnbowen.com/solaris-specifications.html

Seems to be coming under a bit of flack regards being monotimbral. This would seem to be irrelevant to me as this beast seems more pitched to live than studio use (where you might use it polytimbrally from a sequencer like a MIDI module).

But live (where you have other sound sources eg XITE-1 for extra timbres), why would you want the Solaris engine power to be distributed over multiple timbres rather than the one killer timbre your playing at the time anyway ?

well, I have John's multi-timbral Quantum beast... never used it that way (to be honest)
It's just too complex to 'tune' 4 'full' voices, while to strip some down to drumsynth, bass and string-alike stuff is surface overkill...
not to forget those parts will end with a very similiar soundprint, boredom threatens.
I'm really happy to see John succeeding with his masterpiece. Great job - amazing... tempting device.
Also nice to hear that he had contact to Stephen Hummel making some presets

cheers, Tom

I never use the multitimbral mode of any of my synths in the studio.

at0m wrote:Cool stuff, esp. in the end IMO, but he doesn't go over that full-range ribbon... oh well =] It's a unique feature, which I previously only knew from the Ondes Marthenot[/url].

I've seen a number of comments about "why didn't he show the ribbon?"....and to be honest, I forgot about it! They had told me to keep it below 30 minutes (and I did run over a bit), but this wasn't a fully scripted demo, as you can tell....and it's just something I overlooked (I don't use it much personally, so that's probably why.)

But the ribbon works fine - you can have it output 2 control signals, and you can set it up to act like the CS-80/CS-60 ribbon as well (so wherever you touch the ribbon becomes the zero position, and sweep up or down from there.)

Guess I better post an exclusive 'Ribbon-In-Use' video

(I was actually wondering if this video should be posted at all, because it was meant to be pretty informal, and I just knew there would be those out there who would complain about one thing or the other. One German post thought it was boring, but too short, and too casual!)

-john b.

johnbowen wrote: (I was actually wondering if this video should be posted at all, because it was meant to be pretty informal, and I just knew there would be those out there who would complain about one thing or the other. One German post thought it was boring, but too short, and too casual!)

-john b.

I guess you can't make everybody happy, although one gets the impression that you are actually trying to do just that with Solaris

Hey John,

I hope you don't mind that little critique! As you say, it's obviously non-scripted, and anyone would skip something obvious - it's so easy to spot that with hindsight! You did a great job there presenting your new beast, hence my sharing... and apparently I'm not the only one digging it But as I said above, the ribbon's a quite unique feature, and great to hear it has both 'absolute' and 'relative' modi.

Another thing I think is difficult to grasp for non-Scope users or other classical synthesists, is the enormous flexibility of Solaris. The true value of that flexibility takes time to grow on someone, I can imagine finding ones own way with it would be weeks or months of playing with it. But how can one explain that in a couple minutes, either in a demo video or in manuals or even schematics...

Much respect for such a daring entrepreneur and innovative synth guru, and all the best with the sales!
at0m.

Hi John,

Nice to see you here again and just wanted to say congrats on the finalising of the Solaris. Really enjoyed the presentation video...particularly liked the "On the Run" EMS Synthi emulation patch, in fact most of the patches sounded gorgeous. I am very tempted to purchase one in the near future although I expect there is a waiting list at the moment. And I also have to sell some synths here first to make some room.

Anyway all the best and yes if you do have time to make a small video on the ribbon controller that would be great to see.

Cheers

Tim

at0m wrote:Hey John,
I hope you don't mind that little critique!

Not at all, and I didn't mean to say what you wrote was a criticism (I was afraid that would be the interpretation!). I expect to have much more criticism once the Solaris is on the market, just because that's how some people are, especially on the Internet.
Dave Smith once told me he avoided reading any negative stuff on the Internet (regarding his products), and suggested I do the same. I think it has to do more with believing and sticking with one's vision of what they want to create, rather than being afraid of or worried about what other people think.
-john b.

When is it shipping?

To be honest i think the solaris looks absolutly sick. Could imagine having a wonderfull time making sounds with it and playing it.

Bit out of my budget at the moment but most definatly on my wish list. (if only you did higher purhase options)

It seems like a beast.

I've got a 'higher purhase option' right here in my wallet - its called a 'VISA'

Liquid EDGE wrote:(if only you did higher purchase options)

well, you certainly have the option to purchase at a higher price, if you want!

johnbowen wrote:

Liquid EDGE wrote:(if only you did higher purchase options)

well, you certainly have the option to purchase at a higher price, if you want!

Very funny.

Nice play on words, Pay monthly purchase options would be great.

Heres my mates parrots. I asked him if they were all his, his reply was that he owned the ones down the bottom but the others were on higher perches BOOM BOOM !

Sorry John, parrots are kinda an in joke round here.

Ah, good one!