Duophonic Evolver - polychain part 1: how to polychain

[velliosant]

can i polychain mono evolver with tetra?



[RanKirlian]

@velliosant I don't think so. They have such a different architecture

[asynchronicity]

Whoops -- I meant four or more Evolvers

[asynchronicity]

Nicely done

I like the sound of polychained analog synths where each voice is a distinct patch -- some very kaleidoscopic textures can be created in this way.

I'd love to hear a demo where four or Evolvers are chained with completely different timbres programmed on each one.

Have you bought any additional Evolvers since doing these vids?

[RanKirlian]

@asynchronicity no, I now only have the keyboard one, sold the desktop some time ago. I use to do something similar via midi with some synths, playing the same noe for all of them and everyone with its own patch. I use to do that "chaining" an Indigo+JP8080+Microwave and I get really awesome textures indeed.

With Evolver: I wish to have a polyevolver rack chained to my keyboard to get 5 voices, but again all of them would have the same patch or, at least, 4 of those voices.

[asynchronicity]

@RanKirlian Thanks so much for the reply -- yes, layering digital timbres can be stunning and their inherently thinner quality allows for really interesting textures when you layer several voices together.

I'm specifically interested though in chaining analog synths that can rotate through distinct patches "round robin" style when played/sequenced/arpeggiated for kaleidoscopic, chromatically mutating textures.

[YungShady01]

You could have done exactly the same with a MEK and a Poly Evolver Rack don't you?

[RanKirlian]

@YungShady01 Yes, just in the same way, and then getting a 5 voices Evolver. I hope to do it someday ;)

[YungShady01]

@RanKirlian Then we're two :) (sad there won't be no poly evolver rack no more, I hope they aren't going to be to hard to find when the time comes)

[bbow73]

cool, thanks for posting this video.

[friendofCHAKA]

With the price of evolvers dropping you could get a total of 5 for the Evolver-5!

[rupagija]

Could you please post MEK's dimensions ?

[RanKirlian]

65cm width x 35cm depth x 8cm height

[rupagija]

Thanks !

[tomhikon]

This probably has no relevance to poly chain but the Sequential Prophet 2000 had two midi outs, you could send the sounds to different channels having one set of samples on one side and a different set the other side and as far I know it wasn't officially a stereo sampler.

Thanks for the tip!

[lazymandoplayer]

If you connect the midi out from a keyboard to an expander the same notes will sound on the keyboard and expander so if your keyboard can handle 8 notes and your expander can handle 8 notes you will get 8 notes but a richer texture than with just the keyboard (potentialy at least) - poly chain appears to route any notes in excess of the number the keyboard can play to the expander so 8 at the keyboard + 8 at the expander would give you 16 note polyphony (I'm guessing as I don't have the kit)

[RanKirlian]

You're right. By connecting via midi 2 synths you can get them layered while the polychain feature allows to simply expand polyphony of the synths. The fact of this videos is to show you don't get a fatter sound with every key preassure, instead of this you have a duophonic evolver from two monophonic synths.

[RanKirlian]

Polychain port looks equal than midi ports indeed., and I guess it works in a similar way, but not every synth can be chained. This is an exclusive feature available on few synths only, for example on Dave Smith ones. You can connect synths only from the same families: evolver, polyevolver, rack & desktop or prophet based ones: prophet 08, rack, mopho & tetra. The polychain feature allows to increase polyphony and control. Not much synths can do this.