Solaris Synhtesizer By John Bowen demo of some more Prophet 5,sounds etc

[igig1970666]

The designers should have put everything on one huge(touch) user frndly- screen.,the current,although retro design is just more complicated,... nice concept in retrospect! but in manifacture ..more expensive!

[MacXpert74]

@igig1970666 I have to disagree. Nothing beats the "hands on" experience of real hard-ware knobs and sliders. If they would make them with only a touch screen, you might as well just be using a software plug-in on your computer. The real fun of using a real synthesizer IS in the hardware knobs and sliders.

[paulwilliammeyer]

@MacXpert74: I agree but I'll take it a step further. I could care less what the damn interface looks like. It's the SOUND that's crucial. Knobs are nice in real time for changes of course but if you gave me one knob and one 3X3 display and it sounded beautiful it wouldn't matter what the interface was. You have the ear or you don't.

[MacXpert74]

@paulwilliammeyer I agree that the sound is always the number 1 reason to choose a certain instrument. That's why I prefer real analog synthesizer to digital emulation. To some they sound the same, but I can still hear the difference. But besides the sound, I also find the traditional knob / slider interface much better than manipulating a virtual slider on screen. That's just not as quick or as intuitive.

[paulwilliammeyer]

@MacXpert74: Agreed. More knobs are far better than less. I just think the industry as a whole has snapped it's collective fingers and has people focused on larger interfaces rather than the sound. These are the same people who balk at a small display or in this case, real knobs as being something needless. Tactile feel and analogue bandwidth cannot be replaced by a larger display and or plug-in compatibility. Advertising conditioning has a lot of people focused on the wrong things.

[klockwerk1]

I'm not sure I can really tell how good of a VA it is, on a YouTube video. I'm waiting for the flac demos, on Johns' web site (ha ha, like I can afford it anyways).

[Keybern]

I can't understand that the people behind this kind of events / synth exhibitions don't provide some extra line outs to which the reviewer can plug in so the audience can have a clearer listen. There's really a lot of noise on the background and it's completely ruining this preview.

[exkeyboardplaya504]

Some of this shit is reminiscent of the Jupiter 8 and the D-50

[Keybern]

sounds like a very useful synth but I have my doubts about the interface...

I see a lot of separate displays with tiny text, and each with at least 5 softbuttons. Kinda bloated.

[neutron7]

@Keybern

better than a zillion sub menus. all the stuff is there, just easier to see and get to.

[Keybern]

@neutron7 yes, but it has its influence on the price as well. A piece of software with some level of submenus is cheaper than 6 separate displays all with their own buttons. Even more, lcd-displays can break, lose their brightness, etc.

The fact that these are lcd-displays rather than hard-written text above the knobs (like so many vintage analogue gear) also means that their *must* be some kind of menu-system. So this thing is definitely not the holy grail ! And it doesn't sound like it either.

[salvadory]

@Keybern looks great- sounds like your typical digital va to me- pretty cool but not like the anlogue beast reissues so many are longing for- think id rather buy a waldorf (trk???) you know the big yellow one -much cheaper and sounds better!

[albedoshader]

@salvadory: The Waldorf synths are either fully digital or hybrid synthesizers. Talking about "analogue" beasts.

[salvadory]

@salvadory yeah i know waldorf are mostly digital- i m just saying for the price thats ridiculous- id rather buy all analog or save a few grand and buy a waldorf- the solaris sounds no better to my ears- the only synth worth a few grand are the moog reissues