Audio samples on the Solaris page

[seamonkey]

John has added a couple of short audio samples on the Solaris page.
I didn't see these because most of the time I come straight to the forum, guess it pays to check the other sections of this site more frequently.

I really like the samples.
8. Basic Moog Sweep - This uses the Mini Osc types (two oscs) through the Mini 24 dB LP filter, with a slow envelope sweep.
9. Arpeggiator Speed Sweep.
10. Crazy Arpegiator.
11. Rotor + Arpeggiator.

[John Bowen]

Over the last day or so I've had some emails from a person who had some issues with the Audio Demos I've posted (http://www.johnbowen.com/audio-examples.html). From this, I've decided I needed to add some clarity to the text explanations regarding 2 specific examples - the 'PanMod' and the 'Noise into Tube Filter' demos.

Here's the first email comment he sent:

Hi there,

I just listened to the audio examples of the Solaris.
Pretty impressive for a soft synth, especially some of the filters.

But..

I can clearly hear stepping artefacts on some sounds.
Why did you decide to use low res controllers?

It . Is . A . Crime !!!



A different subject,
In the 'Noise into Tube Filter example' track i can hear lots of aliasing going on.
What is causing this?

Well,
That's it.
Have a nice day
redman

I have mentioned this before, but only here in the forum, so I thought I should explain again about the 'stepping' on the page itself. Here's the deal:

In the PanMod demo, I didn't have the function at the time to smoothly sweep the entire frequency range of the modulating oscillator, so I had to turn the Coarse tuning knob to do it, which is 'stepped' by semitones on purpose. Naturally, this is going to produce the stepped result that is heard. Obviously, I need to re-record this, and I will do another pass when I have time.

The aliasing in the Tube/Noise example puzzled me....until I realised that the Audio Player was using an MP3 version of the file, while the text explanation link calls up the original WAV file. I'm guessing that he may have been hearing artifacts from the MP3 conversion, which would definitely be noticeable using a white noise sourced file.

He requested to hear just the white noise source of the Solaris used in the Tube demo, so I've posted 2 files (10 seconds each) of the white and pink noise sources.

Here's some follow-up communication after sending him my explanations:

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions!!

About the stepping,
I heard it in the 'panning modulation at audio rate' example.
There is a melody played, then a sweep on the right channel.
At the end of the sweep there are steps noticeable.
It sounded hand-controlled so i assumed that it was due to the resolution of some parameter.

About the aliasing , i hear it mainly in the high mids.
There is this "rubbery frequencies sliding over each other in a pattern" sound to it.
Might be due to the effects, i dunno, but it seems to have an aliasing-like bounce to it.
I don't think it's the noise although it may be. I haven't heard the noise by itself so it's not easy to comment on that.

Anyway,
Did i say that the filters are fantastic? (I know i did )
And the PWM is cute too!

Good work!

Ooh, btw, could you maybe put up a demo of the noise online?
I'm kind of interested as i've rarely seen above average digital noises in synths.

Best regards,
redman

I hope everyone knows that I value good communication, and more clarity is always preferable when there's any question one might have about my products.
cheers,
john b.

[3rdConstruction]

i love the new examples. i am totally new to digital synths (solaris will be my first new synth in more than 25 years!) but this is the first times i've ever heard convincing resonance from a digital source. the great rich tone of the solaris, all those modulation opportunities, & of course all those knobs & displays convinced me this is THE instrument for me. the arpegiatted demos make me want to go all-out electro-kraut, tangerine dream style...

[John Bowen]

Here are the four basic filter types (all set to Lowpass) in full resonance with a downward cutoff sweep. The first example is just the filters self-oscillating, with no signal input. The second example puts a low C sawtooth wave into the mixer as signal input.

The order of the four is: MultiMode 1 (similar to CEM), SSM, Mini, and Obie. The Obie is 12 dB/octave, the others are 24 dB/octave. They appear one after the other in the .wav files.

http://www.johnbowen.com/WavDemos/Sol_4sweeps_down.wav

http://www.johnbowen.com/WavDemos/Sol_4 ... ithSaw.wav

[scope4live]

I can already tell the Obie will be great for release envelopes and super sweet low end rez..

[tmoravan]

I know it's a boring request, but could someone post some WAV files of just the raw oscillator waveforms? i.e. - single oscillator, all filtering, modulation and effects bypassed, just a simple low, middle, high C of a square, sawtooth, triangle, etc?

thanks

[Tiitu]

I know it's a boring request, but could someone post some WAV files of just the raw oscillator waveforms? i.e. - single oscillator, all filtering, modulation and effects bypassed, just a simple low, middle, high C of a square, sawtooth, triangle, etc?

thanks

Meanwhile, you can listen these:
http://www.johnbowen.com/audio-examples.html
http://www.johnbowen.com/solaris-videos.html

[tmoravan]

I know it's a boring request, but could someone post some WAV files of just the raw oscillator waveforms? i.e. - single oscillator, all filtering, modulation and effects bypassed, just a simple low, middle, high C of a square, sawtooth, triangle, etc?

thanks

Meanwhile, you can listen these:
http://www.johnbowen.com/audio-examples.html
http://www.johnbowen.com/solaris-videos.html

I've been through all the sound demos on the site, but I'm interested in the character of the raw oscillators. The filters and modulations and such are great, but if the basic sound isn't very pleasant, then all the rest doesn't really matter.

[John Bowen]

I'm trying to record your requests for upload, but having installed Windows 7, I'm now having a bit of a problem getting GoldWave to work with my Scope board...so, as soon as I get this fixed, I'll post the 'boring' sounds!

john b.

[tmoravan]

Thank you sir. I know you have NAMM coming up and all, so whenever you get time, that is fine with me. I'm not taking my name off the pre-order list.