Solaris keyboard - specifications

[John Bowen]

Just have a switch to select constant time or rate, both globally and per osc.

-jb

[John Bowen]

Personally, I'd prefer portamento to be an all-or-nothing selection, i.e. portamento is either active on both oscillators and filters or fully disabled. A global switch would be OK.

Easy...that's how it's done currently.

Anyway, IMO portamento is most suitable for monophonic patches, whereas polyphonic patches sound best without portamento (except for some effect type sounds).

Ah, but have you heard some of the things Lyle Mays does with it on his Oberheim? It can be quite effective.

Sorry to say this, but I really dislike constant time portamento. (That's probably because my sonic ideal in monophonic sounds is heavily influenced by the Minimoog.)

On the other hand...Keith Emerson put constant time glide to good use in the solo for 'Lucky Man'.

Please implement constant rate portamento as a global Solaris function.

We can have both, selectable. Solaris is meant to be a flexible tool.

cheers,
John b.

[matocaster]

I know suggestions for a ribbon controller have come up before.
How about an optional ribbon controller similar to the one that is used by the Kurzweil k2661? The 600mm ribbon controller is programmable in three distinct zones or one long zone. There is an input for it right next to the pedal inputs. It's looks similar to a phone jack. I think it would add some very powerful control options.
Since the interface is already pretty full, an optional ribbon would be cool. It would sit perfectly in the space above the joystick or even a strip underneath the 10 knobs and buttons on the far right above the keys. I mean who wouldn't want one for their Solaris?

[John Bowen]

My thoughts exactly! I was looking at the Kurzweil ribbon, and mentioned it to my hardware engineer - but so far, we haven't found any specs on the connector's pin layouts. It's not too expensive, and although a little too long for that space on the right, you might be able to fit it if we change the panel by moving the alpha knob and keypad switches up a bit. (By the way, the double row of knobs below the lower right display are going to be changed to a single row. The Page buttons for the Envelope Select will be increased, from 3 pairs of envelopes to 6 separate page buttons, one for each env.)

[matocaster]

awesome!

[matocaster]

Hey John,
this website is for one Kurzweil's best techs. He's based out of Shelton, Wa. I don't know if he'll be able to provide any details on the ribbon controller, but it's worth a shot if you haven't found any info yet.
http://www.dgaudiorepair.com/

mat

[John Bowen]

Thanks! I know Kurzweil went through some big changes, and their office near Tacoma was closed down, but Shelton isn't too far from here (<2 hours), so I'll contact him and see what he has to say.

-john b.

[matocaster]

John I would like to know if chord memory will be a feature on the Solaris. I find quite useful on my Andromeda. It would be one more thing to add to the fun factor.

Merry Christmas,
Mat

[///OSS]

needs to have:

capable step sequencer with gate slide swing etc

arpegitaors with chordmode!

Gate capabilities if the step sequencers are not assignable to modulate

multiwave oscillators with wave detuning and spread

Pannable oscillators and stereo expanding

midi send and receive of the knob parameters for on the fly automation with a DAW

Midi syncable LFOs, arps and step sequencers etc.

did I forget anything? LOL

[drxcm]

Hi John,

Just wondering about a couple of things:

1. You mentioned in the NAMM video that Solaris will respond to 4 midi channels, does this mean true 4 part multitimbrality (ie 4 patches, each with its 4 osc/ mixer / filters etc)?

2. Regarding patch storage: If you have a multi-timbral mode, please please please allow for saving of combi's without overwriting the individual patches (ie a separate memory areas for single patches and another for a combi and all of its included settings (including patches). Much like a nord modular G2 setup, which has TONS of storage space and is laid out perfectly in this regard. There is nothing worse than designing a combi / multitimbral setup, tweaking the patches, and then overwriting the originals used in the combi.

I hope that makes sense!

[rhodeschroma]

was just wondering is the vector joystick was still in the works for the solaris?

Thanks...

Justin

[John Bowen]

Yes. the joystick is still planned. I wasn't happy with the component part they found so far, so...gotta keep looking!

john b.

[John Bowen]

Hi John,

Just wondering about a couple of things:

1. You mentioned in the NAMM video that Solaris will respond to 4 midi channels, does this mean true 4 part multitimbrality (ie 4 patches, each with its 4 osc/ mixer / filters etc)?

2. Regarding patch storage: If you have a multi-timbral mode, please please please allow for saving of combi's without overwriting the individual patches (ie a separate memory areas for single patches and another for a combi and all of its included settings (including patches). Much like a nord modular G2 setup, which has TONS of storage space and is laid out perfectly in this regard. There is nothing worse than designing a combi / multitimbral setup, tweaking the patches, and then overwriting the originals used in the combi.

I hope that makes sense!

Yes, it makes sense! Now, regarding the Multi-timbre functions....it will be as you say here, with separate presets on each channel, and we also discussed the need to have edit buffers storing the relative values of all parameters for saving as a MultiMode patch, and I was quite clear that this is what I wanted (they were just thinking to have the MultiMode patches point to the presets, with any editing causing the changes as you noted). The real problem is time available to finish version 1.0....and I don't think we are going to be able to have MultiMode in the first release. We will see how it goes towards the end of the schedule, but it's something that may have to wait 6 months. (I know this is going to cause disappointment for many here!)

-john b.

[rhodeschroma]

John,

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm glad you aren't choosing a "cheesy" joystick for the unit. The no-compromises idea is one of the reasons I didn't hesitate to pre-order.

One on my main synths is a PVS, and the ability to morph between 4 different waves is extremely important to me.

Also - UI wise - I noticed the main LCD has just been showing the solaris logo at the time of the demos. Is this solely for patch info, or are you planning other types of information for this window.

Thanks, Justin

[John Bowen]

The main screen graphics have not been worked on, so they've just left the same bit map during development (the only change being the 0.x version number). When in Preset mode, this area will show the Preset name and category filters, and labels for the assignable knobs. When one of the other function pages are selected, then you will see the text for whatever appropriate parameters, as in the text screens. (We may squeeze down the Preset name to still reside in the top area or these, though).

-john b.