John Bowen Synth Design

The new case looks *very* nice! All the bends in all the right places.

seamonkey wrote:

ThreeFingersOfLove wrote:Hi all,

now that the Virus TI|2 hasn't met my expectations aesthetically (also, how many times are they going to repackage the same synthesizer???), I can safely look back to the Solaris again. Does anyone have any real photos of the finished product?

Regards,
Yannis

TFOLove, Carbon111 was at John's booth and posted a link for some pictures of the finished Solaris(Special Edition version). You can find them here:http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/2009/01 ... laris.html

Seamonkey thanks a lot for the link. This things looks VERY nice! I am almost sold...

I just find the final design really smart !!!

The prototype was already a good looking one but the final version is even more beautifull.

Great job. Who are the people who contribute to this design John ?

CheerZ and long a successfull life to the SOLARIS.

Besides the nice shots from Carbon111, you can also find 5 photos at http://fdiskc.com/syn/ under NAMM / Winter / 2009.

I agree with everybody else, the final design is even better than the prototype. The logo is really smart. So much so that I'm looking forward to my Solaris t-shirt !

I have posted some up close and personal shots so we could read the 2 x 40's and the LCD. They are on page 3 of this link.
http://forums.planetz.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=26727
I apologise for not knowing how to paste the dozens of pics I have here, as I don't know how to use the above tools.
If someone were to expalin to me step by step, this is the forum I would choose, but over at the Z there are many Solaris lovers and I couldn't starve them any longer by posting a link from here to there, sorry JB.
If you weren't at the show all I can say is that Solaris is the mightiest beast I have ever played.
I guess the 96k processing really helps as the hardware version is incredibly powerful.
Just using the little bitty KRK's showed me that when I push db's out of my Barbetta's my knees will become weak.
Not from volume mind you, but rather just rich buzzy, drippy filters and and pure authentic emulations.
This is the best cash on a synth I ever paid for, it is the most heavenly digital sounding synth also, it has zero harshness in it's sound. And for the basic analog emulations which I always want to hear first since those are my roots, Solaris has no equal.
Hands down winner for sure.
The FATTEST BASTARD I have ever played. It has the power of not only all of the old Polyphonic analogs, but I was priveledged to play a real Modular synth w/ 8 voices years ago, and that is what Solaris sounds like.
Not just a Polyphonic synth, but a GIANT polyphonic synth.

With the unison stacking and PolyGlide features I will be able to stop traffic, no sweat.
If you guys have already got on the list, be prepared to soil your britches.

I can't wait to knock the shit out of the dance floors with this Beast.

Yeah, I was just looking at your thread and those pics. Looks like it turned out *AWESOME*. Better than I expected. The layout for the osc/mixers/fx/lfos... excellent. The connectivity on the back is incredible. And the extra controllers onboard, having the joystick, ribbon, and wheels.

What can I say... it came out fantastic. Hats off to John and the team.

The Solaris looks amazing! I can't believe how classic it looks. Are the wood side panels on those units the actual ones being used for all limited edition models? I think it looks perfect. I hope there's video from NAMM 2009 coming soon.

I forgot to mention the knobs are not vintage, well vintage to me is the beginning of time actually when we had mono only, but the knobs are ridged and make onstage tweaking perfect.
I tend to sweat a little when there are tons of 1000 watt PAR lamps revealing my thinning hair , and the knobs on my controllers are all slick, these Solaris ridgy knobs are like Parelli tires on a street bike, no slippage what so ever.

Here's a video link with Bernard Wong (a pre-order customer who came along to help) describing some of the functions of Solaris:

http://en.440tv.com/video.php/v/2191/NA ... olaris-1-2

Here's a posting in another forum - he does a great job reviewing things at NAMM, and has some very positive comments at the end (when you scroll down) regarding the Solaris:

http://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthread ... AMM#UNREAD

Very Nice,

Thankfully some guys come totally prepared.
An associate of mine who is also an analog synth geek stopped by and tried to get the filters to alias, and said he couldn't.
I guess that's a good thing.

http://www.vintagesynth.com/forum/viewt ... =1&t=45193
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More NAMM09 Solaris goodness:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BArO-HWzm4o

HUROLURA wrote:Great job. Who are the people who contribute to this design John ?

Thanks! It's mainly me and my business partner, Goffe Torgerson. Sonic Core made some graphics suggestions as well, but we ended up choosing something closer to what Goffe & I discussed/designed.
-john b.

I wanted to post some pictures of several friends who came by at NAMM to wish me well with Solaris:



Tom Oberheim was making the rounds, and told me he is definitely making his SEM product again!
I still have one - it was the basis for his early polyphonic synthesizers...you could have 4, 6, or 8 of these
all in one or two large cases. And the sound...fantastic!



Michael Boddicker dropped by as well to see the Solaris. He is building a new studio that sounds like
it's going to be an incredible place! We discussed having a premier for the Solaris there when he's ready to open.




Popular 'smooth jazz' artist Tim Heinz, pictured here with my wife and I. We both knew Tim long before he left Sacramento to find his dream in L.A.



Long-time acquaintance and well-known film and recording artist, Ralph Grierson, came by to say hi, and to see what Solaris was all about.



I worked with Joe Chicarelli back in 1980 on an album for A&M Records. We were both 'just getting started'...
and almost every NAMM show since then, he's managed to find me and say 'hello'. Great guy, and a fantastic engineer & producer!

John Bowen wrote:

HUROLURA wrote:Great job. Who are the people who contribute to this design John ?

Thanks! It's mainly me and my business partner, Goffe Torgerson. Sonic Core made some graphics suggestions as well, but we ended up choosing something closer to what Goffe & I discussed/designed.
-john b.

So you guys are not only synth sound designers but also simply designer. Really nice job anyway. The user interface looks quite easy to use and the instrument in itself has his own place at the center of any synth lover setup. I wish I could afford one but will probably have to wait ... I have the same kind of feeling with the Xite-1...

Wish you lot of success John.

CheerZ