John Bowen Synth Design

Jim Hewes (minorguy) has finished the next update to the Solaris OS, now at v2.2.0.

Just to note - all v2.x operating systems are only available on the Owner’s Portal, which does require a suggested donation of $60/50 euros to join, which goes towards funding Jim’s volunteer work.

Again, I am extremely grateful for all of the incredible work Jim has done. I hope everyone appreciates all Jim has done to make the Solaris better and better, and we look forward to your feedback.

John Bowen

John,

Glad to hear this is coming out but just FYI there is no link on the owner portal to the V2.2.0 OS file or an addendum if one has been created to document the new features/changes.

inaheartbeat wrote: Thu Dec 19, 2024 10:15 am John,

Glad to hear this is coming out but just FYI there is no link on the owner portal to the V2.2.0 OS file or an addendum if one has been created to document the new features/changes.

Yes, sorry about that! I had some problems getting the files uploaded, but they are both there in the Download section now.

John B.

Here's the v2.2 OS Addendum, for those who are interested, but haven’t joined the Owner Portal yet:

As I bought my Solaris about ten years ago, I was concerned whether its firmware would be maintained (e.g. bugs fixed). Meanwhile there's OS version 2.2, and not only we got a lot of bug fixes, but also a whole bunch of new features. I'm extremely grateful for that. Thanks a lot to all involved.

And I’d like to proudly point out - how many other synths that have been out there for 10+ years do you see still getting updates with new functions, etc.? My intention with the Solaris User Interface was always to have an extremely flexible system which could grow over time, and I feel it has worked well for that. A big “Thank You” to Jim Hewes for his incredible code work, and to all of my customers who have stuck with me for all these years!

John, Jim, thank you so much for this OS update. The Mod Matrix Reporting is a very useful feature when analyzing patches. There seems to be a minor problem with the display of certain modulation paths, which I will report in the appropriate sub-forum. Thanks again for your continued support of the Solaris!

Software was one of the reasons i hesitated to buy the solaris, until I met you at the Frankfurt Messe and we discussed this (many moons ago now). Thank you for the ongoing FW suppport ! Maybe Jimmy could setup a Patreon account for all the work he's doing and to keep us updated ?

I had a question concerning category naming. via home and cat name i can easily change USER1 to something else and I get it that I don't have to save it (which is great).
When I then go to one of my presets and assign categories I still see USER1, USER2, ... not the name I created. I thought a reboot might fix it but didn't make a difference. Am probably not getting something, would appreciate it if you could provide your thoughts.

thank you

bennethos wrote: Sun Jan 19, 2025 1:16 pm Software was one of the reasons i hesitated to buy the solaris, until I met you at the Frankfurt Messe and we discussed this (many moons ago now). Thank you for the ongoing FW suppport ! Maybe Jimmy could setup a Patreon account for all the work he's doing and to keep us updated ?

I had a question concerning category naming. via home and cat name i can easily change USER1 to something else and I get it that I don't have to save it (which is great).
When I then go to one of my presets and assign categories I still see USER1, USER2, ... not the name I created. I thought a reboot might fix it but didn't make a difference. Am probably not getting something, would appreciate it if you could provide your thoughts.

thank you

So, the categories you see on the main preset page next to the Filter are passive, right? They are for doing a search. When one goes to actually save a preset, the category assignment is done on the second page of the Save process (or Store, as it says). I took an INIT preset and saved it with Cat1 User 4 as the category 1 choice, then went back into Preset Mode, and switched the presets up and back to make sure it showed User 4 for c1 in the very bottom line of the display (c1:User 4). I then went to the System page to change the category names, and changed Cat1 User 4 to Xser 4. When going back to Preset Mode, switching the preset out and back now shows c1: Xser 4 for the preset.

Also be aware that there are 10 User slots for Cat 1, and another 10 for Cat 2, so make sure you have the correct one.