News

Wednesday, 15 March 2023 22:45
All Keyboard Units almost SOLD OUT! We are now sold out of all but one of the planned keyboard units for the coming production round. There are also a small number of the Tabletop/desktop versions remaining. See the Purchase page for more information. THANKS to all who have pre-ordered!

Friday, 01 July 2022 02:40

Solaris Voice Expander Now Available

Built in a 1U-sized cabinet, while not a full 19" width (and does not ship with 'rack ears'), the Voice Expander uses the same motherboard as the keyboard version, and adds another 10 voices of polyphony when using Poly Chain. (Just make sure both units have the same Program data on their CF cards!). You can also just layer it with your current Solaris. All parameters are connected to a Solaris front panel (via SysEx) for easy editing. Sales and production are handled by Sonic Core, with price at 1839 EUR net. Please contact Sonic Core at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information or ordering.

Wednesday, 01 June 2022 17:40

RIP Dave Smith

It is with great sadness to announce that my colleague and friend Dave Smith passed away in June 2022. I introduced myself to Dave in 1976, when I was doing presentations for Moog Music, and asked him if we could make an arrangement where I would promote his Model 800 sequencer. Little did I know what that meant for how my future in synthesis would be forever changed.

Monday, 28 March 2022 18:29

Interview video by Espen Kraft

Please go here to see my interview with EspenKraft: https://youtu.be/NJQrTiCezvo

Saturday, 01 January 2022 22:47

New v2.0.3 OS Released

I am very happy to announce the release of v2.0.3 Operating System for the Solaris. Information for current owners can be found in the Forum:

https://forums.johnbowen.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=17162

Tuesday, 28 December 2021 18:29

Solaris demo video by Espen Kraft

Please go here to see Part 1 of a Solaris video from Espen Kraft: https://youtu.be/BHdbNIfDGiU

Lots of audio examples as Espen shows off the basics of the Solaris.

Monday, 16 August 2021 00:00

Music Made on Solaris

Here’s a new post from Peter Farn showing a live improvisation of a single patch on his Solaris. Not your typical Rompler or Eurorack style music!

https://youtu.be/56O5XbEvLZc

I've had several requests to point out where one might find examples of the Solaris online. There is always this section of the Solaris Forum where you can find contributions by Solaris owners:

https://forums.johnbowen.com/viewforum.php?f=7

Saturday, 06 February 2021 14:48

The Original Solaris Prototype Revisited

I came across a number of photos from when we first introduced the Solaris, in March of 2007! You can read more about it, plus view all of the pictures, here:

Solaris 2007 Prototype

Saturday, 02 January 2021 16:49

New Presets by François Neumann-Rystow

Long-time Solaris owner François Neumann-Rystow (who goes by 'kalaspace' in the User Forum) has posted a couple of new videos - one which shows a MultiMode Preset from the new v2.0 OS:

https://youtu.be/IJcOesyOvK4

In addition, he will be coming out with a set of sounds to be made commercially available. These you can hear in this video: Solaris Custom Patches 2

https://youtu.be/aaXrxk56dFg

His previous set of sound demos can be found here: https://youtu.be/I5emyInOjXY

Great work, and I look forward to his release of presets for the Solaris, coming soon!

Friday, 07 June 2019 00:00

Join In With These Owners

What do the following entertainment industry veterans all have in common?

•Jean-Michel Jarre (Equinoxe Infinity, Oxygene, Electronica, and many more)
•J.J. Abrams (Alias, Lost, Star Trek, Star Wars 7&9)
•Harry Gregson-Williams (The Martian, all Shrek films, Wolverine)
•Dave Porter (Breaking Bad, The Blacklist)
•Ty Unwin (UK composer for BBC, ITV, TLC and Discovery)
•Matt Johnson (http://www.thethe.com/)

They all purchased a Solaris! Don’t be left out - get yours ordered today!

See the Purchase page for more information.

Saturday, 17 March 2018 15:10

New Preset Bank Video by Brian Kehew

New video by Brian Kehew! Not only did he create some wonderful new presets, but he also spent a chunk of his valuable time to make a video of him playing through the 100 sounds he created! A big thanks to Brian for his generous contributions!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWGwpXhp-Xw&t=2s

Brian is well-known in the synthesizer world, having spent time on the road playing keyboards for The Who, and his own group The Moog Cookbook, as well as having co-authored the book, “Recording the Beatles”. He has served as the Archives Historian for the Bob Moog Foundation, a non-profit whose goal is to preserve the archives of Dr. Robert Moog and to teach children about science, music, and innovation. You can read more about Brian’s background at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Kehew

I have these comments from Brian:

"I wanted to explore the non-retro parts of the Solaris potential. I think the world has been stuck in 1980s polysynth limitations too long. I'm so excited by this part of the Solaris - the clarity and resolution are incredible, but still using the "language" we speak (of oscillators and filters etc.) to create.

"Many of these sounds evolve over time. I have done some more retro sounds here, while trying to add something modern or more "dense" than was possible 30 years ago. Some of these may become jumping-off points for your own ideas, I hope. Some sounds are just playing with the many interacting modulations, generative patches or sound FX that can go on forever. I don't have time to dial in all the options of controllers for every sound, but a quite a few have a mod-wheel option to use.

"It's quite a variety, and certainly most of these are not possible on any other instrument I know. It's an amazing design, still evolving, and I don't think I will ever "bump my head" on the ceiling of what it can do..."

Brian Kehew

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