Dave Smith Instruments SYNTHESIZERS

Joe said, "Dave probably had some of that price to help him gain back 
the money spent in R&D. but since the rack version is very similar to 
the Evolver (and Dave said himself it was pretty easy to get it 
working), he probably spent very little on R&D this time around."

I agree, and that's probably a big part of why the Evo Rack will be 
$1,200-1,500 - which is 25-40% lower than $2,000.  That still seems 
like a pretty big price reduction to me, compared to the purchase of 
four separate mono Evolvers.

Regarding the alternative of a used Andromeda...  That's certainly a 
great alternative for those of us that are OK with purchasing used 
equipment (which I'd guess includes most people here).  I don't think 
it's fair to compare those two options on a price/value basis, 
though, because you're comparing apples and oranges - used vs. new 
equipment.  Of course the "bank for the buck" is going to be higher 
for used equipment!  If you could get a USED Evo Rack (obviously not 
possible yet!), THAT would be a fair price/value comparison to your 
$1,600 used Andromeda.  :)  

If you're in the market for polyphonic analog NOW though, and can't 
wait for a used Evo Rack, I'd recommend getting the used Andromeda.  
If you're willing to go VA, rather than RA, then I'd recommend you 
also take a look at the Alesis Ion, Novation KS series, and Access 
Virus C (in no particular order), all of which are very nice machines.


Ski
www.ex5tech.com
EX5Tech Evolver forum:
http://www.ex5tech.com/ex5ubb_cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum&f=23


--- In DSI_Evolver@yahoogroups.com, Joe <jmelnyk@c...> wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 22, 2003 at 05:11:20PM -0000, ski_ex5tech wrote:
> >    The Evo Rack hardware is essentially four "regular" Evolvers 
crammed
> >    into a 1U rack.  The "regular" Evolver is about $500 USD.  
Multiply
> >    that by four, and you get $2,000 USD.  Even allowing for 
savings due
> >    to the reduction of the count of common items such as the 
enclosure,
> >    power supply, etc., $1,200 to $1,500 USD sounds pretty good to 
me.
> >    If $500 is an "outrageously great value" for a monophonic 
Evolver,
> >    then $1,200 to $1,500 for a four voice Evolver is even more
> >    outrageous.
> 
> these are all good points and they make sense.  it just seems a bit 
odd
> to me. I think that's mainly because I figured that even though the
> Evolver is cheap, Dave probably had some of that price to help him 
gain
> back the money spent in R&D. but since the rack version is very 
similar
> to the Evolver (and Dave said himself it was pretty easy to get it
> working), he probably spent very little on R&D this time around.
> 
> I don't know. the price isn't necessarily out of line with other
> polyphonic analogs out there (for example, the Vermona Perfourmer 
has
> four voices and is about $900, but has no built-in sequencers), but 
I
> just expected a better bargain I guess.
> 
> I mean, last I checked the Andromeda (16 analog voices) was going 
for
> around $1600 used.  it might be difficult (for me at least) to get 
the
> rack Evolver knowing that :-)
> 
> >    Keep in mind that this is not a "virtual analog" machine we're
> >    talking about.  If you want to quadruple the polyphony, you 
have to
> >    quadruple most of the hardware.  Make sense?
> 
> well, except for the digital side.
> 
> Joe