Dave Smith Instruments SYNTHESIZERS

> - What bugs currently exist?

Several - do not let anyone tell you there are none. You need to know
about these. It may have influenced my decision to buy one had I known
beforehand how hobbled the interface is at certain ends. Here's a
quote of mine from another message I posted on this board some time ago:

"It appears (at least to me) that the trigger select -> keyboard only
feature has no purpose under program mode, except to steal a voice and
render it useless. However, I
have found that it works perfectly (or at least, as you expect it to)
under Combo mode.
Program your sequence and save it as a patch, then go to combo mode
and make part 1 polyphonic 4-voice, and use the program you'd saved.
Make sure to select the 'trigger
select -> keyboard only' in the combo menu, and there you go. Still
trying to
figure lots of stuff out here, but that one should provide a temporary
solution until DS makes it an update.

I have talked with Dave about this issue and he seemed uninterested to
fix it, offering instead to create another trigger select option to
fix another problem. That being the option that should step the
sequencer values only steps on voice one, or every fourth time on the
PEK. The workaround I describe above works great, but it seems strange
to program this way. There are a lot of things that don't work how you
want in Program Mode on the PEK but work nicely once you incorporate
that program into a Combo in Combo Mode. I hate using Combo Mode,
however, because editing values is incredibly frustrating and poorly
implemented, and no changes to the patches can be saved. We have
discussed this here to an extent, and I will not continue to harp on
this as it is a minor quibble in a glorious machine, but I will ask if
anyone has heard anything *ever* of an update? While incredibly useful
at times, other times this OS seems far from complete."

This is probably my major concern, but if you search this forum,
you'll find more.

> - Do the knobs send out MIDI?  If so, what kind?

Sysex. Can you use that where you want and do you have software that
can remap those commands to actual controllers? Otherwise, all you
have are notes, bend, mod wheel, sustain, pressure (mono-aftertouch),
foot pedal...etc. It does respond to its own MIDI and sysex, so you
can record it all and send it back.

> - Is it worth it?

The sound of this synth is the selling point. It sounds great (as long
as you stay under the digital saturation point). The modulations are
awesome. But the OS has serious flaws and it's frustrating to spend
half your time finding workarounds for things that should just work
already. No notion or mention of any updates - in fact, this is
version 1 - never been updated and no sign of any future updates. Dave
is responsive, but often vague about actually getting around to fixing
any of these. So, sound=10!, support=5.

> - Should I keep my desktop Evolver for use as a 5th voice?  Has anyone 
> actually done this?  How does it work?

I've heard that it can, but have no experience with that.

> Given that I have about $2400 to spend on a master keyboard/synth, 
> anyone in the group have any other suggestions?  I want a decent 
> keyboard, but I am not a very good player, so I don't need or want full 
> weighted action.

Everything these days seems to be feature rich, until you get it, and
realize that not all the features are implemented, and some never will
be. That said, I'd probably get an old Jupiter or Prophet if I had to
do this again. But there is something great about the PEK that those
can't touch, so I'm keeping it. YMMV.
 
-Mark