Dave Smith Instruments SYNTHESIZERS

hi,
i just joined the group.

i was originally planning on getting an ion but i was put off by all the
reports of faulty units. so i went to the store today to try out some
other gear and see if anything else grabbed my attention.

lo and behold, they had an evolver on display (i didnt even know
this shop was a dealer) so i asked them to hook it up for me.

after just a few minutes with the synth, and not really knowing what
the hell i was doing yet, i was already hooked by its sound and i had
the salesman checking to see if they had any more in stock so i could
buy one. unfortunately they were out and i didnt want the demo model,
therefore no evolver for me today...but i definitely plan on getting one
asap.

so in the meantime, i thought i'd sign up here and start asking a whole
bunch of questions. :-)

for starters, have there been any reliability or bug issues with the
evolver?

if i get one that still has OS 1.x in it, does updating it to OS 2 tend to
go smoothly? (and if it glitches up during transfer, can i just try again
or will the OS chip by totally hosed by then?)

how recently did evolvers actually start shipping with OS 2?

has there been mention of upcoming dave smith news that might alter
my plans for buying an evolver soon? (new models, price increase or
reduction, hardware changes, etc.)

how is the new editing software?

the evolver i tried had encoders with notches. it seems like this would
probably cause problems when trying to do smooth filter sweeps. so
is it best to do real time controls of this type from another controller
instead of directly from the evolver or can you actually do smooth
slow sweeps by hand with the evolver's encoders?

the demo unit had an odd behavoir that the sales guy couldnt figure
out. the first 70 presets were playing the same note no matter what
key on the controller i was actually playing. i didnt get to try presets
where the pitch actually tracked the keys until  #70. any idea what
may have been going on here? does this have something to do with
the sequencer? (i have no idea what preset bank i was in, i didnt
know how to use the sequencer, and the salesman couldnt find
the manual so i was at a loss trying to figure out some of the synth.)

thanks for all the info. hopefully i'll be a contributing member of the
list before too long.

-ugo

On Sat, Jan 10, 2004 at 11:12:17PM -0500, Ugo wrote:
> for starters, have there been any reliability or bug issues with the
> evolver?

I think I've only heard of maybe one hardware problem in the past
eight months I've been on the list. and Dave fixed it for the person
within days.

> if i get one that still has OS 1.x in it, does updating it to OS 2 tend to
> go smoothly? (and if it glitches up during transfer, can i just try again
> or will the OS chip by totally hosed by then?)

yes your chip would be fried if something went wrong.
a good number of people had problems updating, but every one of them
received new chips directly from Dave (again, within days).

> how recently did evolvers actually start shipping with OS 2?

I believe it was about four months ago. check Dave's site; I belive he
list what serial number started receiving OS2.

> has there been mention of upcoming dave smith news that might alter
> my plans for buying an evolver soon? (new models, price increase or
> reduction, hardware changes, etc.)

no.  except that there's going to be a polyphonic Evolver. well,
basically it's four Evolvers in a 1U rack. but you would want an
Evolver as the programmer for this unit anyway.

> how is the new editing software?

I prefer the hardware interface itself. (anyone?)

> the evolver i tried had encoders with notches. it seems like this would
> probably cause problems when trying to do smooth filter sweeps. so
> is it best to do real time controls of this type from another controller
> instead of directly from the evolver or can you actually do smooth
> slow sweeps by hand with the evolver's encoders?

the notches are supposed to be there. the first time you turn a knob,
the first notch will display the current value of the parameter on the
display. this is actually a great way to solve the virtual parameters
vs. physical parameters problem. and you can do plenty of realtime control
directly on the Evolver (slow sweeps and all).

> the demo unit had an odd behavoir that the sales guy couldnt figure
> out. the first 70 presets were playing the same note no matter what
> key on the controller i was actually playing. i didnt get to try presets
> where the pitch actually tracked the keys until  #70. any idea what
> may have been going on here? does this have something to do with
> the sequencer? (i have no idea what preset bank i was in, i didnt
> know how to use the sequencer, and the salesman couldnt find
> the manual so i was at a loss trying to figure out some of the synth.)

I'm not sure about this one. but it sounds like it was just set up to use
MIDI notes to trigger the sequencer, rather than to transpose the sequences.
I believe that has to be set in the patch itself, so maybe that's the problem.

Joe.

--- In DSI_Evolver@yahoogroups.com, Joe <jmelnyk@c...> wrote:
> On Sat, Jan 10, 2004 at 11:12:17PM -0500, Ugo wrote:

> no.  except that there's going to be a polyphonic Evolver. well,
> basically it's four Evolvers in a 1U rack. but you would want an
> Evolver as the programmer for this unit anyway.

The editor is being updated to support the Poly.

> > how is the new editing software?
> I prefer the hardware interface itself. (anyone?)

I love it... but that is because I had a lot of input into it. :)

Was never thrilled with the hardware interface. The new updated 
editor has some nice sequencer features, but I have not had the 
chance to try it out. 

BTW.... Hiya Ugo!!!!!!!!  :)

Sayer

"Ugo" <ugo@...> wrote:
> i was originally planning on getting an ion but i was put off by all the
> reports of faulty units. so i went to the store today to try out some
> other gear and see if anything else grabbed my attention.

I have both an Ion and Evolver, and they're both great -- but sure enough,
my Ion is currently out for repair (gotta say though, it's one of those
synths that sounds nice enough that I'll put up with a bit of aggravation)!

The Evolver does seem like a slightly odd replacement for an Ion though,
since they are very different synths, e.g., no keyboard, no real
polyphony, etc.

However if the E works for you, then definitely, it's a lovely synth.
They're obviously not completely immune to problems, but they're
generally _very_ solid (none of the chronic problems the Ion has), and
support from DSI is excellent.  Also that tiny little form-factor is
very convenient (something I especially appreciate after dragging the
Ion all over the place for servicing!).

Joe <jmelnyk@...> writes:
> > the demo unit had an odd behavoir that the sales guy couldnt figure
> > out. the first 70 presets were playing the same note no matter what
> > key on the controller i was actually playing.
> 
> I'm not sure about this one. but it sounds like it was just set up to
> use MIDI notes to trigger the sequencer, rather than to transpose the
> sequences.  I believe that has to be set in the patch itself, so maybe
> that's the problem.

Yeah lots of the presets are set up to ignore midi note
values... they're usually intended as standalone sequences I guess.

-Miles
-- 
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.

> received new chips directly from Dave (again, within days).

wow, great news...not only about the reliability but also the
quality of the support.

> I believe it was about four months ago.

ok cool. since the shop has a new batch of evolvers on order,
i expect i'll get the latest OS already in it.

> no. except that there's going to be a polyphonic Evolver. well,
> basically it's four Evolvers in a 1U rack. but you would want an
> Evolver as the programmer for this unit anyway.

i did a little digging around and found some info on that.
4 evolvers in one sounds incredible. i guess we'll find out
the price on it tomorrow?

being that im one to seriously dislike editing rack units. (i can 
never get them in a comfortable place in my studio to edit them)
i think you're probably right about wanting to use a mono evolver
to edit the poly anyway.

> the notches are supposed to be there. the first time you turn a knob,
> the first notch will display the current value of the parameter on the
> display. 

if i understand you correctly, the first notch will show the value but
subsequent notches will be smoothed out internally so you dont get
stepping on slow sweeps?

thanks,
-ugo

hi sayer!

> The new updated editor has some nice sequencer features,

cool. thats one aspect of the synth i was wondering how easy
it would be to program from the synth.

-ugo

"Ugo" <ugo@...> writes:
> i did a little digging around and found some info on that.
> 4 evolvers in one sounds incredible. i guess we'll find out
> the price on it tomorrow?

I think it was (list) $1300 -- definitely a savings over buying four
mono evolvers (which would total $2000), but also more than many were
hoping...

> > the notches are supposed to be there. the first time you turn a knob,
> > the first notch will display the current value of the parameter on the
> > display. 
> 
> if i understand you correctly, the first notch will show the value but
> subsequent notches will be smoothed out internally so you dont get
> stepping on slow sweeps?

That's basically right.  Only certain knobs are smoothed though -- in
particular the filter offset knob is (since that's what everybody moans
about).  I don't recall ever hearing any zipper/stepping noise for
other knobs though.

-Miles
-- 
A zen-buddhist walked into a pizza shop and
said, "Make me one with everything."