Dave Smith Instruments SYNTHESIZERS

I'm am thinking of ordering an evolver online, but here in PHX, there 
are no dealers who carry them, so I have to rely on descriptions of how 
it sounds.

I don't trust commercial reviews, which have more then once sold me an 
otherwise mediocre product. So, I'd like some opinions.

A person whom I trust, who actually creates and sells patches to some 
synth makers as a sideline, told me that he had an evolver for a few 
months but sold it because he couldn't get fast enough atack from the 
envelope generators to get good analog lead sounds.

Do you aagree with his assessment?

thanks

Keith

kmcdonaldk said  on 6/18/2005 3:55 PM:
> 
> Do you aagree with his assessment?
> 

Not at all, actually.  ive found the evolver to be much punchier 
sounding than my Alesis andromeda (for example).  its very close to my 
Korg MonoPoly in punch, but not *quite* as quick as that.

I should mention I have the poly keyboard version.

Tony

--- In DSI_Evolver@yahoogroups.com, "kmcdonaldk" <kmmcdonald@q...> wrote:
> I'm am thinking of ordering an evolver online, but here in PHX, there 
> are no dealers who carry them

We've just opened up a bunch of Guitar Centers as Evolver dealers.  Phoenix is one of 
them.  All of them are getting tabletop Evolvers and Poly Evolver keyboards to put out on 
demo.

They should be in the stores within about two weeks.

dB
DSI

Can you let me know if the guitar center in Jacksonville Florida is on this list? Thanks

--- In DSI_Evolver@yahoogroups.com, "Dave" <musicdave9@y...> wrote:
> --- In DSI_Evolver@yahoogroups.com, "kmcdonaldk" <kmmcdonald@q...> wrote:
> > I'm am thinking of ordering an evolver online, but here in PHX, there 
> > are no dealers who carry them
> 
> We've just opened up a bunch of Guitar Centers as Evolver dealers.  Phoenix is one of 
> them.  All of them are getting tabletop Evolvers and Poly Evolver keyboards to put out 
on 

> demo.
> 
> They should be in the stores within about two weeks.
> 
> dB
> DSI

On Jun 19, 2005, at 8:50 PM, Dave wrote:
>
> We've just opened up a bunch of Guitar Centers as Evolver dealers.


Is the Detroit area in that first group of dealers?

--- In DSI_Evolver@yahoogroups.com, "thebedroom23" <thebedroom@c...> wrote:
> Can you let me know if the guitar center in Jacksonville Florida is on this list? 

No.  Only Hallandale and Kendall in Florida.

The other GCs can special order them, though...

dB
DSI

--- In DSI_Evolver@yahoogroups.com, arrakian@m... wrote:
> 
> On Jun 19, 2005, at 8:50 PM, Dave wrote:


> Is the Detroit area in that first group of dealers?

The Southfield store is on the list - that's in the Detroit area, yes?

dB
DSI

On Jun 20, 2005, at 10:27 PM, Dave wrote:
>
> > Is the Detroit area in that first group of dealers?
>
> The Southfield store is on the list - that's in the Detroit area, yes?


Just several miles down the road :)

Sounds from the descriptions here that the evolver is not for me. In 
over 20 years, I have never had a synthesizer with actual analog 
oscillators, and I was hoping to have such for full basses. All my past 
(digital) synths (including me Matrix 1000's, wavestations, nord 
modulars, etc.) just crackle and break up, or sound flabby, in the deep 
bass. I was hoping that the digital waveforms would add character to 
these hypothetical deep basses. But, that is eveidently not the 
evolver's strong point.

Maybe I should just get a Moog Voyager instead ($$$!)

thanks

Keith

--- In DSI_Evolver@yahoogroups.com, "kmcdonaldk" <kmmcdonald@q...> wrote:
> Sounds from the descriptions here that the evolver is not for me. In 
> over 20 years, I have never had a synthesizer with actual analog 
> oscillators, and I was hoping to have such for full basses. All my past 
> (digital) synths (including me Matrix 1000's, wavestations, nord 
> modulars, etc.) just crackle and break up, or sound flabby, in the deep 
> bass. I was hoping that the digital waveforms would add character to 
> these hypothetical deep basses. But, that is eveidently not the 
> evolver's strong point.

It depends on your individual tastes.  I tend to use my Evo almost exclusivelty for bass 
sounds (and yes,  I work for DSI, but I bought my Evo over a year before I started working 
for Dave). 

I think your hope the digital waveforms add a disctinctive character to the Evolver's sound 
is exactly correct; and, for me, it's one of the things that make it excel as a bass synth.

Seriously - if you can't make a synth sound deep, warm and fat with four oscillators, 
something is seriously wrong... ;)

My suggestion - go listen to one.  That will tell you everything you want to know. 

dB
DSI

>
> My suggestion - go listen to one.  That will tell you everything  
> you want to know.

Exactly.  Making a decision about a synth based the the opinions of  
people on a forum is dubious at best.  The only way you'll really  
know if you like the Evolver is to go check one out in person.

/Scott

OK, I'll give it a listen, as best as I can.

Unfortunately, here in Phoenix, Guitar Center is not a good place to 
listen to much of anything. It is far too loud and congested there, 
and their keyboard room is, for practical purposes, not isolated from 
the other departments. To make matters worse, all keyboard customers 
are crowded into one little demo room, so even if there was the 
possibilility of auditioning an instrument without the adjacent 
guitars and drums encroaching, the other keyboard customer(s) at your 
elbow will probably be competing with me to hear their instument. As 
a result, I've never bought anything that makes acutal sound there. I 
used to buy all of my stuff at Synthony Music, who displayed 
instruments well (and know something about them), but regretfully, 
recently went out of business.

Sam Ash, who recently opened a store here, seems a lot better and 
more condusive to instrument demos; too bad (for me, anyhow) that 
they are not your local dealer.

Well, I'll try to restrain my crankiness and stop by GC and have a 
listen.

Keith

Headphones?

On Jun 25, 2005, at 3:26 PM, kmcdonaldk wrote:

> OK, I'll give it a listen, as best as I can.
>
> Unfortunately, here in Phoenix, Guitar Center is not a good place to
> listen to much of anything. It is far too loud and congested there,
> and their keyboard room is, for practical purposes, not isolated from
> the other departments. To make matters worse, all keyboard customers
> are crowded into one little demo room, so even if there was the
> possibilility of auditioning an instrument without the adjacent
> guitars and drums encroaching, the other keyboard customer(s) at your
> elbow will probably be competing with me to hear their instument. As
> a result, I've never bought anything that makes acutal sound there. I
> used to buy all of my stuff at Synthony Music, who displayed
> instruments well (and know something about them), but regretfully,
> recently went out of business.
>
> Sam Ash, who recently opened a store here, seems a lot better and
> more condusive to instrument demos; too bad (for me, anyhow) that
> they are not your local dealer.
>
> Well, I'll try to restrain my crankiness and stop by GC and have a
> listen.
>
> Keith
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

--
"Whenever a new musical technology appears, new forms of music follow  
it."
- Brian Eno

On 6/26/05, kmcdonaldk <kmmcdonald@...> wrote:
> OK, I'll give it a listen, as best as I can.

It may be annoying, but I think if you rely soley on "advice", the
result is dissappointment like 75% of the time.  I guess it's fairly
safe to buy an absolute classic (e.g. a high-end moog), but other than
that...

As someone else mentioned, using headphones would give you a fighting
chance to actually hear something; many shops seem to often use fairly
random monitors anyway (I've noticed a common trick is to stick the
largest most gnarly amp/speaker on the most pathetic synth...).

-Miles
-- 
Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.

--- In DSI_Evolver@yahoogroups.com, "kmcdonaldk" <kmmcdonald@q...> wrote:

>  I  used to buy all of my stuff at Synthony Music, who displayed 
> instruments well (and know something about them), but regretfully, 
> recently went out of business.

I know it, and I miss them too.  Bill Cone is a great guy, and I wish he still had the store - 
I'm sure he'd be way into the Evo stuff.


> Sam Ash, who recently opened a store here, seems a lot better and 
> more condusive to instrument demos; too bad (for me, anyhow) that 
> they are not your local dealer.

Ash actually is authorized to carry the line, they just choose to only offer it on their web 
site.  

dB
DSI

On 6/27/05, Ravi Ivan Sharma <sharmalaw1@...> wrote:
> btw, Matix 1000 is analog. 

Yup, DCO, and much (all?) of the modulation is digital of a much older
generation than the Evolver; given the slowness of typical '80s
digital modulation, I wouldn't be surprised if it had the usual
problems associated with such.  There are reputedly differences in the
way the M1000 DCOs are clocked compared to the M6/M6R that might make
the latter sound better.

[I actually used to own a M1000, a loooong time ago; I thought it
sounded pretty nice actually, but was oddly ... uninvolving for some
reason.  The Evolver does a much better job of getting your blood
stirring.  The oberheim logo was much cooler than DSI's though... :-]

-Miles
-- 
Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.