Dave Smith Instruments SYNTHESIZERS

Hi...

I got a chance to play a Polyevolver Keyboard for a couple of 
hours recently and I was very impressed with the sounds I was 
getting.  I thought I'd ask those on here who have had time to 
develop programming skills with the Polyevolver to comment on 
what, after owning one for a bit, strike you as the units strong and 
weak points in terms of tonality.

Messing around with the presets and doing some off the cuff 
editing I was most impressed with the analog bass sounds 
like "Snoop Bass" and "Numan Cars Bass", as well as some 
nice almost TB-303 sounding pulse-wave sounds using the 
4-pole filter with a lot of resonance.  Straightfoward Prophet 
5-like saw-wave polyphonic parts seemed quite nice, too.

I had less success doing anything interesting with the digitial 
oscillators (apart from supporting the already good sound of the 
analog oscillators) or coming up with "lush" pads.  There might 
well be some presets that cover this territory, but I spent most of 
my time on the PEK programming from bank 1/128 (the 
initialized patch) to see what I could do.

Anyway it strikes me as an exciting synth, the most interesting I 
have played perhaps since the Q+ was out a few years ago.  I'd 
love to hear some comments from owners about the sorts of 
variety they are able to get out of the PEK.

Also I had some difficulties with the interface, specifically the
lack of indents in the knobs for selecting things like oscillator 
frequency, modulation matrix destination, and other things where 
you've got a long list of discrete values, of which you are trying to 
land on a specific one.  (For example when tuning an osc down 
an octave, shooting for C-1, it would keep jumping from C# to B 
and back again).  Does this get easier after a time?  Is there any 
hope of making mods to one so certain knobs have indents?

I'll have to get back with you.  I'm currently
brogramming my own bank of sounds with Deep House and
Ambient music in mind.

I get C-1 without a problem.  No problems tuning
oscillators here.

--- andyklug <andyklug@...> wrote:

> Hi...
> 
> I got a chance to play a Polyevolver Keyboard for a
> couple of 
> hours recently and I was very impressed with the
> sounds I was 
> getting.  I thought I'd ask those on here who have
> had time to 
> develop programming skills with the Polyevolver to
> comment on 
> what, after owning one for a bit, strike you as the
> units strong and 
> weak points in terms of tonality.
> 
> Messing around with the presets and doing some off
> the cuff 
> editing I was most impressed with the analog bass
> sounds 
> like "Snoop Bass" and "Numan Cars Bass", as well as
> some 
> nice almost TB-303 sounding pulse-wave sounds using
> the 
> 4-pole filter with a lot of resonance. 
> Straightfoward Prophet 
> 5-like saw-wave polyphonic parts seemed quite nice,
> too.
> 
> I had less success doing anything interesting with
> the digitial 
> oscillators (apart from supporting the already good
> sound of the 
> analog oscillators) or coming up with "lush" pads. 
> There might 
> well be some presets that cover this territory, but
> I spent most of 
> my time on the PEK programming from bank 1/128 (the 
> initialized patch) to see what I could do.
> 
> Anyway it strikes me as an exciting synth, the most
> interesting I 
> have played perhaps since the Q+ was out a few years
> ago.  I'd 
> love to hear some comments from owners about the
> sorts of 
> variety they are able to get out of the PEK.
> 
> Also I had some difficulties with the interface,
> specifically the
> lack of indents in the knobs for selecting things
> like oscillator 
> frequency, modulation matrix destination, and other
> things where 
> you've got a long list of discrete values, of which
> you are trying to 
> land on a specific one.  (For example when tuning an
> osc down 
> an octave, shooting for C-1, it would keep jumping
> from C# to B 
> and back again).  Does this get easier after a time?
>  Is there any 
> hope of making mods to one so certain knobs have
> indents?  
> 
>  
> 
> 
> 
> 



		
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> Also I had some difficulties with the interface, specifically the
> lack of indents in the knobs for selecting things like oscillator 
> frequency, modulation matrix destination, and other things where 
> you've got a long list of discrete values, of which you are trying to 
> land on a specific one.  (For example when tuning an osc down 
> an octave, shooting for C-1, it would keep jumping from C# to B 
> and back again).  Does this get easier after a time?  Is there any 
> hope of making mods to one so certain knobs have indents?  

Make certain the most recent OS is installed...mine was a little "jumpy" 
untill the most recent one was burned to flash.

That said, it WOULD have made good sense if at least *some* of the 
encoders clicked incrementally but apparently the beta testers didn't 
think so - UGH!
;P

Thats really my only gripe...other than waiting for some very minor 
bugfixes in the next OS that have to do with PEK/PER co-functionality 
and some controller buffering.

No real problems at this point though. I still LOVE the blueskinned 
beast more than just about any board I have ever had! The only other 
thing in my studio that can vie for my attention at all besides the PEK 
is my Serge Modular!

Best Regards, James
--
http://www.carbon111.com/evolver.html
http://www.carbon111.com/serge.html

> I had less success doing anything interesting with the digitial
> oscillators (apart from supporting the already good sound of the
> analog oscillators) or coming up with "lush" pads.

It takes some time to get a feel for them, but I find the digital oscs
definitely make for some great sounds!  Often I'll be thinking oh
these waves are all boring ... and then a particular combination of
waveform/cutoff/resonance/keyboard-scaling will suddenly jump out.

As you might guess, this sort of experimentation is much easier on the keyboard.

Pay special attention to the L/R-filter-split parameter.  I rarely
used this on my mono evolver because it was inconvenient to change,
but on the PEK, it's great!  It can often make a sound dramatically
better by letting you have deepness, clarity, and fizz all at the same
time.

> Also I had some difficulties with the interface, specifically the
> lack of indents in the knobs for selecting things like oscillator
> frequency, modulation matrix destination, and other things where
> you've got a long list of discrete values, of which you are trying to
> land on a specific one.  (For example when tuning an osc down
> an octave, shooting for C-1, it would keep jumping from C# to B
> and back again).  Does this get easier after a time?

I don't think so... I'm also annoyed by this.  What's worse is that
apparently the beta units _did_ have stepped knobs for some
parameters, but the beta testers vetoed them, so now they're all
smooth...!

> Is there any
> hope of making mods to one so certain knobs have indents?

I don't know if it's possible to "mod" the current rotary encoders
(though who knows -- maybe the stepped feel is just a snap on
adaptor... :-).

I expect that they're probably interchangeable with the old
evolver-type units though; they seem to be the same in just about
every respect save the stepped-vs-non-stepped feel.

I opened up my PEK to look at the controller boards (one of my knobs
is wobbly, and I wanted to check it out).  The rotary encoders are all
soldered onto one of two smallish pc-boards, but they look pretty easy
to remove and there don't seem to be any active components on those
boards, so replacing a few might be a do-able task even for those of
us who are not so skillful at soldering (I'd think the main difficulty
would be making sure they get soldered in straight so they line up
correctly with the panel openings).

The PEK seems wonderfully constructed for maintenance btw -- you just
remove four screws on the top panel and it hinges right up exposing
all the boards; no need to even take it off your stand.  The boards
themselves are very accessible (not too many screws, connected by long
ribbon cables, lots of space around them), and everything seems much
less fiddly than other synths I've looked inside.

I would be good to contact DSI, and see if the encoders are swappable
with the stepped type.

-Miles
-- 
Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.

--- In DSI_Evolver@yahoogroups.com, Miles Bader <miles@g...> 
> Pay special attention to the L/R-filter-split parameter.  I rarely
> used this on my mono evolver because it was inconvenient to 
change,
> but on the PEK, it's great!  It can often make a sound 
dramatically
> better by letting you have deepness, clarity, and fizz all at the 
same
> time.

I did mess around with that parameter a bit.  I didn't know what it 
did technically speaking but it certainly added some "fizz" 
(among other things).

I was also digging the "User Hack".  No idea what that's about, 
but boy does it get nasty in a hurry!


> I would be good to contact DSI, and see if the encoders are 
swappable

Thanks for the detailed comments on that.  I noticed the hinges 
in the photographs and assumed it meant easy access to the 
guts.  A nice design.  

I thought I'd email DSI if and when I get closer to making a 
purchase (since I can't seem to get the dang thing out of my 
head that may be coming sooner rather than later) to see if there 
are any possibilties there, including special ordering one with 
the apparently "old" style encoders.  (Unlikely I realize but it 
doesn't hurt to ask).

I can say that the problems with the interface disappeared for me with prolonged use. I make a lot of drony ambient and this machine is great for that. Whether that tranlates into  what you refer to as"lush pads" I'm not sure but it should. Some of the preset pads are a good start point. Modulate a few things, play with the filter, use an envelope to sweep the loudness of a digital osc and it livens those up considerably

-------------- Original message -------------- 
Hi...

I got a chance to play a Polyevolver Keyboard for a couple of 
hours recently and I was very impressed with the sounds I was 
getting.  I thought I'd ask those on here who have had time to 
develop programming skills with the Polyevolver to comment on 
what, after owning one for a bit, strike you as the units strong and 
weak points in terms of tonality.

Messing around with the presets and doing some off the cuff 
editing I was most impressed with the analog bass sounds 
like "Snoop Bass" and "Numan Cars Bass", as well as some 
nice almost TB-303 sounding pulse-wave sounds using the 
4-pole filter with a lot of resonance.  Straightfoward Prophet 
5-like saw-wave polyphonic parts seemed quite nice, too.

I had less success doing anything interesting with the digitial 
oscillators (apart from supporting the already good sound of the 
analog oscillators) or coming up with "lush" pads.  There might 
well be some presets that cover this territory, but I spent most of 
my time on the PEK programming from bank 1/128 (the 
initialized patch) to see what I could do.

Anyway it strikes me as an exciting synth, the most interesting I 
have played perhaps since the Q+ was out a few years ago.  I'd 
love to hear some comments from owners about the sorts of 
variety they are able to get out of the PEK.

Also I had some difficulties with the interface, specifically the
lack of indents in the knobs for selecting things like oscillator 
frequency, modulation matrix destination, and other things where 
you've got a long list of discrete values, of which you are trying to 
land on a specific one.  (For example when tuning an osc down 
an octave, shooting for C-1, it would keep jumping from C# to B 
and back again).  Does this get easier after a time?  Is there any 
hope of making mods to one so certain knobs have indents?  







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My feelings so far are that the presets are (with a few exceptions) 
programmed overly bright and tend toward trying to recreate the 80's, 
which is not something I particularly care about.  So far, Ive gotten 
the most by programming it myself.

The Digital OSC's are great when your looking for digital harshness. 
the analogs are much more round sounding to me, though not as broad as 
on other analogs.  The PEK's sound, overalll, is much tighter sounding 
than my andromeda (for example).

There are a *few* trigger options that I believe are missing 
(specificaly, one where the envelopes are not triggered by each step of 
the sequencer, but controller values are output with one for resetting 
on each note on, and another that free runs in this mode).  Beyond that, 
I only wish that the delay had filtering of some kind on its output 
without having to be fedback - but thats not going to happen.

tony


andyklug said  on 7/19/2005 11:25 PM:

> Hi...
> 
> I got a chance to play a Polyevolver Keyboard for a couple of 
> hours recently and I was very impressed with the sounds I was 
> getting.  I thought I'd ask those on here who have had time to 
> develop programming skills with the Polyevolver to comment on 
> what, after owning one for a bit, strike you as the units strong and 
> weak points in terms of tonality.
> 
> Messing around with the presets and doing some off the cuff 
> editing I was most impressed with the analog bass sounds 
> like "Snoop Bass" and "Numan Cars Bass", as well as some 
> nice almost TB-303 sounding pulse-wave sounds using the 
> 4-pole filter with a lot of resonance.  Straightfoward Prophet 
> 5-like saw-wave polyphonic parts seemed quite nice, too.
> 
> I had less success doing anything interesting with the digitial 
> oscillators (apart from supporting the already good sound of the 
> analog oscillators) or coming up with "lush" pads.  There might 
> well be some presets that cover this territory, but I spent most of 
> my time on the PEK programming from bank 1/128 (the 
> initialized patch) to see what I could do.
> 
> Anyway it strikes me as an exciting synth, the most interesting I 
> have played perhaps since the Q+ was out a few years ago.  I'd 
> love to hear some comments from owners about the sorts of 
> variety they are able to get out of the PEK.
> 
> Also I had some difficulties with the interface, specifically the
> lack of indents in the knobs for selecting things like oscillator 
> frequency, modulation matrix destination, and other things where 
> you've got a long list of discrete values, of which you are trying to 
> land on a specific one.  (For example when tuning an osc down 
> an octave, shooting for C-1, it would keep jumping from C# to B 
> and back again).  Does this get easier after a time?  Is there any 
> hope of making mods to one so certain knobs have indents?  
> 
>  
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>  
> Yahoo! Groups Links
> 
> 
> 
>  
> 
>

> Also I had some difficulties with the interface, specifically the
> lack of indents in the knobs for selecting things like oscillator 
> frequency, modulation matrix destination, and other things where 
> you've got a long list of discrete values, of which you are trying to 
> land on a specific one.  (For example when tuning an osc down 
> an octave, shooting for C-1, it would keep jumping from C# to B 
> and back again).  Does this get easier after a time?  Is there any 
> hope of making mods to one so certain knobs have indents?

I agree completely about the lack of detents. As an Evolver user,
I expected the knobs on the PEK to be the same - and was
disappointed to find otherwise. Like you, I had a similar experience
trying to make adjustments, sometimes overshooting the parameter
I was seeking.

Also, I noticed on two different units (at two different stores)
that the knob that selects patches/combis was a bit wonky - 
it had some lateral travel and would cause the program to change
if just a small bit of pressure was applied. 

Except for the issue I noticed with the knobs, the units seemed
well built and solid. The keys had a nice feel as did the lighted
pitch and mod wheels, which look exactly like the pitch and mod
wheels on the Moog Voyager.

2005/7/23, Greg <gregae@...>:
> The keys had a nice feel as did the lighted
> pitch and mod wheels, which look exactly like the pitch and mod
> wheels on the Moog Voyager.

That's 'cause they _are_ the pitch and mod wheels on the voyager (dsi
gets them from moog).

-miles
-- 
Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.

this question is the same as asking a painter 
"what good are these paints for"

:-)

--- In DSI_Evolver@yahoogroups.com, "synthmdl76" <synthmdl76@...> 
wrote:
>
> this question is the same as asking a painter 
> "what good are these paints for"
> 
> :-)
>

Very good point and what does one do if there are no music shops close 
by that stock DSI synths ?
  Lot's of sound samples on the internet of MEK and PEK sounds.
So many incredibly diverse sounds came with the PEK that I can use 
only the ModWheel and/or aftertouch to keep the creative juices 
flowing.
Better yet is to run the stereo signal into a good multi-fx processor 
such as the Eclipse.
IMHO, the PEK was the best synth I could have chosen...worth every 
penny !