I'm sold! More questions...

[zerocrossing]

Now I'm wondering if I should get a used Solaris... I know, it doesn't solve my space issue, but I could probably buy a Novation Nocturn for Live control and ditch the Novation Remote SL that I now use as my master controller. Not relying on having to talk to a computer does make me less nervous about throwing a lot of money at hardware though. OTOH, having the crazy flexibility of the XITE-1 sounds fun too... Honestly, the Solaris does do everything I need. I was only looking for a good VA and wavetable synth at the start of this journey.

[tlaskows]

I thought you wanted analog? Solaris is 100% digital. Very hard to find 2nd hand and it will cost you as much as an Xite-1.

What are you trying to do? If you play live, then yes, Solaris would be a better choice. But I don't think it can make piano or flute sounds

-Tom

[Bud Weiser]

I thought you wanted analog? Solaris is 100% digital. Very hard to find 2nd hand and it will cost you as much as an Xite-1.

What are you trying to do? If you play live, then yes, Solaris would be a better choice. But I don't think it can make piano or flute sounds

-Tom

It sounds very analog if you want ... and in addition it does much more than most real analogues can do at all.
It´s the best VA you can buy when MIDI multimode is dispensable for you.
It costs less than any vintage Prophet-5, Obie-8, Jupiter-8 or monophonic MInimoog D costs used @ebay.
With XITE-1, SCOPE and it´s stock-, optional- as also 3rd-party-synths, you´ll run in all the MIDI issues related on MIDI CC assignments and recall, artefacts and longer load times when switching synth patches, occasional stuck MIDI notes and such.
Solaris works as a keyboard instrument using somewhat newer SHARC chips than XITE-does, not using old SHARC chips from PCI cards at all and not running partially in a computer host domain like SCOPE plugins/devices do.
There´s simply no need for communication between a computer and the connected hardware device.
Nonetheless it´s realized w/ SCOPE SDK though.

Toby Emerson "Event horizon 2" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xzo7dlpwTE

"Event Horizon 1" is now part of the v4.0 factory presets ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUW5LRfzgvE

http://soundcloud.com/alexg2/solaris-vs-jupiter-8

http://soundcloud.com/alexg2/solaris-vs-oberheim-ob8

Solaris vs Andromeda A6 ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqHeRPQ-WB4

Ken Elhardt demos ... more acoustic than you´d expect ...
http://soundcloud.com/solaris-synth/set ... demos-set/
http://soundcloud.com/solaris-synth/set ... os-by-ken/

Also ... select "solaris" from "instruments" ...
http://greatsynthesizers.com/listening-room/

... or read this ... audio demos bottom of page ...
http://greatsynthesizers.com/en/test/jo ... ifes-work/

more ... http://synthesizer.at/synthesizer/Solaris/solaris.htm
in german, but audio demos bottom of page too, downloadable 36min+ mp3 ...


And here you find all the links to Dawman´s Solaris demos ...
http://forums.johnbowen.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=16103

Well, I´d wish John Bowen would decide for a Solaris desktop module like Dave Smith now did for the Prophet-6.
I don´t need more keyboards.

Bud

[dante]

Solaris works as a keyboard instrument using somewhat newer SHARC chips than XITE-does

Same chip. But running @96KHz contributes to Solaris superior sound.

[tlaskows]

I must start saving up for better monitors as I cannot hear the difference between 44.1k and 96k. Actually, maybe I should have a try. I never really tried to. I used to record at 96k, but that was not with Scope and around 12 years ago?

-Tom

[tlaskows]

Oh, I only have one question...

Can I desolder the 66MHz Sharcs and put in 400MHz ones in the same place? Where can I get the Verilog/VHDL code for the FPGA?

I'm actually pretty good at soldering... The only thing I cannot desolder is those BGA chips... I think those need a special machine.

-Tom

[garyb]

no you can't exchange chips and expect it to work.

[tlaskows]

But the chips are a good price, around 30$ per piece. 45x30=1350. Dammit.

This was just a stupid joke anyways. I know it won't work. Obviously the FPGA is too small and the clock would have to be changed.

I don't need an Xite-1.

Just got a Plugiator in the mail, but don't have the time to open it tonight. Cost me around 300$ with all 8 plugins. Yay, more Creamware technology! I just wanted something I can plug into my controller and use it without a computer... I should be ready to rip Minimax lead solos in about 5-6 years Are there any bands out there that have a keyboard player that doesn't just play piano? I'm not very good with the piano, never had any lessons. But I've written many songs... I really need to redo them in Scope. The stuff on my website is really really old. Never mixed properly. I found a backup CD from high school a while ago, it has some old Cakewalk 6 files on it. One day at a time

-Tom

[Bud Weiser]

Same chip. But running @96KHz contributes to Solaris superior sound.

S##t and sorry for being wrong.
Must be the meds ...



Bud

[tlaskows]

Well, you can clock a 400MHz chip at 333MHz. It will just run cooler!

-Tom

[dante]

Must be the meds ... Bud

In Australia, soon they will legislate all painkiller require doc prescription, even lousy 15mg codeine ones !

[tlaskows]

In Canada, even Tylenol 3 (the very weak one with a bit of codeine) requires an RX!

Nah, pain killers are stupid.

-Tom

[dante]

Not when u got toothache !

[tlaskows]

Nah, my teeth are fine. I don't even go to the dentist that often, because I think they make them worse

I had all my 4 wisdom teeth pulled and all they have me is some Tylenol 3. It didn't do anything That was like 15 years ago. They 'knocked me out', so I just woke up bleeding like a pig from my mouth

They gave me a bag of gauze, but that didn't help much in stopping the bleeding. Yes, they had to put stitches in.

Aspirin, Tylenol? I know it's called something else in Australia... but those never do anything for me. I don't really get headaches.

I'll have to stick to my Valium

-Tom

[tlaskows]

I knew I had it somewhere!

Have a laugh

[dante]

[tlaskows]

Too bad you can't really read it... I think that ad is really old. But you can find a lot of 'good' ones back from the 60s.

Basically, they figured that the pill took too long to kick in (about 30 minutes) to calm 'her' down, so they made an injectable form that works in seconds. I think that's a great idea! Just kidding

Oh, they still make and use Valium a lot. It's the longest lasting benzodiazepine out of all 10+ all of them. Half life is like 2 days. That means there will be half of the active ingredient of the drug left in the blood after that time.

Actually, I've never tried Valium. It's too weak for me. I'm hardcore.

Christ, how did we get sidetracked so bad? We should get back on track

'God' calls me Lazarus for short. Hmm. That was after I woke up and messaged him on Slack that I'm back from the dead. Something to do with the bible. I wouldn't know.

Anyways, please keep asking questions about Scope!

-Tom

[zerocrossing]

I thought you wanted analog? Solaris is 100% digital. Very hard to find 2nd hand and it will cost you as much as an Xite-1.

What are you trying to do? If you play live, then yes, Solaris would be a better choice. But I don't think it can make piano or flute sounds

-Tom

No, not analog per se. My initial intent was to replace a Prophet 12. I like the hybrid sound... I have since I used to own a DW8000. Something about those analog filters... beefy. I'm good with digital emulations though, if they're good. In the Solaris they seem very good.

It comes down to the fact that I've kind of been thrown off kilter. My initial intent was to spend about $2500 USD on a replacement for the Prophet 12. My options were to get a 12 module or a Modal .002 rack. The rack is better form for me and from what I can tell from demos and my experience with the 12, the .002 sound is probably better. The 12 does aggressive better, but I realized that I have all the analog style aggressive sounds I could want from the analog synths that I would keep. I worked the numbers and I could hold on to three analogs and still have the money for an XITE-1, though I'd have no extra money for Scope plug ins.

So I saw a used Solaris and it made me think. (though it's gone now) Better sound quality than the Scope, eh? For around the same price. I wouldn't have to be nervous about sinking money into hardware that's tied to a computer. It checks all my boxes in terms of what I want, though it does mean I'd have the same issue I had with the Prophet 12, which was it would need to become my master keyboard and I'd lose my Remote SL functionality. For the Solaris sound I'd be willing to just get a cheap used Nocturne. TBH, the Prophet 12 sound in the end just didn't thrill me enough to deal with that.

Or, of course, I could save myself a lot of money and just go with my initial idea and get the .002r. It has the benefit of being a stand alone device. I also like the idea that it has a "personality." It's a boutique instrument. It's got some quirks, but overall the sound is amazing. I listened to a ton of demos of it last night and I compared them to the Prophet 6, and tbh I thought the .002 did a better job of what I consider a great sounding polyphonic analog sound than the Prophet 6! (though the Prophet 6 is also very good)

Anyway, that's my "cold feet" chronicles. It would probably all go away if I could spend some time with an XITE-1, but I just can't go down to my local Guitar Center and mess with one.

[tlaskows]

Oh, okay. Cool...

Yeah, you won't find any good demos of Scope anywhere. I have one somewhere stashed on website from some 10 years ago. It was a Pro-12 plugin back then. I think it's called a Profit-5 now. I don't know if there's a difference. Here are some preset sounds from 10 years ago. Not a very good demo at all, but better than nothing eh?

It's not very aggressive, but I found it to have better sound than my old Jupiter-6. More flexibility.

http://www.thomaslaskowski.com/wp-conte ... 12.wav.mp3

Anyway, I have most of the S|C synths, so if you wanna hear them, just give me a shout. I have too much spare time.

Cheers,

-Tom

[auntybiotic]

RE: "First I want to say thanks to all who helped out so far. As I said earlier a good user community for a product like this is huge in my eyes.
If I keep more than 2 analogs, I'll need more i/o than the XITE-1D can provide. It occurred to me last night that I have two older MOTU 828 interfaces that might be put to good use for this... possible? They have ADAT outputs, though I've never used them"

edited:
Short answer is YES. When i was short of cash and had to wait to find a nicely priced A16Ultra, I also used my MOTU 896hd as an 8 channel adat interface. The link below xplains how to set it up to do this. The only issue is that the ADAT will only work one way in each interface, so you get to use each 828 as an ADAT in (A/D) or ADAT out (D/A) only....If using it as a A/D into the Xite1 you will have to set it as the master clock (as it will not be able to receive a clock from anywhere else when it is in D/A mode). Also when in 'stand alone adat mode' you can only use it's analogue inputs OR it's analogue outputs but not both at the same time..will still give you 8 in, 8 out if you use 2 though....

http://www.motu.com/techsupport/technot ... -converter

My motu now acts as a mobile backup if i need to do off site recordings and imo they are always worth keeping even if just for the nice dark sounding preamps.