Offering the finest in vintage and contemporary synthesizer design for Pulsar/Scope systems, by the man who helped develop some of the most well-respected synthesizers in history - the Prophet 5, Prophet VS, T-8, Korg Wavestation series, and OASYS PCI.
(Updated Monday, May 6, 2008)
Announcing Solaris v5.0
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I'm currently working on the next big upgrade to the already powerful Solaris. With over 100 new parameters, Solaris v5.0 promises to surpass anything else on the market for function and flexibility.
Incorporating the best ideas of most of my previous synths (starting with the Orion Custom), plus some additions as requested by the beta testers, the Solaris is the most full-featured synth I've designed to date. The signal sources provide a wide variety of choices: Multimode Oscs, Wave Tables, CEMs, RD Modules, WAV (sample) playback, FM Operators...even create your own with the Modular sections!
Here's a listing of the changes coming soon in Solaris version 5.0:
1) Envelope time control by MIDI Clocks (BPM option) - Each envelope can be switched to select timing values based on MIDI clocks/BPM values.
2) Mixer Insert FX - Each Mixer now has a selection of effects that can be inserted into the signal path pre- or post-filter.
3) VCA Output page - Each Mixer now has a page providing flexible assignment and modulation for the Amplifier section.
4) 4 Separate Amp (VCA) sections - Related to item #3, there are now 4 separate Amp modules (previously there was only one amp module for the entire synth). This allows for even greater sound design for each mixer/filter path, giving you the architecture of essentially 4 synths within each Preset.
5) Stereo Formant Filter - Located after the polyphonic outputs but before the Flanger, Delay, EQ and Overdrive, a new Formant Filter section is provided for vowel and other formant sounds.
6) x Mult sections - New x Multiplier modules all you to multiply a selectable input source by itself up to 5 x. Great for extremely punchy envelopes!
7) VibLFO page 3 - Control of the Vibrato LFO amount can be selected from a list other than the Mod Wheel. Also, modulation of rate and depth, as with the other lfos, is provided.
8) Response Tables added for Mod Wheel and Aftertouch - Similar to the Velocity table, new controller tables have been added for Mod Wheel and Aftertouch.
9) New per Oscillator Glide - A new panel offering modulatable logarithmic glide amounts for each oscillator source. You can also control all Osc 1s or Osc 2s with the same rate. In addition, you can modulate the glide time with sources such as velocity and Mod Wheel!
10) New Global page for all Filter Keytrack controls - All 4 filter keytrack amounts are now visible and editable from a single panel.
I hope you will agree these additions make this incredible synthesizer even more flexible and powerful!
Upgrade price will be 65 Euros (about $100). To upgrade, a link will be provided here when it's ready.
New users can purchase the Solaris v4.1 here. A free upgrade to v5.0 will be offered when it becomes available. Please Note: Price is 199 EUR (about $300).
The Demo version of the v4.1 Solaris is available. Please send me an email request at johnbowen@bigplanet.com.
v3.0 update now available for the Pro One!
I had a customer contact me about buying the old Pro One plug-in I made (for Wine Country) some time ago, and shortly after I sold it to him, he wrote to ask if I could add some highpass and bandpass filters. I asked him did he want 24dB or 12 dB slope filters? He came back with, "yes"....for both! So, I added the filters, including the SSM and Minimoog emulations, plus a new filter select parameter, and sent it off, asking only that he create some new presets using the added filters.
3 days later, he sends, not only a bank of 100 great new presets, but a completed Demo Song showing them off! And I have to tell you, I was very, very impressed!!
So, here I present Mika Hasanen and his music creation, and his notes about it:
here is now a few new Pro-one hp/bp sounds (100) and a demo song you can use if you want. These sounds work with unison mode, and i use 5 voices/sound. All the sounds used in the Demo song come from the pro one, except for the bass drum, which is a sampled sound. I used about 15 pro-ones in this demo!
The Preset Bank name is Zigma_Android ....."Zigma" is my old band name. Maybe they are a little rare sounds...but useful in synthesizer music, i think. "
GREAT work, Mika - Thanks!
To get this new version of the Pro One (v3.0) for the Scope platform, click here: Purchase Pro One. Price is 99 EUR.
Current Pro One owners can purchase the update for 45 Euros here: Upgrade to v3.0.
New v1.2 update now available for the Pro-Wave!
Now featuring both Rev1 and Rev3 Prophet filter emulations (CEM & SSM), as well as the Minimax Lowpass filter. Of course, it includes all of the v1.1 changes, such as:
1) Midi clocking of the Loop Envelope
2) Extended Midi times for sync - up to 8 bars/1 cycle
3) Note and Mod Wheel added to PolyMod Source lists
4) Enable switch and Sensitivity added for Mod Wheel
5) Panning circuit from Solaris added.
The Pro-Wave is completely compatible with the current Proph@t Plus preset lists. The price is 149 EUR. An upgrade/crossgrade is available for current Proph@t Plus owners; cost is 59 EUR. Purchase of the Pro-Wave can be done via a verified account with PayPal to my address, johnbowen@bigplanet.com, or via ShareIt here. For crossgrades or upgrades to v1.2.1, please contact me directly for details.
There's a new bank of 40 presets for the Pro-Wave by sound designer Ronald Schmidt. You can hear Ronald's creations in the following songs, which he created using just the Pro-Wave:
3) And one featuring the Pro-Wave and some guitar samples. "Alhambra by Night"!
Here's a screenshot of the main panel showing the popup menu for the different oscillator B choices:
As you can see, the oscillator menu includes the CEM oscillator (standard Prophet sound), a WAV Osc, an RD Slot, and all of the Waldorf waveshapes. Graphics for each appear (and disappear) as needed.
The PolyMod section has been expanded in 2 ways - there are 2 mod paths, but now are not fixed Source (only Filter Env and Osc B in the Prophet), with a popup list selecting a number of sources. Also, the destinations have been expanded to match the LFO (Wheel Mod) section, as with Creamware's Pro-12 ASB. You can also see that I've added the Wave Envelope (called Looping Env here) from the Quantum Wave and Solaris v4.x synths.
I am calling it a synthesizer system, because for the purchase price, you get both the standalone device and a version that works in the Creamware Modular system. This Modular version has an extended patch bay of the most useful patch points, and also allows you to use Pro-Wave as your controlling system within the Modular domain.
Solaris as hardware
Yes, it's true! I've finally introduced a hardware version of my popular Solaris synthesizer! Production is set for September/October, with initial ordering to be arranged soon. Please click on this link John Bowen Synth Design for further information regarding this new direction for me.
As well, Zarg Music will continue to represent the finest is Scope/Pulsar related software plug-ins, whereas the Bowen Synth Design site will be focused primarily on hardware products (however, the forums there will cover both hardware and Scope software designs).
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