The Evolver at NAMM 2003

Sacred Synthesis


blewis

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Re: The Evolver at NAMM 2003
« Reply #1 on: July 18, 2022, 06:21:18 PM »
Neat find.

Nearly time for an Evolver 20th Anniversary Edition.  :)

Sacred Synthesis

Re: The Evolver at NAMM 2003
« Reply #2 on: July 19, 2022, 08:04:34 AM »
Neat find.

Nearly time for an Evolver 20th Anniversary Edition.  :)

Oh yes, please...please!

Re: The Evolver at NAMM 2003
« Reply #3 on: July 19, 2022, 08:58:35 AM »
It's be so fitting if that "last" instrument Dave was working on (originally aimed for late this summer) was actually something in the Evolver realm.
Sequential/DSI Equipment: Poly Evolver Keyboard, Evolver desktop,   Pro-2, Pro-3, OB6, P-12,
 

https://Soundcloud.com/wavescape-1

Sacred Synthesis

Re: The Evolver at NAMM 2003
« Reply #4 on: July 19, 2022, 10:08:21 AM »
It's be so fitting if that "last" instrument Dave was working on (originally aimed for late this summer) was actually something in the Evolver realm.

Or else, I wonder if there might be some schematics laying around the Sequential shop for a revamped Poly Evolver.

Re: The Evolver at NAMM 2003
« Reply #5 on: January 22, 2025, 09:30:57 AM »
I miss all the chatter we would have a few years back on the forum during NAMM week.   Too bad the video link at beginning of this thread looks to be discontinued.
Sequential/DSI Equipment: Poly Evolver Keyboard, Evolver desktop,   Pro-2, Pro-3, OB6, P-12,
 

https://Soundcloud.com/wavescape-1

Re: The Evolver at NAMM 2003
« Reply #6 on: January 22, 2025, 09:58:09 AM »
I blame Sacred Synthesis for jumping ship. He always kept the chatter party going!

I admit I’m pretty synth-saturated. Trigon, I’m pleased to say, along with a small modular rig, ate up much money and filled up my remaining space for such and my energies since have been focused on general studio upgrades - mics, mixer, rack. Still obsessed w synths, but there’s hardly anything I neeeeed or even want. For now.

Re: The Evolver at NAMM 2003
« Reply #7 on: January 23, 2025, 07:45:23 AM »
I hear you manbird on the saturated aspect.  I did fall into an acquisition spree last year which rounded out any hardware gap that I could imagine.   If anything, as you mentioned, supporting studio amenities would be the wiser investment for me in the coming year.

I agree,  sacred synthesis's input kept things rolling along.  Though the forum is just quieter overall it seems.  Perhaps people are using other avenues to chew the fat about their craft?  I recently joined the Moog forum just to stay in touch with the Muse updates and it surprised me for as big as Moog is, there's not as much traffic there as I was expecting.   
Sequential/DSI Equipment: Poly Evolver Keyboard, Evolver desktop,   Pro-2, Pro-3, OB6, P-12,
 

https://Soundcloud.com/wavescape-1

Re: The Evolver at NAMM 2003
« Reply #8 on: January 23, 2025, 09:02:41 AM »
I hear you manbird on the saturated aspect.  I did fall into an acquisition spree last year which rounded out any hardware gap that I could imagine.   If anything, as you mentioned, supporting studio amenities would be the wiser investment for me in the coming year.

I agree,  sacred synthesis's input kept things rolling along.  Though the forum is just quieter overall it seems.  Perhaps people are using other avenues to chew the fat about their craft?  I recently joined the Moog forum just to stay in touch with the Muse updates and it surprised me for as big as Moog is, there's not as much traffic there as I was expecting.

I was on the Moog forum a few years back and yeah, it seemed to be mostly people asking for help finding the power switch on their Grandmothers etc! Not as much deep talk as I'd hoped. Funny, though - I've been on a recording forum for the last year and while it's got lots of Nashville/Austin songwriter types - traditionalists - onboard, quite recently there's more synth talk than ever. So, the world, weird as ever, keeps... dare I say, Evolvering.

I'm still obsessed with synths, but thankfully, I'm obsessed with the ones I have! I'll never get enough of my Prophet 5, say... I use it on probably every song I record, even if it's for a single note. And the Trigon is now my controller synth, which means it's sat in front of me always as I work. I think the one synth on my list, the one that pulls at me most these days, is the Taiga. I played one in Berlin lasy year and really loved the sound and vibe of the thing. But I upgraded my studio with a new board and a better mic and the money has not yet magically returned!

dslsynth

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Re: The Evolver at NAMM 2003
« Reply #9 on: January 23, 2025, 10:05:11 AM »
I blame Sacred Synthesis for jumping ship. He always kept the chatter party going!

Sorry to be direct on this but Sacred Synthesis is not to blame for anything. He did well while he was here and contributed many many posts besides doing moderation duties for the forum. At some point he felt the need to move on and did so. That is completely fine with me and hopefully with many other forum members too.

He is still active on youtube under a new name and have at the time of writing recently posted new material:
https://www.youtube.com/@themusicalsynthesizer8311/videos

Having interesting and relevant discussions on this forum takes time and effort from several if not many forum members. Of cause there is little motivation to write something relevant and interesting on a quiet forum. But it takes a collective effort to make it work well. So ask not what others should contribute but ask what each forum member can contribute to make the forum interesting and relevant.

As for classic Evolver material another forum member assembled this old video of Dave presenting his Evolver Desktop back in 2003:
https://youtu.be/3cuQXSGnUnU

Look forward to see if Sequential will announce a new synthesizer at this years NAMM show. And of cause I hope there will be an Evolver inspired new design sometime in the future. Prophet 12, Pro 2 and Pro 3 were all steps in the right direction but I miss the combination of advanced modulation options, tuned feedback, advanced step sequencer and both analog and digital oscillators in a relatively compact module design.
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dslsynth

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Re: The Evolver at NAMM 2003
« Reply #10 on: January 23, 2025, 10:14:26 AM »
A little PS on the missing youtube video in the first post. There seem to be a bug in the forum software that prevents inline youtube videos from being shown to the user. Hope its something that the Sequential's moderation team will look into soon. For reference a "youtu dot be" link was used for the video link in my previous post.
#!/bin/sh
cp -f $0 $HOME/.signature

Re: The Evolver at NAMM 2003
« Reply #11 on: January 23, 2025, 10:28:08 AM »
I blame Sacred Synthesis for jumping ship. He always kept the chatter party going!

Sorry to be direct on this but Sacred Synthesis is not to blame for anything. He did well while he was here and contributed many many posts besides doing moderation duties for the forum. At some point he felt the need to move on and did so. That is completely fine with me and hopefully with many other forum members too.

He is still active on youtube under a new name and have at the time of writing recently posted new material:
https://www.youtube.com/@themusicalsynthesizer8311/videos

Having interesting and relevant discussions on this forum takes time and effort from several if not many forum members. Of cause there is little motivation to write something relevant and interesting on a quiet forum. But it takes a collective effort to make it work well. So ask not what others should contribute but ask what each forum member can contribute to make the forum interesting and relevant.

As for classic Evolver material another forum member assembled this old video of Dave presenting his Evolver Desktop back in 2003:
https://youtu.be/3cuQXSGnUnU

Look forward to see if Sequential will announce a new synthesizer at this years NAMM show. And of cause I hope there will be an Evolver inspired new design sometime in the future. Prophet 12, Pro 2 and Pro 3 were all steps in the right direction but I miss the combination of advanced modulation options, tuned feedback, advanced step sequencer and both analog and digital oscillators in a relatively compact module design.

I was being silly and lighthearted when I said I "blame" him! I totally understand his reasons for moving away from the forum to focus on his YT channel. I valued his presence here and do miss his contributions, but was in no way knocking him for moving on.

Thanks for the info on his new YT material. I did look up "sacred synthesis" recently on YT and got mired down in a lot of new age techno-swampiness that had nothing to do with him.

And for what it's worth, I try, in my own small way, to contribute to this forum. I've got a lifetime of music-making behind me and the Pro One was my first synth. Dave and Sequential are vital to my own musical life. I can appreciate that there will be many people here showing up for the first time with a tech issue, however minor or baffling, and the group either digs in to help or says "contact support." But I'm not here for tech support... I don't know enough about sysex or MIDI 2.0  127 CC to have anything to contribute.  I like to know what people find thrilling or fascinating about synths or about music. I dig context and creativity.

I appreciate that you've brought this particular thread back to the Evolver. I've watched the 2003 vid a few times and it always gets me plugging my own Evolver in.

dslsynth

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Re: The Evolver at NAMM 2003
« Reply #12 on: January 23, 2025, 11:19:58 AM »
I was being silly and lighthearted when I said I "blame" him! I totally understand his reasons for moving away from the forum to focus on his YT channel. I valued his presence here and do miss his contributions, but was in no way knocking him for moving on.

Sorry if my reply was too harsh. Just felt that I had to defend him a bit. And yes he did very well as a forum member. My feeling is that his motivation was "worn out" from putting too much effort into the forum compared to what he got back. Can definitely understand that feeling.

Thanks for the info on his new YT material. I did look up "sacred synthesis" recently on YT and got mired down in a lot of new age techno-swampiness that had nothing to do with him.

I was looking for him too and did various searches on youtube before I found his new profile. His music is very much appreciated.

And for what it's worth, I try, in my own small way, to contribute to this forum. I've got a lifetime of music-making behind me and the Pro One was my first synth. Dave and Sequential are vital to my own musical life. I can appreciate that there will be many people here showing up for the first time with a tech issue, however minor or baffling, and the group either digs in to help or says "contact support." But I'm not here for tech support... I don't know enough about sysex or MIDI 2.0  127 CC to have anything to contribute.  I like to know what people find thrilling or fascinating about synths or about music. I dig context and creativity.

That is a very good point of view for forum participation as it deals with the substance of synthesizer use rather than typical technical support issues.

I belong to the technical side of things and find MIDI 2.0 very interesting. Short review of current state (aka press play syndrome):
MIDI 2.0 is not really here yet because absolutely essential synthesizer related features are still missing. Support for the new MIDI 2.0 protocols are slowly making it into general purpose OSes and new MIDI-CI profiles are slowly showing up.

But MIDI-CI property exchange (sort of a JSON based "web" server via sysex messages) are still very much a moving target with new feature being added or reshaped on a semi-regular basis. And their controller resource spec (M2-117-UM) is just messed up with a completely horrible 32-bit integer encoding. But the future usability of MIDI 2.0 seems very promising.

I appreciate that you've brought this particular thread back to the Evolver. I've watched the 2003 vid a few times and it always gets me plugging my own Evolver in.

The Evolver is something very special. Of cause part of its sometimes gritty sound is related to the technologies and converters it used. But with the modern Sequential and Oberheim designs a far better sound quality is possible. Hope that will be the basis of new Evolver inspired designs if they ever decide to make that will happen again.

Just as a side note and AFAIK the Take 5 and TEO-5 (and 3rd Wave) designs don't use analog VCAs but instead convert post-filter audio into the digital domain and process the audio there before its pushed back into the analog domain via D/A converters. Makes it a lot easier to do multi-timbral features. Given that noise source AFAIK is digital on said synthesizers its should be possible to add tuned feedback on these designs. Would be very cool especially on Take 5 and TEO-5. Oh well, wishful thinking!
« Last Edit: January 23, 2025, 11:27:35 AM by dslsynth »
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Re: The Evolver at NAMM 2003
« Reply #13 on: January 24, 2025, 01:10:55 PM »
Interesting to know a new MIDI might be coming.  I don't know much of anything about MIDI 2.0.  My current usage is limited just for doing cable connections between instruments, and I do use it for an MPE controller too.    I mean, I don't utilize it to record or program midi commands, or any that technical stuff.   But, hopefully Its not something that will require reconfiguring everything like when the PC computer age went thru all those iterations of zip disk storage media. ;)

Sequential/DSI Equipment: Poly Evolver Keyboard, Evolver desktop,   Pro-2, Pro-3, OB6, P-12,
 

https://Soundcloud.com/wavescape-1

dslsynth

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Re: The Evolver at NAMM 2003
« Reply #14 on: February 01, 2025, 12:15:39 PM »
But, hopefully Its not something that will require reconfiguring everything [...]

The new MIDI 2.0 standard requires manufacturers to update their firmware, operating systems to update their device drivers and applications to update their software to support the new protocols.

Short explainer: profiles are standards for equipment behaviour whereas property exchange is a web server like information service. Both are part of MIDI-CI which defines a set of standard sysex messages.

The promise of MIDI-CI is eventually to have standard interfaces to features that currently are manufacturer specific. Such as patch updates and patch format documentation via property exchange. Profile for MPE is already here. Drum and drum machine profiles are said to be on the way.

The disadvantage of standard interfaces to manufacturer specific features are that manufacturers either get it completely right or it doesn't matter.

In addition to the standard interfaces defined via MIDI-CI the new MIDI 2.0 protocol supports higher resolution and higher bandwidth on MIDI interfaces that support it.

To sort of getting back on topic I really hope that Sequential eventually will make a new complex well sounding voice architectures based on the Evolver. But well, will continue dreaming.
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Re: The Evolver at NAMM 2003
« Reply #15 on: February 03, 2025, 09:34:50 AM »
Right on about the Evolver dslsynth!  and thanks for the midi explanation too.
Sequential/DSI Equipment: Poly Evolver Keyboard, Evolver desktop,   Pro-2, Pro-3, OB6, P-12,
 

https://Soundcloud.com/wavescape-1