Evolver Memorabilia

[Sacred Synthesis]

From ye olde Evolver days, when DSI was simply the tiny Evolver company:

[dslsynth]

Oh yes there were the good old days where the discrete versus integrated electronic discussion haven't reached the advertisements yet. Wonderful looking and sounding machines! Look forward to see what DSI will make of hybrid machines in their sequential endeavor of instrument creation.

[Sacred Synthesis]

I would have been happy if Dave had built and maintained no other instruments, other than the Evolvers.  I only wish he had made mono and poly modules with the same sort of parameter-ridden design as the Prophet '08 Module.  They would have been large pieces, alright, but a joy and an ease to program.

[dslsynth]

Agreeing on the knobby modules would have been way nicer than the current Poly Evolver Rack design. Have been dreaming about such an Evolver module for a very long time.

But look at the progress of synthesizer ingredients over the years: OLED display, better digital oscillators, discrete filters, analog filter feedback, voltage controlled oscillators and more expressive digital controls. So I am indeed happy he and his team are still hard at work on new designs.

[Sacred Synthesis]

Right.  But as I'm looking ahead at DSI's newer instruments, I'm also looking back and am struck again by the Evolvers' quality of tone.  A little rough around the edges, or around the digital oscillators, but very musical.  And has DSI produced an instrument with such stereo depth since?  I realize there's the Output B option, but it's not the same.  The Evolvers are king of stereo.

[dslsynth]

I think its fair to say that Dave spoiled many of us with the Evolvers design: both analog and digital oscillators, tuned feedback and filters in stereo. Much appreciated! And yes the Evolver have its own very special tone.

As we look forward voice architecture progress have happened on many fronts. The same stereo depth is possible with the DC modulation source and manual programming on Prophet 12. But honestly we still need to have a new design with both analog and digital oscillators if you ask me. Oh and maybe a different stack mode could emulate some of the Evolvers features without the hassle of messing with programming both layers manually.

If you ask me what Evolver I would like to have in my setup it would certainly be a Poly Evolver Rack!

[dslsynth]

Sometimes I do wonder if this is the way DSI would like us to approach the Evolvers:
https://youtu.be/f4-jbobSll4

. o O ( )

[BobTheDog]

Sometimes I do wonder if this is the way DSI would like us to approach the Evolvers:
https://youtu.be/f4-jbobSll4

. o O ( )

Such a fantastic book, one of my textbooks in the distant past.

Not sure I see the evolver in the same way though, I must admit I would have to be in dire straights to sell my PEK but really the P12 for me has put it out to pasture although it does get turned on every so often. Still I'm looking for a rack version to expand the voice count so there must be something good about it!

[Sacred Synthesis]

Still I'm looking for a rack version to expand the voice count so there must be something good about it!

Adding four more voices to the Poly Evolver Keyboard transforms it into a different species.  Four voices is just enough to make you think you've got a polyphonic instrument, yet few enough to make playing polyphonically very frustrating, with constant voice re-assignments creating "pops" and lost notes all over the place.  I think of a single Poly Evolver as a large monophonic instrument, plus.  But at eight voices, the Poly Evolver becomes a new instrument with brilliant musical power.  And as for its stereo capability, the design is so simple to use - a couple of parameters sitting right in front of you.  So easy.

[BobTheDog]

Yeah, I have it at 5 voices with a desktop evolver but it's not enough. Getting a rack would change it totally. I have been waiting for a cheap one to appear on eBay but I think that might be a fantasy.

[Sacred Synthesis]

You're right, you probably won't find a cheap one on Ebay.  But I watch it, too, and it's only a matter of time before one appears.  I actually would like to have a twelve-voice Evolver, but I don't presently have the means.

[dslsynth]

I actually would like to have a twelve-voice Evolver, but I don't presently have the means.

Well if you still got your other PEK its a question of a MIDI cable and some relatively simple reconfiguration of the instruments.

[Sacred Synthesis]

True, but I'm always using these instruments at the same time.  I've done it before, but I prefer to have each keyboard independent of the others.

[dslsynth]

Yeah I can imagine that. But what it allows for is trying out a twelve voice Evolver to see how it works for you. Give it a try and make us a great piece for your youtube channel.

[chysn]

If the only synth I had was a Mono Evolver Keyboard, I'd be perfectly fine with that.