Forums - Synths & synthesis
Subject: Dave Smith Evolver
Original Message 1/23 03-Jan-03 @ 11:38 PM - Dave Smith Evolver
Just arrived today. Been playing for an hour. Yahoo!! I love new instruments. Built like a tank, the rubber foot pads on the bottom are more than ample (the teeny-tiny ones on my XT fell off within a week). No on/off button, though. Have to unplug it to turn it off. Not sure what is up with that, I may have to email Mr Smith about that.
Suffers from a painfully small 3 character LED and makes selecting modulation destinations difficult, and with the selection of characters to select from, I feel like I'm trying to read sanscrit (or however you spell that).
4 oscillators, 4 LFO's, lots of options. This thing has some serious power. Tons of routing options, and a VERY useful Delay section (2 delays). The distorsion is pretty good so far, and has a couple of neat features (output hack which mangles the sound pretty good). Very nice lowend, very round. Getting to all of the functions are VERY easy as there is very little scrolling around to be done (ala my XT with is somewhat confusing at times - some options are ONLY available through scrolling with the wheel, and others are easily accessible by pressing the same button a couple of times.) There are 2 levels to each programming option, and you can select the 2nd menu option by pressing a shift key. Very simple.
Each oscillator is fully tunable. Select from a bunch of different osc shapes. Haven't found the noise button yet, though. Will find it if there is one.
So far, my impression is somewhat mixed. My big complaint is the 3 character LED which makes selection modulation destinations tricky. As I learn what "hLP" stands for, it will become easier.
Haven't touched the sequencer yet, so far I'm just trying to make as much weird noise as possible. So far, it seems pretty easy to make some VERY good noises.
Not that anyone asked...
Message 3/23 04-Jan-03 @ 01:18 PM - RE: Dave Smith Evolver
Having a little trouble tricking some real gut wrenching low-end out of it. It has a really nice even, round sound, but I'm not getting that intesting rattling rumble that I was looking for. I checked my signal path and I'm going direct into my mixer, and all the eq and low shelving is off. The good news, though, is that for all the nastiness of it, it is equally beautiful at times. The analog filter is very nice, and the option of routing the highpass before AND after the lowpass makes for some unique routing options. The lowpass (2pole and 4 pole) is real analog, and is surrounded by DSP which does the delays, the distorsion, the highpass and other options.
I'm still not thrilled with the LED - I think a little more there would have been helpful (it's only a 3 character LED), so I'm gonna need to keep the mod destinations and mod sources tables nearby forever. Which is somewhat unfortunate.
It's VERY easy to save patches, which is handy, and navigating around the program editor is easier than on any other synth I have. Not sure I'd want to be trying to program on the fly in a live setting, as the whole thing is little bigger than a VHS cassette tape. The buttons are small, and the knobs are small. The knobs feel pretty secure, though. They are indented all the way around, so it is VERY easy to go from 1 to 2 to 3 to 4. You won't accidentally go from 1 to 4. 1 click redisplays the current setting, so you can see what value you have without changing it. It is also full rotary and clicks ALL THE WAY AROUND. Quite brilliant if you ask me.
I'll be able to spend more time programming over the next couple of days, and I'll post more about the sound later. Still trying to implement all of the options, and I have only gone through the presets once.
Message 4/23 04-Jan-03 @ 01:47 PM - RE: Dave Smith Evolver
[image file]
so how does it work?... I assume each row is selectable and then the top pots control that selected rows parameters?
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Message 5/23 04-Jan-03 @ 02:25 PM - RE: Dave Smith Evolver
It's a monosynth, but because the delay is dsp, the delay taps (of which you can have 3 separate) don't steal any voices. Time the delay right, and you can get chords. The first 2 oscillators are pure analog and you can select from wave forms, and the 2nd 2 osc are digital. It's a 4 osc monosynth. Pretty cool. A really unique merge of analog and digital. And the thing so SMALL!!
Message 6/23 04-Jan-03 @ 05:01 PM - RE: Dave Smith Evolver
Steve.
Message 7/23 04-Jan-03 @ 09:07 PM - RE: Dave Smith Evolver
http://www.davesmithinstruments.com/
I think it's the only one they've got going right now. I paid list as they are doing distribution themselves. $475. It's somewhat pricey, but comparable to the price of a used analog. I really need to see if I can get some low-end.
Message 8/23 04-Jan-03 @ 10:15 PM - RE: Dave Smith Evolver
Message 9/23 05-Jan-03 @ 09:49 PM - RE: Dave Smith Evolver
Message 10/23 06-Jan-03 @ 01:31 PM - RE: Dave Smith Evolver
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