Announce when you receive your Solaris!

[Nori]

sorry for the late announce~~~
However I am only one in Taiwan who owned solaris.,oh yeah~~~

[M-Prod]

Cool. Enjoy!!

[F5D]

Hi guys! I just recently picked up a Solaris second hand here in Finland. I must say that the situation came in front of me quite fast, and I still am quite confused. It is very hard to realize that I actually own a Solaris! I need to keep checking on my side, where it is on a stand that it really is there! I remember watching John Bowen presenting the synth in many Messe and NAMM videos. However, I thought that I will probably never own one, as the synth is quite a special one, and well, also quite expensive compared to many other synths on the market. Also, I did not really _need_ one either, as I felt that I had quite a complete collection of instruments already, including Andromeda, Prophet 12, Microwave XTk, Nord 3, many mono analogs etc. Well, things change and if you are a gearslutz, you want new things.

I hope you do not mind if I post a few pics of my Solaris here, although I did not receive it from John like most of you. Instead, I picked it up locally here in Finland. I know that the original owner got it from the 1st batch. The synth is still in mint condition, and proves that it was well taken care of and was treated like a true friend, not a tool. I promise to treat is as well as all my other synths. At the moment, I cannot think about a situation, in which I would need to let the Solaris go. It is here to stay. I will write more comments later, when I have learned the synth more. I use my free time programming synths. I never use presets. Next, I will study the Solaris, and see what it is capable of. I tend to use lots of modulations, so I should feel at home with the Solaris. I can already say that the Solaris is well worth the money also as new. It offers so much, looks and sounds fantastic. The keyboard touch is maybe the best that I have ever played. Well done John Bowen!

The color of the wheels is lime green in real life.

[jaykeel]

Those green lights look amazing with the black synth!

[jaykeel]

Do you mind me asking how much you paid for it? I may be selling mine soon and just wanted to know what they are going for nowadays. Thanks!

[F5D]

Those green lights look amazing with the black synth!

Hi, thanks. I agree. I did not actually even know the color of the wheels when I went to pickup the synth. The only thing I was told it was the dark version, and in good condition. I was positively surprised about the condition, and also the green wheels, my favourite color anyway. In real life they are much brighter and more vibrant, like candy waiting to be picked up.
Sent you a PM about the 2nd hand pricing.

[digidisiggi]

so, got mine (white one) #232 from music store Hieber Lindberg in munich, germany. there is a dark one left, if somebody is interested

[JimmyGiant]

Yay! My turn!
Well, first UPS ignored the fact I was home and left a door tag Friday when I was no more than 20 ft from the front door. No knock or nuthin'! Stupid UPS. I screamed at some poor customer service guy I was so pissed. So I had to drive over half an hour Saturday morning to get it. White #238 has arrived and it looks marvelous!
Since my left arm is recovering from surgery, I can't rearrange my stands to accommodate this yet, so it's in the living room on the coffee table hooked into the home theater. Since I had a S/PDIF cable handy I hooked it up optical. That led to my first email to John wondering why only some sounds had output. After learning why, I've spent a little time yesterday and today just auditioning sounds.
Um. Wow. Nice. Some sounds I've never heard before nor currently had something that could produce many others. There is some latency with the digital output though. I'll get a better feel for it when I connect it analog. I didn't notice if it would transfer audio over USB, if not I'll have to use S/PDIF.
Clean and FAT! No aliasing. Wonderful swirling sound with crisp digital and thick analog. This thing could be timeless in my possession.
The wheels are very stiff, so I hope they loosen up a bit over time. They're the plain black ones. After getting blinded by my Electric Blue Voyager wheels I didn't want any more clear lit wheels. The P12 was done right with black wheels and red side lighting.

Well done John. Hoping there aren't too many quirks.

[minorguy]

Solaris #249 has arrived in California!

What can I say that hasn't already been said? It's all true. The Solaris sounds big and clear. Sounds I don't get from any of my other keyboards. Many of the presets are inspiring. Build quality is excellent. Coincidentally my Solaris was delivered within an hour of my CPS Spacestation so it was a day of new gear overload .

Unlike many of you, I've never owned any of the polysynths that the Solaris is often compared to such as the Virus, Andromeda, etc. Up until now I've mostly had workstations/stage pianos. So I can't really compare. I guess this is my first boutique type of synth; maybe the next closest thing was a K2000 back in the early 90's.

Here it is (posed with some organ that always seems to mug for the camera):

[cLoudForest]

It's been a long road but Solaris #247 landed here last week, and it's a beauty.

Some initial impressions...

The build of the Solaris just oozes quality. John's commitment to taking the time to get everything right has really paid off and is readily evident when you stand in front of the Solaris. What probably doesn't come across in the photos is just how physically imposing and impressive this thing is. It's big! The front panel is large enough that there's plenty of space around the controls for the different sections to avoid feeling cramped in any way. It's a joy to use and all set out pretty logically so that diving in and modifying things is a breeze.

Of course the sound is the most important thing and I guess if one had to sum it up in one word that word would be "classy". Surfing through the presets it's obvious just how much ground the Solaris can cover sonically. At the digital end of the spectrum there's a pristine clarity to those kind of sounds; the only time I've encountered any hint of artifacts are when they're present in the original VS waves and even then the sound is extremely smooth with no hint of harshness. At the other end of the spectrum there's weight and body to "analogue" style sounds. The filters in particular are excellent and each model has a very distinct character which I've been having a lot of fun with.

In short, I'm loving the Solaris and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface of its capabilities. There's a really a lifetime of possibilities here, and it's pretty awesome to be just starting to delve into what the Solaris is capable of.

Cheers!

[jgale]

Serial # 255 just arrived in Chester New York and it’s a beauty! Here it is pictured on top of my Midiboard (Poly AT!)

First off, the sound is just inspiring. Thick, fat, clear, organic –the filters sound fantastic. The Youtube and Soundcloud demos don’t do it justice. You just feel connected to the sound when playing. I have a few favorite VSTs, and my original hope was that it would sound like a better version of these – but the Solaris sound is completely in a class of its own.

The build is solid and oozes quality. The keyboard is one of the best synth keyboards that I have ever played. Getting around the interface is easy and intuitive. Within a few minutes of previewing the presets, I was already tweaking them to my taste. I know it will take some time to get into the deeper functions, but I am looking forward to it.

A few notes about shipping - the keyboard was securely shipped and came sealed in a thick plastic bag, inside a sturdy cardboard box, which was inside another sturdy cardboard box. There were foam supports on the ends and middle of the keyboard. It arrived completely unscathed. From reading other posts, I was expecting an extra charge from UPS – but they just dropped it at the door, rang the bell, and left.

John - I am completely blown away by this synth. Congratulations on such a great accomplishment and thank you for bringing this to market for all of us!

John

[John Bowen]

[jgale]

John - how do I gain access to the owner's forum?

John

[John Bowen]

John - how do I gain access to the owner's forum?

John

To any current Solaris owner not registered - please send me your serial number and USERNAME, and I will register you in the Owner’s Forum area.

JB

[amongstmyselves]

Serial No 266 has arrived ! I've had little time with it so far but I am stunned by the quality of all parts. The most impressive element and the most important is the sound !