John Bowen Synth Design

This is my own very personal wish list:

A SOLARIS external, 1U Rackmount hardware expander where I can control all the functions through the SOLARIS panel interface. I would at least TRIPLE the number of DSP SHARCS --- so, I believe the SOLARIS uses 6 SHARCS, I would add a box with 18-SHARCS (that would bring up the total to 24 SHARCS) - or maybe 6 TIGER-SHARCS if that's cheaper. The SOLARIS RACK EXPANDER would increase polyphony of voices and would provide greater multi-timbrality, as well as more great emulated filters, waveshapers and other elements through the easy to use GUI on the SOLARIS keyboard --- it would be the ultimate performance machine for studio *and* stage. I would add extra MIDI connectors for other kinds of controllers and OSC control with a link to an IPAD or external PC with additional software (that can be purchased in modular increments in a software virtual "rack").

I would think that if I wanted an even bigger setup, well, I could just buy another EXPANDER RACK --- in fact, I would implement "voice-rollover" so that when the SOLARIS keyboard runs out of voices, instead of voice-stealing, the voices spill onto the SOLARIS RACK and, voila! More Polyphony.

That's my two cents for a forward look. I think a RACK would be easier to manufacture:
1) No Keyboard
2) No displays
3) No complex assembly
4) Ability to re-use my existing hardware investment (i.e. my MOTU firewire and M-AUDIO USB interfaces) so the RACK does not need a lot in audio I/O

BUT, you would need to get the SOLARIS to have that performance and capability

What would I spend on a rack like that? I would spend any where from $1500 (increment of 6 SHARCS) to $3000 (18 SHARCS) ... (well, economy of scale savings?) for a rack expander that would increase the SOLARIS capabilities. I know that it's nice not to run out of voices, and, there's no shortcuts to not needing extra hardware to run extra voices.

Comments welcome

Multitimbraily w/ an XPander would surely be the ultimate synth, fashioned after the Maxrtix 12 / XPander except wih better sound and flexibility.

Good idea, it would be easier to do with the scope Sonic XITE in-1 USB link, as I understand a lot of work to John
the development is expensive, but if this synth sells well, may have to have hope ! !

Not just good, but GREAT idea!

This is akin to what DSi were doing with the PolyEvolver rack, sadly defunct.

Going back to the idea of an expander, right now I'm so in love with my Solaris that an expander in the form of a Klangbox or G2 engine, no screen, purely controllable via the main synth, would be hard to resist!

Yes, they should use the XITE1 for this purpose, definitely. Even more reason to buy into XITE.

I guess the Xite-1 hardware is much to different from the Solaris internal hardware to achieve such result.
The Xite-1 needs at least a PC companion.

But depending on the way the Solaris is designed (i.e if the audio signal board is completely seperated from the User interface boards) maybe it would be possible to extract the Solaris DSP main board and pack it into a 1U 19' rack to provide one additionnal SOLARIS voice to be remote controlled from the SOLARIS without to much developpement.

This would allow people already having the SOLARIS keyboard to get DSP power expansion and multimode by stacking such units.

I would suspect such a unit would cost something in the 2000/3000 $ range though as you "just" remove the keyboard and user interface and save a bit on the big enclosure ... but this could be a smarter solution than stacking solaris keyboards ...

Yes and I am quite sure as the XITE-1 went from the supreme model, down to the D, Solaris could possibly do this.
But I don't need the extra polyphony, but rather a dual sound engine, with Split/Layer capability.

Using the same 6 DSP board that is already used for the SOLARIS to build up a SOLARIS expander would probably make more sense than using an xite-1(D) which is a slightly different platform as you still could use it without the help of a PC. But getting this kind of SOLARIS expander in such a 1U or 2U form factor would just be great.

The only question would be how to merge audio signals in a single stereo pair when needed (maybe just by using the SPDIF I/O ...).

Cascaded Digital would be Cool. You'll need the ODA-312 to convert from SP/DIF to AES/EBU but it works well and sounds great....

Wouldn't it be possible to just output data through SPDIF out of "SOLARIS expander" to the SPDIF in of the main Solaris Keyboard ?
And provide a MIDI local control off mode to allow edition of the "Solaris expander" by using the Solaris keyboard user interface ...

Some people on the Solaris Synth Facebook group are asking again about a rack version, so I'll bump this thread for more comments, and see if I can put up a poll here.

Please write your thoughts - how you would use it, what price range you'd pay, etc..

Good thing my better half won't see this thread...

This how I would see such a blind unit:



Maybe the only modification necessary would be to bring the power switch on the front of the unit.

As everything is CC mapped, one could just remote control the unit either from a PC or maybe iPAD app or setup a MIDI controller combo to expand sound design access, or just use it as a SOLARIS expander for the SOLARIS keyboard.

About the pricetag, with a keyboard version sold for $ 4000 / 3500 €, I wouldn't see such thing sold a lot under $ 2000 / 1500 €

The best idea would be to use the same board as the one currently used for the keyboard as it would save on hardware electronic design and keep software update consistent for both Keyboard and expansion rack.

HUROLURA wrote:This how I would see such a blind unit:



Maybe the only modification necessary would be to bring the power switch on the front of the unit.

This looks cool, Hurolura !
Power switch on front panel,- YES !

HUROLURA wrote: As everything is CC mapped, one could just remote control the unit either from a PC or maybe iPAD app or setup a MIDI controller combo to expand sound design access, or just use it as a SOLARIS expander for the SOLARIS keyboard.

Thinking about potential buyers owning S|C XITE-1 but not the actual Solaris keyboard synth model,- wouldn´t it be a idea to control this Solaris Expander Unit via a SCOPE controller device and probably MIDI over LAN ?
If yes, I´d wish it had a RJ45 network interface (for MIDI) in addition (and/or a XTDM bus input and thru).
I´d also like to see it offering AES/EBU I/O instead of SPDIF.

I´ll probably never use a iPad unless SCOPE 6 goes OSX and I´d switch to Mac and I´m not sure I ever will.

HUROLURA wrote: About the pricetag, with a keyboard version sold for $ 4000 / 3500 €, I wouldn't see such thing sold a lot under $ 2000 / 1500 €

As a end user street price incl. VAT that sounds pretty low to me,- but would be great though.
It all depends on if the motherboard fits in a 19"/1HU rack and if the lack of haptics and displays will make it that cheap.
So, I think EUR 1.999.- looks much better for John.

HUROLURA wrote: The best idea would be to use the same board as the one currently used for the keyboard as it would save on hardware electronic design and keep software update consistent for both Keyboard and expansion rack.

Yes, when it fits.

Such rackmount device would be ideal for me,- I have enough keyboards.
It would be a perfect rig,- XITE-1, A16mkII (or line mixer), Alyseum AL-88 & Solaris rackmount expander plus a laptop w/ PCIexpress to control all.

Hein