KSS Messe Report 2007 (Solaris, Rhodes, Wave and more!)

[Yoozer]

Alright, today was the day I went to the Messe. Unlike previous years, I've took care to plan stuff better; and while locating the Dusseldorf Hauptbahnhof (that's the central train station in Dusseldorf, my point of departure if you're krautically challenged) was an utter pain thanks to outdated and buggy navigation software, I managed to sprint over a 4-lane crossroad to catch a trolley to catch the train.

After a nice but uneventful trip with the ICE (the quality of these is still notches above what we have here for the Dutch railways), I arrived at the Messe.

First thing to check out was Hall nr. 5. That's where all the synth-based software and hardware is. I walked over to the Moog stand where a demo of the theremin was shown by a very skilled lady - she had to shoo away one of the cameramen because the boom mic might screw up the pitch :D.

I then went on to the Access stand, which was rather modest, but it had a Polar and a TI keys there - the Polar keyboard is very nice, actually. It seemed that most monitors were sponsored by Genelec and KRK, because there was a load of 8040s and 8030s strewn all over the Messe, as well as the RPs. I asked if there was an engineer present; one of the things I wanted to know was if there'd be more filtertypes in there, now with the new OS having more horsepower, and the demo guy said they were considering this, but I'd have to return in an hour or so to get a real answer. I didn't do that, sadly enough; too many other things to check out.

I walked along and ended up on a little stand shared by 3 companies. One of these was John Bowen's - and there were 2 Solaris prototypes, a dark one and a light one. I had a little chat with mr. Bowen (note :transcript is not literal but as true as I could recall it).


Y: While I don't share this opinion, a lot of people look out to new hardware synths - and then they complain "why isn't it analog?"

JB: Well, that'd simply be too expensive.

Y: Okay, it could be expensive for a smaller company, but what about the big ones like Roland or Yamaha?

JB: They don't want to take any risks. When I worked on the OASYS (not this one), it took us 4 years. We developed the Solaris prototype with 4 people in a timespan of 6 months. You've got to work hard and be a little bit crazy to do it, to take the risk.

Y: I understand; you need a lot of hard work and passion for this.

JB: Yeah.

Y: Will a rack version be an option?

JB: It was originally planned to be a rack. Then I wanted a keyboard. The first design we ended up with was this big (shows about twice the depth of the Solaris) - and that would've been impractical. So we sat down and slimmed it down to this size. One thing I wanted was lots of displays - you can look at a description but you'll end up diving in menus, and I didn't want that - it's got to be a playable instrument that's fun and inspiring. After we did this we let Axel (Hartmann) do the rest, so this is what we ended up with.

JB: There's also some other things I have to figure out - and that is to make a copy routine so you can set an LFO or envelope, then maybe hold a button for a while so it blinks, and then push another of the envelope buttons so you immediately copy all the settings.

Y: One thing I liked about the Q was that you could press say, the OSC 1 and 2 buttons at the same time, and everything you changed was "copied", too.

JB: Yeah, that's a nice idea. I'll see if that's an option.


http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/8659/bowensolarisblackfulluj9.jpg

Further stuff I could find out: polyphony is going to be about 20 voices (another visitor : "All you need is 5 voices and a British hand!" (refering to the Prophet) ). One preset resembled the JX10's "Soundtrack" effect - uncanny how close it got.

The pictures show a prototype - there will be a vector joystick ("we'll put it above the modwheels, but I wanted to have no other controls on that side of the keyboard - the rest has to "line up" with the start of the keys").

It seems to verily kick the Q's ass - 4 oscillators (of both wave playback and modeled type), 6 envelopes (with 2 rows of knobs so you always have 2 of 'm within reach at the same time - JB didn't like pushing buttons for switching around, 5 LFOs, all completely routable. As for now, firmware 0.4 doesn't have any graphics except for the startup screen; so no moving sliders or graphs. All parameters show exact values - no 0-127 but Hz. Resonance of the Mini LP goes up to 110% ("JB: this one goes to eleven!"). Not all filters are implemented yet, but you can choose between 6 types or so, various highpass/bandpass variations. The 8 buttons below the biggest display are for a multistage envelope - Time and Level-based.

All knobs (except for the volume button) are a combination of pushbutton and endless rotary, but they'll be swapped for another type. Design is by Axel Hartmann. Keyboard is by Fatar - same action as the Virus TI. John told me how CME came over to him and asked if he was interested in them providing the keyboard; but all those decisions are in the hands of the hardware designer (so not just the looks, the case and all that, too) in the team, and they may change around a bit.

Planned release date: September this year, with a little luck. Personally, I've got no idea about what's it going to cost: I think they need a more final prototype for this.

[Yoozer]

On to the other stands. I had a chat for a while with the people at Apple; several Mac Pros were put there in full glory with Cinema displays. I asked about the future of MIDI interfaces, and a little demo of Sculpture.

For MIDI interfaces - well, they don't do hardware anymore. The AMT and Unitor still do the job (he had an Unitor himself) but if I was looking for anything new, I'd have to head over to MOTU.

One thing I personally found always puzzling in Cubase was assigning controllers; it's a nightmare compared to how Ableton handles it. Logic's way is more like Ableton's - it has a (ctrl+clover+A) "Quick" option.

On to the Superbooth. Again, I managed to miss out on Ken Macbeth - but the M5N was there. What a beast - incredible. Massive sound - when Dave Bryce and I passed by again there we had a little loudness war with Joerg and the Spectralis over a huge set of the Genelecs :D.

Lots of "known" stuff - big Cwejman and Doepfer modulars, all occupied, and the beat of the Xbase bumping. Loud, lots of noise. And then I saw this, hooked up to a Perfourmer

http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/7632/surfinkangaroostepseqprqk5.jpg

It's a stepsequencer that'll send MIDI and has 8 CV/Gate outputs - it can send (fully programmable using the front panel) voltages, you can program the steps (pitch and velocity) using a MIDI keyboard. You can chain sequences, and you can choose the time to the next step in ms or by choosing BPM - it goes as low as 20 seconds per step, or 3 beats per minute A lot of thought was put in the interface - you can adjust the voltages in rates of one, ten and hundred mV - per step.

It's going to get USB on the back to load up new firmware, and it was all done by a single guy who got his experience working with microcontrollers. It's great to see projects like this, and it shows again that it's just not as obvious as some people like to think to develop something new from the ground up - blood, sweat and tears. He already shipped one to Analogue Haven because they demanded a demo - but the firmware's not completely finished yet (albeit that lots of the functions as well as the most important ones work).

http://surfin-kangaroo-studio.de/pages/electronics/sequencer/sequencer.htm

[Yoozer]

Further to Nord - especially the Nord Wave. After seeing that one of the Nord guys was busy with someone else I played the Stage. I really like this - its synth section is a little anemic but you'd buy a separate box for that anyway. Lots of choice with the extra organ models, and the keyboard feels nice, too.

http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/2743/nordwavecentertnx6.jpg

http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/4092/nordwavecornertfa8.jpg

Back to the Wave. It's got an USB connection on the back. From what I understood, it should be able to act as a simple MIDI controller using that, but the main reason is of course to hook it up to transfer the waveforms.

Someone at the VintageSynth.org forums tried to make an argument on how every VA wasn't modeled but used samples (yeah - long story). I can happily say that this is not the case :D. The guy I spoke with was one of the engineers (as opposed to someone who does just demos. He was surprised (and delighted) that someone asked this question - as the Wave handles samples not like you'd think. One of the advantages is that you can play whatever you sample over the full range, without artifacts - and this is because the sample file is resynthesized for use in the machine. Everything's generated, no lookup tables!

The memory's about 2 megabytes, non-volatile. Maximum number of waveforms is limited by the display; 99 choices. I said he could expand it by using hexadecimal :D. The machine's quite ready for release, albeit that there was only one at the stand. In terms of sound it's between the Nord 2 and the 3. On-board effects include EQ, tube simulation, and delay and reverb.

There's no endless rotaries, because several users wanted to know "when they reached the bottom" so to say - that the physical knob would tell them when to stop - so they chose for regular pots.

[Yoozer]

Further impressions:

I've played the Little Phatty and the Voyager. While I really like its new looks - more than the Stage - , I'm no longer considering getting one, unless it'd be released as a rack too. Keyboard's just a little too small for me compared to a Voy and while I love the RAC solution they came up with, the knobs could use a little more resistance while turning. The Voy was just that little more complex enough to satisfy. I do realize that this comes of course, with a price, and that everything's a compromise, yadda yadda, but hey, all IMHO. Didn't ask if there would be a polyphonic one, though.

http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/2299/mooglptdp6.jpg

http://img467.imageshack.us/img467/741/cmecontrollersilvertpg2.jpg

CME's got new controllers again - silver ones with Wireless MIDI (WIDI). Got a chance to test the keyboard again; softer than my Xboard but still very nice (I had a rather disappointing experience a month ago when I was checking out controllers; disappointing because no controller was better than my Xboard, happy because I made the right choice).

http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/3623/akaimpkpaneltzz9.jpg

http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/8717/akaimpksliderstan8.jpg

http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/1306/akaimpkpadstwn0.jpg

The Akai MKP plays nicely - feels solid - but the pads are flat. The MPC1000's pads protrude a few millimeters above the surface - these just stick out of a single mm. More = better. Keyboard's decent - no clacking, not too light. I think it makes a good contender against the Axiom, albeit a little more flashy. Arpeggiator is simple and elegant and it makes you wonder why not more companies include it.

http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/2781/arturiajp8vtfv9.jpg

Arturia's JP8V was there, as well as the Origin module and keyboard. The keyboard's panel is quite thin - but the joystick had to be cut back a bit in length. The Origin there was a prototype running a "generic" synthesizer - you could mix and match filters and oscillators in a matrix and route them completely, and it's included besides the regular plugins that are still in the process of being ported. Effects are a standard list - delay (including tape delay sim), reverb, etc - kind of like everything available in the rest of the software.

The JP8V was running on a Mac and it looked real good - but of course I told them how painstakingly recreating the interface was nice - but that for practical purposes, using the entire screen might've been better. Yes - that was considered, and several users asked for it already (whee, I'm not alone! - ed.), but it would be a lot of work (and it's flashy authentic looks that sell the thing - ed.)

Roland had their entire lineup in a huge stand on the lower floor (5.0 - 5.1 is the first floor with the Superbooth and rest of the stuff). I tried to edit the Sonic Cell, but didn't get any further than switching the separate tones on and off. The previous user put up a drumkit; in a minute I got it back to just regular instrument presets (without a manual!).

One of the sounddesigners of the V-Synth, Stephan (sorry, forgot last name) gave us (me and 2 friends I met there) a little demo of what it could do. I also saw the official demo - I'm impressed by the AP part, but it'll have to prove its worth with the presets - we all know how well pure physical modelling stuff worked for the Yamaha VL. (e.g. botch the interface and it won't sell).

I also checked out the ADAM stand to see if Dave Bryce was there. I got a nice demo that well - yeah - completely removed any doubt why I should really get new monitors :D. I heard that he got back to hall nr. 5 to check out the synthesizers and met up with him at the Moog stand where he was playing the Voyager.

After walking around for a bit and checking out other stuff, I ended up at the Rhodes stand - I was reminded of this thanks to an acquaintance of his who we encountered. It was almost time for me to go, and I really wanted to check it out.

http://img467.imageshack.us/img467/7590/rhodesfulltbz1.jpg

Well, here's the point where you may conclude that I drank, nay, finished a whole vat of Kool-Aid to the bottom.

The new Rhodes is an amazing piece of work. The equalizer on it may not seem like much of an effect, but use it; it's like having a time machine where you "scroll" from a MK I to a MK V - from mellow to crystal-clear. To compare it with a regular EQ and then complain about the lack of built-in phaser/distortion/reverb/chorus - that's being ignorant. The EQ on the thing does stuff that'd require you to screw open an older model and mess with the tines.

There is simply no comparison and the Electro I played which I liked would be my preference for the stage - cheaper and lighter - but for the sound of it - I'd get this, no question. It's warm. It barks, it bells, it's - wow. Just. Wow. I'm almost beginning to understand Outkaster in his preference for the Real Thing :D. I also understand where the emulations fall short now.

[burster1]

Nice reporting Yooz. The thing that caught my eye is the 2mb of flash in the Nord Wave. It would be nice to have more. Since this is a ground up project it seems like the wave/sample idea is an after thought with so little flash installed.

:confused:

[pighood]

Thankfully it's not like they don't have the time to address the issue PRIOR to releasing it.

[burster1]

Hopefully Clavia reads our two post and takes them into consideration. In other words lets hope they give a pigs ass.

:D

[The Pro]

One of the best reviews I've seen yet... thanks Yoozer!

[Yoozer]

Hopefully Clavia reads our two post and takes them into consideration. In other words lets hope they give a pigs ass.

:D

Here's more: http://www.synthforum.nl/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=78137&pagenumber=3

[burster1]

Here's more: http://www.synthforum.nl/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=78137&pagenumber=3


4) Wavetables and samples can be downloaded by USB and stored in flash memory. It is not decided yet how much flash memory will be in the synthesizer. A simple editor program plus a library of stock samples will be supplied by the Nord Wave. The editor program will import .wav files, so there is no limit to the type of sounds that one can put in the Nord Wave sample store memory.

:thu:

[Yoozer]

Could be that I misheard the 2 MB, then :). I also held up the Gearwire guys with all my questions :D.

[mildbill]

...the Wave handles samples not like you'd think. One of the advantages is that you can play whatever you sample over the full range, without artifacts - and this is because the sample file is resynthesized for use in the machine. Everything's generated, no lookup tables!
......



Thanks Yoozer.

This is the part that caught my eye.

Anyone know if this is also true for vari-os/v-synth? I think you can spread one sample across the board in those too, right? or no?

I'd like to see a board that gives you some control over the resynthesis aspects (boost/attenuate frequencies) and so on.

The Wave looks pretty good so far.



One more thing: any indication at all on a possible price range for the Solaris? Never mind - just re-read your post. No idea on what it's going to cost.:confused:

[burster1]

Thanks Yoozer.
Anyone know if this is also true for vari-os/v-synth? I think you can spread one sample across the board in those too, right? or no?

Can you say Vari-Phrase? Remember it turns audio into elastic.

:D

[pighood]

For the life of me I'll never understand why Nord (and Access for that matter) feel the need to shove all the knobs onto the left side of the machine, leaving the right side of the case empty.

[burster1]

For the life of me I'll never understand why Nord (and Access for that matter) feel the need to shove all the knobs onto the left side of the machine, leaving the right side of the case empty.

That area is for :snax:

Not!!!

:p

[mildbill]

Can you say Vari-Phrase? Remember it turns audio into elastic.

:D

So, you're saying Vari-Phrase works by re-synthesis? I guess it must be. I haven't heard of any other way to do it.

[pighood]

That area is for :snax:

Not!!!

:p

I can just see the micro-vac sucking out stollen crumbs. :eek:

Funny thought...I once owned a 4-voice without the programmer, so the panel on the left was where I set my tea mug.

[orangefunk]

HI Yoozer,

you didn't finish the ROland part... what was the GT like?

[burster1]

Doesn't every sampler leave some sort of artifact when they stretch over the full range. Some a lot and some not so much but it is still there unless you multi-sample. These artifacts are what make old hardware samplers so cool.

:thu:

So my question is...

...which sampler leaves the least artifacts when they stretch over the full range?

Should I start a thread regarding this?

:thu:

[Outkaster]

That Rhodes is pretty wild!

[syncretism]

For the life of me I'll never understand why Nord (and Access for that matter) feel the need to shove all the knobs onto the left side of the machine, leaving the right side of the case empty.

It's a great place to put a Nord Modular rack, Signal Arts MAPS, Evolver or MuRF. That's how I used the open space on my Quasimidi Raven.

[EJ2]

Nicely done, Yooz. As an OASYS owner and 3rd-party programmer, I'll be watching John Bowen's Solaris. Did they manage to have any sound coming out of the prototypes?
Cheers,
Eric

[pighood]

It's a great place to put a Nord Modular rack, Signal Arts MAPS, Evolver or MuRF. That's how I used the open space on my Quasimidi Raven.

Don't a lot of people use it in a tiered stand, so that there'd be a severe slope?

[syncretism]

Dunno. I typically don't mount my keyboards like that, unless I have to.

[moondad]

For the life of me I'll never understand why Nord (and Access for that matter) feel the need to shove all the knobs onto the left side of the machine, leaving the right side of the case empty.

Because it keeps production costs down, by allowing them to use the same motherboard in every model?

[13ghostsofscoobydoo]

I'm starting to think that Axel Hartmann should design ALL new synths. That guy is just great at aesthetics and layout.

[pighood]

Trut.

My boyhood hero:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giugiaro

[XorAxAx]

What? Nothing new from Elektron?

[urbanscallywag]

Their product line isn't exactly huge... :confused:

[Yoozer]

For the life of me I'll never understand why Nord (and Access for that matter) feel the need to shove all the knobs onto the left side of the machine, leaving the right side of the case empty.
You have to set up the CNC machine to drill the holes only once.

HI Yoozer,
you didn't finish the ROland part... what was the GT like?
Added a bit. Sorry, I couldn't completely demo it - 2 guys were hogging them :(.

That Rhodes is pretty wild!
It is! :D It's pretty weird in that sense - it gave me the idea that my playing was better than usual :).

Nicely done, Yooz. As an OASYS owner and 3rd-party programmer, I'll be watching John Bowen's Solaris. Did they manage to have any sound coming out of the prototypes?
Cheers,
Eric
Yes :). Just a few basic sounds, but the analog-esque section worked. It was just tricky to load up presets, because there weren't any names yet, and they didn't show up on the screen either, so it was flying blind, sort of.

[realtrance]

Thanks Yoozer -- great rundown of what was at the show. The Nord Wave really sounds set up for success, particularly given the price point it sounds like they're shooting for. Huge luck to them!

[kooki_sf]

did you get to the jazzmutant booth?

[sprech_stimme]

Doesn't every sampler leave some sort of artifact when they stretch over the full range. Some a lot and some not so much but it is still there unless you multi-sample. These artifacts are what make old hardware samplers so cool.

:thu:

So my question is...

...which sampler leaves the least artifacts when they stretch over the full range?

Terms to look for: Interpolation and Aliasing.

[Yoozer]

did you get to the jazzmutant booth?

Saw it but didn't visit it as I made a list of stuff that was on my must-see list and I was determined to get that done. Plus, I'd never be able to afford those controllers.

I even missed the Waldorf stand - couldn't find it anywhere :(.

[Yoozer]

Doesn't every sampler leave some sort of artifact when they stretch over the full range. Some a lot and some not so much but it is still there unless you multi-sample. These artifacts are what make old hardware samplers so cool.
I think it's more having only 22khz and 12 bits and the analog filters that make 'm cool ;).

...which sampler leaves the least artifacts when they stretch over the full range?
Is that with or without munchkin effect? (e.g should it timestretch or not?). Without, you're looking at software (Melodyne or Cubase's MPEX stuff). With - I think E-mu's algos are pretty good in that regard.

Should I start a thread regarding this?
By all means, do :).

[jahfume]

Yoozer,
Great reporting AND photography ( you should start your own Keyboard mag!)
I was a bit disapointed to see no mention in the official news on HC about Kawai at Musicmesse.:confused:

Did you get to see thier stand ? Or check out the new contollers MP5
and MP9 ??:love:

Thanks.

[Yoozer]

All I saw from Kawai were their grand pianos, sorry :(.

[dececco]

Because it keeps production costs down, by allowing them to use the same motherboard in every model?
Or may be because a lead synth, used for playing a lead line, tend to make your right hand busy (at least, if you are a right-handed player) and so you want to use your left hand to change the sound while you are playing ?