John Bowen

John Bowen has created a video guide to the new Solaris synthesizer.

The introduction is embedded above. See the full collection of videos at Bowen’s video channel on YouTube.

This is an introduction to the John Bowen Synth Design Solaris synthesizer, from WInter NAMM 2009:

This virtually modular synth might be a bit intimidating upon first encounter, but we had the perfect guide to show us the ropes: John Bowen himself!

via GearWire

Sonic-Core has announced that starting later this month, they will publish The John Bowen Chronicles, with new installments every few weeks, leading up to the release of the SOLARIS synthesizer.

John Bowen was involved in the development of many legends in synthesizer history – the Prophet 5, the Prophet VS and the Prophet T-8 by Sequential Circuits, and the Korg Wavestation series and OASYS project.

Ten years ago, he left the world of hardware synthesizers to embark on a new journey, custom designing software synthesizers for the SCOPE DSP system. After a long journey down this path, John has returned to the world of hardware design with his first keyboard instrument, the Solaris.

Working with SONIC CORE’s craftsmen, John and the team hope to create a new legend that carries on that tradition of innovation and quality.

John Bowen’s story has been documented with a series published in German Keyboard magazine some years ago, but it left off at the end of his hardware years. The series will pick up the story again, with John discussing his approach in developing some of his Zarg Music plug-ins over the years, and how that has led back to the forthcoming Solaris project.

Former Sequential Circuits designer John Bowen has announced that that the first production of his Solaris mega-synth is now planned for late September 2008, with delivery shortly thereafter. Pre-orders for the second series of production are available now, with a $1000/800 EUR deposit, and the $3599/2400 EUR final price.

Bowen is best known for his work on pioneering keyboard synthesizers at Sequential Circuits, but he’s also been very active creating software synths.

“While I certainly enjoyed many good years at Sequential Circuits, working as an independent plug-in developer for the Scope platform over the last 7 years has allowed me the freedom to explore concepts and designs that I would have been unable to do elsewhere,” comments Bowen. “Solaris represents the pinnacle of this development, and for several years I’ve had plans to turn it into a hardware version. Finally I can say, it is here.”

More details on the Solaris below.

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John Bowen Synth Design has introduced the Solaris keyboard synthesizer.

Bowen is best known for his work on pioneering keyboard synthesizers at Sequential Circuits, but he’s also been very active creating software synths.

“While I certainly enjoyed many good years at Sequential Circuits, working as an independent plug-in developer for the Scope platform over the last 7 years has allowed me the freedom to explore concepts and designs that I would have been unable to do elsewhere,” comments Bowen. “Solaris represents the pinnacle of this development, and for several years I’ve had plans to turn it into a hardware version. Finally I can say, it is here.”

Solaris is a synthesizer designed to live up to the idea of ‘no compromises’:

• Flexible as a modular system, but easier to use – with five 2 x 40 character display sections, one 240 x 64 graphic display, and 40 knobs, the Solaris is capable of great depth in sound manipulation, but designed to be as easy to use as the vintage synths of the past for which John Bowen is known.
• Sound quality is paramount – newly created synthesis algorithms provide unparalleled quality; signal processing handled by SHARC floating-point processors. Internal processing is done at 96 kHz; audio rate modulation provided with sample-accurate precision.
• The Solaris is a purchase which will last for years, through new algorithm “expansion packs” and OS updates.

Read more…