John Bowen SOLARIS Demos by Christopher Simmons

John Bowen SOLARIS Demo by Christopher Simmons - PART ONE

YouTube Published on Jul 14, 2012 by NeotropeMusic

http://johnbowen.com/
"John Bowen SOLARIS Demo by Christopher Simmons - PART ONE. An audio walk through of some of the bank one patches in the SOLARIS limited edition keyboard synthesizer. Content, performance and audio contained in this video is Copr. © 2012 by Christopher Laird Simmons and Neotrope® Entertainment; all commercial and derivative rights reserved. HD, stereo, 20min. Note; audio is recorded from Event 20/20 speakers in studio. Turn up speakers to hear sound fully. View the text for this video review, here: http://musicindustrynewswire.com/2012/07/14/min5681_175032.php .

*correction to audio on video one: John B informed me that, "Presets are automatically selected when you use the Inc/Dec buttons - you don't need to press Enter for those! Only if you use the dial or keypad to select do you need to press Enter." (doh)

This video shows some of the sounds from bank one (aka 'Bank Zero"). The second follow up video will have direct audio from the Solaris outputs, and have examples of banks 2, 3 and 4 (aka banks 1,2,3). There is a bank "5" (aka bank 4) but I won't have time to demo that, unfortunately.

VIDEO TWO with direct audio:"

John Bowen SOLARIS Demo 2B (HUM REDUCED) - HQ Audio - by Christopher Simmons

YouTube Published on Jul 17, 2012 by NeotropeMusic

"UPDATED VERSION: John Bowen SOLARIS Demo 2 (*HUM REDUCED) - HQ* Audio - by Christopher Simmons

John Bowen SOLARIS Demo - PART 2 - with HQ* direct audio (*NEW VERSION WITH HUM/NOISE REDUCTION*), by Christopher Simmons. An audio walk through of some of the bank 2,3,4 patches in the SOLARIS limited edition keyboard synthesizer. Content, performance and audio contained in this video is Copr. © 2012 by Christopher Laird Simmons and Neotrope® Entertainment; all commercial and derivative rights reserved. HD, stereo, 20min.

NOTE: since I had very limited time, I just played a bunch of keys and didn't spend a lot of time modifying patches with the knobs as I did a bit of in the first video, and went through the patches very quickly; so don't expect any free 'riffs' you can snatch, or any brilliant keyboard chops (I do play very well). This is all I had time to do, and hopefully somebody finds it of value. Considering less than 100 people on the planet have a SOLARIS, this is going to be a unique video until other owners upload something similar. AGAIN: I'm not auditioning for best performance here, just hitting some keys to make noise to demo the patches since there are very few demos online of entire banks, and almost no videos like this. It is what it is, folks. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: YES! I know these SOLARIS demo videos are not perfect. I had only a couple of hours to shoot "something" or "nothing" and went for something. I would find these useful in shopping for a Solaris keyboard; but your mileage may vary. I sold mine to help finance new house, so I shot these AFTER I had sold it before boxing it up, as a "what the heck" kind of thing. Not planned, not perfect, but they don't entirely suck. :-)"

John Bowen Solaris Demos by insanic4

John Bowen Solaris Demo 1 Published on Jun 9, 2013

"Here is a demo of the Solaris synth by John Bowen (www.johnbowen.com). I have this fantastic synt for a week now and worked with it for 6 evenings. I started building my own sounds right away and in this demo you can hear a sound that uses vector and wavetable synthesis. Everything is played live using the keyboard, the joystick, the 4 part switch buttons and the pitch and modulation wheel. This synth is the king of evolving sounds!

For better audio quality go to SoundCloud:
http://soundcloud.com/insanic4/solari..."



John Bowen Solaris Demo 2
Published on Jun 29, 2013 insanic4·15 videos

"For better audio quality go to SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/insanic4/solari...

Here is the second demo of the Solaris synth by John Bowen (www.johnbowen.com). Everything is played live using the keyboard, mod wheel, pitchbend and joystick."



John Bowen Solaris Demo 3
Published on Nov 10, 2013 insanic4·16 videos

"High quality version on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/insanic4/john-...

Another demo of the Solaris synthesizer by John Bowen. Everything is played live using the keyboard, joystick, ribbon controller, modulation wheel and assign buttons. Lots of real-time performance controls on this synth :)"

John Bowen Solaris Demo No talking

Published on May 1, 2020 Pure Ambient Drone

https://johnbowen.com

Lot's of bass in this one. Follow-up to this demo.

"John Bowen Solaris Synthesizer Demo. Hear the sounds of the Solaris Synth. No talking sound demo of the John Bowen Solaris."

Update:

John Bowen Solaris Demo 2

Published on May 2, 2020 Pure Ambient Drone

"Solaris Synthesizer Demo. Part two John Bowen Solaris Sound Demo. Here I am going through the presets of the synthesizer with no external effects. All you hear is the Solaris."

John Bowen Solaris - New Presets and Demo

Published on Mar 2, 2017 Stephen Hummel

"Volume 8 of the 'Circuits and Strings' series of studio jam videos from subtractiveLAD aka: Stephen Hummel.

My usual musical meanderings were pleasantly interrupted by the arrival of John Bowen's Solaris synthesizer in my studio.

I made some of the factory preset patches for when the synth was originally released years ago. Having it around again has been great and I've pretty much been lost in patch-making heaven since it got here. I thought it would be fun to show you the patches that I have made so far, with short little musical pieces to help demonstrate each preset. Some of the modulation stuff is more exaggerated than what I would normally do in a track but it is to show some of what the synth is capable of. Most of the preset demos feature music that I recorded as MIDI data which is then sent back into the synth from Reaper - just wanted my hands free for the joystick and ribbon, etc.

All sounds are from the Solaris only, no other effects or processing, with the exception of a little Verbzilla on the Blade Runner patch...

I feel like I've only scratched the surface on this thing and new ideas keep crowding my brain.

PS: The wooden end cheeks are taken off of this unit as it was being used for programming updates before coming to me."

CLICK FOR MORE »

Black Octopus Sound - Event Horizon (128 Presets for the John Bowen Solaris)

Black Octopus Sound - Event Horizon (128 Presets for the John Bowen Solaris) by Toby Emerson

Published on Oct 15, 2013

This one in via Soviet Space Child.

Download Here: http://blackoctopus-sound.com/product...

"Black Octopus Sound presets Event Horizon - 128 high quality presets for John Bowen Solaris created by Toby Emerson. This soundset offers everything from huge epic pads, long evolving textures, vintage analog style sounds, deep thundering basses, and many other classic leads and keyboard style sounds.

The John Bowen Solaris is simply one of the most fantastic instruments I have ever worked with. Everything about it screams class. From amazing sounding filters to countless oscillator types, I feel after several months of using it I still have not even scratched the surface. The architecture and programming behind it allows for huge sounds which can range from very organic and analog sounding to crisp and precise digital style sounds. The sound quality of this synthesizer is absolutely exceptional and I would highly recommend this synthesizer to any sound designer or professional musician that can budget for it.

All patches are mapped with the joystick controlling the filters. They are best auditioned by leaving the joystick in the middle position and then adjusting it to taste.

I have spent several months creating these patches for the Solaris users and offer them as a free download. However if you feel like they are of value to you I would love a donation or please pick up one of our sample packs as a way to say thanks and to support the creation of future sounds.

A little bit of compression and additional reverb by Valhalla Room has been added."

John Bowen Solaris Demos by boxoftextures

Solaris general demo Published on May 13, 2012 boxoftextures

Don't miss the Rotor demo below. It's one of the unique features of the Solaris.

"A brief exploration of some of the capabilities of the John Bowen Solaris synthesizer, showing the flexibility and depth of what you can do with it. This isn't a full blown tutorial but more of a taste of how you can program the synth.

©2012 Seth Elgart - All rights reserved."

boxoftextures, Twitter, Facebook

Solaris rotor demo

Published on May 13, 2012 boxoftextures

"A demonstration of the basics of the rotors in the John Bowen Solaris synthesizer. The rotors are a somewhat unique module. They're not a sound generator on their own, but instead they let you mix and modulate several different inputs, be they sound sources or some other sort of signal. Using the rotors you can make either subtly motion-filled patches or you can go wild and make some crazy sounds.

©2012 Seth Elgart - All rights reserved."

Black Octopus Sound - Event Horizon 3 (128 Presets for the John Bowen Solaris) by Toby Emerson

Published on Feb 16, 2020 Black Octopus Sound

http://johnbowen.com

This one was spotted and sent in via Soviet Space Child.

See my post on the upcoming V2.0 OS update.

"Get it here: https://blackoctopus-sound.com/produc...

Event Horizon 3 for the John Bowen Solaris has arrived. Created by Toby Emerson, this bank of 128 presets will take you on a journey of endless evolving pads, deep subsonic basses, cutting edge leads, nostalgic keys, and inspiring synth plucks. The sound capabilities of the Solaris are extremely deep, and Event Horizon 3 explores new sonic territories with the Solaris, utilizing some of its unique features such as rotors, amplitude modulation, feedback routing, wavetable modulation, Linear FM, and more. If you are looking for a huge bank of timeless and inspiring sounds for any genre of electronic music then look no further than Event Horizon 3 for the John Bowen Solaris – one of the greatest synthesizers ever made.

CLICK FOR MORE »

John Bowen Solaris Sound Demo

Published on Mar 31, 2020 Pure Ambient Drone
Update: Re-Published on Apr 28, 2020

https://johnbowen.com

"John Bowen Solaris Demo. No talking of some Solaris preset patches.

The general concept behind the John Bowen Solaris synthesizer is to implement something like a giant wall-sized modular system entirely in software where you can select among several completely different types of oscillators and filters, exquisitely modelled after the components culled from a variety of legendary vintage synthesizers of yesteryear and even some current virtual analog innovations of today. With up to four oscillators, four filters, four amplifiers, four four-input mixers, six envelope generators, one looping envelope generator, five LFOs, two vector mixers and still more of these software modules available in each program, the Solaris synthesizer becomes absolutely unrivalled in terms of versatility and programmability."

NAMM 2020 John Bowen Solaris Desktop Synthesizer & Voice Expander

Published on Jan 20, 2020 sonicstate

"John Bowen's Solaris is now available in desktop form. One of the first all digital synthesizers with many models of classic analog elements. The Desktop version features AMOLED displays and is much smaller than people expect."

http://www.johnbowen.com

John Bowen Solaris Desktop posts

Solaris Synthesizer Sound Demo

Published on May 8, 2020 Pure Ambient Drone

"Part three of my Solaris Synthesizer sound demos. This is a long demo of the John Bowen Solaris synthesizer. I am going through the presets of the synthesizer with no external effects. All you hear is the John Bowen Solaris."

Pure Ambient Drone Solaris posts

John Bowen Solaris - Modulating the Decimator with Envelope Generator

Published on Aug 6, 2013 zibbybone·124 videos

"So I went to GC today to 'test drive' the King Korg to get my free T-Shirt. I was having lots of fun controlling its decimator in real time. I asked the sales person if you could control it from an EG and the reply was 'I don't think so'.

Ah, but you can with the Solaris. Here's a simple patch using the 'Jaws' waveform (supersaw) while I tweak EG2 to modulate the decimator. Not anything super musical, but just a quick demonstration of just a taste of the Solaris' modulation capabilities."

130806 Music Idea

Published on Aug 6, 2013 zibbybone·126 videos

"Sorry about the distortion. I've got the John Bowen Solaris playing a slow arpeggio which has a bit crusher being modulated by a slow LFO while I improv on the Roland JD-800."

John Bowen SOLARIS Demo of tweaking, sound design and some patches

Published on Aug 30, 2019 synthlegends

"The John Bowen Synth Design SOLARIS is almost 8 years on the market. Since 2012 there were approximately 380 units produced. The 7th production run just finished and is sold out.

The SOLARIS is a very sophisticated digital virtual analog synthesizer with 4 oscillators, 2 so called rotors, tons of waveforms, filters, mixer routing possibilities, 5 LFO and 6 envelopes. It contains about 1200 parameter and countless routing possibilities. It is like a polyphonic modular synthesizer which is capable to recreate all classic vintage synthesizers and also never heard digital stuff. With the SOLARIS a programmers dream became true. The GUI is quite logical thanks to 5 text displays for each section in the signal path plus a big graphic display.

My new purchased SOLARIS with Serial Number 356 has a new hardware feature, OLED Text Displays. In the meanwhile the OS is "grown up" and there are also more than 2000 user presets programmed by a big community of sound designers.

In this video I only scratch on the surface. In the beginning I want to demonstrate a bit the different sections (oscillator, filter, envelops, LFO) by tweaking an anlog sounding JUPITER style Pad. Then I demonstrate a couple of typical analog leads, bass, sync sounds and some digital sounds to show the wavetable section. In the end I play a gorgeous string patch demonstrating some further routing capabilities in the mixer section, where you can layer 4 parts.

I did not use any additional effects, mastering, compression or eq. You hear only the SOLARIS from Out 1 and 2 directly to the audio interface.

I hope, you enjoy this video, which only shows a very little part of this unbelievable flexible synth. I am very happy to read your comments.

Cheers, Rüdiger"

SOLARIS (John Bowen) Synthesizer - 100 Brian Kehew Presets

Published on Apr 2, 2018 OFR

"Here is a quick demo of the 100 custom sounds I programmed for John Bowen's amazing synthesizer, the Solaris. It's a fascinating system, a brilliant design with astounding sonics (although YouTube audio won't represent the full audio quality.)

I was finding so many people were doing 80s analog-synth type sounds (which are common elsewhere already) so I wanted to show a wider range of the possibilities it offers. I still don't understand all of what the Solaris can do - I'm still learning it - so there is more to come for sure. There are NO samples used, just pure synthesis modes. Enjoy!

** Thanks to Curt Anderson for the camerawork and Todd Lampe for editing..."

---

Update: For the month of April, John Bowen Synth Design is offering a $500 discount on the Solaris. You can find details here.

John Bowen Solaris - More Presets and Demo 2

Published on Mar 8, 2017 Stephen Hummel

"Volume 9 of the 'Circuits and Strings' series of studio jam videos from subtractiveLAD aka: Stephen Hummel.

With this set of presets I wanted to explore some more classic timbres, along with sounds that only the Solaris could do. These presets are created using only the Solaris sound / effects engine (no samples or external effects besides the occasional touch of reverb).

I have made Wavetable-based patches that, in some cases, lean more towards a Waldorf Wave in character, while others lean towards a PPG Wave 2.3...

Some patches are decidedly Moog in flavor, with some exploring a more hybrid Memorymoog-style character (CEM oscillators with Moog filter) and others a more pure Moog sound (Moog oscillators and filters).

There are patches that are FM-based and some that come close to modeling acoustic instruments. I also think I got very close to the original Oberheim "Jump" timbre...

I will be delivering all of the presets that I make to John Bowen and he will send them out to the Solaris users"

Demo 1 here.

MMTA Spring SYNTHFEST 2013: John Bowen Demos the Rotors on the Solaris

Published on Mar 18, 2013 matrixsynth·274 videos

One of my favorite features of the John Bowen Solaris. You won't find this in other synths. The simplest way to think of a rotor is a cycle through four oscillators. You can set whatever oscillators you want in the four rotor slots in any order you like, including up to four external audio inputs. If you want you can set all rotors to just OSC 1. Why would you do that? Because you can set modulations on OSC 1 and then use the rotor to skip through the changes. You can then cycle the rotor into the audio frequency range to create new timbres not possible on other synths. You can also adjust the crossfade level for the rotor for either smooth sounding or more edgy transitions. Everything is open to modulation as well. This is a new and pretty incredible method of timbral synthesis for source oscillators when you think about it. Be sure to see the John Bowen Synth Design website for more.

A side note: this marks the last post of my own content on the MMTA Spring SYNTHFEST 2013. More is coming in from others though, so stay tuned.

For Luna - based on the Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven performed on the John Bowen Solaris

Published on Aug 6, 2019 Sean Christopher Evoking Emotion with Synthesizers

"This is my own take on Bethoven's Moonlight Sonata which I originally wrote in 2012 for my last album, Transcendence. That version featured a violinist and children's choirs, along with various software synths, I decided to recreate it on my newest synth, the John Bowen Solaris. All the sounds you hear are based on the factory presets with some editing by yours truly.

The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C♯ minor "Quasi una fantasia", Op. 27, No. 2, popularly known as the Moonlight Sonata, is a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven. It was completed in 1801 and dedicated in 1802 to his pupil, Countess Giulietta Guicciardi. The piece is one of Beethoven's most popular compositions for the piano, and it was a popular favorite even in his own day.

Thank you VERY much for viewing and I always appreciate a "like" if you enjoyed listening to my work. PLEASE subscribe if you already have not. Thank you to NASA for the public domain moon footage from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter."

John Bowen Solaris Demo 3

Published on Nov 10, 2013 insanic4·16 videos

"High quality version on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/insanic4/john-...

Another demo of the Solaris synthesizer by John Bowen. Everything is played live using the keyboard, joystick, ribbon controller, modulation wheel and assign buttons. Lots of real-time performance controls on this synth :)"



All parts here.

Modal 002 vs John Bowen Solaris - quick example

Published on Jul 20, 2019 synthlegends

"Only a quick example of one string patch in reminiscence of the Oberheim OBXa with the Obie 12 dP LP Filter in Solaris and 12 dB LP Moog Ladder Filter in the 002.

Both patches use 2 oscillators slightly detuned with a simple saw wave.

On both I used minimal LFO for slightly modulation, but the 002 modulates itself because of the phase shifting of the detuned oscilators. Maybe it is also because of the NCO in the 002, which are a bit out of tune instead of the digital Oscillators in the Solaris.

In both patches I did some portamento/glide.

Both patches are dry with no internal or external effects. Other than in the video described, the Modal 002 has no 12 dB Filter, only a 6 dB Filter with Slope 12 dB BP to 24 LP. Sorry for the wrong description. Please Note: this small comparison is not representative to make a full opinion about both Synths. The differences are very huge. Some people are of the opinion that the 002 sounds more analogue. I agree with that because it has also an analog filter whereas the Solaris uses digital emulated filter. The Solaris sounds very Hifi, the 002 is unique thanks to NCO, DeRez (sort of PPG like resonance), the very warm slope filter and the Drive-Pot.

The Solaris is a modulation beast and maybe you can match the 002 patch in this video with some more tweaking better.

I did this video because there are some discussions about the sound comparison of these two high end synthesizers.

Thanks for watching!"

John Bowen Solaris Demo 2

Published on Jun 29, 2013 insanic4·15 videos

"For better audio quality go to SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/insanic4/solari...

Here is the second demo of the Solaris synth by John Bowen (www.johnbowen.com). Everything is played live using the keyboard, mod wheel, pitchbend and joystick."

Tech : Solaris Synthesizer Repair

Published on Jun 15, 2013 adiblasi·438 videos

Clip from the inside of a Hartmann Neuron at 11:47 (previously posted here back in 2008).

"http://www.Alfred.TV READ ME FIRST: I was very fortunate to procure a limited edition Solaris Synthesizer, designed by John Bowen. Shipping from Germany, it was unfortunate that it suffered a bump that dislodged a daughterboard, rendering half of the keyboard useless. This was soon resolved by "The Mighty Mighty AdamB", where, reprising his role as the "Synth Doctor" the Solaris was opened and the daughterboard was secured.

Was this relatively simple procedure of plugging in a loosened connector enough to make a watchable and entertaining video with a run time of 20 Minutes? I guess we will find out, based on your "likes" and comments.

Subscribe to AdamB:
http://www.youtube.com/thisisadamb

For information on The Solaris, view the link below:
http://www.johnbowen.com/solaris-over...

Follow me on Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/adiblasi

A subsequent video will follow, featuring the incredible sounds of this wonderful instrument will indeed follow. Enjoy the video!

Warm regards,

Alfred
http://www.alfred.tv

PS: The software used for "Fwing" and for the chorus of JoeyD's "Not Justin" (bonus clip after end credits) is entitled "Melodyne" by Celemony Software: http://www.celemony.com/cms/"