Prophet VS or Poly Evolver?

[foodeater]

Doesn't the VS have loopable envelopes? PEK doesn't have that.

I wonder how helpful the oto biscuit would be in getting this type of sound.

[Don Solaris]

Originally Posted by foodeater

Doesn't the VS have loopable envelopes?

Yes. You can also think of them as two additional LFO's.

Originally Posted by Monsieur_R

The bells and chimes can be done, but I don't think the attack on the Poly is as harsh or thick (and I don't think that's a good thing - the first demo you listed of the Prophet VS had a great chunky bell sound with the attack).

Polyevolver sounds cool for bells and chimes. I also like SQ-80 and MW I in that department. Still we have one little difference in here - dynamic vectors. Without them, VS emulation is a bit difficult and i know a lot of the "trademark" VS sounds are made using two dimensional vectoring.

We should also keep in mind that Prophet VS has 32 digital oscillators, while Polyevolver 8 of them. A lot of the VS magic lies in patches made with 4 oscillators (often identical but detuned). Greater difference of course once you hit unison or start layering larger chord structures.

IMO both are great synths! I also like Korg Wavestation A/D. Probably my favorite digital ever, along with the Waldorf XT.

[Vectorman]

Originally Posted by laikenf

I'm pretty sure this Poly Evolver demo has been posted before but what the hell, I particularly like from 3:55 on:

I think this may be the first Evolver demo that I've actually liked the sound of. It seems like most demos take it in the direction of rude, ear-fatiguing digital grunge.

I doubt it would ever happen, but a modernized reissue of the Prophet VS would be pretty cool. One with a more extensive voice architecture with more complex envelopes (and more of them), and a bunch of knobs to make programming more pleasurable than the original. Actually, I guess we already have that in a sense with the Solaris though, don't we, albeit with digital filters.

[Ghosted]

Originally Posted by Don Solaris

Yes. You can also think of them as two additional LFO's.

Polyevolver sounds cool for bells and chimes. I also like SQ-80 and MW I in that department. Still we have one little difference in here - dynamic vectors. Without them, VS emulation is a bit difficult and i know a lot of the "trademark" VS sounds are made using two dimensional vectoring.

We should also keep in mind that Prophet VS has 32 digital oscillators, while Polyevolver 8 of them. A lot of the VS magic lies in patches made with 4 oscillators (often identical but detuned). Greater difference of course once you hit unison or start layering larger chord structures.

IMO both are great synths! I also like Korg Wavestation A/D. Probably my favorite digital ever, along with the Waldorf XT.

Yes, vectoring can be EXTREMELY fast, so you can use it make your own attack transients. On the Wavestation this is not possible, the vector envelopes are too slow.

Slow vectors in dual unison blow the Wavestation out of the water as well.

The SQ-80 has the grunge and the filter, but no movement, and no unison.

The 32 oscillators used in unison or dual unison is where it shines, the most classic VS patches are made this way.

If I lost my VS somehow, the Microwave series would be the closest to that sound.

[bitleyTM]

The Hartmann Neuron did vector stuff as well. Quite cool in that you could easily just press record below each little 'mushroom' (mini vector joysticks). I had it at home for a few weeks, writing a review of it in the swedish Studio magazine. Very odd and fun synth.

[foodeater]

Originally Posted by Don Solaris

Yes. You can also think of them as two additional LFO's.

Haha, that's actually really helpful for thinking about and working with LFOs on all my synths. LFO delay makes more sense and is much easier to visualize now. Thanks!

[Don Solaris]

Originally Posted by Ghosted

Yes, vectoring can be EXTREMELY fast, so you can use it make your own attack transients. On the Wavestation this is not possible, the vector envelopes are too slow.

Damn, i never came with idea to use fast vectors!! I mostly used slow sweeps via LFOs (since movement would continue after key release).

I will give it a shot, particularly in dual mode, where one patch will be used for the transient part, other for sustain.

[Mefistophelees]

Originally Posted by _seph

I am finally ordering one this next week. There are very few demoes of it being used as a polysynth, which is what I am very interested in. It is marketed as an analog drum machine, but a rhythmically-inclined hybrid synth is how I am approaching it.

I've owned a desktop Evolver for years and it's easily one of my all time favorite synths. I always thought a PolyEvolver would be nice and perhaps if it were six+ voice I would feel differently, but as it is I am very happy with the Evolver. A P08 would be cool as well, but anymore I find pure analog polys somewhat boring. The Tempest appears to be a good compromise.

This guy has some demos:
dreamprobes kanal - YouTube

and there's this...

[Ghosted]

Originally Posted by Don Solaris

Damn, i never came with idea to use fast vectors!! I mostly used slow sweeps via LFOs (since movement would continue after key release).

I will give it a shot, particularly in dual mode, where one patch will be used for the transient part, other for sustain.

Have you used the built in additive synthesis functions to make your own waves from scratch yet? Really easy to make your own user waves for the first 31 slots.

Here's a VS editor, also useful for getting sampled single cycle waves into the VS:

Vector Surgeon 1.1 Read Me

[Don Solaris]

Yes, i use vector surgeon all the time. I've developed my own waveform set which includes sampled SH-2, some other synths and various software for generating waves i.e. Cool Edit. Also synthesized the A, E and I vowel waveforms for some robot fun and managed to pull out the PWM as mentioned earlier.

I'm aware of the joystick wave generator but still didn't tried it though. At the moment i generate waveforms with particular goal in my mind rather than mixing existing ones. Cool Edit helps me a lot since it gives numerical input of each partial and its level. Fantastic tool.