John Bowen Solaris – a life’s work
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John Bowen Solaris Synthesizer
Working with wavetables is a real delight, something I would hardly have imagined up till now. The combination of
traditional (sawtooth) string sounds with a touch of wavetable is particularly appealing. Above all, I would like to
emphasize the numerous performance-oriented controls. The joystick is noteworthy. Its X and Y position are
available in most modulation source lists. It allows for simultaneous real time control of multiple filter frequencies,
LFO speeds, oscillator tunings etc.
Since the JD-800 has already served as a comparison, I would like to proceed with comparisons based on the Alesis
Andromeda — a high quality (analog!) instrument, state of the art. In contrast to the Andromeda, however, the
Solaris is a hand and a foot ahead. The instrument is completely navigable from the very first (!) minute.
The user knows exactly where he is, what he has done, what he is in the process of doing, and what his next steps
must be in order to achieve the sound he is going for. These are things I have never managed to this point of
perfection with the Andromeda.
