Fun fact! These instruments have became extremely popular with Electronic Wind Instrument (EWI) players as a companion synth to their wind controllers of choice! The evolver plays extremely nicely with breath control and after touch and feels really natural controlled that way. There is a EVI (Electronic Valve Instrument) and Trumpet player named John Swana who really put most people in the jazz world on to the magic of the evolver and as an instrument for melodies and soloing it truly has such a unique character!
yeah man, theres also this guy who used ewi with digitech talker, now overly expensive due to daft punk(lame) but you have the electrix time warp, getting more expensive now but its way better actually couple of years only were about 100 euro, all their stuff is great too bad they stopped :(
I had the honor of designing sounds for Dave Smith from 1999-2001 (Reality Software synth) when he was an active co-founder (along with Stanley Jungleib) of Seer Systems. Went to NAMM with Dave in 2001 just before he launched the prototype of Evolver. I remember seeing the Evolover prototype in St. Helena California near his home. I knew then he was on his way with Dave Smith Instruments, Inc! Dave said he was moving on back to hardware synthesis primarily because he did not like relying on other manufacturers’ hardware interfaces to deliver the final sound product. He said like a quality guitar needs a decent amp or a Hammond B3 needs a Leslie rotary speaker to sound great, synths need quality analog pre-amps, analog filters, etc. to fill out the sound. Sound Blaster cards in PCs at the time were just not cutting it. Now days, it is clear modeling technology has come a long way in 20 years. Thanks for the video as it brought back some fond memories of the genius of Dave Smith!
I'll always be grateful to the Evolver for being the first time I was able to walk into a local music store and walk out the door with my own brand new analog synth. The good thing about the front panel is -- no menu diving! It's all there, once you know where to look for it.
After you understand it it’s almost direkt. But I sold mine for more knob per Funktion modular. Together with the Sherman filter bank I used as the main out forthe evolver. But i learned a lot
AudioPilz has become so prolific at making this content that his videos feel like their own 100 percent original meta genre within a genre. Just amazing.
This was my first hardware synth and it's still such a unique beast even after 20 years, still sound great. It's worth noting that even if its presets are mostly noisy, it can shine a lot into more mellows territories by being careful about internal signal path (OSC will start to distort after the 50 level mark). Also be careful when buying second hands, old encoders can jump values like crazy and might need to be replaced in worse cases.
For years, actually years, Evolver was (and might still be) my desert island synth. Whenever I am working on a track and find myself in need of some kind of special something, I first reach for my Evolver, jump to the initialized patch (Bank 4, #128), and start looking for the wrong thing to do. Its low end can be a little thin, so if it's bass or thump I'm after, I'll grab my Mopho instead, but both have similar architectures so navigating the parameters and understanding what each one does is not a leap in any way. That said, though related, they are different animals. Also, two things not mentioned are 1) the last few waveforms of the digital oscillators are 16-bit user-editable waveforms, and 2) the digital waveforms are-cross FM' able, which can also be modulated by all kinds of sources. Also no mention of the audio inputs, and how they can be used. Envelope following, modulation sources for all kinds of other fun turn Evolver into a one-of-a kind monster. Never getting rid of mine. I am a disciple of The Blue Box.
@@AudioPilz Dave Smith completely changed the game with Evolver. When he first introduced it, he gave a lifetime guarantee and if your unit failed, anywhere in the world, he would DHL you a new board and a return envelope. He asked for a $25 deposit which would be returned upon receipt of the old board. All you had to do was remove maybe 10 screws, pull off the knob caps, swap boards, put the 10 screws back in, put the knob covers back on, dump your patches ( which you hopefully backed up) back into the new board and off you go. NOBODY has matched that level of support before or since.
Thank you for creating this episode! It’s my most beloved synth and is a work of true genius. After several years I finally broke down and bought the SoundTower plug-in for it this week and have to admit its made a big difference. So much modulation and so many destinations, now finally visible. Nice!
Evil Funhouse! Yes indeed -I had the pleasure of having a PEK for a while (I replaced circuits to the ones with the upgraded encoders). Thing was an absolute beast, the distortion was wild. It felt like every time I thought I had tamed it, it would rip my brain to pieces. Dave Smith Forever.
One of the all-time great synths. Sequential really needs to go back to the digital hybrid stuff. That's where the best things are. The Evolver, Pro2 and Prophet 12 are their best synths.
First time I tried a prophet VS I was blown away. One of only a few synths that have had that effect. I now have an evolver keyboard, but I secretly wish it was a VS.
had the original Prophet VS which remained pretty much a mystery, never really figured out how to program it decently (it had a "random button" that helped to get started with new sounds). the value slider died on me, being a poor student back then I couldn't afford getting it fixed, sold the broken machine to Ponger (the Falco producer) who got it fixed by his own repair man. understandably when I ran into the Evolver I was more than thrilled. this tiny toy could recreate the sound of the VS & more for the price of a Prophet VS knob repair. I believed in Dave Smith not onl yas the Prophet but as a God, so I was pretty excited when the Evolver came out & spent a few hours in the music store. I think this machine needs an external editor of some kind, the keyboard version might be a bit more acessible having the VS sound in a small box for such a low price is a true miracle. thanks for bringing it back here & making such good use of it, so I can refrain from buying one myself. amen.
8:10 i just picture florian in a 2003 music video all tinted in blue and green with you inside the barbwired chainlink fence with the fans of bad gear watching him with umbrellas and their all florian (aphex twin style)
Combining the mono Evolver keyboard with the desktop (poly chained) solves practically all of the interface issues. Replacing the pots with encoders (Sequential still might have spare kits for sale .....) brings the user interface to modern levels. Great video, thank you.
I use a Roland W-30 as my controller and sequencer. I replaced the floppy drive with a Gotek running the FlashFloppy firmware, so it nows uses an SD card instead of floppy disks. Awesome machine the W-30!
I started watching this video on Friday evening at 10:03 PM and finished it on Monday at 12:24 AM. I'm happy to report that I was able to catch every meme. It was a beautiful weekend.
YT needs a memeblock addon, like sponsorblock, the amount of crap in some recent videos is staggering. >No it's fine Get a new brain you spastic, then.
About 15 years ago, before I really knew anything about synthesizers, I saw one of these in a fiberglass log that was part of a science museum exhibit. They had it playing random chirping jungle animal sounds. I completely forgot about that until a few years ago when I got an Evolver and heard those same animal sounds in a preset. I thought that was so nice that I immediately bought a used Poly Evolver but I must admit they are both fairly inscrutable to me.
the evolver is a total little killer with its modulation galore and the 64 sequencer. have mine since 2005 and don´t regret it by any means. works also nice for ambient drones /textures.
When I was buying my first synths 13 years ago, I picked up a Mopho. The Evolver was on my radar, but I wanted a ‘true’ analog synth. While I doubt I’ll grab a Evolver nowadays, I think that if I grabbed one back then, I would use it today MUCH more than the Mopho. I love digital synthesis that doesn’t pretend to be something else, and I like harshness. I’d love to spend a day with an Evolver given the opportunity.
It was a synth i wanted but being in my teens, i couldnt afford it. I think they sold for $499 back then and with no income it was out of reach. I never pursued getting one but I can only imagine all the greatness this little device gave its users. good on audiopilz for making a video. TY
Now this sounds way better than I expected. Most of the online demos are quite old and focus on the sequences, so I thought this was a neat little synth, but nothing to write home about - but it absolutely is something to write home about.
I have 2 Evolver Desktops. Polymode works as expected, and sounds incredible. Its a hidden gem synth due to the modulations, 4 osc, ring mod, fm, 4x modulation sequencers, plus 4 lfos. Will never part with either of them. They sound like Reaktor in a box.
polychain works. I used to have one of those mono desktop modules as a fifth voice expansion to my poly evolver. a couple of years later I realized poly evolver's name "poly" is maybe misleading, polyphony in that synth isn't as important as using it as a multi timbral synth and exploring the sequencers and modulations. I sold the desktop module, kept the four voice poly evolver, and haven't regretted one day. but I have other more traditional analogue polys.
I love the Evolver and find it inconceivable how people complain about it. Rather than expound on my opinion, I prefer to just describe the empirical facts that are the synth's really unique architecture: two analog oscillators and two digital oscillators, which feature the waves from the legendary Prophet VS. Classic Curtis analog low-pass filters and real analog VCAs with a digital high-pass filter, tuned feedback, and digital distortion, with both the analog and digital signal sides meshing into a true stereo signal path. Imagine having all this in a small desktop unit that's easy to navigate and complaining about not getting it to sound good or saying "it's not my cup of tea." LOL. Pearls before swine. This thing is phenomenal, sits in a very esteemed position in the pantheon of Dave Smith wizardry through history, and anyone with half a cerebrum will be grabbing to get one.
I have a Poly Evolver where the steppy encoders are replaced with solid pots. This and the four voices change everything. A unique patch idea is to reroute the delay through the filter, open the VCA and play with TUNED FEEDBACK and the GRUNGE effect. Instant unearthly drone sounds. Thanks for this great episode!
Nice agressive sound to this synth and I think the best sounding version of the intro tune so far. Jam #2 is the best music this week - very creative. Would be nice if that could be worked out to a full track
Yeah, this is not your average synth. I absolutely love it. The Software editor is pretty good and, tbh, essential for the sequencer initially but if you use it a lot it'll become natural. The editing-matrix front panel is surprisingly intuitive. Again, the software editor is really useful initially but spend enough time with it and you'll not really need it. The librarian part of the software is easy to use and works well. Evolver is built like a tank. Not too keen on the plastic face plate stuck onto the front panel, but it avoids paint scratches, so it's good in that way. I also love that DSI Evolvers power supplies come with about a mile of cable. I was really pleased that the MoPho also came with Evolver branded PSUs. The keyboard version unfortunately also uses a wall-wart PSU, but with that nice long lead, at least it doesn't need to be right atop a power socket.
Florian hello, it’s your friend a Uni. With all of the unfortunate propaganda coming out of ULIVILLE especially today, I would like to say thank you very much for this refreshing video. You have equalized the situation for everyone who follows Synthesizers and understand the egregious marketing tactics of some companies which will remain nameless. As far as the DSI Evolver. I bet if you had one more week of hands-on with this beautiful instrument you could’ve possibly made some next level jams. Also even though it is labeled a monosynth, there are two filters so technically it can be a duo phonic Synthesizer were as you sequence each of the oscillators independently. Dave used the Prophet VS wave tables. The poly evolver keyboard. That’s the real butter right there. The mono revolver keyboard. It’s a big dish of butter in itself. Excellent video. Keep it funky my friend.❤
@@AudioPilz I’m just playing with you, sort of ;-) Great review, as always. I remember the first year he brought this to the NAMM show. That little box blew my mind, as did the shot of tequila I had with Dave… the first of many over the years. Dave was always a gentleman. I went online and bought that thing the following Monday morning and never looked back. The UI was the only hard part, so I made sure to get the poly when it came out. I remember getting that thing delivered to the M-Audio test lab I worked in at the time. All those blue lights looked crazy. Everyone just marveled at it. Back then, there weren’t as many big knobby synths around quite yet. I still have that thing. I think it is #93? Never getting rid of that one!
Interesting and very sharp review as always ! I had never hear an Evolver before so thanks ! That quote from Jonathan Boothe is so right, and I'll keep the the "Design vs User experience" picture nailed somewhere ! So much work for making these videos, you manage to do that every week it's incredible :)
1:40 - 'Many of its sounds are harsh" - proceeds to wail beautiful Industrial NIN-style stabs. I'm not normally a DSI fan, but I think if you would have made a vid like this 20 years ago, I would have bought one of these back then. It's the nastiest (in a good way), most metallic DSI box I myself have heard. Beautiful grittiness. ❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥
Frikken awesome is a great description. I’m sill using mine 18 years later. When the Pro2 came along I saw the same thing in it - so I bought it. It’s the synth that just keeps giving and yeah it’s a modular in a box
So cool, you finally did a piece on a piece of kit that I own. I do chain it with a Mono Evolver Keyboard. Other than having to manually balance the outputs (a small mixer helps) it is easy and effective. It is used as a lead playing over a sequence, two independent sequences or as a duophonic synth. Evolver patches can get a little crowded and two voices can be plenty. The original Soundtower software still works on Windows 10 and DSI/Sequential have been great over the years about providing updated user keys when I install it on a different computer. Years of using the matrix has actually left me comfortable with programming on the device and so I only really use the Soundtower software to back up and transfer patches between my two Evolvers. Works a charm!
When Dave Smith designed the Evolver engine I really think he had the Mono Evolver Keyboard in mind. The MEK addresses pretty much every negative thing here. It is a true masterpiece. I will never sell mine!
Always an inspiration to play with bad gear LoL. Love it!! Not to mention, you win the internet with number of memes in vid productions. Find it so impressive! Great work brother! 👊🧡👍
@@AudioPilz I love ❤️ your content florian. It’s always amazing epic and hilarious. Keep it up brother. Much peace ✌️, love ❤️, unity and respect ✊. God bless you and yours. I hope you have a blessed day.
Nice vid as always :-) Always happy when these arrive at friday evening. As you asked for experience in polychaining: You will need a Mono Evolver Keyboard (MEK) or a Poly Evolver Keyboard (PEK) in order to use a desktop Evolvers voice. It's described wrong on the homepage and I learned it the hard way (I bought a 2nd desktop unit and polychaining doesn't work with only desktop units in place which is quite a bummer). After I also got an MEK I got my personal 3-voice-Evolver :-) But you will need 6 channels on a mixer for that in addition ^^ I don't know if you could do it with a PE-Rack as the "host-unit" too, but as I've never seen it being sold at all in my time as a hardware-freak with GAS I don't care anymore. Last point: signals on the Mono units are hotter than the Poly versions, so you have to use an external mixer to adjust volumes.
Yeah, the PER is the only way to poly chain using two channels. Pretty sure it can work as a "host" for additional voices and there's some good editing software (SoundTower?🤔) out there so you're not menu diving yourself into an early grave. Edit: Somebody sell me your Evolver rack unit!!!
@@tristancaver4836 The rack (like the desktop) has no "Polychain out" like the keyboards have, so I guess it can not be the "host" but as I don't have one I don't know for sure. I think you need a keyboard to make use of the polychain function, then you can mix units as you wish (e.g. MEK + 4-voice-Rack + a desktop = 6 voices)
@Timo Schmähler You're right. But you can use the desktop unit to control the rack. Lol. It's so convoluted and frustrating, but at the same time I find myself even more intrigued by the utter chaos. And that's what the Evolver is all about, right?😅😆
a desktop and a per can also do polychain but there is an issue, it will always play the first voice when you press the first key, only when you combine another key or more it will play the second/third and so on... so if you play a sound with long release and only one note at the time the sound will cut itself. the pek and the mek have a setting for the number of voices in the chain so it works fine. i asked dsi, they told me this is normal. you can however use the per as the first in the chain and set the number of voices to 5 with the additional desktop, but i wanted to control the per from the desktop. at the end i just used a midi marger sending notes from the computer and control from the desktop to the per and i duplicate all presets betwin the units, it works fine but only 4 voices.
This synth is an absolute beast. The software editor is good. When showing the whole u.i. it can be difficult to make out on a laptop (hey, my eyes are 58 yrs old) but each section will pop-up in it's own window for ease of use and the whole thing is zoom-able. Very useful when you first get the synth, but after a while you need it less and less. The steppiness of the controls is annoying, but is not present when modulators are used (envelopes, LFO etc). With the exception of the step sequencer of course 😊. Speaking of which, when used to to sequence the oscillators individually you essentially have a 4 voice paraphonic synth. It doesn't make a bad basic drum machine either. It can sound very "normal", but that isn't what it was designed for. I almost think that Dave initially set out to make a killer FX pedal, but the project got out of hand and evolved (😀) into a synth. I love it so much - it will never leave me!
@@mrudo8663 Unfortunately it was only at a convention and I didn't get to keep it. 😄 Got me a Kurzweil PC3LE6 for flexibility and down the rabbit hole from there. The closest I came to owning an Evolver was a DSI Tetra.
The Seventh Seal and Nick Batt/Bladerunner memes had me howling with laughter. I was also amused to see all those Future Music magazine covers with attractive ladies on them, perhaps the publishers saw a big overlap between synth nerds and the readers of 1990s "lad mags" (were they a thing outside the UK?).
i think the evolver and monomachine were mid 00s kings in all electronic genres where people had grown a bit numb to conventional subtractive analog sounds but still liked big beefy “organic” synths. even with the complexities and UI flaws, its still a more familiar architecture for most than something like yamaha FM or going actually under the hood with physical modeling. add machinedrum and you have the bones of a lot of music made in that era. i think eurorack covers a lot of that niche now so people can choose which elements are more conventional and which are a bit crazy, and then choose which kind of crazy. it’s also probably harder to justify a monophonic hybrid/digital now so we have the era of micro/minifreak, minilogue xd, argon8, and hydrasynth. its safe to assume that music made with evolvers has definitely had some influence on the simultaneous availability of all those synths today.
waiting for this one. I just a few days ago pulled mine out to play some bass lines and, didn't get what I wanted, but love what I got. It's a quirky weird thing that pops and gurgles and all kinds of stuff that most people hate in a synthesizer.
Owner of a PEK + expander (8 voice total) the most unique synth I own. complete monster stereo arquitecture and mod posibilities are insane much more complicated to program vs other synths but its worth it if its unique you want, this synth is the ticket
8:06, when I had to go back and make sure he was talking about the synth… 😳😂🐱 It is a genuinely interesting, if not super user-friendly, instrument. I remember when it was released but wasn’t interested in it at the time.
I have one and while it was never a go-to, it did force me to learn a lot as my first synthesizer. It definitely helps as one where you really want a plan going in, because the knob fiddling from trying to change multiple parameters at once doesn’t work so hot. It’s Dave Smith looking at synth forum grousing at not having every bell and whistle and saying “you want all this, okay, you asked for it…”
I like it - as in not the look or presentation of it as a device but in what's on the inside. It's "throaty"! I admit that I like the weirdness you can get by doing all kinds of A-D/D-A conversion and it's fun to see the options presented by it. You know what this thing is? - It's Miley Cyrus. (hear me out!) You get the sweetness and timbre of a practiced young vocalist, but you also get the jagged growl of a torch song singer who's put back five fingers of whisky and smoked a half-pack of Kools during the set break. There's surprising appeal to that duality!
Yo! a piece of gear I actually own! Love my evolver. I don't think the haters realize that this isn't supposed to be another subtractive-synth-minimoog clone 😅. One of my favorite devices to make percussion actually. With all of the Lfos, envelopes, etc you can get some really cool autechre bleepy-bloop rhythms. IDM in a box for sure.
I just saw a clip in this video of a rocker with violin in hand preparing to play his guitar with the strings of said violin as if it were a bow and his guitar were a cello(?). The meme factor of y’alls content is just glorious & riddles every vid with hilarity. I can’t get enough. I just hope y’all don’t run out of bad gear. 😂
The final track was sumptuous, really great work! The Evolver is like an excessive labyrinth and consequently not one I wish to explore. Complexity does not equal greatness, unless you're Dave Smith of course. HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!
Incredibly, I wound up with one of these gifted to me and I'm still scratching my head trying to understand both the thing itself and the whole set of circumstances that led to me owning it. Wrote a cool track with the presets though!
The Evolver is pretty cool and produces a lot of sounds that a Prophet never could. But what you really want is a Poly Evolver, which has four voices and quadruples the fun. These are getting pretty pricy, nfortunately.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
![Blox Fruits Dragon Rework Update [Full Stream]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EqDAp8udhm0/mqdefault.jpg)
Audiopilz: *slaps roof of YT channel*
Full Tracks, Extended Jams, Sample Packs: www.patreon.com/audiopilz
Roland Sh32?
is there a full track of the "darksynth retrofunk"?
Fun fact! These instruments have became extremely popular with Electronic Wind Instrument (EWI) players as a companion synth to their wind controllers of choice! The evolver plays extremely nicely with breath control and after touch and feels really natural controlled that way.
There is a EVI (Electronic Valve Instrument) and Trumpet player named John Swana who really put most people in the jazz world on to the magic of the evolver and as an instrument for melodies and soloing it truly has such a unique character!
Interesting, thanks for posting!
yeah man, theres also this guy who used ewi with digitech talker, now overly expensive due to daft punk(lame) but you have the electrix time warp, getting more expensive now but its way better actually couple of years only were about 100 euro, all their stuff is great too bad they stopped :(
I had the honor of designing sounds for Dave Smith from 1999-2001 (Reality Software synth) when he was an active co-founder (along with Stanley Jungleib) of Seer Systems. Went to NAMM with Dave in 2001 just before he launched the prototype of Evolver. I remember seeing the Evolover prototype in St. Helena California near his home. I knew then he was on his way with Dave Smith Instruments, Inc!
Dave said he was moving on back to hardware synthesis primarily because he did not like relying on other manufacturers’ hardware interfaces to deliver the final sound product. He said like a quality guitar needs a decent amp or a Hammond B3 needs a Leslie rotary speaker to sound great, synths need quality analog pre-amps, analog filters, etc. to fill out the sound. Sound Blaster cards in PCs at the time were just not cutting it. Now days, it is clear modeling technology has come a long way in 20 years. Thanks for the video as it brought back some fond memories of the genius of Dave Smith!
Great story!!! DS was such a legend!!! Thanks for posting!!!
@@AudioPilz Your shows are excellent and you are a very talented artist/social commentary persona! Also, you are a fan of kafka which is cool!
I'll always be grateful to the Evolver for being the first time I was able to walk into a local music store and walk out the door with my own brand new analog synth. The good thing about the front panel is -- no menu diving! It's all there, once you know where to look for it.
True that!
Printed menu diving
@@inthefade motor memory supporting menu diving. Mopho and Tetr4 were way worse.
@@inthefade try using any '80s rack synth and report back. And those cost more than Evolver now.
After you understand it it’s almost direkt. But I sold mine for more knob per Funktion modular. Together with the Sherman filter bank I used as the main out forthe evolver. But i learned a lot
AudioPilz has become so prolific at making this content that his videos feel like their own 100 percent original meta genre within a genre. Just amazing.
agreed
DawlessMemeCore
Thank you so much!!!
AudioPilz is a class of his own! Clearly among the best of the best of the best regarding RUclips-Synthesizer-Videos! 👍
Every time I hear the Evolver demoed I am reminded how gnarly it can sound.
Yeah, it can be brutal!
He was my first.
From him I derived the name.
I will never forget you.😢
❤️❤️❤️
This was my first hardware synth and it's still such a unique beast even after 20 years, still sound great. It's worth noting that even if its presets are mostly noisy, it can shine a lot into more mellows territories by being careful about internal signal path (OSC will start to distort after the 50 level mark). Also be careful when buying second hands, old encoders can jump values like crazy and might need to be replaced in worse cases.
Agreed, backing down the osc is key!
I have one of these old encoders. Easy to replace them.
So, Audiopilz. Your first jam literally gave me goosebumps. I live, eat and sleep techno. You sounded just like, "Regis"!!!!! Well done.
For years, actually years, Evolver was (and might still be) my desert island synth. Whenever I am working on a track and find myself in need of some kind of special something, I first reach for my Evolver, jump to the initialized patch (Bank 4, #128), and start looking for the wrong thing to do. Its low end can be a little thin, so if it's bass or thump I'm after, I'll grab my Mopho instead, but both have similar architectures so navigating the parameters and understanding what each one does is not a leap in any way. That said, though related, they are different animals.
Also, two things not mentioned are 1) the last few waveforms of the digital oscillators are 16-bit user-editable waveforms, and 2) the digital waveforms are-cross FM' able, which can also be modulated by all kinds of sources. Also no mention of the audio inputs, and how they can be used. Envelope following, modulation sources for all kinds of other fun turn Evolver into a one-of-a kind monster. Never getting rid of mine. I am a disciple of The Blue Box.
👍👍👍
@@AudioPilz Dave Smith completely changed the game with Evolver. When he first introduced it, he gave a lifetime guarantee and if your unit failed, anywhere in the world, he would DHL you a new board and a return envelope. He asked for a $25 deposit which would be returned upon receipt of the old board. All you had to do was remove maybe 10 screws, pull off the knob caps, swap boards, put the 10 screws back in, put the knob covers back on, dump your patches ( which you hopefully backed up) back into the new board and off you go. NOBODY has matched that level of support before or since.
Thank you for creating this episode! It’s my most beloved synth and is a work of true genius. After several years I finally broke down and bought the SoundTower plug-in for it this week and have to admit its made a big difference. So much modulation and so many destinations, now finally visible. Nice!
Thanks!!! An editor certainly comes in handy here!
100% right!
I'm about to do the same after 3 years of owning one. Can't stand having to decode the shorthand on the screen!
Thank you for EVERY SINGLE ONE of you videos, your work and dedication is incommensurable
Thank you!!!
I dunno, I think $5 would be pretty sweet
Best synth I ever bought. Still have trouble wrapping my head around the sequencer. Wish someone would make a proper video explaining it.
Evil Funhouse! Yes indeed -I had the pleasure of having a PEK for a while (I replaced circuits to the ones with the upgraded encoders). Thing was an absolute beast, the distortion was wild. It felt like every time I thought I had tamed it, it would rip my brain to pieces. Dave Smith Forever.
❤️❤️❤️Dave Smith Forever❤️❤️❤️
@@AudioPilz 💘
9:07 excellent choice👌🏻”Meikyu Monogatari” is a hidden gem
This was the comment i was looking for (: thanks
Thank you!!!
This is one of those synths that I don't want to own, but I'm glad it exists
That's a very rational approach;)
0:40 "Today we are going to talk about the vulva." Are you sure? Great! Finally! I can't wait to hear what you think of it!
Hey, automatic captions got it right;)
One of the all-time great synths. Sequential really needs to go back to the digital hybrid stuff. That's where the best things are. The Evolver, Pro2 and Prophet 12 are their best synths.
👍👍👍
They haven’t left hybrid synths tho, they’re still producing the Prophet X
the Pro3 is a hybrid tho. And its awesome.
First time I tried a prophet VS I was blown away. One of only a few synths that have had that effect. I now have an evolver keyboard, but I secretly wish it was a VS.
I'm with you. The mainstream DSI synths bore me to death, but this nasty box holds some wonderful secrets.
The bass line in the last track absolutely slaps.
Thank you!!!
9:04 I loved the Darksynth Retrofunk song so much! 😍 You've matched it with the anime so brilliantly!
Thank you so much!!!
had the original Prophet VS which remained pretty much a mystery, never really figured out how to program it decently (it had a "random button" that helped to get started with new sounds). the value slider died on me, being a poor student back then I couldn't afford getting it fixed, sold the broken machine to Ponger (the Falco producer) who got it fixed by his own repair man. understandably when I ran into the Evolver I was more than thrilled. this tiny toy could recreate the sound of the VS & more for the price of a Prophet VS knob repair. I believed in Dave Smith not onl yas the Prophet but as a God, so I was pretty excited when the Evolver came out & spent a few hours in the music store. I think this machine needs an external editor of some kind, the keyboard version might be a bit more acessible having the VS sound in a small box for such a low price is a true miracle. thanks for bringing it back here & making such good use of it, so I can refrain from buying one myself. amen.
Wow, you were the original owner of Ponger's VS???
@@AudioPilz oh, you know the machine? it's still around? yes I bought it second hand, somewhere in upper austria & he bought it from me...
8:10 i just picture florian in a 2003 music video all tinted in blue and green with you inside the barbwired chainlink fence with the fans of bad gear watching him with umbrellas and their all florian (aphex twin style)
GearLicker;)
I had one of these for a little while.
I didnt understand what it was or what it was meant to do so thanks for the cool vid.
❤️❤️❤️
Combining the mono Evolver keyboard with the desktop (poly chained) solves practically all of the interface issues. Replacing the pots with encoders (Sequential still might have spare kits for sale .....) brings the user interface to modern levels. Great video, thank you.
Thank you!!!
Schön das Du immer die Gear bringst, die mir zu suspekt zum testen war...lol
Immer gern;)
Glad you are giving Dave his flowers my man. Roland w30 would be a good episode I wanna get one for the aftertouch but am scared of the floppy
Mr. Smith is a God! Great suggestion, thanks!
I use a Roland W-30 as my controller and sequencer. I replaced the floppy drive with a Gotek running the FlashFloppy firmware, so it nows uses an SD card instead of floppy disks. Awesome machine the W-30!
I second that request!
Love the W30. 12 bit crunchiness all the way. Still own mine. The sequencer is ubearable though :)
Your final comment nailed it! C'mon Behringer!! (As always... You completely ROCKED this one!)
Thank you so much!!!
I started watching this video on Friday evening at 10:03 PM and finished it on Monday at 12:24 AM. I'm happy to report that I was able to catch every meme. It was a beautiful weekend.
Lol, thanks!!!
YT needs a memeblock addon, like sponsorblock, the amount of crap in some recent videos is staggering.
>No it's fine
Get a new brain you spastic, then.
About 15 years ago, before I really knew anything about synthesizers, I saw one of these in a fiberglass log that was part of a science museum exhibit. They had it playing random chirping jungle animal sounds. I completely forgot about that until a few years ago when I got an Evolver and heard those same animal sounds in a preset. I thought that was so nice that I immediately bought a used Poly Evolver but I must admit they are both fairly inscrutable to me.
Interesting use case;)
Nearly got one ultra cheap till Benn Joran did a pretty good video on it, literally hours later the price went through the roof!
Yeah, Benn really likes his Evolver;)
you are making some of the best content on the platform, thank you 🙏
Thank you so much!!!
the evolver is a total little killer with its modulation galore
and the 64 sequencer.
have mine since 2005 and don´t regret it by any means.
works also nice for ambient drones /textures.
Agreed, drones for days!
When I was buying my first synths 13 years ago, I picked up a Mopho. The Evolver was on my radar, but I wanted a ‘true’ analog synth. While I doubt I’ll grab a Evolver nowadays, I think that if I grabbed one back then, I would use it today MUCH more than the Mopho. I love digital synthesis that doesn’t pretend to be something else, and I like harshness. I’d love to spend a day with an Evolver given the opportunity.
Definitely worth a try if you like the Mopho
Your vids are so good that I cannot figure out where you find the time to do it all.
Thank you so much!!! I like coffee;)
It was a synth i wanted but being in my teens, i couldnt afford it. I think they sold for $499 back then and with no income it was out of reach. I never pursued getting one but I can only imagine all the greatness this little device gave its users. good on audiopilz for making a video. TY
Thank you!!!
Cool video and no weekend without! Enjoy the weekend people!
Have a nice one!!!
Now this sounds way better than I expected. Most of the online demos are quite old and focus on the sequences, so I thought this was a neat little synth, but nothing to write home about - but it absolutely is something to write home about.
You have an idea of what it is, if you only see the Mono Evolver Keyboard. This is the same. It is a digital patched modular synth. I love my MEK
It does has a learning curve...
I have 2 Evolver Desktops. Polymode works as expected, and sounds incredible. Its a hidden gem synth due to the modulations, 4 osc, ring mod, fm, 4x modulation sequencers, plus 4 lfos. Will never part with either of them. They sound like Reaktor in a box.
Thanks for the heads up!
@@AudioPilz lolwhut
polychain works. I used to have one of those mono desktop modules as a fifth voice expansion to my poly evolver. a couple of years later I realized poly evolver's name "poly" is maybe misleading, polyphony in that synth isn't as important as using it as a multi timbral synth and exploring the sequencers and modulations. I sold the desktop module, kept the four voice poly evolver, and haven't regretted one day. but I have other more traditional analogue polys.
Thanks for the heads up!!!
Nice ! Amazing piece of gear. An all time fave !
👍👍👍
I love the Evolver and find it inconceivable how people complain about it. Rather than expound on my opinion, I prefer to just describe the empirical facts that are the synth's really unique architecture: two analog oscillators and two digital oscillators, which feature the waves from the legendary Prophet VS. Classic Curtis analog low-pass filters and real analog VCAs with a digital high-pass filter, tuned feedback, and digital distortion, with both the analog and digital signal sides meshing into a true stereo signal path. Imagine having all this in a small desktop unit that's easy to navigate and complaining about not getting it to sound good or saying "it's not my cup of tea." LOL. Pearls before swine. This thing is phenomenal, sits in a very esteemed position in the pantheon of Dave Smith wizardry through history, and anyone with half a cerebrum will be grabbing to get one.
👍
the evolver does sound good in its own way. the bottom end on the intro was nice. This would be the industrial style musician's dream synth.
Agreed!
Yeah, I would put it through a guitar amp or a fuzz pedal for brutal industrial!
Try one. It has a ton of dirt built in.
I am an industrial music fanatic and found the sounds displayed here amazing!
Isn't the polyevolver one of the Trent Reznor favorites?
I have a Poly Evolver where the steppy encoders are replaced with solid pots. This and the four voices change everything. A unique patch idea is to reroute the delay through the filter, open the VCA and play with TUNED FEEDBACK and the GRUNGE effect. Instant unearthly drone sounds.
Thanks for this great episode!
Thanks!!! Interesting mod!
really? i much prefer the encoders.
@@AudioPilz Was an official mod by DSI and sold as the "Potentiometer Edition".
Nice agressive sound to this synth and I think the best sounding version of the intro tune so far. Jam #2 is the best music this week - very creative. Would be nice if that could be worked out to a full track
Thank you!!!
Sure others have said but the soundtower editor is worth the money. Really makes programming the Evolver a pleasurable experience
I really have to give that one a go
09:05 Ooops...I forgot what I was going to write here ,😅👍
😅😅😅
Yeah, this is not your average synth. I absolutely love it. The Software editor is pretty good and, tbh, essential for the sequencer initially but if you use it a lot it'll become natural. The editing-matrix front panel is surprisingly intuitive. Again, the software editor is really useful initially but spend enough time with it and you'll not really need it. The librarian part of the software is easy to use and works well.
Evolver is built like a tank. Not too keen on the plastic face plate stuck onto the front panel, but it avoids paint scratches, so it's good in that way. I also love that DSI Evolvers power supplies come with about a mile of cable. I was really pleased that the MoPho also came with Evolver branded PSUs. The keyboard version unfortunately also uses a wall-wart PSU, but with that nice long lead, at least it doesn't need to be right atop a power socket.
Sounds really good for advanced arpeggio sounds.
Agreed!
Florian hello, it’s your friend a Uni.
With all of the unfortunate propaganda coming out of ULIVILLE especially today, I would like to say thank you very much for this refreshing video. You have equalized the situation for everyone who follows Synthesizers and understand the egregious marketing tactics of some companies which will remain nameless.
As far as the DSI Evolver.
I bet if you had one more week of hands-on with this beautiful instrument you could’ve possibly made some next level jams. Also even though it is labeled a monosynth, there are two filters so technically it can be a duo phonic Synthesizer were as you sequence each of the oscillators independently.
Dave used the Prophet VS wave tables.
The poly evolver keyboard. That’s the real butter right there. The mono revolver keyboard. It’s a big dish of butter in itself.
Excellent video. Keep it funky my friend.❤
Thank you so much!!!
Putting this brilliant device on a show called "bad gear" is a kind of slap in the face of excellence. :P
😔
@@AudioPilz I’m just playing with you, sort of ;-) Great review, as always. I remember the first year he brought this to the NAMM show. That little box blew my mind, as did the shot of tequila I had with Dave… the first of many over the years. Dave was always a gentleman. I went online and bought that thing the following Monday morning and never looked back. The UI was the only hard part, so I made sure to get the poly when it came out. I remember getting that thing delivered to the M-Audio test lab I worked in at the time. All those blue lights looked crazy. Everyone just marveled at it. Back then, there weren’t as many big knobby synths around quite yet. I still have that thing. I think it is #93? Never getting rid of that one!
Interesting and very sharp review as always ! I had never hear an Evolver before so thanks ! That quote from Jonathan Boothe is so right, and I'll keep the the "Design vs User experience" picture nailed somewhere ! So much work for making these videos, you manage to do that every week it's incredible :)
Thank you so much!!!
Great work as usual.
Thank you so much!!!
1:40 - 'Many of its sounds are harsh" - proceeds to wail beautiful Industrial NIN-style stabs. I'm not normally a DSI fan, but I think if you would have made a vid like this 20 years ago, I would have bought one of these back then. It's the nastiest (in a good way), most metallic DSI box I myself have heard. Beautiful grittiness. ❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥
I should have posted this on Myspace;)
Aww man, that Dave Smith/Skyrim mashup 🥺😢♥️🙌
Edit: att 0:44
Yesssssss
Frikken awesome is a great description. I’m sill using mine 18 years later. When the Pro2 came along I saw the same thing in it - so I bought it. It’s the synth that just keeps giving and yeah it’s a modular in a box
Nice!
These are the only videos I watch on half speed just to be able to catch all the memes the first time round 🎉
Audiophiles watch twice;)
@@AudioPilz did I mention I record it to tape?
I've been gassing for one of these, and the fact that Florian is reviewing it means I HAVE TO OWN IT NOW.
I'm sorry;)
@@AudioPilz 🥲
Amazing stuff. Please do SOMA Lyra 8! Can’t wait to see what you make of it!
Great suggestion, thanks!!!
Great suggestion - I love the Lyra 8, but I usually end up just making weird dronescapes on it rather than managing to integrate it into a song.
Seconded!
So cool, you finally did a piece on a piece of kit that I own. I do chain it with a Mono Evolver Keyboard. Other than having to manually balance the outputs (a small mixer helps) it is easy and effective. It is used as a lead playing over a sequence, two independent sequences or as a duophonic synth. Evolver patches can get a little crowded and two voices can be plenty.
The original Soundtower software still works on Windows 10 and DSI/Sequential have been great over the years about providing updated user keys when I install it on a different computer.
Years of using the matrix has actually left me comfortable with programming on the device and so I only really use the Soundtower software to back up and transfer patches between my two Evolvers. Works a charm!
Welcome to Bad Gear bingo;)
When Dave Smith designed the Evolver engine I really think he had the Mono Evolver Keyboard in mind. The MEK addresses pretty much every negative thing here. It is a true masterpiece. I will never sell mine!
👍
Wow, that was quick. I haven't ordered one yet, but on the basis of this review, more than likely will.
Nice!!!
Always an inspiration to play with bad gear LoL. Love it!! Not to mention, you win the internet with number of memes in vid productions. Find it so impressive! Great work brother! 👊🧡👍
Thank you so much!!!
Get the keyboard version or Polyevolver. Very nice machines. Sounds as this one but more knobs are easier to work with.
These don't come for cheap;)
6:27 SECRET TUNNEL! SECRET TUNNEL! THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS, SECRET SECRET SECRET TUNNEL, YEAH!
Lol, a fan of the REAL Avatar;)
@@AudioPilz Yes... There's no other Avatar 🙃
I have the Keyboard Version since nearly 13 years and I just love it!
FLAWLESS AS ALWAYS BROTHER, MUCH LOVE ❤️.
Thank you so much!!!
@@AudioPilz
I love ❤️ your content florian. It’s always amazing epic and hilarious. Keep it up brother. Much peace ✌️, love ❤️, unity and respect ✊. God bless you and yours. I hope you have a blessed day.
I own a microkorg and that's plenty of menu reading for me
The finale was super dope my man. Love it
Thank you!!!
Nice vid as always :-) Always happy when these arrive at friday evening. As you asked for experience in polychaining: You will need a Mono Evolver Keyboard (MEK) or a Poly Evolver Keyboard (PEK) in order to use a desktop Evolvers voice. It's described wrong on the homepage and I learned it the hard way (I bought a 2nd desktop unit and polychaining doesn't work with only desktop units in place which is quite a bummer). After I also got an MEK I got my personal 3-voice-Evolver :-) But you will need 6 channels on a mixer for that in addition ^^ I don't know if you could do it with a PE-Rack as the "host-unit" too, but as I've never seen it being sold at all in my time as a hardware-freak with GAS I don't care anymore. Last point: signals on the Mono units are hotter than the Poly versions, so you have to use an external mixer to adjust volumes.
Thanks for the heads up!!!
Yeah, the PER is the only way to poly chain using two channels. Pretty sure it can work as a "host" for additional voices and there's some good editing software (SoundTower?🤔) out there so you're not menu diving yourself into an early grave. Edit: Somebody sell me your Evolver rack unit!!!
@@tristancaver4836 The rack (like the desktop) has no "Polychain out" like the keyboards have, so I guess it can not be the "host" but as I don't have one I don't know for sure. I think you need a keyboard to make use of the polychain function, then you can mix units as you wish (e.g. MEK + 4-voice-Rack + a desktop = 6 voices)
@Timo Schmähler You're right. But you can use the desktop unit to control the rack. Lol. It's so convoluted and frustrating, but at the same time I find myself even more intrigued by the utter chaos. And that's what the Evolver is all about, right?😅😆
a desktop and a per can also do polychain but there is an issue, it will always play the first voice when you press the first key, only when you combine another key or more it will play the second/third and so on... so if you play a sound with long release and only one note at the time the sound will cut itself. the pek and the mek have a setting for the number of voices in the chain so it works fine. i asked dsi, they told me this is normal. you can however use the per as the first in the chain and set the number of voices to 5 with the additional desktop, but i wanted to control the per from the desktop.
at the end i just used a midi marger sending notes from the computer and control from the desktop to the per and i duplicate all presets betwin the units, it works fine but only 4 voices.
I am thoroughly impressed with what you created from this beast. And a like for the inspector gadget clip.
Thanks!!! Go Go!!!
This synth is an absolute beast. The software editor is good. When showing the whole u.i. it can be difficult to make out on a laptop (hey, my eyes are 58 yrs old) but each section will pop-up in it's own window for ease of use and the whole thing is zoom-able. Very useful when you first get the synth, but after a while you need it less and less.
The steppiness of the controls is annoying, but is not present when modulators are used (envelopes, LFO etc). With the exception of the step sequencer of course 😊. Speaking of which, when used to to sequence the oscillators individually you essentially have a 4 voice paraphonic synth. It doesn't make a bad basic drum machine either.
It can sound very "normal", but that isn't what it was designed for. I almost think that Dave initially set out to make a killer FX pedal, but the project got out of hand and evolved (😀) into a synth.
I love it so much - it will never leave me!
I liked that one quite a bit!!!
Playing the Poly Evolver brought me back to making music.
❤️❤️❤️
You lucky one
@@mrudo8663 Unfortunately it was only at a convention and I didn't get to keep it. 😄 Got me a Kurzweil PC3LE6 for flexibility and down the rabbit hole from there. The closest I came to owning an Evolver was a DSI Tetra.
I love this. How have I never paid attention to this lil guy?
Certainly worth a shot if you like the sound!
The Seventh Seal and Nick Batt/Bladerunner memes had me howling with laughter. I was also amused to see all those Future Music magazine covers with attractive ladies on them, perhaps the publishers saw a big overlap between synth nerds and the readers of 1990s "lad mags" (were they a thing outside the UK?).
The 7th Seal is actually a UI creation. Spooky...
I completely miss my old one. Used it as part of my guitar rig, and it gives sounds that are hard to get anywhere else in the same way for the 00s.
Certainly great for guitars!
The Evolver is my workhorse synth, amazing little beast! I think you need to rename this series at this stage though lol
"Somewhat controversial gear that is intensively discussed online" didn't work so well with the algo;)
@@AudioPilz 🤣
Just sold mine , it wasn’t fun to use but I did get some great things out of it
I feel you!!!
Damn this thing sounds crunchy, I hope there is some good Techno and/or DnB made with it!
Ideal for these genres!
i think the evolver and monomachine were mid 00s kings in all electronic genres where people had grown a bit numb to conventional subtractive analog sounds but still liked big beefy “organic” synths. even with the complexities and UI flaws, its still a more familiar architecture for most than something like yamaha FM or going actually under the hood with physical modeling. add machinedrum and you have the bones of a lot of music made in that era. i think eurorack covers a lot of that niche now so people can choose which elements are more conventional and which are a bit crazy, and then choose which kind of crazy. it’s also probably harder to justify a monophonic hybrid/digital now so we have the era of micro/minifreak, minilogue xd, argon8, and hydrasynth. its safe to assume that music made with evolvers has definitely had some influence on the simultaneous availability of all those synths today.
I like my techno a bit warmer sounding but that's probably age!
@@Peacefrog226 I find both the gritty and the warm stuff to be very enjoyable, the former really enhancing those late night city walk vibes though.
waiting for this one. I just a few days ago pulled mine out to play some bass lines and, didn't get what I wanted, but love what I got. It's a quirky weird thing that pops and gurgles and all kinds of stuff that most people hate in a synthesizer.
"...didn't get what I wanted, but love what I got." That sums it up nicely;)
The retrofunk finale was a total banger but the real star of this episode was the "secret tunnel" AtlA reference.
Thank you!!!
Owner of a PEK + expander (8 voice total)
the most unique synth I own. complete monster
stereo arquitecture and mod posibilities are insane
much more complicated to program vs other synths but its worth it
if its unique you want, this synth is the ticket
👍👍👍
Dead square on the mark with that last track. Damn.
Thank you!!!
3:30 this sound just melted my brain thanks
🤯
"The Evolvers can do any sound the old Prophets could do, and a whole lot more.
I should know; I designed them both!" - Dave Smith
Mr. Smith was know for excellent synthesizers and bold marketing claims;)
8:06, when I had to go back and make sure he was talking about the synth… 😳😂🐱
It is a genuinely interesting, if not super user-friendly, instrument. I remember when it was released but wasn’t interested in it at the time.
Lol
I always look forwards to fridays!
How do you even find the time to create countless memes and jams that tick boxes all night long?
So do I;)
I have one and while it was never a go-to, it did force me to learn a lot as my first synthesizer. It definitely helps as one where you really want a plan going in, because the knob fiddling from trying to change multiple parameters at once doesn’t work so hot.
It’s Dave Smith looking at synth forum grousing at not having every bell and whistle and saying “you want all this, okay, you asked for it…”
Freaking legend!!!
I like it - as in not the look or presentation of it as a device but in what's on the inside. It's "throaty"! I admit that I like the weirdness you can get by doing all kinds of A-D/D-A conversion and it's fun to see the options presented by it. You know what this thing is? - It's Miley Cyrus. (hear me out!) You get the sweetness and timbre of a practiced young vocalist, but you also get the jagged growl of a torch song singer who's put back five fingers of whisky and smoked a half-pack of Kools during the set break. There's surprising appeal to that duality!
I like that analogy!
Yes, sounds and looks like a perfect Techno machine! Thank you so much
Thanks! It's very techno!
Yo! a piece of gear I actually own! Love my evolver. I don't think the haters realize that this isn't supposed to be another subtractive-synth-minimoog clone 😅. One of my favorite devices to make percussion actually. With all of the Lfos, envelopes, etc you can get some really cool autechre bleepy-bloop rhythms. IDM in a box for sure.
IDM in a box sums it up nicely
very much indeed. sums it up perfectly.
Absolutely LOVE the jams on this one. Even more than usual! I think you and the Evolver gel pretty nicely!
Thank you!!!
you know it's probably a good synth deep down if it takes more than 5 minutes to get to the wall of hate
Or a really complicated one;)
I just saw a clip in this video of a rocker with violin in hand preparing to play his guitar with the strings of said violin as if it were a bow and his guitar were a cello(?). The meme factor of y’alls content is just glorious & riddles every vid with hilarity. I can’t get enough. I just hope y’all don’t run out of bad gear. 😂
Thanks!!! Check out Spinal Tap;)
That's a satire of Jimmy Page bowing his guitar.
The final track was sumptuous, really great work! The Evolver is like an excessive labyrinth and consequently not one I wish to explore. Complexity does not equal greatness, unless you're Dave Smith of course. HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!
Thank you!!! Have a nice weekend!!!
Incredibly, I wound up with one of these gifted to me and I'm still scratching my head trying to understand both the thing itself and the whole set of circumstances that led to me owning it. Wrote a cool track with the presets though!
Nice!
I’ll never sell my PolyEvolver. Great synths.
👍👍👍
One of best snippets from your channel!!!
Thank you!!!
The Evolver is pretty cool and produces a lot of sounds that a Prophet never could. But what you really want is a Poly Evolver, which has four voices and quadruples the fun. These are getting pretty pricy, nfortunately.
These are heavily sought after!!!
that final jam is funky as hell
Thank you!!!
Sounds like something NIN would use.
I thought the exact same thing!
He most probably did, Reznor is a huge fan of DSI
Trent used it live to recreate the ring mod solo on “the Becoming”
I dig your jams, probably my favourite part as well as the onslaught of synth memes.
You should do a separate channel for vile VSTs.