DSI Poly Evolver

so i've been looking for an analog poly for a while now and the pek has come highly recommended from a few trusted sources. after a week or two of searching, i finally found a PEK PE for around $1,900 used in good condition (it goes for $2,600 new).

i've been using an access virus kc for years, which i've really enjoyed, but i'm sick and tired of sifting through endless menus and ready to move on to some sweet and sexy analog goodness.

one hesitation is that it will be shipping from cali (i'm in ny) and i've never played one before.. so i'm going to have to rely on youtube vids and the vast knowledge base of watmm expert knob twazzlers.

so what do you think? is $1,900 a decent price? any thoughts on the mono evolver or the prophet '08? any other hardware recommendations?

thanks for the help

a good buy but i've heard the build quality isn't very robust, the upper audio frequency limited and there's some odd vco glitch also the filter isnt as warm as the revised 08's curtis chip but all this aside you'll have a beast for abstract drones and glitchy noises plus some decent analogue sounds to boot

I had an 08 but found it a little typical on the sound side if things but the evolver has tons more options

don't rate DSI equipment personally.

  On 6/2/2011 at 3:48 PM, uptown devil said:

so i've been looking for an analog poly for a while now and the pek has come highly recommended from a few trusted sources. after a week or two of searching, i finally found a PEK PE for around $1,900 used in good condition (it goes for $2,600 new).

 

 

 

 

i've been using an access virus kc for years, which i've really enjoyed, but i'm sick and tired of sifting through endless menus and ready to move on to some sweet and sexy analog goodness.

 

one hesitation is that it will be shipping from cali (i'm in ny) and i've never played one before.. so i'm going to have to rely on youtube vids and the vast knowledge base of watmm expert knob twazzlers.

 

so what do you think? is $1,900 a decent price? any thoughts on the mono evolver or the prophet '08? any other hardware recommendations?

 

thanks for the help

I don't know where u r in ny but there's a pek at the sam ash right near times square in manhattan. Its epic. Amazing. I love dsi sstuff and the pek is the flagship and there's a reason. The only thing I will say is don't get it to emulate vintage synths. It is very possible to do but may leave u wanting more. Get one for pure poly analog bliss...add in the digi aspect awesome seq and all the fun stuff u can do with audio input or routing audio back in. They are amazing synths. Only reason I don't have one is cuz I'm broken up with music making atm. Iver almost bought one many times tho. If I had found a good cond one at that price woulda jumped quick. Don't worry about shipping. It will be fine. Get reassurance from seller if need be.

  On 6/2/2011 at 4:23 PM, soundwave said:

a good buy but i've heard the build quality isn't very robust, the upper audio frequency limited and there's some odd vco glitch also the filter isnt as warm as the revised 08's curtis chip but all this aside you'll have a beast for abstract drones and glitchy noises plus some decent analogue sounds to boot

 

I had an 08 but found it a little typical on the sound side if things but the evolver has tons more options

limited upper audio frequency, interesting. i'm hoping that means it's pretty fat on the low end then..

  On 6/2/2011 at 5:42 PM, Brandi_B said:

 

I don't know where u r in ny but there's a pek at the sam ash right near times square in manhattan. Its epic. Amazing. I love dsi sstuff and the pek is the flagship and there's a reason. The only thing I will say is don't get it to emulate vintage synths. It is very possible to do but may leave u wanting more. Get one for pure poly analog bliss...add in the digi aspect awesome seq and all the fun stuff u can do with audio input or routing audio back in. They are amazing synths. Only reason I don't have one is cuz I'm broken up with music making atm. Iver almost bought one many times tho. If I had found a good cond one at that price woulda jumped quick. Don't worry about shipping. It will be fine. Get reassurance from seller if need be.

i'm about a 6-8 hour drive upstate, depending on how god-awful the traffic outside of the city is. i keep my eye on the nyc craigslist though, i have some friends in the city that would buy/ship something for me if need be.

emulating vintage synths isn't too much of a concern, but i am curious to know how well the unmaniuplated soundwaves stand on their own. didn't even realize about the stereo inputs, that's great news and probably means i can ditch the virus.

what do you think about the onboard effects? the sequencer seems pretty badass, too. what's the digital side like? is it pretty much just used for saturation/distortion?

i'm just about convinced to snag this beast. thanks for the input

keep in mind that the evolvers have DCOs rather than VCOs. that may or may not matter sonically to you, but i personally feel that it contributes to the slightly more 'clinical' sound of the DSI stuff.

some might say that's splitting hairs, but if i were spending that kind of money on getting a more analogue sound (which i have) i want the most analoguestestest sound i could get.

having said all that, you'll probably be blissfully happy with it all the same and it does make some good noises.

  On 6/3/2011 at 8:59 AM, maus said:

keep in mind that the evolvers have DCOs rather than VCOs. that may or may not matter sonically to you, but i personally feel that it contributes to the slightly more 'clinical' sound of the DSI stuff.

 

some might say that's splitting hairs, but if i were spending that kind of money on getting a more analogue sound (which i have) i want the most analoguestestest sound i could get.

 

having said all that, you'll probably be blissfully happy with it all the same and it does make some good noises.

cool, thanks for the input. i just spent a bunch of time reading endless debates on vco vs. dco and have decided that it's not too important to me. i definitely understand wanting to keep it as analog as possible though, especially at $2k. do you have any other synth recommendations?

if i had 2k i would save up another 1500

and i would buy one of these [so4v]and keep it for life

http://www.tomoberheim.com/

How does the poly evolver compare to their new drum computer Tempest they are selling? I read over the feature list and it seems sort of similar in capabilities, except that one is a drumcomputer.

  On 6/3/2011 at 5:16 PM, a missing sense said:

How does the poly evolver compare to their new drum computer Tempest they are selling? I read over the feature list and it seems sort of similar in capabilities, except that one is a drumcomputer.

One is a drum machine and the other is a polyphonic synthesizer. Apples and Oranges.

  On 6/3/2011 at 8:32 PM, MrSparkle666 said:

  On 6/3/2011 at 5:16 PM, a missing sense said:

How does the poly evolver compare to their new drum computer Tempest they are selling? I read over the feature list and it seems sort of similar in capabilities, except that one is a drumcomputer.

 

One is a drum machine and the other is a polyphonic synthesizer. Apples and Oranges.

I believe the Tempests synth drum section is based on the regular DSI architecture with the same digital waves as the Evolver and VS.

yea Tempest is 6 voice polyphonic, with more or less the same type of oscillator section. it's interesting because in the video they posted on DSI's site, Dave Smith is talking about the fact that you could also use it as a polysynth and not just a drummachine.

this doesn't answer any questions but the mono evolver is definitely going to be my first synth purchase in a few months

  On 6/3/2011 at 3:24 PM, uptown devil said:

cool, thanks for the input. i just spent a bunch of time reading endless debates on vco vs. dco and have decided that it's not too important to me. i definitely understand wanting to keep it as analog as possible though, especially at $2k. do you have any other synth recommendations?

to be honest, for an easy-to-use synth 'workstation', which is more or less what the PE is, there's probably not too much out there that's similar. for the same money (quite a bit less even) you could look at a roland MKS80. it's rackmount, but it's honest-to-god analogue madness. i don't mean to put the DSI stuff down... it's still analogue... but pretty much everyone i know that's into synths has come away eventually a little disappointed with the lack of "balls" or "warmth" from the DSI instruments. it's REALLY probably worth your time to try one out first.

there's also the juno60 or the korg polysix in that arena. you can even look at stuff like old crumars too.

of course, you're dealing with older, potentially finicky gear this way. so for that reason the PE is probably a better bet. it's newer, has better functionality from a modern standpoint, and will be easier to work with, i'd imagine.

i'm actually surprised we haven't seen more recent-market polyphonic analogues. perhaps soon.

I'd also recommend an MKS80 (rev 4). Proper analogue, sounds great. Ed DMX put some samples of it up here: http://www.durftal.com/music/edmx/dmxstudio/mks80.htm

  On 6/3/2011 at 9:08 PM, a missing sense said:

yea Tempest is 6 voice polyphonic, with more or less the same type of oscillator section. it's interesting because in the video they posted on DSI's site, Dave Smith is talking about the fact that you could also use it as a polysynth and not just a drummachine.

i went and checked that out, seems incredibly versatile.. like a souped-up analog version of the korg emx-1. i think i remember reading that you can chain a poly evolver rack and a poly evolver keyboard to double the amount of voices; i wonder if you could do the same with the tempest and a pek. they would probably play very nicely together.

  On 6/4/2011 at 12:16 AM, maus said:

  On 6/3/2011 at 3:24 PM, uptown devil said:

cool, thanks for the input. i just spent a bunch of time reading endless debates on vco vs. dco and have decided that it's not too important to me. i definitely understand wanting to keep it as analog as possible though, especially at $2k. do you have any other synth recommendations?

to be honest, for an easy-to-use synth 'workstation', which is more or less what the PE is, there's probably not too much out there that's similar. for the same money (quite a bit less even) you could look at a roland MKS80. it's rackmount, but it's honest-to-god analogue madness. i don't mean to put the DSI stuff down... it's still analogue... but pretty much everyone i know that's into synths has come away eventually a little disappointed with the lack of "balls" or "warmth" from the DSI instruments. it's REALLY probably worth your time to try one out first.there's also the juno60 or the korg polysix in that arena. you can even look at stuff like old crumars too.of course, you're dealing with older, potentially finicky gear this way. so for that reason the PE is probably a better bet. it's newer, has better functionality from a modern standpoint, and will be easier to work with, i'd imagine.i'm actually surprised we haven't seen more recent-market polyphonic analogues. perhaps soon.

yeah, i understand that from an analog purist's viewpoint the poly evolver probably isn't going to be the first choice. i'm really not put-off by the digital element and actually think it's going to be a pretty unique and awesome addition to the synth. i'm simply just looking to have the most sonic capability at the highest fidelity possible.

the mks80 looks great as well. i've had serious gear lust for the jupiters since i got to play a jp-6 in a shop a few years back. the fact that it's a rackmount turns me off a bit, not to mention that if i were to buy it i'd want to have the mpg-80 with it which pushes the cost up to the $3k range. it certainly has the sound, though.

i think i'm pullin the trigger on the pek today. no sense in wasting anymore time not having it. thanks everybody for the help and suggestions.

I love my poly evolver, the editor is great the only thing i haven't figured out yet to do on it is how to type in sequencer values using the keyboard step by step. any help?

also if you get it, make sure to upgrade to the potentiometer kit, the rotary controllers are probably going to be the most painful thing for analog purists, and they sort of suck

  On 6/4/2011 at 10:57 PM, Awepittance said:

also if you get it, make sure to upgrade to the potentiometer kit, the rotary controllers are probably going to be the most painful thing for analog purists, and they sort of suck

just claimed it on ebay a few minutes ago

i made sure it was the pot edition, in which 60/78 are potentiometers. is that pretty much the same kit that you installed aftermarket? the rotaries on some of my digital hardware effects are most certainly annoying to deal at times.

nice job! yes i bet the kit is one in the same. my problem with the rotaries was that over time they glitch out, ive had it repaired once already.

i take that back, i got an email a few hours later telling me that they had sold it in their shop an hour before i bought it on ebay. knew i shouldn't have waited.

edit: fuck!

a little twattish to say the least, especially if it was an auction. If it was a long term ebay store 30 day listing type of thing i can kind of understand it but still annoying as hell. Don't let it dissuade you from getting one :)

how many steps are there for each control, is it the same as midi ccs (ie 0-127)?

  On 6/5/2011 at 10:49 AM, Awepittance said:

a little twattish to say the least, especially if it was an auction. If it was a long term ebay store 30 day listing type of thing i can kind of understand it but still annoying as hell. Don't let it dissuade you from getting one :)

it was a 7 day 'buy it now' listing, but they did offer me 10% off and free shipping for the next month as an apology, and they have a pretty decent shop: http://noisebug.net/.

definitely still got my sights on a pek though.. looks like it's back to stalkin on ebay for the next few weeks