Copyright 2011-2012 John Bowen Synth Design. All rights reserved.
This manual, as well as the software and hardware described in it, is furnished under license and may be used or copied
only in accordance with the terms of such license. The content of this manual is furnished for informational use only, is
subject to change without notice and should not construed as a commitment by John Bowen Synth Design.
John Bowen Synth Design assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in this
book. Except as permitted by such license, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of John Bowen Synth Design.
Solaris is a trademark of John Bowen Synth Design. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their re-
spective owners. All features and specications subject to change without notice.
For the latest revision of this manual, visit our website:
www.johnbowen.com.
Special thanks to:
Marcos Paris, sound design Bank 1-MP
Carl Lofgren, sound design Bank 2-CL
Howard Scarr (HS), Kurt Ader (KA), and Stephen Hummel (SH), sound design Bank 3
Brent Garlow, Solaris User Guide
Scoeld Kid, Solaris Signal Path diagram
And an extra special “Thank You So Much!” to Stefan Stenzel and the directors at Waldorf for their generosity in allowing
me to use the Waldorf wavetables in Solaris!
2 |
Introduction
Welcome to the world of Solaris!
Thank you for purchasing the Solaris keyboard! I’ve worked for years on this design, following my desire to merge the
benets of digital technology with a bit of “old school” layout and control. This approach intends to provide fairly quick access to a very large number of parameters (over 1250!), due to the exible approach I decided to implement, however, as
with any complex system, work ow and understanding can take time, depending on your experience and interest.
Please register your purchase of the Solaris with me at info@johnbowen.com. Once I have your name and email and serial number, I will send you links to some video tutorials to get you started. It is my hope that Solaris will provide you with
many hours of exploration and enjoyment. Please let me know if you have questions or need clarication on any subjects
that are not clearly explained, and I will do my best to answer.
Regards,
John Bowen
WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF SOLARIS
| 3
Dedication
I’d like to dedicate the Solaris project to the memory of my late mom and dad. They were always supportive and encouraging to me throughout my music career.
I’d also like to thank my wife and family for their patience and understanding, Hans Zimmer for his early enthusiasm and
support of my plugins for the Scope platform, and Goffe Torgerson for having the faith and condence in Solaris to help it
along, and whose assistance in additional graphics design and mechanical engineering we could not have done without.
Also for my colleagues at Sonic Core, Holger Drenkelfort and Juergen Kindermann. It was their early efforts that enabled
my dream to begin taking shape, and I will forever be grateful for their friendship and the many hours of unselsh dedication they contributed to bring the Solaris into the world. “Thank You” a million times over!
As well, all of the Sonic Core team who have worked so tirelessly to bring Solaris to life - Klaus Piehl, Julian Schmidt, Ralf
Dressel, Alex Zielke, Nadia Haubrich and Adriana Leonhard.
Finally, I need to express my thanks to all those initial pre-order customers who “put their money where their mouth is” -
for your unfailing faith and condence that the Solaris would be a product worth waiting for....and having the patience for
waiting! (And for much longer than any of us ever expected.) Without your support, the Solaris would have never happened.
ÂAvoid exposing your Solaris to moisture, dust or dirt.
Do not place open liquids anywhere near the unit.
If any substances get into the Solaris housing, you
should switch it off, disconnect the power supply and
contact a qualied service technician.
ÂAvoid exposing the unit to excessive heat or direct
sunlight. Ensure that relatively cool air can circulate
freely around the unit.
ÂAvoid exposing the unit to physical shock or vibrations.
Make sure it is placed rmly on a at surface.
ÂOnly use the external power supply that was included
with the unit. Never connect the Solaris to a power
outlet that does not fully comply with national safety
regulations. Never use an external power supply which
wasn’t designed to match the local voltage requirements.
ÂDisconnect the power whenever you are unlikely to
use the Solaris for a long period of time. Always pull on
the plug itself, not on the cord. Never touch the mains
plug with wet hands.
ÂThe Solaris is capable of generating levels that can
cause irreversible damage to your ears, either via an
external amplier or when using headphones connected directly to the unit. Please keep levels reasonable
at all times! Make sure that the equipment you connect
the Solaris to matches the Solaris’s requirements.
SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
| 7
About this Manual
Typographical Standards
The following typographical standards are used in this
manual:
ÂWhen referring to a physical button or other control
on the Solaris’s front panel, the name of the control is
formatted like this.
ÂWhen referring to a parameter, the name of the param-
eter is formatted like this.
ÂWhen referring to the value of a parameter, the value is
formatted like this.
ÂWhen referring to a panel’s Main mode versus
Mod(ulation) mode, the mode name is formatted like
this.
ÂSidebar notes, hints, etc. are formatted like this:
This is a sample of how hints and notes are formatted.
ÂWhen describing one of Solaris’s panels or soft menus,
the name of the parameters are often used as section
headings. In those cases, the name of the parameter is
formatted like this.
This is a sample parameter heading
TYPOGRAPHICAL STANDARDS8 | ABOUT THIS MANUAL
Getting Started
Quick Start
This section is designed to get you up and running with
Solaris as quickly as possible. However, Solaris is a very
sophisticated device, and I highly recommend you spend
the time to thoroughly read the entire user guide. The Getting Started section is especially important, as it introduces
some concepts that are unique to Solaris, as well as familiarizing you with the general layout of the synthesizer and
tips and tricks for navigating its user interface.
A few things to keep in mind:
ÂUnlike every other synth on the market, there are no
presets or preset memory inside the Solaris! What
this means is that ALL preset data (as well as the OS,
samples, factory patterns, and the Global init le) reside on your CompactFlash (CF) card. DO NOT LOSE
YOUR CF CARD! It is highly recommended you get a
CF card reader and back up your card to a computer.
You do not need a CF card to get sound from the Solaris; without a CF card inserted, a simple default patch
using a Square wave should sound.
ÂFor most listening applications, Outputs 1 & 2 or the
headphone out are all you need. The factory presets
are designed for listening from Outputs 1 & 2, or the
headphone out. Outputs 1 & 2 act as Left & Right as
well. If you want to use the S/PDIF output, you must
change a System setting.
ÂYes, the power supply is outside of the synth. This
avoids noise in the audio, and makes things simpler in
the design.
So, to get started, plug in the power supply and audio
cables, insert your CF card, and turn on the Solaris. Also,
it’s always a good idea to have you system volume down
when turning on gear. The ve text displays should say,
“Booting...”, and the graphics (gfx) display will eventually
also show a number of ‘opening credits’ screens, the last of
which is the gracious support message from Waldorf Music,
giving permission to use their Wavetables.
Your keyboard comes with a CompactFlash card that provides organization and editing of presets, arpeggiator and
sequencer patterns, storage of samples, and several other
basic setup les. In addition, there are a few ‘hidden’ com-
mands to call up system diagnostics and calibration.
Updating the Operating System
There are two ways to update Solaris’s operating system
(OS).
1. There is a le in the OS folder of the CompactFlash card
that came with Solaris, called, “doFlash.txt”. There is a
single value in the text le, either a 1 or a 0. A value of
“1” will cause Solaris to automatically load the OS le in
the same folder. Once the operating system is loaded,
the value doFlash.txt le is rewritten as a 0, preventing Solaris from updating the OS every time you turn it
on. You will see a progress screen, and a message to
reboot Solaris when the OS is nished loading.
2. If you hold down Enter during boot up when the graph-
ics screen rst shows an image, you get a special menu
that offers a menu option to load the OS from the card.
Calibration Routines
You can re-initialize the Joystick, wheels, ribbon, and aftertouch sensing by accessing Solaris’s Self Test menu. Press
1, 3 and 8 on the numeric keypad simultaneously and follow the instructions shown in the main display. See “Appendix 6- Self Test Menu” on page 59 for details about the
Self Test menu.
Loading samples
Samples can be in .raw or .wav format, and have a text
le that describes each sample in a group (sample pool).
Refer to “Appendix 5- Sample Specications” on page 58
for details about creating sample pools. To load an existing sample pool from the CompactFlash card, access the
System soft menu on the Graphic Display. Press the Enter
button, and select from the available sample pools, as
shown in Figure 1.
Samples are loaded into RAM, so the CF card can be
removed while Solaris is on.
Figure 1. Loading a Sample Pool
Rotate the knob beneath the Poolname parameter to select a sample pool, then press Enter again to load. You will
see a progress menu as samples are loaded.
Move off of the System soft menu to avoid reloading the sample pool if you hit the Enter key inadvertently.
Selecting Presets
About 30 seconds after the system is turned on, the Preset
screen should be shown on the graphic display. You should
QUICK START
A FEW THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND | 9
get a short message about the CF card, and the Preset
Store
LED should be lit, as shown in Figure 2. If it isn’t, press the
Preset button.
5. Use the keypad to directly enter a Preset number. You
must press Enter to load the preset.
6. Use the knobs below the Graphic Display to dial up different Presets or Banks. You must then press Enter to
load the preset.
A more convenient way to select various Banks is to use
the keypad, as follows:
Any number pressed on the keypad that is followed by the
decimal point button (dot) will be used as the selected Bank
number. Any number following that will be used to select
the Program number. If no new bank number is entered,
i.e., you do not press the dot, then any number entered will
be used as a Program number for the current bank. So, for
example, to select Bank 3, Program 12, you would press
3.12 then Enter.
Preset Mode: Graphic Display
Preset Mode is enabled when you press the Preset button
(above the numeric keypad) on, so that its LED is lit. This
must be on to select any presets. As soon as an edit is
made anywhere on the front panel, the Solaris will automatically leave Preset Mode to allow for editing, so when you
want to play through the presets, make sure this Preset
button is lit.
Figure 2.
Numeric Keypad
Figure 3. Data Wheel
There are several ways to select presets:
3. Use the Inc/Dec buttons right above the Data Wheel as
shown in Figure 3. This automatically loads each preset
as you step one by one through the bank.
You must have a CompactFlash (CF) card inserted
to select presets!
For most all of the Graphic Display functions there will be
a pair of numbers on the lower right-hand corner. These
indicate which page of the current functional group you are
on, out of how many total pages there are for that functional
group. For Preset Mode, there are 3 such pages, shown as
1/3, 2/3, and 3/3. (You can read these as page 1 of 3, page
2 of 3, page 3 of 3.) You use the up/down buttons to the
left of the display to access these pages. Note: these are
always working in ‘wrap around’ mode.
Figure 4. Preset Mode, page 1
The rst page of Preset Mode, as shown in Figure 4, displays the preset name, MIDI Bank and Program number,
and the Category logic and Filtering. The bottom line of the
Graphic Display will always show you current information
when any knob is selected. The initial data displayed when
selecting a Preset is the preset name and the two programmed categories (if there are any programmed), shown
as C1: and C2:
4. Use the Data Wheel to scroll through presets. When
you see the one you want, press Enter to load.
PRESET MODE: GRAPHIC DISPLAY10 | QUICK START
Figure 5. Preset Mode, page 2
Figure 7. Storing Presets, page 1
The second page, shown in Figure 5, allows you to assign
5 knobs as Performance Knobs for any preset parameter in
the synth. The third page, shown in Figure 6, allows you to
view 10 presets at a time, to get a better overview of where
you are in the bank. Use the Data Wheel to scroll through
the preset names here. Note that the example shown has
category ltering enabled, so the list of presets displayed
on page 3 is limited to those that match the selected criteria
of C1:Arpeggio OR C2:Bright.
Figure 6. Preset Mode, page 3 with Category Filtering on
About Preset Categories
When you save (store) a preset, you have the option of
assigning two categories to the sound. These categories
allow you to search for matching presets when you use the
Category logic on the Preset Mode’s page 1. When you set
the logic to one of the three choices, scrolling though presets will be limited to only those that satisfy the conditions
of the search. The categories are:
This gives you the rst Store screen, as shown in Figure 7,
and lets you select a new bank and preset location in which
to store your preset. If you just want to store it in the same
location, you don’t need to change anything. If, however,
you want to listen to the new location to see if you don’t
want to keep what’s there, you can press Compare, which
will load the new location’s preset and allow you to play it.
Compare will stay lit when you are listening to the Com-
pare buffer. Turn it off when you are ready to store your edited preset. You can also select category types here. Simply
scroll through both categories using the knobs below the
Cat1 and Cat2 soft labels to select.
Figure 8. Storing Presets, page 2
Press Store a second time, and now you will be taken to
the Naming page, as shown in Figure 8. Each Preset name
can be 25 characters long, and you must use the Data
Wheel and the Inc/Dec buttons above it to select the posi-
tion and character you want to use. Using the Inc/Dec will
shift the current letter position left or right through each of
the 25 positions, and scrolling the wheel will select through
the entire character list. Press Store a third time, and this
time, you are done! Turn on the Preset LED and Inc/Dec
the preset, then go back to your newly edited preset, to
check and make sure all is saved as you wanted.
Loading Samples
If the Category logic is set to AND, both categories must
be valid to select a preset. If the Category logic is set to
OR, either category will be used to select a preset. If the
Category logic is set to NOT, all presets that do NOT have
the 2 categories listed will be available to select. If the logic
is blank, then all presets are available.
Storing Presets
As soon as you edit any parameter, the Preset LED will
go off, putting you in live edit mode. Once you have made
changes that you want to keep, press the Store button
above the numeric keypad.
LOADING SAMPLES
The factory CF card comes with a folder in it labeled,
“Samples”. Inside here you will nd 9 glockenspiel samples
and one harpsichord sample in .raw format, and two text
les called SamplePool-001.txt and SamplePool-002.txt.
These text les describe the name of the sample set, the
number and name of each sample in the set, and various
other aspects, such as root key, ne tuning, and low/high
key mapping.
Any new SamplePool must be numbered in the next available ascending number, otherwise the Solaris will not
recognize it! So, for the current factory CF card, one would
need to create a SamplePool[b]-003[/b].txt to describe the
next set of custom samples to be used. (You can, however,
re-number the factory SamplePools, so that the glocken-
spiel would be numbered -003, and your new le -001,
STORING PRESETS | 11
for example). Subsequent SamplePools would have to be
-004, -005, -006, etc.
And nally, the SamplePools will not automatically load
when you turn on the Solaris, or plug in the CF card! You
must go to your SYSTEM soft key group (in the center
graphics display), and activate the process by turning the
lower left most knob (for the parameter labeled “Sam-
pImg”). Once you turn the knob, you should see a mes-
sage in the bottom line that says, “Press Enter to select im-
age le.” You then press Enter, and the Solaris will go out
to the CF card and look for any SamplePool text les in the
Samples folder to load in the Sample Pool names. Once it
has all of the names loaded from the card, you can turn the
same lower left knob and now see a number and a name of
each SamplePool that is on the card. Once you see the one
you want to load, you press Enter again, and wait until the
Solaris is nished loading the samples, at which point you
should see the message, “Finished sample transfer...”.
To avoid any accidental reloading of the SamplePool
names and/or samples themselves, it’s best to move off of
the SYSTEM screen to some other screen (you can go to
the MIDI screens, or any other soft key group).
Now you can go to any Oscillator, select the WAV type, and
you should be able to hear your loaded samples as you
scroll through the Wave numbers.
The rst time you load a brand new sample pool
into your Solaris, a special ‘map’ le is created from
the SamplePool.txt le. This will take a little bit of
time, depending on how many samples are in the
Sample Pool, and you will nd that, when trying to
select the new pool, you will not see it immediately
in the screen. You do need to attempt to select it,
however, to tell the Solaris to ‘build’ the .map le.
Once it’s done, you will have the SamplePool number available to load.
The format of SamplePool les is described in “Sample
Specications” on page 58.
STORING PRESETS12 | LOADING SAMPLES
Home
Shift
User Interface and Navigation
There are several ways to step through the pages. The
General Navigation
This section introduces some very important concepts that will help you easily dive into the depths
of Solaris. It’s well worth your time to read this
chapter!
The Solaris is organized so that you can get to a number of
parameters rather quickly. That’s why I’ve decided to use
six displays: ve text displays and one Graphic Display.
Even so, with over 1200 parameters, inevitably there is
going to be the need to ‘page’ the displayed parameters. All
synthesizers have several basic sections to create sound;
the ve text displays are used to handle the parameters for
seven of these sections (2 of the 5 displays are ‘shared’).
These sections are: Oscillators, LFOs, Mixers/InsertFX,
Filters/VCAs, and Envelopes. The sixth display is called the
graphics (gfx) display, and is used to handle all remaining
parameters of the instrument.
user can decide to step through all pages with the Inc/Dec
buttons, and then stop at the end, or to be able to continu-
ously ‘wrap around’ from the last to the rst page.
Figure 10. System Tab in Graphic Display
This function is called Wrap, and is set on the System tab,
as shown in Figure 10. The System tab is found in the
softkeys sets on the graphic display by pressing the More
button a few times. Also here is Split, which allows you to
stay within the boundaries of either the Main or the Mod
sub-group. This is handy when you want to switch quickly
back and forth between two related pages, say Shape in
the Main pages and a modulation of Shape in the Mod
pages.
Text Displays (x5)
Figure 9. Typical Text Display
Main Mode and Mod Mode
Figure 9 shows the layout of a text display, this one from
the Oscillators section. For each of the text display sections, you have 1 pair of buttons stacked vertically. The pair
of buttons to the left of the displays are Inc/Dec buttons.
Below those is the sub-group toggle button. The upper
subgroup is called Main, the lower one Mod. For each
section, you will nd general settings under the Main
pages, and all possible modulation to that group under the
Mod pages. Typically there are 2 Main pages and 4 Mod
pages per group, although this does vary a bit.
If you want to quickly reach the topmost page of any object
(Oscs, LFOs, Mixers, Filters, VCAs, Envelopes), just quick-
ly ‘double click’ that object’s select button. You can also use
the object select buttons to do a “copy & paste” operation simply hold down the button of the object you want to copy
until it starts blinking, and then select the button where you
want to paste the data. Of course, this only works with like
objects - LFOs to other LFOs, Filters to Filters, etc.
Graphic Display
Throughout this manual, we will refer to a panel’s
Main Mode and Mod Mode. Those modes, or sets of
menus, are access by the sub-group toggle button
(or by using Wrap, as described below).
GENERAL NAVIGATION
Figure 11.
The center section with the graphic display is the softkey
functional display area. It also has a Preset Mode when
the Preset switch is on (at the top of the numeric keypad
Graphic Display
GRAPHIC DISPLAY | 13
panel). Other functional buttons located here are Home
and More. The graphic display handles all of the remaining parameters that are not covered in the dedicated text
display sections. There are 6 soft key buttons, whose labels
change depending on which functional group is selected.
The top row of knobs operate the upper line of parameters;
the bottom row, the lower line. Sometimes either the upper or lower knob will adjust the same value (only for the
BPM at this time). You may nd yourself at times operating
a knob that is not the correct one for the parameter line
you are wanting to adjust - something you have to learn to
watch!
The bottom line of the graphic display will always show the
active parameter, i.e., the last knob touched. It will show
the current parameter value, waveshape names, sample
names, etc. The Data Wheel will always affect the active
parameter.
The bottom row of the graphic display shows the
active parameter, i.e., the last knob touched. This
is especially handy when working with the wavetable and VS oscillators, since you can see the full
wavetable or waveshape name, respectively, in the
graphic display.
Function Group Shortcut
There are currently ve functional groups, which are selected by repeatedly pressing the More button. For direct
access to these 5 groups, you can also hold down the
More button for 2 seconds to change the soft key labels
to display the 5 functional groups, as shown in Figure 12.
Pressing one of these will take you to the associated set of
soft key labels. LED above the More button will ash when
you are viewing the Function Group Shortcuts.
SysMid
All other system parameters and MIDI controls are here.
This data is not stored in a preset, but as a glo.ini le.
You can tell how many pages of information are
available for each section of the Graphic Display by
referring to the bottom right corner of the display.
For each of the soft key graphic displays, there may be
more than one page of information. You can tell by the
small numbers in the lower right of the gfx display if there
are additional pages. For example, if you see 1/4, this
means you are looking at page 1 out of 4 possible pages.
Use the up /down buttons to the left of the gfx display to
move through the pages.
Performance
Controls
Solaris provides a number of performance-oriented controls
that give you tremendous control over the expressiveness
of your playing. These controls are described below at a
high level. For further details about how to congure and
customize these controls, please refer to the appropriate
sections in the Solaris User Guide.
Performance Buttons
Figure 13. Performance Buttons
Figure 12. Function Groups shown in Graphic Display
Arp/Seq
The controls for the arpeggiator, sequencer, and ribbon are
here.
FX
The output assignment, effects bussing, and effects controls are here.
VS/AM
This page has 2 each of Amplitude Mod and Vector Mixer
sections; also Looping EG.
KeyTab
The 4 Key Tables and 4 Lag processors are here; also the
Env Follower.
On the left side of the unit, between the LFOS panel and
the Ribbon Controller there are 9 performance-oriented
buttons.
Assign 1 and 2
These buttons can be set to momentary or toggle mode.
This is done in the Home menu, page 2, as shown in Figure
14. You also can assign the desired function for each button on this page. The choices are: Keyboard Glide on/off,
Oscillator Glide on/off (for an individual oscillator or for all of
them), start/stop Seq, start/stop Arpeg, and Arpeg Transpose. When selected in the Mod Source list, the assignable
buttons generate full value (+Max value) when pressed,
and a zero value when not. For details, refer to “Figure 85.
MIDI Menu, page 2 of 2” on page 45.
Figure 14. Assignable Button setup
PERFORMANCE BUTTONS14 | PERFORMANCE CONTROLS
Octave (Transpose) Up/Down
Enable Part
These buttons should be self explanatory. They change
the range of the keyboard, but must be pressed before you
play to get the transposed values. They will not transpose
keys currently held.
Unison
Activates Unison mode, which is congured in the Home
menu, page 4.
Seq On
Activates the Sequencer, which is congured in the four
sequencer tabs (SeqA, SeqB, SeqC, and SeqD) on the
graphic display.
Arp On
Even though you have ve text screens to edit parameters,
doing so will immediately take you out of Preset Mode.
Also, there are parameters in the graphic display for many
different functional groups, and you might want to have ac-
cess to these. To give you quick access to any parameter in
the system, the bottom ve knobs below the graphic display
can be assigned. You use the Shift button (to the left side
of the lower row of knobs) to assign these knobs.
Figure 16. Performance Knob Assignment
Activates the Arpeggiator, which is congured on the Arp
tab on the graphic display.
Hold
Has the function of a sustain switch. It does not work with
the sequencer, as this is a ‘gated’ sequencer, which only
works when keys are held down. This control can be used
to “latch” the arpeggiator on.
Tempo
This button is actually a Tap Tempo button as well. Holding
it down will allow a pop-up on the screen to show the current BPM, and allow you to change it with either left most
knob of the Graphic Display. Tapping the Tempo button will
determine an average BPM after 2 taps, and will continue
to average the tempo for subsequent taps. Tempo is stored
with the preset, but can be overridden (ignored) by setting
this in the System page. Select ‘Load BPM - ON’ if you
want the presets to load their programmed tempos.
Enable Part Buttons
Figure 15.
These buttons allow you to disable, or mute, the signal
coming from each of the four mixers. A lit LED above any of
the buttons means that mixer’s output will be heard. Enable
Part settings are stored with presets.
A number of Solaris’s presets have been programmed to take advantage of the Enable Part
buttons to alter the preset in a desirable way. When
creating your own presets, experiment with using
the Enable Part buttons to allow you to alter your
sounds on the y, without having to select a different preset.
Enable Part Buttons
1. Holding down the Shift button, select which of the 5
Performance Knobs you want to assign by giving it a
turn.
2. Continue to hold down Shift, and select the parameter
you wish to associate with the Performance Knob.
3. Release the Shift button. You should see a descriptive
text string for the assigned knob at the bottom of the
screen.
As shown in Figure 16, you will also see a +/- % value. The
Performance Knobs are relative to the programmed value.
They can add or subtract from the parameter value. Only
a one-to-one assignment is allowed (one parameter per
knob). Since the parameters in the text displays are fairly
easy to reach, usually these Performance Knobs will be
selected from one of the many soft key pages, but they can
be any stored Preset parameter you want, to provide quick
access, and keep the synth in Preset Mode. Performance
Knob assignments are stored with presets.
Pitch and Modulation Wheels
These function as you might expect. The range of the pitch
wheel--both up and down--can be set independently using
the parameters PW Up and PW Down in the Home section, page 3. Note that since these parameters are bipolar,
the pitch ranges for up and down movement can be independently adjusted and reversed.
Joystick
The Joystick is a springless controller designed to be used
with vector synthesis types of sounds. Its X and Y position
are available in most modulation source lists, so it can be
used as a real-time controller for most of Solaris’s parameters.
Ribbon Controller
Assignable Performance Knobs
PERFORMANCE CONTROLS
The Ribbon Controller outputs 2 separate control signals.
If you use a single nger, the output signal for Rib1 and
Rib2 are the same. If you use two ngers, the control signal
associated with the right most nger is output as Rib2.
RIBBON CONTROLLER | 15
More details can be found in “Figure 61. Sequencer Menu,
page 2 of 3” on page 37.
Knob Acceleration
Due to the enormously exible nature of Solaris’s design,
there are often times when the physical knobs will control
parameters with greatly differing value ranges. For example, the 4th knob in the Oscillators section controls the
oscillator frequency either in semitones (-60 to +60), MIDI
clock divisions, or absolute frequency, from 0Hz to 20kHz.
A sort of “acceleration” scheme has been implemented that
ensures the user is able to interact with a given parameter
in a way that makes the most sense for the parameter--pro-
viding ne adjustment for an LFO’s rate, for example--while
still allowing the full range of values to be accessed without
endlessly turning the knob. In order to accomplish this,
several default knob behaviors have been developed. For
example, the range of the Cutoff frequency of a lter is 10
octaves 6 semitones. This is listed in the Cutoff parameter
as 0.0 to 126 semitones. The default knob behavior ap-
plied to Cutoff is to increase or decrease the frequency by
1 semitone as the knob is turned. There is a small amount
of acceleration programmed in, to ensure the entire range
is available with only a couple of full turns. In this case, the
default knob behavior is to compress the range of values,
which allows faster access to the range of values, but by
making larger “steps” along the way. In contrast, the LFO
Rate parameter uses the opposite scheme. In order to al-
low ne adjustment of LFO Rate, the knob is programmed
to increase or decrease in steps of 1/100th of 1Hz as the
knob is turned. Clearly, this scheme would require many full
rotations of the knob to reach 500Hz.
Knob Acceleration and the Shift Button
Pressing and holding down the Shift button as you turn a
knob will invert its default acceleration scheme. Holding
down the Shift button while turning the LFO Rate knob will
cause the value to jump by 1Hz, making it much quicker to
access values at either end of the range. The exact oppo-
site happens for Cutoff, allowing for very ne control over
the frequency.
The Data Wheel is not affected by the Shift button.
It always scrolls at the nest resolution available for
the parameter.
KNOB ACCELERATION16 | PERFORMANCE CONTROLS
Rear Panel Connections
The illustrations below show the rear panel connections of the Solaris. The illustration is too long to t on a single page of
the manual, so it is represented by Figure 17, which shows the leftmost connections on the rear of the unit, and Figure 18,
which shows the rightmost connections.
Figure 17. Leftmost rear panel connections
Figure 18. Right most rear panel connections
PEDALS
SPDIF
ANALOG OUT
ANALOG IN
MIDI
COMPUTER
CF CARD
POWER
POWER
Table 1. Rear panel connections
The pedal inputs are described in “Home Menu” on page 45.
Optical S/PDIF capable of 48kHz in/out when in Master mode. Solaris will operate at 96kHz in Slave mode.
The analog outputs are described in “Output” on page 38.
See “Processing External Signals” on page 23 for more information about the analog inputs.
Solaris provides standard MIDI In, Out, and Thru connectors. MIDI conguration is covered in “MIDI Menu” on
page 44.
Solaris can transmit and receive MIDI signals over the USB port.
CompactFlash port. See “Quick Start” on page 9 for more information about the CF card.
Power Switch.
Jack for the external power supply. The power supply that ships with Solaris has the following specs:
Input: 100-240V ~1.0A max 50-60Hz (groundless)
Output: +12V DC 2.5A, 30W max
(2.5 x 5.5 x 11.0)mm center positive
REAR PANEL CONNECTIONS
KNOB ACCELERATION | 17
Modulation Basics
Waveform
Wave Shape
CoarseFine
Exponential FM
Side ChainLinear FM
-1200+120
-600+60
-1000+100
0%0100%
Ctrl In
-100%0+100%
-100%0+100%
Ctrl In
Strength
Side Chain
-100%0+100%
Ctrl In
Strength
Multimode OSC
Pulse
Sine
Saw
Ctrl In
Ctrl In
Side Chain
-100%0+100%
Ctrl In
Strength
Modular-style
Modulation
Destination-based Modulation
Unlike many hard wired synthesizers which use a modulation matrix to select a modulation source, and assign where
to send it, Solaris uses a destination-based scheme just
like a big modular synthesizer. In Solaris, you start with a
destination--oscillator pitch, for example--and select which
modulation source you want to use to modulate that parameter. Solaris provides four modulation sources for each
major component (each oscillator, lter, etc.), except for the
LFOs, which have three. These modulation sources can be
accessed by pressing the Mod button--or pressing the Inc/
Dec buttons if Split and Wrap are set appropriately in the
System menu--to the left side of the module you want to
modulate.
Let’s use Solaris’s Oscillators section as an example. Imagine that each
of Solaris’s oscillators is an oscillator module in a large modular system.
Figure 19 depicts Solaris oscillator 1, which currently holds a Multimode
Oscillator, as an imaginary oscillator module in a modular synth. The typi-
cal oscillator controls, waveform, shape, coarse and ne tuning, map 1:1
to our imaginary modular oscillator.
Figure 19.
module.
Solaris Oscillator imagined as a modular synthesizer oscillator
Next, let’s modulate the wave shape of the oscillator using
some modulation source, such as LFO1. If we were to do
this on our modular system, we would connect a patch
cable from the output of our LFO module to the oscillator’s
wave shape control input. To see what is modulating any
particular parameter on any particular module of a modular system, you simply follow the patch cable back to its
source. On Solaris, all you need to do is look at the Mod
mode pages for that module.
Solaris oscillator mod source 1 (LFO1) controlling wave shape
Figure 20 shows the Mod mode display of our Solaris
oscillator, directly beneath the imaginary modular oscillator. The Mod window is currently displaying modulation
source 1, one of four modulation source slots available for
the oscillator. We can see that modulation Source1 is set
to LFO1, and modulation Dest is set to Shape. This means
that LFO1 will modulate the oscillator’s wave shape parameter with an Amount of 56%. Follow the green “patch
cable” in Figure 20. You can imagine that the current setting
of Source1 is the modular equivalent of patching the control output of LFO1 to the control input for wave shape on
our modular oscillator.
Figure 21.
Solaris oscillator mod source 1 (LFO1) controlling wave shape,
and Poly Aftertouch providing sidechain modulation.
All of Solaris’s modulation sources have an additional Con-
trol, or “sidechain” circuit. This allows a modulation source
to itself be modulated by another control signal, resulting in
very interesting and complex control signal shapes. Figure
21 expands on our previous example by adding a Control
signal to modulate the LFO signal coming in as modulation
Source1. In this case, we have a virtual patch chord run-
ning from the output of the PolyAT module on our modular
synth into the sidechain control input of our modular oscillator’s wave shape parameter.
MODULAR-STYLE MODULATION
DESTINATION-BASED MODULATION | 19
Wave Shape
Waveform
Wave Shape
CoarseFine
Exponential FM
Side ChainLinear FM
-1200+120
-600+60
-1000+100
0%0100%
Ctrl In
-100%0+100%
-100%0+100%
Ctrl In
Strength
Side Chain
-100%0+100%
Ctrl In
Strength
Multimode OSC
Pulse
Sine
Saw
Ctrl In
Ctrl In
Side Chain
-100%0+100%
Ctrl In
Strength
Waveform
Pulse
CoarseFine
Multimode OSC
0%0100%
Ctrl In
Side Chain
Strength
-100%0+100%
Ctrl In
Sine
Exponential FM
-1200+120
Ctrl In
-600+60
Saw
Side ChainLinear FM
Strength
-100%0+100%
Ctrl In
-1000+100
-100%0+100%
Ctrl In
Side Chain
Strength
-100%0+100%
Ctrl In
Figure 22. Solaris oscillator with 3 of 4 available modulation sources active
and “wired” to the oscillator.
Figure 22 further expands on our example by activating
three of the four available modulation sources for Osc1.
Source1 and its Control signal modulate the oscillator’s
wave shape. Modulation Source2, LFO3, is providing
exponential (Pitch) modulation of the oscillator, and LFO4
is providing the sidechain Control signal to modulate the
signal from LFO3. Modulation Source3, LpEG1 (Looping
Envelope), is modulating the LinFM (Linear Frequency
Modulation) parameter of the oscillator, and sidechain
modulation is coming from AT (Aftertouch).
Figure 23.
Modulation Sources 2 and 3 modulating oscillator pitch
Figure 23 shows an example of two modulation sources modulating the same parameter. In this case, both
Source2 (LFO3) and Source3 (LpEG1) are connected to
the oscillator’s Exponential Frequency (Pitch) input.
Finally, in all of these examples, the oscillator’s modulation Source4 slot is empty, meaning we could create even
more chaos with this oscillator by maybe adding a third
modulation source to the exponential Pitch control input, or
Insert FX before the lters (Mixer → Insert FX
→ Filter)
1. Set VCA 1’s VCA1In to Filter
2. Set Filter 1’s Input1 to InsFX1
3. Set InsFX1’s Input1 to Mixer
Insert FX after the lters (Mixer → Filter →
Insert FX)
4. Set VCA 1’s VCA1In to InsFX
Or
MODULAR-STYLE MODULATION
5. Set Filter 1’s Input1 to Mixer1
FLEXIBLE SIGNAL PATH | 21
6. Set InsFX 1’s Input1 to Filter
The Decimation and Bit Chop effects are even more
noticeable when using them after the lter. Set the
Insert FX and play with the lter’s cutoff frequency.
Feedback loop in mixer
Mixer 1 can be routed to Mixer 1, and will have a feedback
effect if there are other signals also coming into the Mixer.
This can be really effective; try this:
Osc1 Mixer 1 input 1
Mixer 1 Mixer 1 input 2
As you adjust the Level of Input 2, you can control the
overdriven sound of Osc 1, prior to the signal going into
the Filter or InsFX. This can give you a real fat sound when
used judiciously. You can also modulate the level of Input2
with an envelope or other controller such as Aftertouch,
Mod Wheel, LFO, Note, etc., so this approach can provide
for some nice controlled feedback.
FLEXIBLE SIGNAL PATH22 | MODULAR-STYLE MODULATION
Processing External Signals
External Signals
Solaris provides extensive processing capabilities for
external signals routed through the synthesizer. External
signals can be routed in via one of the four analog inputs
or the S-PDIF jacks on the rear panel. These inputs appear
in source lists as Input1, Input2, Input3, Input4, SPdifL and
SPdifR, respectively.
Processing External Audio
Signals
External audio signals are essentially played “through” the
Solaris. Though you can process them as you would the
oscillators, it’s important to remember that the external inputs are not polyphonic. No sampling or pitch shifting or resynthesis is involved. Just holding down one key (or using
the Hold button and playing one key) will be all you need
to hear external audio as it is routed through the synth.
Pressing multiple keys will just give you the same signal,
but louder, for each key pressed.
The external inputs are on the Audio Source List, and
therefore can be routed just like the oscillators. You can
lter them (in parallel or in series with the 4 lters), use the
insert FX with them (pre- or post-lter), even use them as
inputs to the Rotors, Vector Mixers, or AM sections. Plus,
you can derive an envelope with the envelope follower (see
“Envelope Follower (EGFoll)” on page 43) for any of the
external ins to sweep the lter cutoff or modulate other parameters. You can even use them with the lag processors
for simple 1-pole ltering, as described in “Lag Processor”
on page 43.
Processing External Control
Signals
Control signals from external synthesizer gear, such as a
modular LFO module, can be passed in to Solaris via one
of the four analog inputs. This signal can then be used as a
control source within Solaris to modulate other parameters,
thus providing a way to easily synchronize parameters in
Solaris to external analog gear.
Using external ins with the Vector Mixers allows you to
quad mix 4 inputs with the Joystick. Using them with the
AM sections (such as the Ring Mod algorithm) allows the
external ins to interact more with the oscillators, and vice
versa. Or, you can just use them as Mod Sources to control
an oscillator’s frequency directly.
An additional comment about using external audio signals
with the Rotors: because the Rotors can run at audio rates
like oscillators do, you can use the Rotor to give a “pitch”
to external audio signals, and play them polyphonically that
way. The source material doesn’t even have to be pitched.
You could use trafc sounds, crowd noises, or strange electronic blips and beeps, and then just run the Rotor as an
oscillator. The external inputs will provide the raw material
for the Rotor’s timbre, and the Rotor’s tuning controls and
the keyboard will control the pitch or frequency.
EXTERNAL SIGNALS
PROCESSING EXTERNAL CONTROL SIGNALS | 23
Oscillators
Figure 25. Oscillators Panel
Solaris has four oscillators, as well as several special
sound sources including Rotors, AM and Vector Synthesis.
Oscillators Osc 1-4
Osc1-4 represent 4 “slots”, each of which supports a variety
of different oscillator types. Table 2 lists the oscillator types
available for each of Solaris’s 4 oscillators.
loaded into the active oscillator slot, as indicated by the
LED above the oscillator selection buttons. The parameters
associated with Osc 1-4 are displayed in the Oscillator text
display, grouped into 2 pages which can be accessed by
pressing the up/down arrows to the left of the text display,
as shown in Figure 25. The parameters displayed in the
text display will vary, based upon the type of oscillator
selected.
Page 1 Parameters
Figure 26. Oscillator Main Mode, page 1
Figure 26 shows page 1 of the Multimode oscillator’s
parameters. The actual parameters and their values varies across the oscillator types. This section describes the
parameters at a high level. For a detailed description of the
parameters and values available for each oscillator type,
please refer to “Appendix 1- Oscillator Parameters” on
page 48.
Type
OFF
MM1
WT
CEM
WAV
VS
Mini
Table 2. Oscillator types available for Osc 1-4
The oscillator slot is empty
MultiMode oscillator supporting a wide range
of common waveforms, as well as 2 morphing
waveforms (sine to saw and sine to square) and a
special “stacked” sawtooth waveform, called Jaws.
Wavetable oscillator using the same wavetables
as the Waldorf microwave. Contains 63 wavetables each with 64 sweepable waveshapes.
Based on the Curtis Electromusic oscillators found
in classic Sequential Circuits analog synthesizers.
Capable of generating single waveforms, or any
combination of Saw, Triangle and Pulse waveforms.
Sample playback oscillators that plays les loaded
from a CompactFlash card.
Based on the Prophet VS, containing 94 singlecycle waveshapes.
Based on the Minimoog, supporting the same 6
single and combination waveforms.
Oscillator Parameters (Main
This control allows you to select which type of oscillator occupies the currently active oscillator slot (Osc 1-4).
Wave
Determines the waveform generated by the oscillator.
Shape
For variable-shape waveforms, such as Pulse and MorphSaw, this control determines the shape of the waveform
across its continuum. For a Pulse wave, for example, 0%
and 100% will actually make no sound at all, while 50% will
generate a perfect square wave.
Coarse
Coarse tuning of the oscillator, from -60 to +60 semitones.
Fine
Fine tuning of the oscillator, over a range of -100 to +100,
which represents 1 semitone.
Clock Sync, No Track and Low
Mode)
Oscillator Main mode is active when the LED next to the
Main label is lit. Main mode loads the Oscillator’s panel
with the parameters associated with the type of oscillator
Figure 27. Clock Sync, No Track and Low buttons
The three buttons shown in Figure 27 provide special
control over the frequency of the selected oscillator. Clock
Sync allows you to synchronize the frequency of the oscillator to divisions of the MIDI clock signal. The range is from
1/128 of a beat, to 8 beats. No Track turns off keyboard
tracking, and allows you to specify the oscillators xed
frequency from 0 Hz to 20 kHz. Low simply lowers the
frequency of the oscillator by 60 semitones, as a means to
quickly switch the oscillator into sub-audio rates.
Page 2 Parameters
Figure 28. Oscillator Main Mode, page 2
Figure 28 shows page 2 of the Main mode controls for the
Multimode oscillator. The following section describes the
page 2 parameters at a high level. For a detailed description of the parameters and values available for each oscillator type, please refer to “Appendix 2- Modulation Sources”
on page 54.
Sync
This control can be used to synchronize the selected
oscillator to another oscillator, which causes the selected
oscillator (the slave) to restart its waveform every time the
master oscillator cycles its waveform. The pitch of the slave
oscillator is locked to that of the master oscillator, and the
Coarse and Fine frequency controls of the slave oscillator
affect only how many cycles the slave plays relative to the
master. Sweeping the frequency of the slave oscillator creates the classic hard sync sound. Synchronizing the oscillator to Gate causes the oscillator to restart with each note
on event. Note that an oscillator cannot be synchronized to
itself.
Phase
Phase controls the start point of the waveform when it re-
ceives a sync’ed signal. If Gate is the sync source, adjusting the Phase will allow you to force the oscillator to start
from that phase point for every time a key is pressed. (This
is the same as for the Rotor’s Phase control). This is useful
when you wish to guarantee that the phase of the oscillator
will always restart at the same place when working on creating kick drum sounds, for example; otherwise, repeated
note events would sound different for each key if no Gate
sync is used. Another use would be if you want to use the
Osc as an LFO, and need the modulation to always start at
a specic point (say with a square wave, at the ‘bottom’ of
the square).
Glide (on/off)
Enables or disables oscillator glide for the selected oscillator.
Oscillator Parameters (Mod Mode)
Oscillator Mod mode is active when the LED next to the
Mod label is lit. Mod mode loads the text display of the Os-
cillators panel with the modulation controls of the selected
oscillator. Each oscillator can have up to four modulation
sources assigned to affect various parameters.
Refer to “Modular-style Modulation” on page 18
for further explanation of Solaris’s destinationbased modulation.
The section below describes the parameters available in
each of the four oscillator Mod mode pages. Please refer
to “Appendix 2- Modulation Sources” on page 54 for a full
description of the oscillator modulation parameters.
Source 1-4
This control allows you to select a modulation source from
the comprehensive list of modulation sources available
within Solaris. Signal from the selected modulation source
is applied to the selected modulation destination (Dest).
Amount
This control determines the amount the control signal from
the modulation source affects the destination parameter.
When oscillator Pitch is selected as the destination, the
range of this control is -120 to + 120 semitones. When
the destination parameter is linFM or Shape, the range is
-100% to 100%.
Control
Control allows you to select another control signal to act
as a sidechain input that affects the amount of modulation
source signal that is applied to the modulation destination. The Control signal is applied to the Amount control of
the modulation source. The Strngth parameter determines
amount of Control signal to apply, in the same way that the
Amount control determines how much of the Source signal
to apply to the destination.
Strngth
Determines the amount of the Control (sidechain) signal to
apply to the Source control signal.
For the LFO section, Gate Sync is called Retrigger,
and is accessible via the rightmost button on the
LFO panel.
Glide (rate)
Exponential glide setting for the selected oscillator, in the
range 0.0ms-20.0sec. Produces a smooth transition in pitch
between two notes.
GLIDE (ON/OFF)
Dest
The destination parameter, i.e., the oscillator parameter
that will be affected by the incoming control signal from the
modulation source. The destination parameters include:
Parameter
None
Pitch
Description
No parameter will be modulated
Exponential frequency modulation of the oscillator, in semitones.
OSCILLATOR PARAMETERS (MAIN MODE) | 25
Parameter
LinFM
Shape
Table 3. Oscillator 1-4 Modulation Destinations
Description
Linear frequency modulation of the oscillator,
in percentage.
Shape of the oscillator waveform (or detuning
spread of the Jaws waveform), in percentage.
Rotors 1-2
Solaris has 2 Rotor processors. There are four inputs to
each Rotor. Each is presented at the Rotor’s output in
series, one after the other. You can think of it as a four-step
wave sequence, where each step’s sound comes from
one of the many sound sources in Solaris. The X-Fade
(cross fade) control ‘smooths’ the transition from one step
to the next, and does it uniformly for all four inputs. If the
X-Fade amount is zero, then the transition from one step
to the next will be abrupt; at full amount (127), each step is
cross faded with the next, providing smooth but constant
changes in the output. When the Rotor runs at audio rates,
the transitions happen so quickly that we hear the results
as a unique waveshape itself – one can change either
the coarse and ne tunings of each input, or the source
material itself to create timbre changes. You will also nd
that at audio rates, the X-fade amount makes the waveform less bright as you move from zero to max amount, as
the smoothing function takes off the ‘rough edges’ of the
resultant as it is increased. One unusual way of generating new harmonic structures is to run the Rotor at audio
rates, tracking the keyboard. This is almost like a granular
approach in that you will hear small bits of each input at a
rapid rate.
Fine
Fine tuning amount of the Rotor. Allows ne adjustments of
the Rotor’s pitch over the range or +/- 1 semitone.
X-Fade
This parameter controls the amount of cross fade applied
between each of the four steps of the Rotor processor. The
higher the value, the greater the amount of cross fade.
Sync
When Sync is set to Gate, the Phase parameter can be
used to determine at which step in the Rotor’s cycle it will
reset with each new note on event.
Phase
When Synch is set to Gate, the Phase parameter can be
used to control the starting point of the Rotor processor
when new note on events are received.
Page 2 Parameters
Figure 30. Rotor Main Mode, page 2
Inputs 1 - 4
Page 2 of the Rotors Main mode controls allows you to assign the inputs to the Rotor’s four inputs. Typically, these inputs will be assigned to sound sources such as oscillators,
but they can be assigned to control signals as well, opening
the doors to expansive new modulation possibilities.
Page 3 Parameters
Rotor Parameters (Main Mode)
Rotor Main mode comprises three pages of parameters,
accessed by pressing the Inc/Dec buttons to the left of the
text display.
Page 1 Parameters
Figure 29. Rotor Main Mode, page 1
Coarse
Coarse tuning of the Rotor, between -60 and 60 semitones.
This control allows the Rotor to operate as an audio-rate
oscillator.
The Clock Sync, No Track and Low buttons on the
Oscillators panel have the same effect on the Rotors as the do on the standard Oscillators Osc 1-4.
Refer to that section for an explanation of how
these buttons affect the oscillator’s frequency.
Figure 31. Rotor Main Mode, page 3
Rotor Parameters (Mod Mode)
The Rotors also have four independent modulation sources
available, but the destination parameters are specic to the
Rotor processors. The Dest options are Pitch and XFade
(cross fade amount).
These buttons have the same function as they do with OSC
1-4. Please refer to “Clock Sync, No Track and Low” on
page 24.
Description
No parameter will be modulated
Exponential frequency modulation of the oscillator, in semitones.
Crossfade amount.
ROTOR PARAMETERS (MOD MODE)26 | ROTORS 1-2
Mixers
Page 1 Parameters
Figure 35. Mixer Mod Mode, page 1
Page 2 Parameters
Figure 32. The Mixer Panel
Mixers 1-4
Solaris provides four separate mixers, each with fully userassignable inputs and master output level.
Mixer Parameters (Main Mode)
Page 1 Parameters
Figure 33. Mixer Main Mode, page 1
Page 1 in the Mixer’s Main mode allows you to specify
the input signals to the mixer. See “Signal Path” on page
21 for examples of how signals can be routed within the
Solaris.
Page 2 Parameters
Figure 36. Mixer Mod Mode, page 2
Figure 34. Mixer Main Mode, page 2
Page 2 allows you to set the individual levels of the mixer’s
inputs. You can also set the overall mix level.
Mixer Parameters (Mod Mode)
The level of each mixer input, as well as the overall mix
level, can be modulated separately. The mixer’s Mod mode
pages allow you to specify the modulation source and modulation amount for each. The selected modulation source
affects the level of the mixer channel (or output level) you
are working with.
MIXERS 1-4
MIXER PARAMETERS (MOD MODE) | 27
Insert FX
Figure 37. Insert FX Panel
Insert FX 1-4
Solaris provides four Insert FXs that can be placed in the
signal path between the mixers and lters, or between the
lters and the VCAs. See “Signal Path” on page 21 for
examples.
Insert FX Parameters (Mod
Mode)
Figure 39. Insert FX Mod Mode
Each Insert FX has one available modulation source (with
sidechain modulation), which directly affects the Value
parameter, i.e., it affects the Insert FX’s setting.
Insert FX Parameters (Main
Mode)
Figure 38. Insert FX Main Mode
Mode
Parameter
Decim(ator)
BitChop
Distort
Table 5. Insert FX Modes
Input
The input signal.
Description
Reduces the sample rate of the playback
system. The range is +/- 63, with lower
values increasing the decimation effect.
A “bit crusher” effect that allows you to
reduce the bit length of the playback
signal from 16 to 1. There are 16 discrete
steps, though the parameter value shows
a range of +/- 63.
A soft distortion effect.
Value
The “setting” of the Insert FX, in the range +/- 63.
INSERT FX PARAMETERS (MOD MODE)28 | INSERT FX 1-4
Filters
Mode
Several of Solaris’s lter types support multiple modes of
operation, such as lowpass, highpass, bandpass, band
reject (notch), or combinations of those in series. Some
lter types also support different pole congurations. Refer
to “Filter Types” on page 56 for details.
Cutoff
Figure 40. Filter Panel
Filters 1-4
Solaris has four lters that can be routed in parallel or
series. Any signal can be passed to a lter, though a typical
conguration might have a mixer output routed to a lter
input.
To route 2 or more lters in series, simply select
the rst lter in the series as the input to the next
lter, and so on.
The signal for each lter is sent to its own dedicated VCA,
where its pan position and level can be set. Each VCA can
be controlled by a different envelope, but the EG6 (VCA)
has the nal “say” for the overall output. Using separate
envelopes, you can create articulated shapes for each l-
ter’s output; almost a “multi-timbre” approach to the sound,
enhanced by the fact that each can also have its own envelope and pan position.
With the lter outputs as possible signal inputs to other
lters, you can create feedback loops within each lter
section, or place multiple lters in series. You also can get
some useful and strange distortion of the lters if desired,
among many, many other things!
Filter Parameters (Main Mode)
Page 1 Parameters
Figure 41. Filter Main Mode, page 1
The lter’s cutoff frequency, in semitones from 0.0 to 126.0.
Recall from “Knob Acceleration and the Shift Button” on
page 16, that the Cutoff knob is designed to sweep
quickly through its values. For ne control over cutoff
frequency, use the Data Wheel (or press and hold the Shift
button while turning the Cutoff knob) to make adjustments
in 1/10 semitone increments.
Resonance
Resonance control. Each lter type will have a different
resonance characteristic, so you will need to adjust this as
you change the lter type.
Damp
If you are working with a Comb Filter, this parameter ad-
justs a 6 dB LP lter in the feedback circuit.
X-Fade
If Vocal lter type is selected, this parameter adjusts the position of the signal in the ve vowel eld.
Page 2 Parameters
Figure 42. Filter Main Mode, page 2
Typically, the input to a lter will be a sound source such
as a mixer output or the output directly out of an oscillator
or Insert FX. Because Solaris’s lter can take almost any
signal as an input, very interesting effects can be created
by routing control signals through the lters as well.
KeyTrk
Keyboard tracking causes the lter to “open” in relation to
the note number played. With large positive values, notes
played higher on the keyboard will sound brighter because
the lter’s cutoff frequency has been increased relative to
the KeyTrk parameter’s value and the KeyCntr.
Type
Type of lter. Refer to “Appendix 3- Filter Types” on page
56 for a comprehensive list of the lter types available in
Solaris.
FILTERS 1-4
KeyCntr
The key center parameter determines which MIDI note
number is considered the center of the keyboard, which affects how keytracking is applied.
FILTER PARAMETERS (MAIN MODE) | 29
Filter Parameters (Mod Mode)
Figure 43. Filter Mod Mode
Each lter has 4 modulation source slots. A lter’s Cutoff
(cutoff frequency) or Reso (resonance) can be modulated
by any of the four modulation sources. Other modulation
sources are available for some lter models, for example
case Damping for the Comb lter and X-Fade (crossfade)
for the Vocal lter.
FILTER PARAMETERS (MOD MODE)30 | FILTERS 1-4
VCAs
Figure 44. VCA Panel
VCAs 1-4
Solaris has four VCAs, each hardwired to accept an input
signal from either its corresponding lter or Insert FX module (lter or Insert FX with the same number).
VCA Parameters (Main Mode)
Figure 45. VCA Main Mode
The VCA type can be set to linear, logarithmic, or sigma
(s-curve, used on the Minimoog). The VCA type controls
the response of the amplier to control signals.
The Boost control is an emulation of an OTA circuit, or “soft
distortion”, taken from the original Minimoog lter emulation. It was moved into the amplier section so that is could
be used with any lter type. Setting its value at around 70
or more will result in a more “analog” sound.
VCA Parameters (Mod Mode)
Figure 46. VCA Mod Mode
The VCA modules have two modulation inputs. Source1
on Mod Mode, page 1 modulates the amplier’s level, and
Source2 on Mod Mode, page 2 modulates the amplier’s
pan position.
VCAS 1-4
VCA PARAMETERS (MOD MODE) | 31
LFOs
control over frequency. To increase the speed at which the
knob sweeps through frequency values, press and hold the
Shift button while turning the Rate knob.
Page 2 Parameters
Figure 49. LFO Main Mode, page 2
Figure 47. LFO Panel
LFOs 1-4 and Vibrato
LFO
Solaris has 5 LFOs, including a special Vibrato LFO, all of
which are available as modulation sources.
Button
Clock Sync
Offset
Retrigger
Table 6. LFO panel buttons
LFO 1-4 Parameters (Main Mode)
Description
Synchronizes the LFO with the MIDI clock
and changes rate to a MIDI clock-related table
of values.
Offset reduces the signal and shifts it all into
the positive quadrant. (Useful particularly with
some Shape modulations.)
This restarts the waveshape at the selected
Phase point for every note-on event.
Parameter
DelStrt
FadeIn
FadeOut
Level
Table 7. LFO Main Mode, page 2 parameters
Description
0.0 ms to 10.0 seconds. Delays the output of
the LFO based on the note-on gate.
0.0 ms to 10.0 seconds. The time it takes to
fade in the LFO output, after the Delay Start is
nished.
0.0ms to 10.0 seconds. The time it takes to
fade out the LFO output after a note/key is
released.
Controls the initial output level of the LFO.
Vibrato LFO Parameters (Main
Mode)
The Vibrato LFO is hard-wired to the vibrato effect (Pitch
mod) of all 4 oscillators. The Vibrato LFO in Solaris is a
multimode LFO, with the same parameters that come with
the other four LFOs. Added are parameters to disconnect
the Mod Wheel, and set a maximum mod amount for the
Mod Wheel (ModWMax).
Page 1 Parameters
Page 1 Parameters
Figure 48. LFO Main Mode, page 1
Each LFO supports sine, triangle, ramp, saw, square, and
sample-and-hold (S/H) or random wave shapes. Frequency
is adjustable between 0.000Hz and 500.000Hz. The LFOs
can be synced to the MIDI clock by pressing the Clock
Sync button above the LCD screen. When synced to MIDI
clock, the LFO’s frequency is displayed as a division of one
beat.
Recall from “Knob Acceleration and the Shift Button” on
page 16 that the LFO Rate knob is congured for ne
Figure 50. Vibrato LFO Main Mode, page 1
By default, the Vibrato LFO is connected to the Mod
Wheel. The ModWhl parameter allows the Vibrato LFO to
be disconnected from the Mod Wheel. When ModWhl is
Off, the Vibrato LFO affects all 4 oscillators’ pitch with full
strength. When ModWhl is On, the ModWMax parameter
controls how much the Vibrato LFO affects oscillator pitch,
relative to the position of the Mod Wheel. The output of any
LFO is controlled overall by the Level parameter, Main
Mode page 2.
If the Level is 0, there will be no output of the LFO,
regardless of any other settings.
All of the LFOs have 3 modulation source slots. An LFO’s
Rate or Level can be modulated by any of the three modu-
lation sources.
LFOS 1-4 AND VIBRATO LFO
LFO PARAMETERS (MOD MODE) | 33
Envelope Generators
ally a second decay segment that ramps down to 0, or up
to 127, depending on the value. The sustain slope range
is in seconds and ms. In addition, there is a small custom
(VCA)
graphic character to the left of the value – either a “down”
arrowhead if a negative value, or an “up” arrowhead for a
positive value. This is to help describe that any negative
value eventually ends up taking the EG output ‘down’ to 0,
while any positive value takes it ‘up’ to 127 (full +) value.
Figure 53. Envelope Generator Panel
Envelope Generators
1-6
Solaris has six DADSR envelope generators that are fully
assignable and available in the modulation source lists.
There is also a looping envelope generator (see “Looping
Envelope (LoopEG)” on page 41). Each segment can be
separately modulated. Each has variable attack, decay, and
release slopes. Sustain also has a ‘slope’ control, however
in the case of Sustain, this control allows you to set up
an additional segment that either goes to zero value (with
a negative slope), or to the maximum sustain level (with
positive slope). Envelope segment values are show in time
increments, from 0.0 ms to 20.0 seconds.
EG 6 (VCA) is the nal envelope controlling the output of
Solaris’s four VCAs.
EG Parameters (Main Mode)
Page 1 Parameters
EG Parameters (Mod Mode)
Page 1 Parameters
Figure 56. Envelope Generator Mod Mode, page 1
The modulation source list for the envelope generators is
limited to: velocity, key tracking, modulation wheel, and assignable continuous controllers 1-4.
When using Velocity as a modulation source for a segment, a negative amount will cause shorter time values with
higher velocities; a positive value will cause longer values
with higher velocities. Careful adjustment and balance
between the initial segment’s settings and the mod amount
is usually needed to obtain desired results. Shorter time
values will limit the noticeable effect of velocity modulation.
Page 2 Parameters
Figure 57. Envelope Generator Mod Mode, page 2
The Velocity parameter controls the overall amount of the
envelope to its destination. Higher values require a greater
velocity to reach their maximum value.
Figure 54. Envelope Generator Main Mode, page 1
The delay segment delays the onset of the attack segment
by the time interval specied.
Page 2 Parameters
Figure 55. Envelope Generator Main Mode, page 2
The Slope parameter controls the shape of the segment.
A value of zero is a linear slope, while 127 is exponential.
The sustain slope of Solaris’s envelope generators is actu-
When a segment’s modulation amount is set at zero, the
actual segment time/level is heard. With the amount at
+127, maximum velocity will give results equal to the actual
(original) time/level setting. If time values longer than the
initial setting are desired, you must rst set the velocity
mod amount, and then adjust the initial setting to achieve
desired results. Likewise for amounts of negative value,
minimum velocity will yield the original settings, and higher
values will be ‘shorter’ than the initial setting.
As mentioned earlier, the Graphic Display shows six soft
menus at a time, and pressing the More button will bring
up the next “group” of 6 soft menus. We will refer to those
groups of six soft menus as Soft Menu Groups. Table 8 describes the general organization of these groups of menus.
Figure 58.
Solaris uses 5 text display panels with dynamic LCD panels
and hardware controls to provide fast, intuitive access to
common synthesizer modules, such as oscillators, LFOs,
and lters. While those panels are excellent for hands-on
tweaking, much of Solaris’s functionality is too complex to
be represented this way. The graphic display panel, shown
in Figure 58, provides a highly visual means for interacting
with Solaris’s deeper capabilities.
Graphic Display Panel
Soft Menus
The Graphic Display provides access to 25 different menus,
many with multiple pages of parameters. Each menu is
represented at the top of the Graphic display as a “soft”
tab. The display shows up to 6 menus at a time, with other
menus accessible by pressing the More button, or by using
the fast access technique described in “Function Group
Shortcut” on page 14. A menu is selected by pressing the
physical button above its soft menu label. The LED for that
button for the active menu will light.
The soft tab menus will wrap around to the rst
menu, if you continue to press the More button.
The LED above the More button will be off when
you are on the rst, or top, group of menus in the
Graphic Display.
While the soft tabs are always displayed across the top of
the Graphic Display, the contents of the rest of the window
is dependent upon which menu is selected. As described in
“General Navigation” on page 13, multiple pages of parameters can be accessed by pressing the Inc/Dec buttons
to the left of the display.
GRAPHIC DISPLAY
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
Table 8. Soft Menu Group Organization
The following sections describe each soft menu in detail.
For live performance, or things that you might want
to adjust while playing, related to the arpeggiator
or sequencers. The Ribbon Controller occupies the
last spot, since it is also a real-time controller that
you might want to adjust during performance.
Group 2 has to do with the Effects and Output bussing, since that is all related.
Functional groups related to oscillator-like functionality, as well as the looping envelope.
Individual soft menus for the 4 Key Tables (to avoid
deep menus), lag processors (which all t into a
single soft menu), and envelope follower.
System and MIDI settings that are not stored with
the preset.
Arpeggiator (Arp)
Figure 59. Arp Menu, page 1 of 1
Solaris provides an arpeggiator with performance-oriented
controls accessible directly on the front panel. The Arp On
button activates the arpeggiator. The Hold button holds the
notes of any keys currently being pressed. This allows the
arpeggiator to be “latched” on. When the Solaris is using its
internal MIDI clock, the Tempo button can be used to set
the arpeggiator’s playback tempo. See “Tempo” on page
15.
Mode
Controls the direction in which the arpeggiator will play a
sequence of notes held by the player. The modes are Up,
Down, Up/Down, AsPlayed, and Random. AsPlayed
plays the series of notes in the order that one presses keys
(and holds down) on the keyboard. There is a buffer limit of
61 notes. A good way to use this is to turn on the Arpeggia-
ARPEGGIATOR (ARP) | 35
tor and the Hold button, then while holding down the rst
note you want with the left hand, play any series of notes
with your right hand (even repeating note selections) to create a long series of a ‘custom’ pattern. Random randomly
selects the next note to play from the notes being held.
Octaves
Determines the number of octaves (1-4) over which to play
the arpeggiator pattern.
Pattern
Solaris can store 64 arpeggiator patterns. The values are
1-63, and User. Arpeggiator patterns are stored on the Solaris CF card, in the Factory/Arp folder. Only 5 patterns are
currently shipped with the Solaris CF card.
A software editor for sequencer and arpeggiator
patterns is planned. Please refer to the website for
more information.
Resolut.
The MIDI clock division that determines the length of each
step in the arpeggiator pattern.
Length
Adjusts the gate length, or duration of each note played in
the sequence.
and synchronized, and what pattern the row will play. Solar-
is’s sequencer is essentially one step sequencer with four
rows of parallel control outputs, or four “layers”. Each row
can have a different loop point (step length), but the overall
timing is controlled by the rst row (SeqA), and everything
retains the overall feel of the timing, or “reset” intervals, are
set on SeqA.
Note that the sequencer in Solaris is not hardwired to
control the pitch of the oscillators, though that is a common
use. Solaris’s Step Sequencer can be used as a modulation source for any other parameter in the synthesizer,
which allows very complex, evolving, and/or rhythmic manipulation of sounds.
The INIT patch that ships with Solaris is designed to
make it very easy to set up a typical patch in which
the step sequencer(s) control the pitch of the oscillators. Check the modulation sources for each oscillator in the INIT patch. One of the sources should
be set to one of the four sequencer rows (probably
SeqA for Oscillator 1, SeqB for Oscillator 2, etc.).
Note that the Amount of the modulation source is
set to the maximum value of 120.00 semitones.
This setting makes the pattern step values correspond to semitones. Using values less than 120 will
cause the steps in the pattern to translate to less
than full semitone values.
BPM
When Solaris is using its own MIDI clock, the BPM knob
can be used to change the playback speed of the arpeggiator. When synced to an external MIDI source, this value will
show the BPM of the incoming clock.
Velocity
The velocity of each note played in the arpeggiator pattern
can be controlled by the velocity values stored in the arpeggiator Pattern, by the velocity at which the notes were
played on the Keyboard, or Both.
Hold
Allows the arpeggiator to be latched on.
PatLen
Sets the number of notes (1-32) used in the arpeggiator
pattern.
Swing
Introduces a delay of every other (or every even) note triggered, evoking a swinging or rhythmic feel to the playback.
Sequencer (Seq)
Solaris’s Step Sequencer allows you to develop complex,
pattern-based sequences that can be used to control the
vast modulation possibilities of the synthesizer. The Step
Sequencer comprises four separate rows (SeqA, SeqB,
SeqC, and SeqD), each programmable with up to 16 steps,
and parameters that determine how the rows are triggered
Solaris has 4 exponential lag processors that can be used
to produce a slowing or “gliding” effect on the sequencer’s
control signal. See “Lag Processor” on page 43.
All four sequencer rows are activated by pressing the Seq
On button below the LFO control panel. When the se-
quencer is synchronized to Solaris’s internal MIDI clock, the
Tempo button can be used to set the sequencer’s playback
tempo. See “Tempo” on page 15.
Figure 60. Sequencer Menu, page 1 of 3
Mode
Normal
No Reset
Each step in the sequence retriggers the
envelopes. Each new key press restarts the
sequencer from the rst step, and retriggers the
envelopes.
The sequencer is free running in the background. A key press will retrigger envelopes, but
the sequencer will not restart from the rst step.
It will play whatever step it is currently active.
Each step retriggers the envelopes.
SEQUENCER (SEQ)36 | GRAPHIC DISPLAY
No Gate
NG/NR (No
Gate/No
Reset)
Key Step
Table 9. Sequencer Modes
Only the rst step in the sequence triggers
the envelopes. Subsequent steps do not. The
sequencer does reset with each new key press,
so it will always start with the rst step.
Like No Gate, only the rst step in the sequence triggers the envelopes, however the sequencer does not reset with new key presses.
Each new key press will start with whatever
sequencer step is active.
Each key press plays the next active step in the
sequence and retriggers the envelopes. Steps
are only triggered by key press.
Division
The division of the MIDI clock that determines the timing of
each sequencer step.
Step1-Step8
Allows the rst 8 steps of the row’s pattern to be set. If
the Amount parameter in the destination is set to 120.00
semitones, the values of each step correspond to 1 semitone.
Division
MIDI clock division that determines the length of each step.
All rows are controlled by the Division setting of SeqA.
Figure 62. Sequencer Menu, page 3 of 3
SeqA controls the MIDI clock division and swing for
the other three sequencers. The other sequencers
will use whatever settings are made for SeqA.
Pattern
Solaris can store 64 sequencer patterns. The values are
1-63, and User. Like the Arp Patterns, these are stored
on the CF card in the Factory/Seq folder. The Solaris only
ships with one pattern.
A software editor for sequencer and arpeggiator
patterns is planned. Please refer to the website for
more information.
Swing
Introduces a delay of every other (or every even) note triggered, evoking a swinging or rhythmic feel to the playback.
BPM
The step sequencer can be synchronized to Solaris’ internal MIDI clock by setting the ClkSrc parameter in the MIDI
menu to Int. You can then specify the BPM, clock division,
and swing amount for the steps in the sequencer. The step
sequencer can also be set to synchronize to an incoming
MIDI clock signal by setting the ClkSrc parameter to Ext in
the MIDI menu. See “MIDI Menu” on page 44.
Init
Init provides a convenient way to clear the row’s step set-
tings. Change the Init parameter to Active. The LED above
the Enter button will ash. Pressing the Enter button will
zero out all of the row’s step values. Press Exit to cancel
without clearing the values.
Step9-Step16
Allows steps 9-16 of the row’s pattern to be edited.
Division
MIDI clock division that determines the length of each step.
All sequencer rows are controlled by the Division set-
ting of SeqA. The parameter is simply listed on all 3 menu
pages for convenience.
Ribbon Controller
Figure 63. Ribbon Controller Menu, page 1 of 1
As mentioned in “Ribbon Controller” on page 15, the
Ribbon Controller outputs 2 control signals. If only one
nger is used, both signals are identical. If two are used,
the upper nger controls the Ribbon 2 output.
Figure 61. Sequencer Menu, page 2 of 3
PatLen
Species the length of the sequencer row’s pattern. Each
of the 4 rows can have a different pattern length.
GRAPHIC DISPLAY
Offset
This parameter moves the zero point of the ribbon to the
right from the left most edge. It currently affects the output
whether the ribbon is touched or not. This will be addressed in an upcoming OS update.
Intens
Scales the ribbon output from 0-200%. The most common
usage is 100%.
RIBBON CONTROLLER | 37
Hold
Hold the last touched ribbon position.
TouchOff (Touch Offset)
Resets the zero point to wherever you rst touch the ribbon. This allows very long sweeps down if you touch the
rightmost edge of the ribbon. This mode is similar to how
the ribbon controller on the classic Yamaha CS-80 synthesizer worked.
Output
Figure 64. Output Menu, page 1 of 1
The Solaris’s analog outputs are congured as 4 pairs of
“stereo” outputs. Also available is the S/PDIF stereo output.
For each of these stereo outputs, you can decide the
source of the audio signal. The choices are: Off, Synth,
EXT-1/2, EXT-3/4, S/PDIF, and FXchan1-4.
Synth
EXT-1/2,
EXT-3/4, or
S/PDIF
FXchan1-4
Table 10. Audio output sources
This system provides the maximum in exibility for FX
bussing, but can be a bit confusing. Combined with the FX
Channel input options, several variations of routing are possible. For example:
You want to process the dry synth with 4 effects,
each one having its own direct output assigned. In
this case, you would have a screen like this:
Sends the direct output of the Solaris prior to
any of the FX.
Routes the signals directly from their input
to the outputs, as a ‘pass-thru’ function (no
processing of the External or S/PDIF signals will
occur).
Outputs routes the sum total of that FX channel
to the assigned output.
have something like this:
Figure 65. Sample output routing
You would then set up FXchan1 to take the Synth as input,
and select the Chorus/Flanger only. Then you would set up
FXchan 2 to take FXchan1 as Input, and select the Delay
effect only. With this example, you have 2 FX channels in
series, coming out of analog outs 3/4.
Effects Channel (FXChan)
Figure 66. Effects Channel Menu, page 1 of 4
Solaris provides four separate effect channels, each with
four effect slots. There are four effect modules (Chorus/
Flanger, Phaser, Delay and EQ) that can be plugged in to
these slots. There is only one of each effect module, but
they can be applied to any slot in any of the four effect
channels. The effect modules are described in the next
section.
FX Channels are different from FX Slots. Each Channel (or
FX buss) has room for up to 4 possible effects, however,
the four effects can only be selected once, because of the
‘Effects Pool’ concept - any FX Slot can select from the
available effects in the ‘pool’, but once an effect is selected
somewhere, it is removed from the pool, and no longer
available to any other FX slot.
To navigate between the four effect channels, press
the Inc/Dec buttons beside the Graphic Display
while in the FxChan soft menu.
Table 11. Sample output routing
You would then set up each of the Effects Channels (see
below) with the dry Synth as input, and only one effect
selected for each FX Channel.
You want the dry synth to have a Flanger effect,
and send that to one output, and then send the
anged synth into a Delay, and have that come out
a different output. For the Output page, you would
Each of the four effect channels has the following parameters:
Input
Synth
Ext-1/2
Ext-3/4
S/P-DIF
FXchan(N)
The audio signal directly from the VCA.
External audio inputs 1 and 2
External audio inputs 3 and 4
S/PDIF input
Output of any of the other three effects channels.
EFFECTS CHANNEL (FXCHAN)38 | GRAPHIC DISPLAY
Table 12. Effects Channel Inputs
FX-1, FX-2, FX-3, FX-4
These are the four effect slots available in each effect channel. Select from the four available effect modules.
Chorus/Flanger (ChorFla)
Figure 67. Chorus Flanger Menu, page 1 of 1
This module is a chorus and anger effect. The anging
effect is achieved by adding positive or negative feedback
into the signal via the Feedbck parameter.
Mode
Bypass or enable the effect.
Freq
Speed of the modulation, from 0.00Hz to 50.0Hz.
Depth
Depth of the modulation effect, from 0% to 100%.
Phase
Figure 68. Phaser Menu, page 1 of 1
Mode
Bypass or enable the effect.
Freq
Speed of the modulation, from 0.00Hz to 50.0Hz.
Depth
Depth of the modulation effect, from 0% to 100%.
Phase
Phase, +/- 180 degrees.
Offset
Allows you to specify the center point of the frequency being swept, in Hertz. The range is 0.00Hz to 20000.0Hz.
InLevel
Gain of the input signal.
Feedbck.
Amount of feedback to be applied, from 0%-100%.
Phase, +/- 180 degrees.
Offset
Shifts the center point of the frequency being swept, from
0-127.
InLevel
Gain of the input signal.
Feedbck.
Amount of feedback to be applied, from 0%-100%.
Dry
The amount of original, unaffected signal passed to the
output.
Wet
The amount of effect sound passed to the output.
Phaser
Dry
The amount of original, unaffected signal passed to the
output.
Wet
The amount of effect sound passed to the output.
Delay
Figure 69. Delay Menu, page 1 of 1
The Delay effect in Solaris is actually two different delay
effects, a ‘normal’ stereo delay and a cross delay. The
standard stereo delay consists of two delay circuits (left
and right) that have feedback loops into their own inputs.
The cross delay features two delay circuits whose feedback
circuits are ‘crossed over’ into the inputs of the other delay,
creating interesting panoramic effects. Both delay types
have the following parameters:
GRAPHIC DISPLAY
Mode
Allows you to Bypass the effect, or operate it as a standard
DELAY | 39
Delay, or XDelay (cross delay).
synthesis modules.
Time L
The time (in milliseconds) between the initial input sound
and the rst delayed output of the left channel.
Time R
The time (in milliseconds) between the initial input sound
and the rst delayed output of the right channel.
Feed L
The amount of feedback for the left channel
Feed R
The amount of feedback for the right channel
Damp
The amount of high frequency damping applied. Higher
values dampen high frequencies more quickly, more closely
approximating the natural decay of high frequencies in a
room.
Dry
The amount of original, unaffected signal passed to the
output.
The Prophet VS introduced the idea of changing the
harmonic structure of the ‘raw material’ to be ltered and
shaped by using a 2-dimensional mixer. We called it Vector Synthesis. You can also program this with one of the
regular Mixers, but to make things easier, I put in two of
these ‘Vector Mixers’ (essential quad panners) to simplify
programming. The VS1 mixer has 4 signal inputs, each with
an initial Level. The X-axis (controlled by SourceX) will
crossfade between inputs 1 and 2; the Y-axis (controlled by
SourceY) between inputs 3 and 4. The ‘factory default’ for
Source X & Y are the 2 outputs from the Joystick, but you
could program anything you want.
Figure 71. Vector Synthesis Menu, page 1 of 2
Wet
The amount of effect sound passed to the output.
MIDI Clk
MIDI Sync allows the delay effect to be synchronized to the
MIDI Clock. Clock division selectors replace the millisecond
delay times for the right and left channel.
EQ
Figure 70. EQ Menu, page 1 of 1
The EQ effect module is a 3-band EQ, each band with
an assignable center frequency between 0.00Hz and
20000.0Hz. A Gain cut or boost of 12 dB per band is available. Q controls the bandwidth of the cut or boost; 0.7 is
the minimum Q setting, and allows the widest bandwidth
around the center frequency. 20.00 is the maximum, giving
the narrowest bandwidth.
Figure 72. Vector Synthesis Menu, page 2 of 2
The X/Y “motion” of the vector synthesis module can be
assigned to the hardware Joystick, or modulated by any
of Solaris’ extensive modulation sources. When assigned
to the Joystick, each corner of the control represents the
full level of one of the four input sources. X-Offset and Y-
Offset shift the value of the x/y control, moving the “center”
of the Joystick away from 0,0.
If you take a look at the factory setting (default patch when
you switch on the Solaris without any CF card), you can
see that Input1-Input4 are set to Oscs 1-Osc 4, all at full
Level. Moving to the next VS 1 page, you will see JoyX for
SourceX, and JoyY for SourceY, both at 100%, with no
offsets. If you now set the tuning for each oscillator at obvious different intervals, you can use the Joystick to isolate
each oscillator, and crossfade between the 4 oscillator
outputs, with the center Joystick position being an equal
mix of all 4 inputs.
Amplitude Modulation (AM)
Vector Synthesis (VS)
The Vector Synthesis section allows four different sound
sources to be mixed/morphed dynamically based on a 2 dimensional x/y vector graph. Vector Synthesis allows Solaris
to achieve swirling, moving dynamic sounds reminiscent
of the Sequential Circuits Prophet VS. Solaris has 2 vector
Figure 73. Amplitude Modulation Menu, page 1 of 1
AMPLITUDE MODULATION (AM)40 | GRAPHIC DISPLAY
Amplitude Modulation (AM) is a process of varying the
amplitude of one sound (the carrier) by the amplitude of
another (the modulator). If the frequency of the modulator is
sub-audio, AM results in a tremolo effect. If the modulator’s
frequency is above around 10hz, the timbre of the carrier
is affected by the introduction of additional partials to the
output. When two sine waves are used, AM results in two
additional sidebands equally spaced around the carrier’s
fundamental frequency. The frequency of the sidebands is
the sum and difference of the carrier and modulator’s fre-
quencies, and the amplitude of the new partials is half the
amplitude of the carrier.
Solaris has 2 AM modules. Any source can be used as the
carrier or modulator, though a classic AM synthesis tech-
nique is to modulate the amplitude of one oscillator with
another oscillator. The following algorithms are available:
Shift
Clip
Abs
(absolute)
Ring
Table 13. AM Algorithms
Typical AM that produces two sidebands around the
carrier
Multiplies the two input signals and clips the result.
Creates two strong sidebands (stronger than those
generated by Shift) around the carrier’s frequency,
and on strong sideband at a much lower frequency.
Phase cancellation eliminates the original carrier.
Outputs the absolute value of multiplying the two
input signals without clipping. Creates two weak
sidebands widely spaced around the carrier.
Classic ring modulation that creates two strong
sidebands around the carrier and eliminates the carrier completely due to phase cancellation.
The AM section can be side chain modulated by selecting a
modulation source for the Control parameter.
Amount
This is a bipolar mixer for the output of the algorithm. Using
Ring Mod as an example: if you have the Offset at 0, the
Amount will seem just like a bipolar mixer (with negative
values just producing an inverted phase signal), and when
the Amount is at 0, you won’t hear anything. However, if
you then adjust the Offset to some other value, you will
hear some of the original Carrier input, and then by adjusting the Amount, you can hear the Ring Modulated output
increase.
Offset
Shifts the Carrier input above or below (or around) zero.
Looping Envelope (LoopEG)
The Looping Envelope is a two dimensional, 8-stage bipolar envelope with looping capability. This envelope can be
selected as a modulation source for any other modulation
destination.
Figure 74. Looping Envelope diagram
Figure 75. Looping Envelope Menu, page 1 of 4
Parameter
Time1 –
Time8
Start
KeyOff
Table 14. Looping Envelope Main mode, page 1 parameters
Description
These controls determine the length of each
of the 8 segments of the envelope. The default
range of the time controls is 1.0 ms – 20.0
seconds. The Looping Envelope can also be
synced to the MIDI clock by setting the Sync
parameter on menu page 4. When synced to
MIDI clock, the time values for each segment
are shown in time divisions.
When Loop is enabled, this control determines
the starting point of the loop. The envelope
will play as normal up until the KeyOff Point,
then loop back to the segment indicated by this
control. The loop will continue until the key is
released, at which point the release phase of
the loop is activated, from KeyOff Point through
segment 8.
This control serves two purposes. When Loop
Mode is active, KeyOff Point determines the last
segment in the loop. KO Point also denes the
beginning of the release stage of the envelope. If Loop Mode is off, segments 1 to KeyOff
Point represent the attack and decay portions
of the envelope. The KeyOff Point represents
the Sustain portion. Segments following the
KeyOff Point represent the release phase of the
envelope. When Loop Mode is on, the envelope
behaves as described above.
GRAPHIC DISPLAY
LOOPING ENVELOPE (LOOPEG) | 41
Figure 76. Looping Envelope Menu, page 2 of 4
Parameter
Level 1x –
Level 4x
Level 1y –
Level 4y
Table 15. Looping Envelope Main mode, page 2 parameters
Description
These controls determine the output level
for the X dimension of each segment of the
envelope. Since this is a bipolar envelope, the
range of these controls is -/+ 127.
These controls determine the output level
for the Y dimension of each segment of the
envelope. Since this is a bipolar envelope, the
range of these controls is -/+ 127.
Key Tables
Figure 79. Key Table Menu, page 1 of 1
Solaris provides 4 key tables for use as modulation sources. The key tables take a normal note input and scale it
across the table as an output signal. Each key table is
represented by a separate soft menu.
The key tables allow you to set any value from 0.0%-
100.0% for each key, by using keyboard entry. Simply
select the key you want to adjust by playing it on the
keyboard. You will see the current number appear in the
Current column in the display. Using the Data Wheel (or
lower row knob), you can adjust this value, changing it from
Interpol(ated) to a Fixed value. Values for keys in be-
tween the ones you set are calculated using linear interpolation. A Previous eld and Next eld are provided to show
you the values that you have assigned (Fixed).
Figure 77. Looping Envelope Menu, page 3 of 4
Page 3 displays the X and Y levels for the remaining 4 segments.
Figure 78. Looping Envelope, page 4 of 4
Parameter
LevSrc,
TimeSrc
LevAmt,
TimeAmt
Slope
Sync
Repeat
Loop
Table 16. Looping Envelope Main mode, page 4 parameters
Description
These parameters select from a list of modulation sources to modulate all segments’ levels
or times.
These parameters select from a list of controller values to modulate all segments’ levels or
times.
Adjusts the slope of each segment; 0 is linear,
127 is exponential
Allows use of MIDI Clocks to set the timing
values
Sets the number of times the loop will repeat.
Range is Off, 1-9, Inf(inite).
This enables/disables the looping feature of
this envelope. When enabled, the envelope
will loop between the segments specied by
the Loop Start and KO Point controls.
The Key Tables do not yet have a graphic to show you the
table scaling, so instead we have provided a number of
parameters to dene the table’s output, and to show what
is going on as best as possible. There are three parameters that determine the table values. These are: Previous,
Current and Next, as shown in Figure 79. The numbers
shown below each of these are MIDI note numbers. If the
key table is empty, then you will see dashes below Previ-
ous and Next, and whichever key you are pressing as the
Current parameter value.
Below these three parameters are: Value, Interpol, and
Value. Again, if the key table is empty, these parameters
will each have a value of 0.0% showing. If there is a valid
key table, the display will show percentage values for any
note played on the keyboard, with Interpolated or Fixed values being adjustable by the user. Notes that have been set
in the table and which are above or below the current note
being played will appear, with their % values, in the Prev.
and Next elds.
Example: Let’s select note 36 (lowest C on the Solaris), and
change the Interpol value to 5.0% (adjust the knob below
Interpol). This label changes to ‘Fixed’, signifying that note
36 now as a xed value of 5.0%. Figure 79 shows the current state of the graphic display. Now select note 77 (F5).
Set its Value to 10.7%. Now play note 55 (G3). You will see
the following in the display:
KEY TABLES42 | GRAPHIC DISPLAY
Figure 80. Key Table example
Note in the lower right corner a parameter that says Active,
with a value of 5.0%. This tells you that 2 notes have had
their values assigned in the key table. They are now xed.
The display tells us that there is a xed table value below
the current key at note 36 (the Previous note to the current
one that’s assigned a xed value), and another xed value
at note 77 (the ‘Next’ note above the current one that has a
xed value). For all values in between the two xed notes,
the Solaris will interpolate or calculate a value, so for note
55, we are getting an output of 7.6%.
You can assign xed values for every note in the
MIDI scale. Custom tunings or scales can be crafted
this way. Or, the interpolated values output by the
key table can be used as modulation sources for
parameters other than oscillator pitch.
The Active parameter tells you how many points you have
assigned, and the Init parameter allows you to clear the
key table. Just set it to Active, then press Enter. Press
Exit to cancel.
Lag Processor
gradual pitch changes - route the LFO into the lag
processor, then the lag processor into the Pitch
modulation of the osc.
You are modulating the frequency of one oscillator by another at audio rates. Putting the modulation source through the lag processor can take the
“edge” off the waveshape by lowpass ltering it,
giving a bit less harsh frequency modulation results.
You have a controller signal (either an internal one
like the ribbon or Joystick or Mod Wheel, or an external one like Breath or one of the CC assignables)
and it is being used for pitch control...but you are
hearing some ‘zippering’ or small discreet stepping
of the pitch. Use a Lag processor to smooth these
out - and you usually don’t need much; just a few
ms.
You want to use one of the assignable switches
(lower left front panel) to move pitch or cutoff (or
whatever) up a specic amount (like an octave
jump up and back), but you want it to ‘glide’ on the
way. Since the output of the assignable switches is
either 0 or max +, you can set the Amount of pitch
or cutoff change in the Mod mode pages, and then
feed the switch through a lag processor to give
you an exponential glide affect when you use the
switch.
Figure 81. Lag Processors Menu, page 1 of 1
There are four lag processors that can be used to “smooth”
any signal, either control signals or audio (though mostly
used with control signals). The lag processors are essen-
tially single pole (6 dB) lowpass lters. Some examples of
their use follow:
The output of the step sequencer - say you want to
have a lter cutoff opening and closing gradually,
not abruptly, by using one of the sequence rows.
Just feed a SeqA, SeqB, SeqC, or SeqD output into
a lag processor, and then route the lag processor to
control the lter cutoff.
You want to use the S/H output of an LFO on the
oscillator pitch, but don’t want abrupt pitch changes. Maybe you are running the LFO at an extremely
slow rate to give random subtle pitch variations
(like the drift of an unstable analog osc). If you
use a slow lag time, you can have very small and
Envelope Follower (EGFoll)
Figure 82. Envelope Follower Menu, page 1 of 1
The Envelope Follower allows you to derive an envelope
based on the amplitude envelope of the Input signal.
The resulting envelope could be used to control the cutoff
frequency of a lter, for example, allowing a classic “wah”
effect to be created based on the envelope of the incoming
audio signal.
Input
The input signal whose amplitude envelope will be used to
derive a control envelope.
Attack
The length, in milliseconds, of the attack portion of resulting
envelope. Increasing this value will “smooth” the resulting
envelope, by ignoring peaks in the incoming signal’s amplitude envelope that are shorter than this value.
GRAPHIC DISPLAY
ENVELOPE FOLLOWER (EGFOLL) | 43
Release
The length, in milliseconds, of the release stage of the
resulting envelope. Increasing this value will “smooth” the
resulting envelope, by ignoring amplitude peaks in the
incoming signal that are shorter than the release phase of
the envelope.
InLevel
The gain level of the incoming signal. Increasing this value
increases the envelope follower’s sensitivity to the input
signal.
OutLevel
The output gain of the resulting control signal. Increasing
this value increases the depth of the output signal.
stored for each section, allowing one to go between a
Main page and a Mod mode page.
Wrap
Allows continuous cycling of the parameter pages. If Wrap
is Off, page selection will stop at the nal page, whether
incrementing or decrementing.
System parameters are not stored in presets.
Save
Certain parameters in the Solaris make more sense to be
stored once, for overall use in the synth, instead of per
preset. These parameters are stored in the Global Init le,
abbreviated in the Factory folder on your CF card as ‘glo.
ini’.
System Menu
Figure 83. System Menu, page 1 of 1
Tune
Applies +/- 100 cents tuning to the entire synthesizer. This
is because you may want to play the Solaris along with an
acoustic instrument that is not at concert pitch, and cannot
be retuned easily (such as an old piano). You can set the
Fine Tune as needed, and still select through the presets
without resetting this parameter.
Load BPM
Allows you to override the stored preset values for BPM.
If LoadBPM is Off, the programmed BPM will be ignored,
and the current BPM setting will be used for all presets
Load Outs
This le is created when you set the Save parameter on the
System page to Active, and then press Enter. The Global
init le contains all of the parameters on the System and
MIDI pages, as well as the polarity settings for the foot
switches (set on page 2 of the Home parameters).This glo.
ini le is loaded into the synth for use when you rst turn on
your Solaris.
MIDI Menu
Figure 84. MIDI Menu, page 1 of 2
Channel
MIDI channel the Solaris sends and receives on.
PrgChng
Allows you to override the stored preset values for the
output assignments. If LoadOuts is Off, all programmed
signal routings in the Output section (see “Output” on page
38), including FX routings, will be ignored. The current
Output selection and FX bussing will be used for all Presets.
This will adversely affect many of the presets which
have specic effects designed as an integral part of
the sound. This function is provided if for some reason you wish to have the Solaris audio coming from
output jacks that are not normally programmed in
the factory Presets
Split
Limits the Inc/Dec buttons to select pages only from the
Main or Mod group. The most recent displayed page is
When On, Solaris will respond to program change messages over MIDI.
SendArp
When On, Solaris will send the notes played by the internal
arpeggiator to the MIDI Out port.
Omni
Turns MIDI Omni mode On or Off.
LocalOff
When On, Solaris does not respond to MIDI messages
from the physical keyboard.
Tx-NRPN
When On, Solaris will transmit Non-Registered Parameter
Numbers over MIDI.
MIDI MENU44 | GRAPHIC DISPLAY
Rx-NRPN
When On, Solaris will receive Non-Registered Parameter
Numbers over MIDI.
MIDICtrl
This parameter determines whether or not Solaris will send
or receive MIDI signal. It should be defaulted to On.
ClkSrc
Determines whether the Solaris will use its internal MIDI
clock, or sync to an external MIDI clock source. When set
to Ext, Solaris will sync to an external clock. When set to
Send, Solaris will sync to its internal clock and also send
clock signal out over MIDI out.
you would want to route the CC 1 through a Lag proces-
sor rst, and then select that Lag processor as your Mod
Source, using a small amount of lag to ‘smooth out’ the
control signal.
Home Menu
Volume
When On, Solaris will respond to volume change messages over MIDI.
Figure 85. MIDI Menu, page 2 of 2
There are ve assignable MIDI Control “inputs”, labeled CC
1-5. The value that appears below each of these labels is
the actual MIDI Control number that the user wants to assign to the CC input. That input is then available as a Mod
Source in all the Mod Lists. This provides for a way to use
a MIDI Controller that wasn’t included in the standard Mod
List. Here’s how it works:
Let’s say you have an external MIDI controller box, such
as the Kawai K5000 Macro Control. This box has some
dedicated knobs that put out specic controller values, such
as Release (72), Attack (73), and Cutoff (74). This means,
when you turn the knob that is called ‘Cutoff’, it will send its
knob output as MIDI Control 74.
Now, let’s say you wanted to use this knob as a source for
modulation in the Solaris. On page 2 of the MIDI menus,
you can assign up to 5 control numbers, and in this example, we are going to select a value of 74 for CC 1.
If I plug the Macro Control box into the MIDI input of the
Solaris, when I turn the ‘cutoff’ knob on the box, it will send
a value to wherever CC 1 is programmed to go. When you
select Modulation Sources, you will see that CC1 is one
of the choices, so you could go into a Filter modulation
source, set the Destination for Cutoff, and then select CC
1 as the Mod Source with a full Amount, and you would
have the knob from the box controlling the lter cutoff of the
Solaris.
Figure 86. Home Menu, page 1 of 4
GldType
The global glide type setting: portamento (Porta), glissando (Gliss), ngered portamento (FingPort) and ngered
glissando (FingGlis). Glissando is “quantized portamento”.
It is as if you were sliding your nger up a guitar neck, with
discreet semitone intervals being played as you slide. “Fingered” means it only glides when legato notes are played
(you play a new note before lifting off the old note).
GldMode
Parameter
C-Time
C-Rate
Exp
Table 17. Glide Modes
Description
Constant Time. Allows you to specify the time
of the glide using the GldTime parameter.
Constant Rate. 0% to 100%, with 100% being
the shortest glide time.
Exponential.
GldRange
Describes the range of the glide between two notes. When
set to 100%, you get the full range expected. If you are in
Gliss mode, for example, you will hear each discrete semitone played between the two notes. For example, if you
play C2, then C4. At 100%, you hear the full range gliding.
If you set the Range to 50%, the Glide will start from C3 up
to C4.
It is best to set PlayMode to Mono to hear the effect
of glide settings.
GldTime
Duration of the glide from 0.0ms to 10.0sec (or 0% to 100%
for Constant Rate glide mode).
Playmode
The other thing to know about this is that these CC values
are usually 0-127, so they may sound ‘stepped’ when you
use them, especially on frequency controls. In that case,
HOME MENU
Determines if the Solaris will play in polyphonic or monophonic mode.
The Unison button on the front panel (under the
MIDI MENU | 45
LFOs panel) will override the PlayMode setting, unless the UniVoice setting is Chord.
Legato
Determines if a voice is retriggered when it is stolen for use
in legato mode or not. When Legato mode is Off, only the
most frequently pressed key will sound. In Legato mode
(reassign or retrigger), a key that is held down will re-sound
after another key is played and released. Reassign mode
reassigns the voice to the original note, resulting in a legato
effect. Retrig. mode retriggers the original note.
EgReset
Shutdwn mode forces the envelopes to be reset to zero
for each new note-on event. In Running mode, the envelopes continue running from wherever they are currently
when a new key is pressed.
NotePri(ority)
When PlayMode is set to Mono mode, note priority determines which key pressed will have priority, i.e., which note
will be sounded. In Low mode, the lowest note played on
the keyboard will sound. In High mode, the highest note
played on the keyboard will sound. In Last mode, the most
recently pressed key will have priority. The early Minimoogs
had a low note priority; most synths now use last priority.
Figure 87. Home Menu, page 2 of 4
ExpPed
Expression Pedal. A continuous value. Can be assigned to
control Expr (volume level) or overall Pan position, relative
to the initial pan setting of each part.
SusPed1 and SusPed2
Sustain Pedals (switches). Values for both pedals can be:
Sostenuto, Sustain (interacts with the front panel Hold
button), Ribbon Hold, Sequencer On, Arpeggiator On,
Arpeggiator Hold, Arpeggiator Transpose. Refer to
Table 18 for details about Arpeggiator Transpose.
Pol.
Each pedal has this parameter. It allows you to set the polarity of the pedal. Pedals can also be completely disabled
by selecting a value of Off. This value is stored as a global
value.
UniVoice
This parameter determines how many of Solaris’s voices
should be assigned to a single note. The more voices assigned, the thicker and punchier the sound will be, though
polyphony will be affected if you are using PlayMode set to
Poly. There is an “intelligent assignment” that will allow you
want to stack unison voices in polyphonic mode, however.
By setting UniVoice to 3, for example, each note you play
will have 3 voices assigned to it. The more voices you
assign, the lower your polyphony will be. The current OS
supports 10 voices, so in this conguration you would have
3 voices of polyphony.
The UniTune parameter can be applied to in either
mono or poly mode.
If you want to play a chord stack on one note, set this
parameter to Chord, ensure that PlayMode is set to Poly
and the Unison button on the front panel is off. Press and
hold a chord, then press the Unison button. As long as the
Unison button is on (LED lit), any notes you play will play
back your stacked chord.
UniTune
This parameter acts as a tuning spread (+/- 100 cents)
between the voices specied in UniVoice. The larger the
value, the more detuned from each other the voices will
become. This can result in an extremely “fat” sound.
Assign1 and Assign2
These are the assignable switches on the front panel, to
the left of the Octave switches. Possible values are:
Parameter
GloGlide
Glide
01-Glide 04
Description
This turns Glide Type from Off to whatever is
programmed for global GldType.
This turns on/off the individual oscillator glides,
as programmed on page 2 of the oscillator’s
Main Mode. See “Oscillator Parameters
(Main Mode)” on page 24.
GlideAll
RibHold
ArpTrans
This affects all 4 oscillator glides.
When On, this keeps the most recent value
“touched” on the ribbon (so you don’t need to
keep holding down the ribbon).
Allows you to transpose the active arpeggiator
pattern. Start the arpeggiator and press the
Hold button. Now, press the assignable but-
ton that is congured for ArpTrans. Playing
C4 on the Solaris keyboard will play the pattern in its original key. Playing any other note
on the keyboard will transpose the pattern.
Press the assignable button again (turn it off)
to play a new arpeggiator pattern.
Table 18. Assignable Button modes
Mode
Each of the assignable buttons can be congured to function as Toggle buttons, or Moment(ary) buttons.
MIDI MENU46 | HOME MENU
Figure 88. Home Menu, page 3 of 4
Transp(ose)
Transposes Solaris +/- 63 semitones.
PW Up
Denes the range that the pitch wheel outputs in the upper
half of its travel, +/- 63 semitones.
PW Down
Denes the range that the pitch wheel outputs in the lower
half of its travel, +/- 63 semitones.
BPM
Beats Per Minute. When not synced to an external MIDI
clock, this parameter can be used to set the internal tempo
between 1 and 255 BPM.
Free CF-Space
Free storage space on the inserted CompactFlash card.
VTIntens
Velocity Table Intensity, (0-100%). For the table shapes at
50%, the table shape is linear. At 0% it is logarithmic, and
at 100% it is exponential.
VTOff
Velocity Table Offset. This parameter is an offset, which
allows you (at larger values) to shift the zero point of the
control signal from velocity.
ATIntens
Aftertouch Table Intensity, (0-100%). For the table shapes
at 50%, the table shape is linear. At 0% it is logarithmic,
and at 100% it is exponential.
ATOff
Aftertouch Table Offset. This parameter is an offset, which
allows you (at larger values) to shift the zero point of the
control signal from aftertouch.
Figure 89. Home Menu, page 4 of 4
Serial
Internal serial number of the Solaris unit.
OS-Version
Currently loaded operating system version.
HOME MENU
MIDI MENU | 47
Appendix 1- Oscillator Parameters
MM1 Multimode Oscillator
ParameterParameter DescriptionValuesDescription
Main mode, page 1 parameters
TypeType of oscillatorMM1Multimode oscillator
WaveWaveform generated by the oscillatorSineSine wave
TriTriangle wave
RampSawtooth with upward ramp
SawSawtooth with downward ramp
PulsePulse waveform, which produces a square wave when
the Shape parameter is 50%. 0% and 100% Shape
produce no sound.
NoiseWhite noise
S/HTunable noise
MorphSawA morphing waveform that starts as a sine wave when
the Shape parameter is 0%, and gradually changes
into a sawtooth waveform when the Shape parameter
reaches 100%.
MorphSquareA morphing waveform that starts as a sine wave when
the Shape parameter is 0%, and gradually changes
into a square waveform when the Shape parameter
reaches 100%.
JawsA special waveform comprising 7 stacked sawtooth
waves, whose tuning spread is controlled by the Shape
parameter.
ShapeFor waveforms that have variable
shapes, i.e., pulse, morphing, and
Jaws types of waveforms, this parameter determines the shape of the
waveform the oscillator will generate.
CoarseParameter controls the pitch of the
oscillator, in semitones
FineFine tuning of the oscillator, in percent-
age of one semitone
Main mode, page 2 parameters
SyncSpecies the master oscillator this
oscillator will be synchronized with
PhaseThe phase the slave oscillator will start
from when its cycle is reset by the
master oscillator.
GlideExponential glide time for this oscillator 0.0 ms to 20.0
GlideTurns oscillator glide on and offOn, Off
Table 19. Parameter Table for Multimode (MM1) Oscillator
0% to 100%Note that this parameter doesn’t affect all waveforms.
When the Jaws waveform is selected, the Shape
parameter affects the tuning spread between the 7
stacked sawtooth waves.
-60 to +60
-100% to 100%
OFFThe oscillator is not synced with another oscillator
GateThe oscillator’s waveform phase will be reset with each
note-on event.
Osc 1-Osc 4The oscillator will be hard synced with the oscillator se-
lected by this parameter. Note that an oscillator cannot
be synchronized to itself.
-180° to +180°For this oscillator, only the Sine, Tri, Ramp, Saw, &
Pulse waveforms can be synced.
sec
48
WT Wavetable Oscillator
ParameterParameter DescriptionValuesDescription
Main mode, page 1 parameters
TypeType of oscillatorWTWavetable oscillator
WaveThe wavetable the oscillator will play1-64There are 64 different wavetables, each with 60+
individual waveshapes that can be swept using
various modulation sources. The wavetables
in Solaris are the original Waldorf Microwave
wavetables, used with special permission from
Waldorf. See Table 21 for the full list of waveta-
bles. The Wave parameter corresponds 1:1 with
the wavetables listed in the table, i.e., Wave 33 in
the Wavetable oscillator is the SawSync 1 wavetable.
ShapeDetermines which of the 64 waveshapes to
play from the wavetable chosen in the Wave
parameter.
CoarseParameter controls the pitch of the oscilla-
tor, in semitones
0% to 100%
-60 to +60
FineFine tuning of the oscillator, in percentage of
one semitone
-100% to 100%
Main mode, page 2 parameters
GlideExponential glide time for this oscillator0.0 ms to 20.0
sec
GlideTurns oscillator glide on and offOn, Off
Table 20. Parameter Table for Wavetable (WT) Oscillator
Wavetables
1Resonant17Formant 133SawSync 149K+Strong2
2Resonant 218Polated34SawSync 250K+Strong3
3MalletSyn19Transient35SawSync 3511-2-3-4-5
4Sqr-Sweep20ElectricP36PulSync 15219/twenty
5Bellish21Robotic37PulSync 253Wavetrip1
6Pul-Sweep22StrongHrm38PulSync 354Wavetrip2
7Saw-Sweep23PercOrgan39SinSync 155Wavetrip3
8MellowSaw24ClipSweep40SinSync 256Wavetrip4
9Feedback25ResoHarms41SinSync 357MaleVoice
10Add Harm262 Echoes42PWM Pulse58Low Piano
11Reso 3 HP27Formant 243PWM Saw59ResoSweep
12Wind Syn28FmntVocal44Fuzz Wave60Xmas Bell
13High Harm29MicroSync45Distorted61FM Piano
14Clipper30Micro PWM46HeavyFuzz62Fat Organ
15Organ Syn31Glassy47Fuzz Sync63Vibes
16SquareSaw32Square HP48K+Strong164Chorus 2
Table 21. Original Waldorf Wavetables
49
CEM Curtis Electromusic Oscillator
ParameterParameter DescriptionValuesDescription
Main mode, page 1 parameters
TypeType of oscillatorCEMCurtis Electromusic oscillator emulation
WaveWaveform generated by the oscillatorOFFNo waveform is generated
SawSawtooth waveform
TriTriangle waveform
PulsePulse waveform, which produces a square wave
when the Shape parameter is 50%. 0% and
100% Shape produce no sound.
Saw+TriThe oscillator generates a sawtooth and a trian-
gle wave simultaneously
Saw+PulseThe oscillator generates a sawtooth and pulse
wave simultaneously
Tri+PulseThe oscillator generates a triangle and pulse
wave simultaneously
S+T+PThe oscillator generates a sawtooth, triangle and
pulse wave simultaneously
ShapeFor waveforms what have variable shapes,
i.e., pulse, morphing, and Jaws types of
waveforms, this parameter determines the
shape of the waveform the oscillator will
generate.
CoarseParameter controls the pitch of the oscilla-
tor, in semitones
FineFine tuning of the oscillator, in percentage of
one semitone
Main mode, page 2 parameters
SyncSpecies the master oscillator this oscillator
will be synchronized with
GlideExponential glide time for this oscillator0.0 ms to 20.0
GlideTurns oscillator glide on and offOn, Off
Table 22. Parameter Table for CEM Oscillator
0% to 100%For the CEM Oscillator, only the Pulse waveform
is affected by the Shape parameter. Pulse width
is affected in any of the waveshape combinations
that include the Pulse waveform.
-60 to +60
-100% to 100%
OFFThe oscillator is not synced with another oscillator
GateThe oscillator’s waveform phase will be reset with
each note-on event.
Osc 1-Osc 4The oscillator will be hard synced with the oscil-
lator selected by this parameter. Note that an
oscillator cannot be synchronized to itself.
sec
50
Wav Sample Playback Oscillator
ParameterParameter DescriptionValuesDescription
Main mode, page 1 parameters
TypeType of oscillatorWavSample playback oscillator
WaveThis parameter selects a sample from the
sample set the user has uploaded to Solaris
ShapeNo effect0% to 100%
1-N
CoarseParameter controls the pitch of the oscilla-
tor, in semitones
FineFine tuning of the oscillator, in percentage of
one semitone
-60 to +60
-100% to 100%
Main mode, page 2 parameters
GlideExponential glide time for this oscillator0.0 ms to 20.0
sec
GlideTurns oscillator glide on and offOn, Off
Table 23. Parameter Table for Sample Playback (WAV) Oscillator
51
VS Vector Synthesis Oscillator
ParameterParameter DescriptionValuesDescription
Main mode, page 1 parameters
TypeType of oscillatorVSVector synthesis oscillator
WaveThis parameter selects among the 94
single-cycle waveforms to play
ShapeNo effect0% to 100%
1-94Number of the single-cycle waveform to play
CoarseParameter controls the pitch of the oscilla-
tor, in semitones
FineFine tuning of the oscillator, in percentage of
one semitone
-60 to +60
-100% to 100%
Main mode, page 2 parameters
GlideExponential glide time0.0ms to
20.0sec
GlideTurns oscillator glide on and offOn, Off
Table 24. Parameter Table for Vector Synthesis Oscillator
1SineWave 33High Pipe 65Pure
2Sawtooth 34Mass Organ 66Medium Pure
3Square 35Reed Organ 67High Harmonic 2
4Warm Bell 36Organ Ahh 68Full Bell
5Random Bell 37Mellow Organ 69Bell 1
6Random Bell 2 38Formant Organ 70Pinched 2
7Warm Bell 2 39Clarinet 71Cluster
8Formant Bell 40Ahh Female 72Medium Pinched
9Fuzzy Reed 41Ahh Homme 73Vox Pinched
10Formant Aoh 42Ahh Bass 74Organ Pinched
11Formant Ahh 43Reg Vox 75Ahh Pinched
12TriPlus 44Vocal 1 76Piano Organ
13Dissonant Bell 45Vocal 2 77Bright Reed
14Pulse 1 46High Ahh 78No Fundamental
15Pulse 2 47Bass 79Reed Harmonic
16Square Reed 48Guitar 80Light Fundamental
17Oohh 49Nice 81Mellow Organ
18Eehh 50Woodwind 82Bell 2
19Feedback 51Oboe 83Bell 3
20Piano 1 52Harp 84Saw 3rd & 5th
21E. Piano 53Pipe 85Sine 5ths
22Medium Harmonic 54Hack 1 86Sine 2 Octaves
23HiTop 55Hack 2 87Sine 4 Octaves
24Warm Reed 56Hack 3 88Saw 5ths
253rd & 5th Harmonic57Pinched 1 89Saw 2 Octaves
26Hollow 58Bell Harmonic 90Square 5ths
27Heavy 7 59Bell Vox 91Square Octave & 5th
28Bell Organ 60High Harmonic 1 92Square 2 Octaves
29Bass Bell 61High Reed 93Warm Low
30Tine 1 62Bell Reed 94Bells
31Phase Square 63Warm Whistle
32Orient 64Wood
Table 25. Original Prophet VS waveshapes
52
Mini Oscillator
ParameterParameter DescriptionValuesDescription
Main mode, page 1 parameters
TypeType of oscillatorMiniMinimoog emulation from the Sonic Core Mini-
max.
WaveWaveform generated by the oscillatorTriTriangle wave
Saw+TriThe oscillator generates a sawtooth and triangle
waveform simultaneously
SawSawtooth with downward ramp
Pulse1The oscillator generates a pulse wave of a preset
shape
Pulse2The oscillator generates a pulse wave of a preset
shape
Pulse3The oscillator generates a pulse wave of a preset
shape
ShapeThe Shape parameter has no effect. The
Minimoog had three preset pulse waveform
shapes.
CoarseParameter controls the pitch of the oscilla-
tor, in semitones
FineFine tuning of the oscillator, in percentage of
one semitone
Main mode, page 2 parameters
GlideExponential glide time for this oscillator0.0 ms to 20.0
GlideTurns oscillator glide on and offOn, Off
Table 26. Parameter Table for Mini Oscillator
0% to 100%
-60 to +60
-100% to 100%
sec
53
Appendix 2- Modulation Sources
Modulation Sources List 1
Table 27 shows the modulation list we will refer to as Modulation Source List 1. This modulation source list is used by the
following components: Oscillators, Mixers, Insert FX, Filters, VCAs, and LFOs.
SourceName
OFF
LFO1 - LFO4LFO 1 through 4
V-LFOVibrato LFO
EG1 - EG5Envelope Generators 1 through 5
EG6Envelope Generator 6 (amplitude envelope)
LpEG1 XLooping Envelope’s X axis
LpEG1 YLooping Envelope’s Y axis
VelVelocity
ATAftertouch
NoteMIDI note number. The center (zero) point is E4 when using for key tracking, etc.
ModWhModulation Wheel
AT+MWAftertouch and Modulation Wheel summed
Rib1
Rib2
JoxX
JoyY
CC1 - CC5User-assignable controllers. Refer to “MIDI Menu” on page 44 for details.
Seq A - DStep sequencers A through D
Ped1Pedal 1
Ped2Pedal 2
Btn1Assignable Button 1
Btn2Assignable Button 2
EnvFolEnvelope Follower
KeyTab1 - KeyTab4Key Tables 1 through 4
PolyATPolyphonic Aftertouch
Lag1 - Lag4Lag processors 1 through 4
BreathBreath controller
MaxValMaximum value for that parameter
Osc1 - Osc4Oscillators 1 through 4
Rotor 1 - Rotor 2Rotor processors 1 and 2
AM1 - AM2Amplitude Modulation sources 1 and 2
Vector1 - Vector2Vector synthesis sources 1 and 2
Mixer1 - Mixer 4Mixers 1 through 4
Filter1 - Filter4Filters 1 through 4
InsFX1 - InsFX4Insert effects 1 through 4
VCA1 - VCA4VCAs 1 through 4
W NoiseWhite noise source
P NoisePink noise source
Ext1 - Ext4External inputs 1 through 4
SPdifLS/PDIF output (left)
SPdifRS/PDIF output (right)
Table 27. Modulation Source List 1
Ribbon Controller signal 1
Ribbon Controller signal 2 (higher of 2)
Joystick X position
Joystick Y position
By adding pink and white noise sources to the modulation source list, we have freed up the MM1 oscillator
type from having to provide the noise sources.
54
Modulation Source List 2
Table 28 shows the modulation source list used by the Envelope Generator (EG) components. We will refer to this list as
Modulation Source List 2.
SourceName
OFF
VelVelocity
KeyTrkKey tracking
ModWhModulation wheel
CC1 - CC4Continuous controllers 1 through 4
Table 28. Modulation Source List 2
55
Appendix 3- Filter Types
Table 29 shows the lter types available in Solaris.
LP = Lowpass, HP = Highpass, BP = Bandpass, BR = Band Reject (Notch), AP = Allpass.
The numbers describe the pole count for each, a pole providing 6 dB of ltering. There are several series
lter combinations.
TypeDescription
MM1 (Multimode)23 lter variations are selectable. The 24 dB Lowpass (LP4) is very similar to the CEM LP lter of the Rev
SSMEmulation of the Solid State Music chip used in the Rev.1 and Rev.2 Prophet synths. A 4-pole, 24 dB
slope lter.
MiniEmulation of the lter used in the Minimoog. A 4-pole, 24 dB slope lter. Input levels easily distort.
ObieA 2 pole 12 dB state variable lter based on an Oberheim design. Includes: LB, HP, BP, and BR.
CombThe comb lter adds a delayed copy of a signal to itself, in either a feed-forward or feedback loop. Both
cause interference with the original signal, resulting in a frequency response that looks much like a comb.
Solaris’s comb lter can operate in two modes: Tube or Comb. Tube mode is a feedback loop, which
produced higher levels of resonance, making it better for modelling Karplus-Strong “plucked string” algorithm. Comb mode is a feed-forward design. The delay length is limited to onboard chip memory, so this
affects how low the cutoff frequency can go.
Vocal
Table 29. Solaris Filter Types
A format lter with ve vowels that can be morphed using the X-Fade control.
56
Appendix 4- MIDI Implementation
Clock DivisionDescription
8/11 cycle every 8 measures
6/11 cycle every 6 measures
4/11 cycle every 4 measures
3/11 cycle every 3 measures
2/11 cycle every 2 measures
1/1Whole notes
1/2P1.5 Half note (3 quarter notes)
1/2Half notes
1/2THalf note triplets
1/4P1.5 Quarter note (3 eighth notes)
1/4Quarter notes
1/4TQuarter note triplets
1/8P1.5 Eighth note (3 sixteenth notes)
1/8Eighth notes
1/8TEighth note TRIPLETS
1/16P1.5 Sixteenth note (3 32nd notes)
1/16Sixteenth notes
1/16TSixteenth note triplets
1/32Thirty-second notes
1/32TThirty-second note triplets
1/64Sixty-fourth notes
1/64TSixty-fourth note triplets
1/128One hundred-twenty eighth notes
Table 30. MIDI Clock Divisions
57
Appendix 5- Sample Specications
Sample Pools
Solaris loads samples from the CompactFlash card into the RAM on its DSP chips. Solaris has a total of 32MB of sample
RAM. The samples are stored as mono 16 bit signed headerless (‘raw’) audio les on the CompactFlash card. .Wav les
will work as well. The current OS version looks for a folder named ‘Samples’ to nd the samples. A sample pool consists of
audio sample les and a text le dening how to load and play them. The denition of a sample pool is done with a simple
text le in the same folder (use a naming like ‘SamplePool-001.txt’, ‘SamplePool-002.txt’, etc.).
[Pool]
name = Glockenspiel
[Sample]
sampleindex = 1
The sample pool le shown in Figure 90 contains two individual samples. These two samples will show up as samples 1
and 2 in the Wave parameter of any oscillator slot running a sample playback (Wav) oscillator type. It is possible to create multi-samples for use with Solaris, by editing the lowkey and highkey values of each sample, to indicate over which
MIDI note range they should each play.
Each new note will play the sample currently selected by the active oscillator(s). You could play and hold
sample 1 from the example above (using the sustain pedal or Hold button), change the oscillator’s Wave
parameter to the second sample, and press another key. The new note-on event will cause the oscillator
to play the second sample, even though the rst sample may still be playing.
58
Appendix 6- Self Test Menu
To access the Self Test Menu, press and hold the 1, 8 and 3 buttons on the numeric keypad simultaneously. Follow the
on-screen instructions to perform various diagnostic tests or to calibrate the analog controls, such as the Joystick, Rib-
bon Controller, and wheels.
Figure 91. Self Test Menu - page 1
Figure 91 shows the main menu of the Self Test Menu. In this case, you can see that the DSP diagnostic test has been
run. Figure 92 shows the second page of self-test menu options. Press Exit to leave the Self Test Menu.
Figure 92. Self Test Menu - page 2
The menu you are most likely to use is the Analog Ctrls menu. Access this menu by pressing 4 on the numeric keypad
when you are on the main Self Test menu page. The Analog Ctrls menu allows you to re-calibrate the physical controls
on Solaris.
Figure 93. Self Test Menu - Analog Ctrls menu
59
Appendix 7- Warranty
Warranty Regulations
Warranty Regulations
Zarg Music LLC warrants, that the described product has been free of failures within parts or components of the hardware
and was found to be fully functional. Please carefully read the following information, which is important in the case of probable damages or malfunctions:
If goods are being found defective, missing features described within the present documentation or becoming defective
due to eventual fabrication deciency or material defects within the rst twelve months after purchase, then Zarg Music
LLC shall at its sole discretion and evaluation replace or repair the defective parts or goods at no cost. Multiple repairs
shall be permissible. In case the malfunction or physical failure can not be xed, customer receives the right to cancel the
purchase with refund of the amount originally paid for the defective product. In case testing shows no physical damages,
customer will be charged for testing procedure and services.
Any deciencies caused by transportation have to be declared within a 14 days period after receipt of goods by written
notice. Please note, that any warranty repair at no cost ruled by the above regulations requires registration of name and
address by sending the proof of purchase together with the defective product.
To return defective goods, please contact the retailer where you purchased the product. As an alternative you can also
contact Zarg Music LLC directly to receive a RMA number for the defective product. PLEASE NOTE: It is mandatory to
return the product with the referring RMA number to avoid delays in repair. If possible, please also add a description of the
failure occurred to enable us executing the repair as soon as possible.
COMPLIANCE
FCC INFORMATION (U.S.A)
IMPORTANT NOTICE: DO NOT MODIFY THIS UNIT! This product, when installed as indicated in the instructions con-
tained in this manual, meets FCC requirements. Modications not expressly approved by ZARG MUSIC LLC may void
your authority, granted by the FCC, to use this product. IMPORTANT: When connecting this product to accessories and/or
another product use only high quality shielded cables. Cable/s supplied with this product MUST be used. Follow all installation instructions. Failure to follow instructions could void your FCC authorisation to use this product in the USA.
NOTE: This product has been tested and found to comply with the requirements listed in FCC Regulations, Part 15 for
Class „B“ digital devices. Compliance with these requirements provides a reasonable level of assurance that your use of
this product in residential environment will not result in harmful interference with other electronic devices. This equipment
generates/ uses radio frequencies and, if not installed and used according to the instructions found in the user manual,
may cause interference harmful to the operation of other electronic devices, Compliance with FCC regulations does not
guarantee that interference will not occur in all installations. If this product is found to be the source of interference, which
can be determinated by turning the unit „OFF“ and „ON“, please try to eliminate the problem by using one of the following
measures: Relocate either this product or the device that is being affected by the interference. Utilise power outlets that
are on branch (Circuitbreaker or fuse) circuits or install AC line lter/s. In the case of radio or TV interference, relocate/
reorient the antenna. If the antenna lead-in is 300 ohm ribbon lead, change the lead-in to coaxial type cable. If these corrective measures do not produce satisfactory results, please contact the local retailer authorised to distribute this type of
product. The statements above apply ONLY to products distributed in the USA.
SOLARIS Version 1. 191 FCC Information (CANADA)
FCC INFORMATION (CANADA)
The digital section of this apparatus does not exceed the „Class B“ limits for radio noise emmissions from digital apparatus
set out in the radio interference regulation of the Canadian Department of Communications. Le present appareil nume-
rique n’emet pas debruit radioelectriques depassant les limites applicables aux appareils numerique de la „Class B“ prescrites dans la reglement sur le brouillageradioelectrique edicte par le Ministre Des Communication du Canada.This only
applies to products distributed in Canada. Ceci ne s’applique qu’aux produits distribues dans Canada
OTHER STANDARDS (REST OF WORLD)
This product complies with the radio frequency interference requirements of the Council Directive 89/336/EC.
Cet appareil est conforme aux prescriptions de la directive communitaire 89/336/EC. Dette apparat overholder det gaeldenda EF-direktivvedrorendareadiostoj. Dieses Gerät entspricht der EG-Richtlinie 89/336/EC.192
DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY
The following devices
Solaris keyboard
are hereby declared to conform with the requirements of Council Directive 89/336/FWG for radio frequency interference.
They also comply with regulations dated August 30th, 1995 concerning radio interference generated by electronic
devices. The following standards have been applied: EM 50 082-1 : 1992 , EN 50 081-1 : 1992 , EN60065 : 1993
This declaration has been given responsibly on behalf of the manufacturer:
Zarg Music LLC
6012 Championship Cir
Mukilteo, WA 98275
USA
65
Index
A
Abs 41
absolute 41
AM 41
Amplitude Modulation 41
Arp 35
Arpeggiator 35
Arp On 15