Dave Smith Instruments SYNTHESIZERS

hey there...

i just got my evolver a few days ago and found this list today, so i
figured i'd say hi. so hi. heh.

i wish i would've thought to look for this list earlier before asking a
silly question on analogue heaven about why my evolver seemed to be
pitched so high... i failed to notice the master transpose parameter
(thanks miles!), which the previous owner had set at +36. this synth is
challenging to me in a way no synth has ever been... i strangely find
myself pining for menus of all things! but i love how it sounds, and after
a few more hours of twiddling with it, i expect i'll be flying around it
as if i were born with one in my hands.

luckily, i have a pc1600x, and after installing those LOVELY patches that
someone made (THANK YOU!!!!) i'm beginning to pick up a little speed.
(except those patches overwrote all my other ones... ah well.)

something i would like to do with the evolver is process drums... my
limited experiments have revealed that the evo's inputs are very sensitive
and clip easily, so with dynamic drums coming in, it makes things
difficult. distorting those inputs sounds okay though... and, honestly,
i'm just going to destroy the drums anyway so i guess it doesn't matter,
heh. but if anyone has any tips about processing drums with the evo, i'd
love to hear them.

thanks... (and hello to those on the 909 list as well!)

bleep.
out.

---
http://leichenfeld.iuma.com

--- In DSI_Evolver@yahoogroups.com, blip <bleep@w...> wrote:
> something i would like to do with the evolver is process drums... my
> limited experiments have revealed that the evo's inputs are very sensitive
> and clip easily, so with dynamic drums coming in, it makes things
> difficult. distorting those inputs sounds okay though... 

I'm away from the Evolver right now so this may not be too helpful or correct.  
But I was having the opposite problem (input signal to low) and later while 
reading through the manual I noticed that there seem to be a couple of 
different parameters that effect the input gain.  Is that correct?  I know there's 
"Input Gain" but I think there's something more to it  too. 

Of course you could always turn down the signal before it hits the Evolver.  
Also double check to make sure you don't have distortion turned on 
elsewhere (distortion, input hack, etc.).  And in general the signal chain of the 
Evolver can be distorted at lots of points so check the whole gain structure of 
the patch from beginning to end (i.e. maybe the delay or something is 
distorting).

Yes, the input pad for the audio input is the right parameter to adjust.

Press the [Main] Button twice and adjust knob three. You will see the
parameter change from 0dB to 24dB. These values represent the input pad
adjustment to the incoming signal. 0dB is no adjustment - the other
values represent the amount of gain reduction to the input signal.

I would run your drum signal at full level into the Evolver, then adjust
the input gain until it stops distorting.

Regards,

Scott

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>> something i would like to do with the evolver is process drums... my 
>> limited experiments have revealed that the evo's inputs are very 
>> sensitive and clip easily, so with dynamic drums coming in, it makes 
>> things difficult. distorting those inputs sounds okay though...
>
>I'm away from the Evolver right now so this may not be too 
>helpful or correct.  
>But I was having the opposite problem (input signal to low) 
>and later while 
>reading through the manual I noticed that there seem to be a couple of 
>different parameters that effect the input gain.  Is that 
>correct?  I know there's 
>"Input Gain" but I think there's something more to it  too. 
>
>Of course you could always turn down the signal before it hits 
>the Evolver.  
>Also double check to make sure you don't have distortion turned on 
>elsewhere (distortion, input hack, etc.).  And in general the 
>signal chain of the 
>Evolver can be distorted at lots of points so check the whole 
>gain structure of 
>the patch from beginning to end (i.e. maybe the delay or something is 
>distorting).

On Tue, 22 Jul 2003, pela_gius wrote:

> reading through the manual I noticed that there seem to be a couple of
> different parameters that effect the input gain.  Is that correct?  I know there's
> "Input Gain" but I think there's something more to it  too.

yeah, there's input gain and ext in volume.

> Of course you could always turn down the signal before it hits the Evolver.

the problem is the dynamics... i seem to need to send the signal through a
compressor (which i don't have) for it to make the evolver useful in this
end... the kicks distort the input and the snares and hats are barely
audible... it would help if they were on different tracks, but i haven't
bothered to do that yet...

> elsewhere (distortion, input hack, etc.).  And in general the signal chain of the
> Evolver can be distorted at lots of points so check the whole gain structure of
> the patch from beginning to end (i.e. maybe the delay or something is
> distorting).

yup... it took me about a half hour to make a patch that was just a
through for the external input, heh. but that will serve as a good
template for future processing patches.

bleep.
out.

---
http://leichenfeld.iuma.com

This is odd. It doesn't sound like this when you just run the drums 
straight into your mixer? I often run gear through my evolver, with a 
patch I use so that the evolver basically acts in thru mode, I never 
notice any anomolies. I usually have the VCA level set to 100 (of 
course you don't have to if you only want to hear the input when you 
trigger envelopes), the VCA volume set to about 50 (it can overdrive 
a little if set to maximum) ext. in set to 100 although sometimes I 
back off a bit, input gain set to +0dB, and master volume set to 
whatever I need it to be. Oh, if you have the sequencer running on 
your input and you aren't using the VCA EG on it you should set env 
amount to 0, otherwise it can clip, I believe. 

Umm, are you sure you don't have anything like the filter cutoff set 
to something below maximum (164)? Since snares have a lot more highs 
than kicks, it's possible that could be set low and you'd hear the 
kicks fine, but the snares would sound dull and a bit faint. 





--- In DSI_Evolver@yahoogroups.com, blip <bleep@w...> wrote:
> On Tue, 22 Jul 2003, pela_gius wrote:
> 
> > reading through the manual I noticed that there seem to be a 
couple of
> > different parameters that effect the input gain.  Is that 
correct?  I know there's
> > "Input Gain" but I think there's something more to it  too.
> 
> yeah, there's input gain and ext in volume.
> 
> > Of course you could always turn down the signal before it hits 
the Evolver.
> 
> the problem is the dynamics... i seem to need to send the signal 
through a
> compressor (which i don't have) for it to make the evolver useful 
in this
> end... the kicks distort the input and the snares and hats are 
barely
> audible... it would help if they were on different tracks, but i 
haven't
> bothered to do that yet...
> 
> > elsewhere (distortion, input hack, etc.).  And in general the 
signal chain of the
> > Evolver can be distorted at lots of points so check the whole 
gain structure of
> > the patch from beginning to end (i.e. maybe the delay or 
something is

> > distorting).
> 
> yup... it took me about a half hour to make a patch that was just a
> through for the external input, heh. but that will serve as a good
> template for future processing patches.
> 
> bleep.
> out.
> 
> ---
> http://leichenfeld.iuma.com

On Wed, 23 Jul 2003, thligrdd wrote:

> This is odd. It doesn't sound like this when you just run the drums
> straight into your mixer? I often run gear through my evolver, with a

i don't use a mixer, but yeah, the drums sound pretty much the same coming
out of the 909 as they do coming out of the 909 and going through the
evolver with a "thru" patch loaded. there's nothing wrong with the
evolver... it just seems very sensitive to dynamics and either i'll have
to pay a lot of attention to what i put into it or i'll have to get some
sort of outboard compressor to fix the signal going into the evolver,
which i likely won't do... i'm going for a minimalist gear aesthetic for
once in my life. :)

> Umm, are you sure you don't have anything like the filter cutoff set
> to something below maximum (164)? Since snares have a lot more highs
> than kicks, it's possible that could be set low and you'd hear the
> kicks fine, but the snares would sound dull and a bit faint.

yup... the samples just aren't as intense... they're all normalized and
cranked up and such, but they're just not as sonically large as the
kicks...

if anyone out there has any mp3s that demonstrate the evo processing
drums, i'd love to hear them...

bleep.
out.

---
http://leichenfeld.iuma.com

so..what does ext.input goes trough?? the filters
right? so if you want the snares etc to sound more you
should have a higher value on filter cutoff.
best
peter

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On Wed, 23 Jul 2003, peter sedin wrote:

> so..what does ext.input goes trough?? the filters
> right? so if you want the snares etc to sound more you
> should have a higher value on filter cutoff.
> best

i know... the filter was wide open, res at zero... the problem is with the
dynamics of the snare and hats vs. the dynamics of the kick. the evolver
is just really sensitive to that, it seems, so in putting drums through
it, i'll just have to pay attention to the dynamics of the input signal...

bleep.
out.

---
http://leichenfeld.iuma.com

Actually, I loaded a 4-bar loop of a 909 pattern being processed with 
the evolver onto this very group, it's in the files section, I think 
it's called "drumloop3000" or something. If you want a description of 
what I did, just browse the archives back a few pages, I posted 
exactly what I did. It's not an .mp3 though, it's a .wav...I think. 

> if anyone out there has any mp3s that demonstrate the evo processing
> drums, i'd love to hear them...
> 
> bleep.
> out.
> 
> ---
> http://leichenfeld.iuma.com

i don't even have an evolver yet, but you might try turning on the 
envelope follower, hitting env 3 negatively with it, and then hitting 
the VCA with that for compression inside the evolver.
something like that.
if someone hadn't hit&runned me, i'd have one already!
oh hi

--- In DSI_Evolver@yahoogroups.com, "SoundEngine.com Sales" 
<scott@s...> wrote:
> Yes, the input pad for the audio input is the right parameter to 
adjust.
> 
> Press the [Main] Button twice and adjust knob three. You will see 
the
> parameter change from 0dB to 24dB. These values represent the input 
pad
> adjustment to the incoming signal. 0dB is no adjustment - the other
> values represent the amount of gain reduction to the input signal.
> 
> I would run your drum signal at full level into the Evolver, then 
adjust
> the input gain until it stops distorting.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Scott
> 
> Lowest Prices for Evolver on the Internet - Call us and find out!
> SoUnDEnGiNe.com
> +1.847.440.7373
> http://www.soundengine.com/
> ICQ: 79433157  
> 
> >> something i would like to do with the evolver is process 
drums... my 
> >> limited experiments have revealed that the evo's inputs are very 
> >> sensitive and clip easily, so with dynamic drums coming in, it 
makes 
> >> things difficult. distorting those inputs sounds okay though...
> >
> >I'm away from the Evolver right now so this may not be too 
> >helpful or correct.  
> >But I was having the opposite problem (input signal to low) 
> >and later while 
> >reading through the manual I noticed that there seem to be a 
couple of 
> >different parameters that effect the input gain.  Is that 
> >correct?  I know there's 
> >"Input Gain" but I think there's something more to it  too. 
> >
> >Of course you could always turn down the signal before it hits 
> >the Evolver.  
> >Also double check to make sure you don't have distortion turned on 
> >elsewhere (distortion, input hack, etc.).  And in general the 
> >signal chain of the 
> >Evolver can be distorted at lots of points so check the whole 
> >gain structure of 
> >the patch from beginning to end (i.e. maybe the delay or something 
is 
> >distorting).

On Tue, 29 Jul 2003, silverb0x wrote:

> i don't even have an evolver yet, but you might try turning on the
> envelope follower, hitting env 3 negatively with it, and then hitting
> the VCA with that for compression inside the evolver.
> something like that.

interesting solution! i haven't played with the external inputs much
recently though... been concentrating on making a blank template patch and
turning it into several drones. it's a good way of learning what goes on
in that mysterious machine...

> if someone hadn't hit&runned me, i'd have one already!

ouch... that's a real bummer....

bleep.
out.

---
http://leichenfeld.iuma.com

> i failed to notice the master transpose parameter
> (thanks miles!), which the previous owner had set at +36...

I have this feeling that my evolver was shipped with the Transpose 
parameter at 36 as well. 

Maybe Mr. Smith should be informed?

Ciao,
/R