Evolver (synthesizer)
Encyclopedia
The Evolver is an analog-digital hybrid synthesizer designed by Dave Smith
and manufactured by Dave Smith Instruments. It was first released as a desktop version in 2002, then later a 37-key keyboard bearing the same synth engine as the Evolver desktop was also released. A polyphonic version of the Evolver, dubbed the Poly Evolver, was released in 2004 as a rackmount version, then a 61-key keyboard version of the Poly Evolver was released in 2005. The Poly Evolver rackmount version was discontinuted in 2010, its market share taken by the Tetra module at the low end, and by the Prophet '08 Rack, which shares some design elements with the Poly Evolver.
(a direct descendent of the Prophet VS), and the first professional software synthesizer
, "Reality". After helping Roger Linn
on his line of AdrenaLinn guitar effects pedals, he got interested in hardware again and eventually decided to start producing a new line of hardware synthesizers, partly because of seeing how soft synths are now easily "ripped off.", calling the Evolvers hardware "the ultimate dongle".
The name Evolver is due the fact that the synthesizers sound is constantly changing, subtly or dramatically. Originally, Smith intended for the Evolver to be named "Noise," since he "always wanted to design a synth with that name. While creating sound presets to demonstrate the synthesizer at the NAMM tradeshow, he was impressed by the "organic" nature of the synthesizers sound, his wife, Denise, came up with the more aptly suited name, Evolver.
) can be applied. The two digital oscillators
feature 95 12-bit wavetable waveforms from the Prophet VS but 16-bit user waveforms can also be loaded on to the internal RAM
storage. Oscillators 1 and 3 are hardwired to the left channel, oscillators 2 and 4 are hardwired to the right. The two analog oscillators can be hard synced
together, and the two digital oscillators can be ring modulated
and frequency modulated
to each other independently. Each oscillator can be independently tuned over a span of 10 octaves (8 Hz
to 8 kHz). There is also white noise
that can be used as a sound source, it is sent through the filter and cannot be routed any other way.
While the Evolver is monophonic, multiple Evolvers can be linked together via MIDI to create a "chain" that, in turn, creates polyphony
based on how many units are chained together. The same is true for the Poly Evolvers, up to 5 Poly Evolvers can be chained to obtain a 20-note polyphony
.
There are two analog low pass filters
, one for each stereo channel. Each low pass filter can be changed between 4-pole or 2-pole. Unless programmed otherwise (split), the two analog filters each retain the same settings, thus processing the audio in both channels identically. However, since the filters are analog, even if they are working at identical settings, there will be slight variations in each filter's output. Each filter has its own ADSR envelope generator, and the low pass filters are also resonant
, and can self oscillate.
There is also a non-resonant, digital, 4-pole high pass filter available for further processing. The high pass filter can either be applied after the low pass filters, or before (if applied before the low pass filters, the high pass filter only effects an external audio signal).
The VCA also utilizes a ADSR envelope. There is a third ADSR envelope generator for modulation
purposes.
There are 4 LFO
s available for modulation purposes. The LFOs in the Evolver have speeds ranging from the very slow (one cycle every thirty seconds) to incredibly fast (261 cycles a second, almost middle C in audio terms). Some of the analog components of the Evolver cannot handle some of the incredibly high frequencies of the LFOs due to limitations in the control voltage speeds.
, delay
, hack, feedback
, and grunge. The distortion
is digital, and at the value of 1, the distortion
acts as a noise gate
. There is a 3-tap delay
, meaning that the signal can be delayed with three flexibly programmable delays that are independent from each other. The hack effect "trashes" the output (it can also be applied to external audio before the low pass filter), it produces an effect similar to bit reduction or decimation
. There is also an option to create independent stereo feedback
loops, which is routed through the filter. The grunge option produces a nasty feedback
at higher levels, but has no effect at lower levels.
All effects except for hack can be modulated with the LFOs. If feedback is modulated correctly, the user can create cyclic effects similar to flange
or chorus
.
Certain parameters, such as pitch
, filter frequency, volume, etc. can be turned into MIDI signals, so the sequencer of the Evolver can be used to sequence standard parameters on other MIDI compatible devices.
Each of the 16 steps can be individually edited for duration, level, and even can be used to change up the digital oscillators' waveforms (a different digital waveform can be programmed for each step). This makes the Evolver's sequencer a very powerful tool. As a last-minute addition on the Evolver Keyboard, an arpeggiator was added using the controls for the sequencer - this is termed a "hidden function" in the Evolver's documentation, and does not seem to be present in the voice structure of its larger cousin, the Poly Evolver.
Dave Smith (engineer)
Dave Smith is an engineer and guitarist who pioneered many groundbreaking technologies in music technology. Smith was responsible for the first polyphonic and microprocessor-controlled synthesizer, the Prophet 5...
and manufactured by Dave Smith Instruments. It was first released as a desktop version in 2002, then later a 37-key keyboard bearing the same synth engine as the Evolver desktop was also released. A polyphonic version of the Evolver, dubbed the Poly Evolver, was released in 2004 as a rackmount version, then a 61-key keyboard version of the Poly Evolver was released in 2005. The Poly Evolver rackmount version was discontinuted in 2010, its market share taken by the Tetra module at the low end, and by the Prophet '08 Rack, which shares some design elements with the Poly Evolver.
History
Smith worked on a number of synthesizers in the past, such as the revolutionary Prophet 5, the Korg WavestationKorg Wavestation
The Korg Wavestation is a vector synthesis synthesizer first produced in the early 1990s and later re-released as a software synthesizer in 2004. Its primary innovation was Wave Sequencing, a method of multi-timbral sound generation in which different PCM waveform data are played successively,...
(a direct descendent of the Prophet VS), and the first professional software synthesizer
Software synthesizer
A software synthesizer, also known as a softsynth is a computer program or plug-in for digital audio generation. Computer software which can create sounds or music is not new, but advances in processing speed are allowing softsynths to accomplish the same tasks that previously required dedicated...
, "Reality". After helping Roger Linn
Roger Linn
Roger Linn is an industrial designer, mainly of electronic drum machines, and has recently branched out into guitar effects pedals. His products have become underground hits, being used on many famous recordings...
on his line of AdrenaLinn guitar effects pedals, he got interested in hardware again and eventually decided to start producing a new line of hardware synthesizers, partly because of seeing how soft synths are now easily "ripped off.", calling the Evolvers hardware "the ultimate dongle".
The name Evolver is due the fact that the synthesizers sound is constantly changing, subtly or dramatically. Originally, Smith intended for the Evolver to be named "Noise," since he "always wanted to design a synth with that name. While creating sound presets to demonstrate the synthesizer at the NAMM tradeshow, he was impressed by the "organic" nature of the synthesizers sound, his wife, Denise, came up with the more aptly suited name, Evolver.
Synthesis
The Evolver's sound comes from 4 oscillators, 2 of which are analog and 2 of which are digital. The two analog oscillators provide classic waveforms; saw, triangle, saw-triangle, and pulse (which can be turned into a square wave at a value of 50%). The analog oscillators in the Evolver are very stable and accurate unlike some analog oscillators of the past, but drift (oscillators waver in and out of tuneTune
Tune may refer to:* A melody* A tune-family* A tune , a short piece of instrumental music, usually with repeating sections, and often played a number of times* British slang term, often said when referring to a piece of music that is enjoyed...
) can be applied. The two digital oscillators
Digitally-controlled oscillator
A digitally controlled oscillator or DCO is a hybrid digital/analogue electronic oscillator used in synthesizers. The name is an analogy with "voltage-controlled oscillator"...
feature 95 12-bit wavetable waveforms from the Prophet VS but 16-bit user waveforms can also be loaded on to the internal RAM
Ram
-Animals:*Ram, an uncastrated male sheep*Ram cichlid, a species of freshwater fish endemic to Colombia and Venezuela-Military:*Battering ram*Ramming, a military tactic in which one vehicle runs into another...
storage. Oscillators 1 and 3 are hardwired to the left channel, oscillators 2 and 4 are hardwired to the right. The two analog oscillators can be hard synced
Oscillator sync
Oscillator sync is a feature in some synthesizers with two or more VCOs . One oscillator will restart the period of another oscillator, so that they will have the same base frequency...
together, and the two digital oscillators can be ring modulated
Ring modulation
Ring modulation is a signal-processing effect in electronics, an implementation of amplitude modulation or frequency mixing, performed by multiplying two signals, where one is typically a sine-wave or another simple waveform. It is referred to as "ring" modulation because the analog circuit of...
and frequency modulated
Frequency modulation synthesis
A 220 Hz carrier tone modulated by a 440 Hz modulating tone with various choices of modulation index, β. The time domain signals are illustrated above, and the corresponding spectra are shown below ....
to each other independently. Each oscillator can be independently tuned over a span of 10 octaves (8 Hz
Hertz
The hertz is the SI unit of frequency defined as the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon. One of its most common uses is the description of the sine wave, particularly those used in radio and audio applications....
to 8 kHz). There is also white noise
White noise
White noise is a random signal with a flat power spectral density. In other words, the signal contains equal power within a fixed bandwidth at any center frequency...
that can be used as a sound source, it is sent through the filter and cannot be routed any other way.
While the Evolver is monophonic, multiple Evolvers can be linked together via MIDI to create a "chain" that, in turn, creates polyphony
Polyphony
In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ....
based on how many units are chained together. The same is true for the Poly Evolvers, up to 5 Poly Evolvers can be chained to obtain a 20-note polyphony
Polyphony
In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ....
.
There are two analog low pass filters
Voltage-controlled filter
A voltage-controlled filter is a filter whose operating characteristics can be controlled by means of a control voltage applied to one or more inputs...
, one for each stereo channel. Each low pass filter can be changed between 4-pole or 2-pole. Unless programmed otherwise (split), the two analog filters each retain the same settings, thus processing the audio in both channels identically. However, since the filters are analog, even if they are working at identical settings, there will be slight variations in each filter's output. Each filter has its own ADSR envelope generator, and the low pass filters are also resonant
Resonance
In physics, resonance is the tendency of a system to oscillate at a greater amplitude at some frequencies than at others. These are known as the system's resonant frequencies...
, and can self oscillate.
There is also a non-resonant, digital, 4-pole high pass filter available for further processing. The high pass filter can either be applied after the low pass filters, or before (if applied before the low pass filters, the high pass filter only effects an external audio signal).
The VCA also utilizes a ADSR envelope. There is a third ADSR envelope generator for modulation
Modulation
In electronics and telecommunications, modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a high-frequency periodic waveform, called the carrier signal, with a modulating signal which typically contains information to be transmitted...
purposes.
There are 4 LFO
LFO
LFO may refer to:* LFO , an English techno act* LFO , an American three-man pop/rap group** LFO , an album released by the American pop group LFO* Light Finding Operation, a form of mecha from the anime TV series Eureka Seven...
s available for modulation purposes. The LFOs in the Evolver have speeds ranging from the very slow (one cycle every thirty seconds) to incredibly fast (261 cycles a second, almost middle C in audio terms). Some of the analog components of the Evolver cannot handle some of the incredibly high frequencies of the LFOs due to limitations in the control voltage speeds.
Effects
The effects available in the Evolver include distortionDistortion
A distortion is the alteration of the original shape of an object, image, sound, waveform or other form of information or representation. Distortion is usually unwanted, and often many methods are employed to minimize it in practice...
, delay
Delay (audio effect)
Delay is an audio effect which records an input signal to an audio storage medium, and then plays it back after a period of time. The delayed signal may either be played back multiple times, or played back into the recording again, to create the sound of a repeating, decaying echo.-Early delay...
, hack, feedback
Feedback
Feedback describes the situation when output from an event or phenomenon in the past will influence an occurrence or occurrences of the same Feedback describes the situation when output from (or information about the result of) an event or phenomenon in the past will influence an occurrence or...
, and grunge. The distortion
Distortion
A distortion is the alteration of the original shape of an object, image, sound, waveform or other form of information or representation. Distortion is usually unwanted, and often many methods are employed to minimize it in practice...
is digital, and at the value of 1, the distortion
Distortion
A distortion is the alteration of the original shape of an object, image, sound, waveform or other form of information or representation. Distortion is usually unwanted, and often many methods are employed to minimize it in practice...
acts as a noise gate
Noise gate
A Noise Gate or gate is an electronic device or software that is used to control the volume of an audio signal. In its most simple form, a noise gate allows a signal to pass through only when it is above a set threshold: the gate is 'open'. If the signal falls below the threshold no signal is...
. There is a 3-tap delay
Delay (audio effect)
Delay is an audio effect which records an input signal to an audio storage medium, and then plays it back after a period of time. The delayed signal may either be played back multiple times, or played back into the recording again, to create the sound of a repeating, decaying echo.-Early delay...
, meaning that the signal can be delayed with three flexibly programmable delays that are independent from each other. The hack effect "trashes" the output (it can also be applied to external audio before the low pass filter), it produces an effect similar to bit reduction or decimation
Decimation (signal processing)
In digital signal processing, decimation is a technique for reducing the number of samples in a discrete-time signal. The element which implements this technique is referred to as a decimator.Decimation is a two-step process:...
. There is also an option to create independent stereo feedback
Feedback
Feedback describes the situation when output from an event or phenomenon in the past will influence an occurrence or occurrences of the same Feedback describes the situation when output from (or information about the result of) an event or phenomenon in the past will influence an occurrence or...
loops, which is routed through the filter. The grunge option produces a nasty feedback
Feedback
Feedback describes the situation when output from an event or phenomenon in the past will influence an occurrence or occurrences of the same Feedback describes the situation when output from (or information about the result of) an event or phenomenon in the past will influence an occurrence or...
at higher levels, but has no effect at lower levels.
All effects except for hack can be modulated with the LFOs. If feedback is modulated correctly, the user can create cyclic effects similar to flange
Flanging
Flanging is an audio effect produced by mixing two identical signals together, with one signal delayed by a small and gradually changing period, usually smaller than 20 milliseconds. This produces a swept comb filter effect: peaks and notches are produced in the resultant frequency spectrum,...
or chorus
Chorus effect
In music, a chorus effect occurs when individual sounds with roughly the same timbre and nearly the same pitch converge and are perceived as one...
.
Sequencer
The sequencer on the Evolver is a 4x16 analog-style step sequencer. This means up to four sequences (each being 16 steps each) can be used as modulation sources, and can be routed to any of the modulation destinations in the Evolver. The sequencer can be stepped by the internal clock, by the MIDI clock (for beat syncing), or by MIDI notes.Certain parameters, such as pitch
Pitch (music)
Pitch is an auditory perceptual property that allows the ordering of sounds on a frequency-related scale.Pitches are compared as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies,...
, filter frequency, volume, etc. can be turned into MIDI signals, so the sequencer of the Evolver can be used to sequence standard parameters on other MIDI compatible devices.
Each of the 16 steps can be individually edited for duration, level, and even can be used to change up the digital oscillators' waveforms (a different digital waveform can be programmed for each step). This makes the Evolver's sequencer a very powerful tool. As a last-minute addition on the Evolver Keyboard, an arpeggiator was added using the controls for the sequencer - this is termed a "hidden function" in the Evolver's documentation, and does not seem to be present in the voice structure of its larger cousin, the Poly Evolver.