Dave Smith Instruments Evolver ""Are You Evolving?/Now shipping!" ad, Keyboard 2002

Dave Smith Instruments Evolver "Are You Evolving?/Now shipping!" colour advertisement from page 129 in the classifieds section of the December 2002 issue of Keyboard magazine.

Finally! Evolvers are shipping!

I don't remember the exact date I ordered mine, but my invoice - yup, still got it! - says it was shipped on December 9, 2002. The same month this "Now Shipping" ad came out.  Boom!

Similar to the previous "Will you Evolve?" ad (right) that ran from September to November, this ad replaced it in the classified section of Keyboard magazine. DSI still wasn't ready to spend the cash for an half or full page ad yet.

But, this advertisement had evolved - pun intended! Specifically, Dave shelled out for another half inch of ad height to make it an even three inches.

The reason? To add some more text of course! Along with the original three bullet points from the previous ad (analog synthesis, stereo processing, and the sequencer), this new ad now also included:

• Multiple Feedback Paths
• Extensive Digital Processing

But to me, the really smart bit comes after all that:

"From the man who invented the first programmable polyphonic synths, MIDI, the first software synths, Prophet 5/T8/VS, Pro-One, Wavestation, etc."

As mentioned in the previous blog post, I suggested that DSI may have decided to spend less on advertising in these early days, relying instead on earned media garnered through the use of Dave's name and credentials. And quite a list of creds they are. It was a smart move and a smart way to save some money early on.

Moving on...

Its fun for me to see a new branch split off from the synthesizer tree of life and witness it's evolution over time (again - pun intended - it never gets old!!!). But, if you want to get technical, these early advertisements weren't the first time that regular readers of Keyboard Magazine would have heard of this new beast.

That happened... can you guess?

You bet! Exactly 15 years ago in Keyboard's April 2002 feature article on Winter NAMM 2002. Sure, technically, that meant the Evolver announcement actually came during Winter NAMM in January, but let's keep this exciting, shall we?

If you flip through the "New Gear @ NAMM 2002" article, you will find a photo of the Evolver, as well as a write-up, sandwiched between announcements for the new Clavia Nord Rack 3 and E-mu PK-6/XK-6/MK-6. The photo for the Evolver isn't that large - but its larger than the photo that was appearing in the classified ads and probably got a few more people excited about the idea of  "Mr Sequential Circuits" (Keyboard's words, not mine!) getting back in the biz:

"Dave Smith Instruments Evolver 
$395-$495, est.
Mr. Sequential Circuits is back with a new hybrid analog/digital monophonic synth module. The Evolver features two analog and two digital oscillators, with separate glide per oscillator, oscillator sync, and pulse width modulation, four delayed ADSR envelopes, four syncable LFOs, and dual tunable feedback loops. Delay, chorus and flange effects are also syncable to MIDI, as is the 16-step by 4-track analog-style sequencer. It's great to see Dave making hardware synths again."

Why yes, it is great to see Dave making hardware again.  :)

Historically, I really dig this little ditty for two main reasons - the first is pricing info. Or in this case, the range in estimated pricing. At NAMM in January, there was obviously still some question as to what the final price would be.

And the other thing I really dig historically about this ad? The intimacy between Keyboard Magazine and Dave Smith. That's some big time respect right there. And deservedly so. It all goes back to show how DSI made the right decision to name the company after himself, and to make Dave the face of the organization. Smart moves righ there.

Dave Smith Instruments Evolver "Will You Evolve?" ad, Keyboard 2002

Dave Smith Instruments Evolver "Will You Evolve?" colour advertisement on page 128 from the September 2002 issue of Keyboard magazine.

So recently, I happened to be doing some historical research for a totally different synthesizer company and came across some of Dave Smith Instruments early synth ads. I decided to file them away in the back of my mind (and my excel spreadsheet) to blog about later. Probably when the ads had aged another five years or so.

Then, just today (I'm writing this on April 4), Dave Smith Instruments announced on their Facebook page that this year marks it's 15th anniversary. As part of the celebrations, they are asking users to send in a photo of their first DSI instrument along with a short story. Now, I have a great DSI Evolver story, but I'm saving that ditty to send in to them to hopefully win some sweet DSI swag.

Anyways, now throw those two coincidences in with my recent and totally unrelated Sequential Circuits Prophet-15 April Fools Day post and it's looking like Fate is punching me in the face.

Why fight it?

And so here we have it. Dave Smith's FIRST advertisement in Keyboard Magazine under the DSI banner.

Hello!

What a humble new beginning for such a synth giant. It's a small advertisement - that's for sure - measuring in at only 2.5" x 2.25". Understandably it doesn't have the room to say a lot about the Evolver.

• Real analog synthesis
• Stereo processing
• 16 x 4 sequencer

The Evolver does a lot more, but the bullet points provide a good insight into what DSI probably thought would differentiate itself from other gear at the time and/or what users in 2002 would probably gravitate to.

And that tagline - "Synthesis with attitude" is perfect.  The Evolver has *tons* of attitude.

But to me, the most interesting thing about this ad was its location in Keyboard.

Unlike many of the Sequential Circuits advertisements that came before it, the Evolver wasn't being introduced to readers through a large two-page centrefold spread. This little guy was tucked into the classifieds section of Keyboard (see right). It's clear that precious marketing dollars weren't being spent on advertising in these early early days. And, it was probably the right move since from a PR perspective, his name alone would have opened a lot of doors and created some good exposure through earned media. Better to spend those dollars elsewhere like trade shows.

In fact, if I recall correctly, it wasn't these early ads that led me purchase an Evolver so early on. It was word of mouth as news of Dave Smith's return slowly spread across the Web.

Yup - his name sold me on that synth. Sure, it was also the features of the Evolver, but back in 2002 it felt like a big risk for me to buy a synth off a Web site from another country.

His name sealed that deal.  Grass roots all the way!

(and nope - I'm not being paid in any way to promote DSI's contest or anything else)

Sequential Circuits Prophet-15 spec sheet, 1980

Sequential Circuits Inc. Prophet-15 spec sheet from 1980.

Dang! There are few things I like more than a good ol' fashion spec sheet. And this one takes its rightful place as leader of the Prophets - specifically the Prophet-5 and Prophet-10. I posted those spec sheets just a little while back.

There's no date on the actual spec sheet, but I'm guessing its from around 1980 since a Prophet-15 "Three Prophets are better than one!" advertisement appeared in the April 1980 issue of Keyboard Magazine (right). It caused quite a stir in the letter section of the May and June issues as musician unions were worried that each Prophet-15 would replace three musicians in studios and at live events.  That worry was soon put to bed as few non-unionized musicians arms were long enough to reach the top controls on the front panel of the Prophet-15.

The SCI Prophet-15 is the type of mythical beast that no one has ever played on, but everyone talks about how they *know a guy who knows a guy* that's played on one. Heck, there are at least three people on GearSlutz that have said they've seen one gathering dust in the back of the rental department at the Long and McQuade music store in Regina, Saskatchewan. But apparently the rental/tech guy won't let anyone touch it until Dave Smith's personal tech has tuned it up so he can put it back into rental circulation. And the hype around the Prophet-15 on GearSluts recently became so intense that Uli Behringer had to put out an official announcement that he wouldn't be cloning this particular piece, leading to multiple synth memes to appear on Facebook both defending and attacking the decision.

The SCI Prophet-15 is built on the same tech as its younger sibling - the dual keyboard Prophet-10 - adding a third keyboard as well as an additional five sweet sweet voices. And it was those extra voices that Jimmy "Triple Ace" Douglas was looking for when he produced Star Cruiser's third album "Super Prism". He brings up the Prophet-15 in particular during an interview that appeared in the April 1980 issue of Synthesizers For Fun and Profit magazine.

"I had the Prophet-15 shipped to the studio halfway through the production of the Star Cruiser album. It was at great expense - the thing weighs a ton. But we needed a particularly complicated twinkly sound behind the main rhythm of 'That's not a gun in my pocket', and I knew it would take three different parts from the Prophet to really bring that song together.    Mission accomplished." 

According to synth expert Marcus Vole's book My Favourite Vintage Synthesizers and How To Identify Them, the Prophet-15 kept pace with the Prophet-10's production figures with as many as 11 units being sold to larger studios in the US and Europe, as well as to one community college in northern Saskatchewan that filed for bankruptcy soon after due to the large debt incurred through its unauthorized purchase by a young Star Cruiser fan that worked in the purchasing department. I'm guessing that's how one of these rare beasts turned up at that Long and McQuade in Regina.

The jump in synthesizer technology that came about with the Prophet-15 created a domino effect in the synthesizer manufacturing industry, as Roland soon after announced plans for their three-keyboard Jupiter 24, and Korg quickly debuted their Poly-18.

To this day, scientists at Yamaha are still working on their fully analog three-mini-keyboard CS-03.