User Manual
Table Of Contents
- Evolver Operation Manual
- Dave Smith Instruments
 - 1210 Cabrillo Hwy N
 - Half Moon Bay, CA 94019-1449
 - For Technical Support, E-mail to:support@davesmithinstruments.com
 - Contents
 - Quick Start 6
 - Basic Operation FAQs 11
 - Inside Evolver 12
 - Signal Flow Diagram 13
 - Main Parameters 14
 - Sequencer Operation 18
 - Program Parameters 21
 - Modulation Destination Table 38
 - Modulation Source Table 40
 - MIDI Implementation 41
 - Welcome…
 - Register
 - Version 3.0 Notes
 - Quick Start
 - Program Notes
 
 - Bank 1
 - Bank 4
- Programs 80 – 128 are sounds meant to played from a keyboard; some have sequences programmed, and some do not. Most respond in different ways to keyboard pressure and mod wheel.
 - Special thanks to Program contributors, including:
 - Craig Wiper
 - Basic Operation FAQs
- The Analog Side
 - The Digital Side
- Sequencer Operation
 - While the sequencer is running, if you hold the Shift button when you hit the Stop button, the sequence will continue running until finished (according to the length of Sequence 1), and will stop after playing step 1.
 - A simple “tap tempo” feature is available. With the sequencer off, hold the Reset button, and then hold the Start/Stop button for a count of four; then lift up the Start/Stop button in time. The sequencer will start with the new tempo. Note – the actual speed will depend on the Clock Divide setting. The count will match if Clock Divide is set to 4n. If set to 8n, it will play twice as fast as your “tap”, and so forth.
 - Program Parameters
 
 - Display
 - Destination
 - 0ff
 - No destination selected
 - 01F
 - Oscillator 1 Frequency
 - 0AL
 - Oscillator All Level
 - noL
 - Noise Level
 - El
 - External In Level
 - 01P
 - Oscillator 1 Pulse width
 - F43
 - Frequency Mod (FM) Amount; Osc 4 -> 3
 - F34
 - Frequency Mod (FM) Amount; Osc 3 -> 4
 - R43
 - Ring Mod (Amplitude) Amount; Osc 4 -> 3
 - R34
 - Ring Mod (Amplitude) Amount; Osc 3 -> 4
 - FL
 - Lowpass filter frequency
 - FLS
 - Filter Split –separation between left / right
 - Res
 - Resonance
 - UCA
 - VCA amount
 - Fbf
 - Feedback frequency
 - Fba
 - Filter Amount
 - Dt1
 - Delay 1 Time
 - DA1
 - Delay 1 Amount
 - L1f
 - LFO 1 Frequency
 - L2f
 - LFO 2 Frequency
 - L3f
 - LFO 3 Frequency
 - L4f
 - LFO 4 Frequency
 
 
 - Additional Sequencer-Only Modulation Destinations
- Display
 - Destination
 - CL0
 - Sequencer clock (BPM) multiplier
 - n0
 - MIDI note number
 - uel
 - MIDI Velocity
 - Modulation Sources
 - Display
 - Source
 - 0ff
 - No Source selected
 - SE1
 - Sequence 1
 - fen
 - Filter Envelope
 - MIDI Implementation
- MIDI Messages
 - System Exclusive Messages
 - 0
 - No destination selected
 - 1
 - Oscillator 1 Frequency
 - 10
 - Oscillator All Level
 - 11
 - Noise Level
 - 12
 - External In Level
 - 13
 - Oscillator 1 Pulse width
 - 16
 - Frequency Mod (FM) Amount; Osc 4 -> 3
 - 17
 - Frequency Mod (FM) Amount; Osc 3 -> 4
 - 18
 - Ring Mod (Amplitude) Amount; Osc 4 -> 3
 - 19
 - Ring Mod (Amplitude) Amount; Osc 3 -> 4
 - 20
 - Filter frequency
 - 21
 - Filter Split –separation between left / right
 - 22
 - Resonance
 - 23
 - Highpass Frequency
 - 24
 - VCA amount
 - 25
 - Pan
 - 26
 - Feedback frequency
 - 27
 - Feedback Amount
 - 28
 - Delay Time 1
 - 29
 - Delay Time 2
 - 30
 - Delay Time 3
 - 31
 - Delay Time All
 - 32
 - Delay Amount 1
 - 33
 - Delay Amount 2
 - 34
 - Delay Amount 3
 - 35
 - Delay Amount All
 - 36
 - Delay Feedback 1
 - 37
 - Delay Feedback 2
 - 38
 - LFO 1 Frequency
 - 39
 - LFO 2 Frequency
 - 40
 - LFO 3 Frequency
 - 41
 - LFO 4 Frequency
 - Sequencer only destinations
 - 69
 - Tempo Clock multiplier
 - 70
 - MIDI Note Out
 - Modulation Sources
 - 0
 - No Source selected
 - 1
 - Sequence 1
 - 9
 - Filter Envelope
 
 
 
Welcome… 
Thanks for purchasing Evolver! Listen to the sounds, twiddle some knobs, have 
some fun! 
Register 
If you purchased Evolver directly from us, there is no need to register – we 
already have your contact information. If you purchased Evolver from a music 
dealer, please go to www.davesmithinstruments.com and register. 
Version 3.0 Notes 
Your Evolver has the latest 3.0 features installed. Older Evolvers can be updated 
– check on our website for more information. 
These features were added in such a way to have no effect on programs made 
on earlier Evolvers for backwards compatibility. This means that in some cases 
parameters may not be in a logical order, or additional functions were added by 
increasing values at the end of their range. 
Quick Start 
If you are like me, you’ve already been playing with Evolver for a while, and later 
decided to check the manual. If not, here’s the standard short manual to get 
started. 
First, plug in the power supply. If you need to use one of the alternate AC prongs, 
first remove the installed prongs by pushing the button and sliding off the prongs. 
Then slide on the desired prongs, and you’re ready to go. 
Next, plug Evolver’s signal outputs to your mixer/sound system. 
Hit the S
TART button in the lower left corner to play a sequence. Listen to other 
Programs by turning the Program knob (top Main LED must be on), and keep the 
sequencer running if you want. When shipped, Bank 1 has sequencer-oriented 
Programs in locations 1 through 69. A complete description of Evolver’s 512 
Programs can be found in the Program Notes section following. 
You can play around with the sounds of the current Program by simply selecting 
a parameter in the programming matrix. Example – hit the button to select the 
third row, and grab knob 1 to adjust the Filter Cutoff Frequency. Note that you 
can access eight knobs in the selected row for fast tweaking. To get to the 
second (lower) set of parameters in any row, simply hold the SHIFT button down 
while turning the knob. 
To edit the sequence steps, hit the 
SEQUENCER button. The programming matrix 
now changes to sequencer mode to adjust the 16 x 4 sequencer. Row 1 controls 
steps 1 – 8 and row 2 steps 9 – 16 for Sequence 1. Likewise rows 3 and 4 
control sequence 2, etc. The S
HIFT button has no effect in sequence mode. 
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