Quasimidi • RaveOlution 309
The RaveOLution is a stand alone groove box that has taken the techno world by storm. Very popular among DJ's for live performance and interaction with the audience! It features a very advanced sequencer and a host of excellent analog and electronic drum and bass synth sounds. The 309 is very intuitive and easy to get started using. Play with the patterns or make your own. All real-time tweaks can be recorded into your sequence for later playback!
The 5 part multitimbral feature is the secret to this units power for live and interactive performances. The 5 separate parts are Kick, Snares, Hi-Hats, percussion and bass synth. During your performance you can mute any of these parts to drop the beat or isolate the kick, thus building or lowering the groove and your audiences energy! A plethora of knobs offer quick and easy access to filter and envelope modulation for shaping and morphing the music. The 309 is also well suited for studio work with complete MIDI implementation that includes all real-time controls and knobs.
The 309 is truly an instant dance machine! It sounds great for analog emulation synthesis! It looks pretty cool and comes from a company that knows all about Trance and Techno music. The RaveOLution 309 is an obvious choice for anybody seriously looking to get into dance music with an affordable all-in-one box that will grow and remain useful in your studio and music for as long as techno is still around! It is used by Apollo 440 and KMFDM.
There have been three expansions for the Rave-O-Lution 309 since it was released. The Audio expansion added two audio inputs and two more audio outputs. The Drum expansion added a bunch of new drum and percussion samples plus midi synced LFO's. The synth expansion added a second bass/lead synth (though it requires the audio expansion and they do not have their own 'part' buttons).
"It's from Quasimidi, especially made for me. It's shaped like the "Big Moog". Essentially, it's seven independent Polymorphs, which is a kind of a rebuild of the old Moog sequencer: it also has eight steps in three different rows. For instance I can use one for filtering, one for the envelope and so on, whatever I want. In addition, the new Big Wall includes seven Rave-O-Lution 309 drum computers, each with five MIDI channels, the fifth being the sequencer for synth sounds.
The Rave-O-Lutions are used for rhythm: bass, drums and percussion, whilst the Polymorphs do all the real sequencer work. The whole unit is linked with a rack-mounted "Live Clock" that handles program changes and the MIDI clock to synchronize the whole unit."
(http://www.klaus-schulze.com /pics/photos/studio8.jpg)
Quasimidi were a bit vague on that point. The architecture appeared consistent with ROM based waveforms though. A ROM based oscillator can still be termed VA, as the ROM is just a form of virtual model.
By the way, there is an aftermarket ROM 3.0b available, with a few upgrades:
http://freenet-homepage.de/rave -o-lution309/309English/framesROM.htm
Waveforms are ROM based, but valid oscillators. Not a deep synth engine, but sounds can be designed, and tweaked, with decent range. Expansion can give three independent synths. Effects are limited, though overdrive is not bad. Can do good bass, synth filler/pads, and lead.
Compared to other groove boxes of the time, 309 had more scope for sound control. Korg and Yamaha's more recent offerings have far superior synth engines.
309 has useful set of percussion, with punchy, pre-compressed style of output, and some tweakability.
I think if these can be bought cheaply, they could still be handy and worthwhile. My friend uses one as his travel buddy, and has made good tracks with it.
I think the buttons feel cheap, and can jam under the surface of panel. From memory, the knobs/pots are fine though. The enclosure itself feels very robust, and looks like a lunch box for an industrial robot - hmm, warm crispy chips inside.
http://www.quasimidisupport.de