Deckard's Dream

Black Corporation Deckard’s Dream v1 – built for our use here but now available for sale.

VOLTAGE: Requires 9-24v DC power supply (240v UK version included).

Unit has been fully tested and calibrated. All oscillators on the cards have been individually verified along with all the slider controls.

Bank One Sounds: Paul Schilling’s own sound bank.

Bank Two Sounds: CS80 Sound Bank – created by Paul Schilling

Factory Bank: DD Factory sounds

See below for additional information from the tech who performed the build and links for sound bank lists.

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Modifications:

All opamps on cards replaced with TL062/4 to produce significantly less power draw meaning the unit runs a lot colder and the internal fan does not need to be used.

All opamps have been solder tagged to prevent them from falling out of their sockets.

Custom 3D printed cardholder system which ensures the cards will not be able to come loose or fall out during transport.

Output modification which adds a separate buffered output for Mix 1 and Mix 2. This allows you to pan each mix left or right to create a “stereo” output. please note however that on most sounds the Mix 1 and Mix 2 sounds are usually different and blended to create a single mono sound. If you wish to create a true stereo output you would have to make both Mix 1 and Mix 2 the same sound.

Considerations:

The unit may drift in tuning between the two oscillators and if so then a simple re-tune can be performed from the settings menu.

Firmware for this unit is currently version 1.2.9 – updates seem to be less frequent however they do get updated.

Support from Black Corporation is not great; we recommend the buyer joins the Deckards Dream Facebook group for questions and future support. The tech who built this for us is also on hand to answer any questions the buyer may have.

The Rev 1 DD is no longer available to buy as there is now a Rev 2 which retails at $3749 plus delivery. The new version has less opamps and VCAs on each voice card and a smaller power supply which is why they are cheaper in price.

SOUND BANKS:

SOUND BANK 1: Paul Schilling – Preset list 

SOUND BANK 2: CS80- Paul Schilling “Original CS-80 presets” bank for the DD, and Ti Calsuari’s awesome Tone Selector that works with this bank! – Preset list

Read more about Paul Schilling on Synthtopia.

More notes on Sound Bank 2:

Each of the 22 patches went through about five revisions, using the original CS-80 manual patch sheets, individual CS-80 preset demos, Vangelis, and several youtube demos as data points. Since the patches come in pairs of two (I and II), I started with the 11 “standard” pairings (brass1 & brass2, flute & brass3, etc.), but I didn’t stop there!

Thanks to Ando Pilve’s awesome updated DD Patch Editor it was possible to create all the various CS-80 preset combinations – a total of around 120 Deckard’s Dream patches, each of them tweaked for optimal balance. Also included are a few common Vangelis sounds, as examples of how he used combinations of presets (or simply just single presets, I or II) for his pieces.

One of the focal points in creating these patches was dynamic range and expressiveness. For some of the non-percussive sounds like Flute and Brass, it is more difficult with conventional controllers to get the kind of immediate sensitivity and expressiveness in the aftertouch that you get with the CS-80 but I have gotten excellent results with the Linnstrument and Roli Seaboard.

Also, my goal was to reproduce the original presets as faithfully as possible, not to take the DD to its limits and showcase its range (that will be for another sound bank). I love the original presets to bits but the DD is capable of a wider sonic palette than the original CS-80 in my opinion.

In the DD menu, set Keyboard->TRACKING WIDTH to 4 octaves, and MIDDLE OCTAVE to 5. Also remember to have the volume knob at maximum for best signal to noise ratio.