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Legendary synth designer Dave Smith has released the Evolver Keyboard ($1,329), a 3-octave performance version of the 1-voice tabletop Evolver. Like the original synth, the Evolver Keyboard includes two analog oscillators, two digital oscillators, highpass and lowpass analog filters, three envelopes, four LFOs, a 16 × 4 sequencer with extensive routing capabilities, a variety of distortion effects, audio inputs for external signal processing, and an analog delay. EM associate editor Geary Yelton's extensive review of the Evolver from June 2003 is available online at www.emusician.com, so I will cover only the features of the keyboard version.

Yelton commented on the Evolver's lack of a headphone output, a power switch, and a master volume knob; this has all been corrected on the Evolver Keyboard. Additionally, the original Evolver's 3-LED display has been replaced with a 40-character LCD, and the buttons and knobs on this unit feel very sturdy.