Discontinuation of Evolver Service

Sequential founder and chief technical mastermind Dave Smith re-entered the hardware synthesizer business in the early 2000s with the creation of the Evolver series of analog/digital hybrid instruments. These instruments were the product of years of Dave working alone, refining the voice architecture, laying out the circuit boards, writing all the code and designing the physical enclosures and packaging. And as sole proprietor, in those days Dave also handled all shipping/receiving, tech support and service requests.

Our team has grown considerably since these early days, as has our catalog of products, and now the instruments we create are the result of the efforts of many skilled and multidisciplinary contributors. But everything bearing the name Dave Smith Instruments or Sequential that’s come since wouldn’t have been possible without the Evolver series, and indeed there is a bit of Evolver DNA in everything we continue to create.

We have taken great pride in the continued support and service of our entire back catalog of instruments. Some early production Evolvers have even crossed into “vintage” territory, having aged over 20 years! And the last Evolvers left the assembly line a decade ago at this point. As our supplies of spare parts has dwindled, with many key electronic components discontinued and unobtainable, we regrettably have reached the point where we can no longer offer repair service for the Evolver Desktop, Poly Evolver Rack, Poly Evolver Keyboard and Mono Evolver Keyboard.

In the hopes of keeping the Evolvers performing well into the future, we are providing a service packet for each Evolver instrument, containing schematic diagrams, microcontroller and flash memory programming files and instructions, and collections of troubleshooting tips culled from many years of experience keeping Evolvers fit and functional in the hands of musicians. It’s our hope that by making these resources available to the synth community, savvy individuals and independent technicians can learn to service Evolvers, and perhaps even find creative new ways to keep them running properly well into the future.

Though we will no longer accept Evolver repairs, we are happy answer operational questions about them, so please feel free to contact us with general Evolver inquiries.

Thanks for your support,

The Sequential Service Team