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Waldorf Quantum

 
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Bertotti
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 26, 2018 9:27 pm    Post subject: Waldorf Quantum Reply with quote

Anyone else watching this. I think it is getting closer but doggone what a price tag!
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Sharp
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 26, 2018 11:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Fantastic sounding synth, but at 4 grand...ouch.

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slug
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 27, 2018 12:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Still way cheaper than a Wave!....
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Bertotti
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 27, 2018 1:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I find myself drawn t this as much as I was to the Kronos! But yea, at 4k plus it is out of my reach for now and the near future.
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megamarkd
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bertotti Sat 27 Jan, 2018 11:04 am wrote:

I find myself drawn t this as much as I was to the Kronos! But yea, at 4k plus it is out of my reach for now and the near future.


It's best probably to wait for the first OS update with Waldorf, so perhaps a tax-return present to yourself Wink Unfortunately for me I don't work a wage job any more and have to find ways to not hand over money in July instead of finding ways of getting it back, but if I just set aside a little more per job for tax, I'll get there.

I paid 3k for my Microwave XTk in 2000 so I guess it's sorta a comparative price. I think the Q was the same price as the Quantum is being listed at and that was the first Q without the analogue filters. So using the Q as a reference point, we are being offered a good price on what is a very much more advanced synth. Still it's a high price to pay for a synth. Moogishly high. That said, I've put three times that amount into cars in the last 5yrs and only have one running one to show for it.

I'm pretty sure a year ago they said it was going to have FM, but that is now missing. A little disappointing, but the other engines are still very exciting. I've been playing mainly on this Microgranny 2 I bought last year, it's really unique but also very simple. A big synth version is now what I'd like which the Quantum has. 2000 was the last time I got a big synth (as opposed to the massive line of desktops I have listed below) and I've been wanting a sampling workstation for a long time now. I know that the Quantum's not a workstation but it comes close. Stepsequencers still get you running without needing an external.
Stereo filters per voice is very nice, I'm hoping the user can modulate each independently for some eerie effects, combined with microtuning. Stereo oscillators is something I've never ever seen before and the thought of detuning the left and right channels makes me giddy, as well as the prospect of 3 different forms of synthesis going at the same time. Even their waveform based osc's are not just the famous five (tri/squa/sine/ramp/noise). I'd like to have more voices, like if they had made it 16 voices but then break it into 8+8 analogue/digital. I get 10 voices out of my XTk and it's has no analogue components in it.
Now I have to admit that I was worried at first that there would be no aftertouch on the keyboard as the specs mention "polyphonic aftertouch via MIDI", so I looked up the keybed specs on Fatar's site and it does provide mono aftertouch. For 4k it should have aftertouch even if it's something I rarely use.

Speaking of all this aftertouch malarkey, I'm thinking that aftertouch must put the price of the keybed up significantly, thus why it's conspicuously missing from all the Korg'logues. I tend not to use it, but should. I bend strings on a guitar and pull a silly face when I play them and that's something missing from my keyboard playing that I should work on adding.
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Stuff I'm using: Umm right now, well there's a Volca Drum, a Micro Freak, an ADX-1, a Pulse, a Blofeld, a UNO Drum, KeyStep/Beatstep Pro/Keystep Pro (one of each), a Circuit, a LiveTrak L-12 and this nonsense: The Brief-case as it was about a bit over a year ago (the the complete ridiculous GAS monster collection here)and here
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Bertotti
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 27, 2018 4:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

megamarkd wrote:
Bertotti Sat 27 Jan, 2018 11:04 am wrote:

I find myself drawn t this as much as I was to the Kronos! But yea, at 4k plus it is out of my reach for now and the near future.


It's best probably to wait for the first OS update with Waldorf, so perhaps a tax-return present to yourself Wink Unfortunately for me I don't work a wage job any more and have to find ways to not hand over money in July instead of finding ways of getting it back, but if I just set aside a little more per job for tax, I'll get there.

I paid 3k for my Microwave XTk in 2000 so I guess it's sorta a comparative price. I think the Q was the same price as the Quantum is being listed at and that was the first Q without the analogue filters. So using the Q as a reference point, we are being offered a good price on what is a very much more advanced synth. Still it's a high price to pay for a synth. Moogishly high. That said, I've put three times that amount into cars in the last 5yrs and only have one running one to show for it.

I'm pretty sure a year ago they said it was going to have FM, but that is now missing. A little disappointing, but the other engines are still very exciting. I've been playing mainly on this Microgranny 2 I bought last year, it's really unique but also very simple. A big synth version is now what I'd like which the Quantum has. 2000 was the last time I got a big synth (as opposed to the massive line of desktops I have listed below) and I've been wanting a sampling workstation for a long time now. I know that the Quantum's not a workstation but it comes close. Stepsequencers still get you running without needing an external.
Stereo filters per voice is very nice, I'm hoping the user can modulate each independently for some eerie effects, combined with microtuning. Stereo oscillators is something I've never ever seen before and the thought of detuning the left and right channels makes me giddy, as well as the prospect of 3 different forms of synthesis going at the same time. Even their waveform based osc's are not just the famous five (tri/squa/sine/ramp/noise). I'd like to have more voices, like if they had made it 16 voices but then break it into 8+8 analogue/digital. I get 10 voices out of my XTk and it's has no analogue components in it.
Now I have to admit that I was worried at first that there would be no aftertouch on the keyboard as the specs mention "polyphonic aftertouch via MIDI", so I looked up the keybed specs on Fatar's site and it does provide mono aftertouch. For 4k it should have aftertouch even if it's something I rarely use.

Speaking of all this aftertouch malarkey, I'm thinking that aftertouch must put the price of the keybed up significantly, thus why it's conspicuously missing from all the Korg'logues. I tend not to use it, but should. I bend strings on a guitar and pull a silly face when I play them and that's something missing from my keyboard playing that I should work on adding.


I seem to rememebr them saying something about FM as well. Doesn't the new synth Korg is importing for Waldorf have fm?
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megamarkd
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 27, 2018 5:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I hear Korg are now Waldorf's distributor in North America, so it'll be all their products. It's been suggested that FM was not included as they have put a form of FM on all their ploysynths for a long time now and the Quantum is supposed to be an all new thing. I know wavetables are so not new, but that is sorta their trademark, so it's not going anywhere soon.
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Stuff I'm using: Umm right now, well there's a Volca Drum, a Micro Freak, an ADX-1, a Pulse, a Blofeld, a UNO Drum, KeyStep/Beatstep Pro/Keystep Pro (one of each), a Circuit, a LiveTrak L-12 and this nonsense: The Brief-case as it was about a bit over a year ago (the the complete ridiculous GAS monster collection here)and here
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Kevin Nolan
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 29, 2018 12:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

[quote="megamarkd"]
Bertotti Sat 27 Jan, 2018 11:04 am wrote:


Still it's a high price to pay for a synth. Moogishly high.



Broadly agree with your full post - but got to pull you up on that comment.

The Subsequent37 (which I just bought) was around 1500 Euro!

I accept it's monophonic but it has a huge amount of bang-up-to-date technology on board, packed with features and a hugely sophisticated, classy user interface and overall demeanour. Moog are not expensive for what you get.

I accept the new Minimoog (which I also bought Smile ) is expensive - but - it's hand built and they had to get original components re fabricated.


In any case, while the Quantum is a gorgeous looking instrument and packed with amazing features, and I usually support developing more expensive instruments to push the envelope, I do have the following issues with it:

1. 4000 Euro is just too expensive. Had it been, say, 3200 - 3300 Euro it would have made a lot more sense.

2. 8 voices seems quite restrictive for a 4000 Euro synth

3. Actually - it isn't that innovative - it's basically a subtractive and wavetable synth (again). Nothing wrong with that but it's a well trodden path (and they sell a plugin version in the PPG Wave 3.V for 150 euro!).

4. The demo actually turned me off. There was so much fiddling with the touch screen needed I thought to myself - just get an iPad synth if I want that kind of interaction.

5. Biggest issue - the sound was quite underwhelming.


Perhaps new demos will sell it better, I had been waiting all year to hear about this one; but this NAMM presentation has turned me off it.
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Synthoid
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Joined: 17 Mar 2003
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 29, 2018 5:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Kevin Nolan wrote:
4. The demo actually turned me off. There was so much fiddling with the touch screen

5. Biggest issue - the sound was quite underwhelming.



I tend to agree. Too much talk, fiddling, and so-so sounds. Hopefully we'll see/hear something more exciting next month.
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megamarkd
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 30, 2018 5:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Kevin Nolan wrote:
megamarkd wrote:
Bertotti Sat 27 Jan, 2018 11:04 am wrote:


Still it's a high price to pay for a synth. Moogishly high.



Broadly agree with your full post - but got to pull you up on that comment.

The Subsequent37 (which I just bought) was around 1500 Euro!


The Subsequent 37 not their flagship and Moog don't make polysynths at all. Waldorf's Pulse 2 is the closest equivalent and it's 600euro, though it's a module so is missing the price of a keybed. There is a big jump from the Subsequent37 to the miniMoog D and then the Voyager range starts at 6700euro and finishes at 7500euro. So you are correct, I was off with my statement about the price. The price Waldorf is charging for their new flagship is almost as high as Moog's flagships.

8 voices for that price does seem steep compared to the digital offerings from other companies, but they have 7 more voices than a Voyager and close to half the price of the most expensive model Voyager. In that light they are quite the bargain. But looking at it like that is being wilfully ignorant and comparing apples to oranges. The oscillators are stereo which may contribute partly to the low voice count. The filters too are stereo and also multimode. That definitely contributes to the lower voice count.

I have to say, I hope the street price is a good 500euro lees than what is being bandied about the web currently. I'm fairly confident it will drop some.

There is a little bit more than just VA waves and a wavetable in there too. You can't compare what the Quantum does to a PPGvers3 plugin. Can't really compare a Microwave II to a PPG plugin either.

What it sounds like is personal taste in the end and we won't really know how it sounds or what it's like to program and play until they are in stores and we can hear and see them in the wild.
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Stuff I'm using: Umm right now, well there's a Volca Drum, a Micro Freak, an ADX-1, a Pulse, a Blofeld, a UNO Drum, KeyStep/Beatstep Pro/Keystep Pro (one of each), a Circuit, a LiveTrak L-12 and this nonsense: The Brief-case as it was about a bit over a year ago (the the complete ridiculous GAS monster collection here)and here
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