Mmmmmmmm...Waaaaldorf! :oP

[Razmo]

Ooops, I did it again!

Found this little rarity:



Finaly it's possible to route any digital synth I've got through an analog filter, and Waldorf's 4-pole is the same as their Waldorf Pulse monosynth... it's KILLER!

At least it's small, so I've got space for it here

[xo]

Looks cool. Another piece of equipment to make room for.

[Razmo]

It's no problem XO ... I ditched the Poly 800 I showed you the other day ... instead I've purchased a funny little FM synth from yamaha... with one of the early FM chips in it... magnificent for Goa bass sounds ... I'm getting this for use with the 4-pole exclusively though... The good thing about FM is that it allows you to make waveforms with many different harmonic components, so it's to be used as an "oscillator" with the 4-pole... and the FM synth being 8voice allow for some fat 8voice monophonic oscillators with fat analog filtering on the 4-pole ... needed something to make some wild techno sounds with, so I'm planning to hook these to up to a RAT guitar distortion pedal as well.... I want to go dirty!

The FM synth is a small one called FB-01 by the way:

[xo]

I got a synth just like it. It's a clock radio.

[Razmo]

Yeah it could sure look like it... I've has this one before though, so I know whit it's like and to be honest, it really does look like a clock radio ... but hey! it can be rackmounted!!! bet your radio cannot!!!

[xo]

You haven't seen my new clock radio. It's called Scream.

It has three settings, no radio. The settings are Off, Low and High. Suffice it to say that I'm still traumatized from trying out High.

Admittedly, it doesn't have MIDI in.

Thank God for that!

It's my worst nightmare come true - every morning!

Not that I have a problem waking up, I have a problem getting up and snoozing off

[Razmo]

XO: Sounds like a shame it does not have MIDI in... I'd have liked to try it out on "HIGH" through a RAT distortion pedal on a few tracks on my planned C64 Remix album

[Dees Productions]

Interesting
Those are very nice and I know how the filters are, since I am a owner of a Waldorf Pulse

[Razmo]

Dees:

I've got a Waldorf pulse as well... it's the absolute KILLER for boomy analog bass sounds... it is used on most basses on that 70MB clip of my riffs posted another place in this forum... For doing jarre'ish basses it's the best I've got, but the presets in ROM does nothing for the synth, you'll have to do them yourself to provoke those bad ass low freqs! Also, if you have listened to DRAX' basses on the real C64 6581 SID chip, the Pulse will punch those basslines off like no other synth would! ... I love my Pulse to death, and it'll NEVER EVER EVER leave my studio!

I'll have to take my words back about the Miniworks 4-pole though... it's NOT the pulse filter! ... in fact it's the same CEM filter as in the Waldorf Microwave version 1 (the later model wich have more fat filters) and also those found in the Waldorf flagship WAVE synthesizer... I also have the microwave 1, so you could argue why I'm holding on to this baby (4-pole), but one REALLY nice feature of this machine is, that it has a gain knob... and it allows you to overdrive the CEM filter wildly, and I tell you! with a nice saturation of the input to this filter, make the sound very dirty and "oldstyle"... if you need Jarre sound ala Oxygene, Equinoxe, then this little beast simply rocks!

Basicaly, the 4-pole is a "pulse" without oscillators... though not totaly... it got it's own charm, and that's why I won't let it go

If I may recommend another old hybrid synth, I'd have to mention the Ensoniq ESQ-1... This synth also have CEM filters and is 8 voice polyphonic (and multitimbral), and if I recall right, it's the same filters as in the Prophet 5. This beast is extremely flexible and has a really dirty fat sound with snarling resonance. and the fact that this machine is the first work Bob Yannes did after leaving Commodore (after doin' the SID chip) makes it kind of nostalgic to this scene as well... it's the creator of our beloved SID chip who made this machine!!! ... I'm looking for the Rackmount version (Esq-m) at the moment to replace the keyboard version, as it takes up a lot of space.

Also, just to talk a bit about the "clock radio"... I've done some bass patches and man this thing rocks! ... go home DX7! ... it's old-FM at it's best! I just love those old dance-bass sounds done on early FM gear... so punchy! (read: TX81Z Lately Bass), and these small beasts (FB-01) are so cheap you can sometimes find them for the price below US$50 ... they are way underrated if you just take the sound-design in your own hands. I'll post a clip here soon.

[Razmo]

As promised, here is a lengthy demo of how the FB-01 4 operator FM synth from Yamaha sounds like... it's homebrew patches, as none of the ROM presets sound like this.

After the initial demo of the different FM bass patches on the Fb-01 I'm connecting the FB-01 to the Waldorf 4-pole and overdrive the filter, so that you can get an impression of the analog filter in the 4-pole.

Delay and reverb courtesy of the TC Electronics M-One and D-Two.

It's haphazzard live playing on the keyboard, so don't expect something funky

http://razmo.ziphoid.com/FB-01%20and%204-pole.mp3

[Dees Productions]

Mmmmmmm!! That's all I can say
To read such a wonderful post is just as good as... ooooooops! Well, it's just fantastic.
When I first basically felt over a Waldorf unit, I was for sure in love with it. What's even more ironic is the guy who sold his Pulse to me, he didn't really know what he was selling. He said it was kind of just "collecting dust", deep inside I felt sorry for the thing but I had to pretend dumb and said I would get it for a resonable price. So he did and when I came outside the door there were some strange notes jumping out of my mouth.
Oh yeah!! Ensoniq has for a long time been one of my favorites, too bad I got rid of my EQS-1 and today I really regret it. But it's easy to be smart, when you're old older Also I had a strange strange Ensoniq Mr Rack, which was very fun to make weird sounds/pads with.
Today I think I'd like to suck my teeth into a Waldorf-Q. Last time I played with that yellow machine I was sold for it and being an ambient guy, it's a pitty I don't have one in my studio. But it's also a matter of money, or at leats HOW you spend them

[Dees Productions]

Very nice!
Totally rude, bold, fresh, deep and smooth at the same time. It's nice to listen to, even if it's crazy:)
Reminds me about the late nights in the basement.
/Dees

[Razmo]

Dees:

Yeah... the Waldorf Q and Micro Q are really flexible machines with a killer atmosphere sound... I've had the Micro Q Omega once, but I sold it because I did find the overall sound a bit thin (my analog freak decieved me! )... and I regret it a little bit actually... though, I've putting my hawkeye at the Blohfeldt that is just about to be released, as it has the same features plus more... I'd certainly like to have the masterpiece Stromberg when it's out, but I think it'll be way out of my reach economicaly

but for synth flexibility you don't get any better than waldorf digital synths... well, maybe with the exeption of the Nord Modular G2... I was CLOOOOOSE to getting one actually, but decided against it in the last minute.... would like a Nord Micro Modular though, for processing vocals only...

But if you want the best of the best in analog emulation, take a look at the Alesis Micron... at first Alesis was not a company that I drooled at... but when I wanted a small portable synth, it came into focus alongside the KORG Microkorg... I thought the Micron had better specs, and went for it.... and DAMN! did I get blown away! it's not analog of course, but this thing just simply is so strong and powerful you won't believe it! ... try and remove the FX of other VA synths, and many sound pretty thin and weak in their raw tone... but not the Micron!!! it shines! ... it's very few digisynths that I use for bass sounds, but this beast surely is useable! (almost all sounds on the Ghost and Goblins riff was done with the Micron)

And if you want ultimate FM synthesis, look no further than the Yamaha FS1R... this is simply the best hardware FM synth available, and it does almost everything, but especialy synthetic choir sounds... it's astounding... I once sold it, whicvh was the biggest mistake I've ever done, but managed to find one again recently... love it!

If you want a demo of one of the beasts, just let me know

[Analog-X64]

Wife was giving me strange looks at what the heck I'm listening to, with all these blips and blops coming out of my head phones.

[Dees Productions]

*drool* I have an Alesis QS7 as masterkeyboard, I really like the keyboard, it has a nice feeling for playing chords, as well as leads. Maybe not the most optimal when it comes to bass and drums(but who really edit drums with a keyboard, destroying the aftertouch and weights ) As you say, yes Alesis has somehow made a comeback now. I am very interested to get an Andromeda, heard some very nice demo songs made by Arksun, and well they just blew my mind away. So nice and well done and I can really see this gear as part of my studio, someday. I have a Nordlead Micro Modular and okay this might sound crazy but I used it quite much for effects on my guitar and some vocal stuff Hah, it was really fun to make some experimental effects, but somehow I can't get the software running 100% it keeps crashing when I am writing a patch, not sure what's cooking there. But oh well I can always get around somehow.
Korg has made quite some good stuff and Microkorg was very nice, as well.
Thanks I am going to see if I can get my hands on a Yamaha FS1R, sounds pretty interesting (hint hint, yes would be nice to hear some demos )