...about Waldorf

[Spectral Climax]

What happened to that company? They have such brilliant ideas and sources from their past but they only make a synth module (with many bugs) and an electric piano...

I mean, where is that affordable redesigned Q rack!? They could have made a successful new synth by re-designing Q's interface, and make something between a full knobby rack and a matrix controlled module, without even changing that nice engine! People give so much money for a used Q or XT, so they could definitely pay similar money for a newly produced Waldorf synth with the same engine. I thought that the processing power inside a Q or an XT could be very cheap nowadays because they are digital synths...what makes them stick to Blofeld? Someone could even think that nowadays, they could have fit a Q inside that Blofeld box.


I still use their Attack drum synthesizer and I'm planning to support their work and buy a Blofeld soon after NAMM, if nothing better pops up there...they seem to need support, but, on the other hand, they have made Largo and I'm still confused about the differences (it seems that Blofeld only has a PPG filter emulation added and nothing else important...so, why, someone should give 2x Largo's price, for hardware which sounds the same and doesn't improve the interface). Did I miss something?

[Fred_Abstract]

is it the same people running the company? i have the feeling blofeld is not as good as the old walforf synths, more like a toy in comparaison

[moneyforsluts]

Waldorf Q-Series

[bazziman]

How about the bugs? The earlier versions of the Blofeld supposedly had quite some bugs - did they iron out most of those? For some reason the Blofeld (KB) seems very attractive to me, especially with the sample-option these babies have.

[Spectral Climax]

Originally Posted by Fred_Abstract

is it the same people running the company? i have the feeling blofeld is not as good as the old walforf synths

This is a common feeling of the people who made music with these synths in the past, but I prefer to think that Blofeld has a new sound which simply doesn't sound familiar to their ears...so, after many years with an instrument, they find it difficult to accept that new sound. I made a reference to their classic Q and XT synths, because they have been tested in time and many people still prefer them for their music, so I wonder why they don't use that code again inside a newly designed product? They are not an analogue hardware company to run out of materials...(I think...)

[Spectral Climax]

Originally Posted by moneyforsluts

Waldorf Q-Series

This synth isn't available on most major shops nowadays...

[Rane-Ex54]

Just the way of the world I suppose

They were going under, then another group helped them back on there feet, and to make money they had to make something small, affordable, and un-innovative, plus appeal to the masses. Blofeld is cool but I never thought I'd see waldorf create a white/black synth.

[EvilDragon]

Originally Posted by Spectral Climax

This synth isn't available on most major shops nowadays...

That's where you contact Waldorf and they build you one on custom order basis.


From my experience, Blofeld is definitely not a toy (not even in sound quality - there's lots to be heard from that box). It's quite sturdy built - Blofeld Keyboard weights in around 8 kg, which is almost the whole weight of the Q! That's pure aluminum casing on the Blo, and probably just hardened plastic on the Q. Let's remember that the Q has gobs of pots and one octave more than Blo - it would probably weigh in around 15 kg if it were the same build quality as the Blo.

[Spectral Climax]

Originally Posted by EvilDragon

That's where you contact Waldorf and they build you one on custom order basis.

Errr...this is far from a commercial product available in shops, it would take time to build one and would cost a lot more...it's also quite big. I would prefer the rack version available in every shop...They could sell it much more easier than the keyboard...

Originally Posted by EvilDragon

From my experience, Blofeld is definitely not a toy (not even in sound quality - there's lots to be heard from that box). It's quite sturdy built - Blofeld Keyboard weights in around 8 kg, which is almost the whole weight of the Q! That's pure aluminum casing on the Blo, and probably just hardened plastic on the Q. Let's remember that the Q has gobs of pots and one octave more than Blo - it would probably weigh in around 15 kg if it were the same build quality as the Blo.

As I can remember, the original Q keyboard was made of metal and had wooden or plastic cheeks....but unfortunately they missed the point of durability by using some low quality encoders...the same happened to early Blofelds too...I don't know what kind of encoders they are using lately.


You didn't mention the bugs and some instabilities in Blofeld...there were lots of them (I don't know if it's finally stable with the current OS though...)

[maisonvague]

On a German music forum I also visit there's been an on-going discussion for the past three weeks about the Blofeld... with some general commentary on Waldorf itself. If you really want to investigate things further, I would visit this forum and snoop around. If you don't speak German, Google translate can help -- or at least provide a few laughs with dada-esque non sequitur.

Consensus: there are some folks who are unhappy with the Blofeld (e.g. bugs in the OS, sync issues, etc.) as well as with the most recent incarnation of Waldorf.

Waldorf Blofeld zu empfehlen?

[e-smile-z]

i had the blofeld and never run into problems...but since i bought largo i didn t need the blofeld anymore...
i wish they would release a new version of the attack and dpole ...

largo is dope !!!

[soundxplorer]

Originally Posted by Spectral Climax

I would prefer the rack version available in every shop...

Geez, how many are you planning to buy?

[Spectral Climax]

Originally Posted by soundxplorer

Geez, how many are you planning to buy?

:D I mean, I prefer it to be widely available so everyone can buy it without problems, special orders, limited availability, extra costs etc...

[Spectral Climax]

Originally Posted by maisonvague

On a German music forum I also visit there's been an on-going discussion for the past three weeks about the Blofeld... with some general commentary on Waldorf itself. If you really want to investigate things further, I would visit this forum and snoop around. If you don't speak German, Google translate can help -- or at least provide a few laughs with dada-esque non sequitur.

Consensus: there are some folks who are unhappy with the Blofeld (e.g. bugs in the OS, sync issues, etc.) as well as with the most recent incarnation of Waldorf.

Waldorf Blofeld zu empfehlen?

Thanks for this...I'll check it out...

[maisonvague]

Originally Posted by Spectral Climax

Thanks for this...I'll check it out...

It's definitely worth checking out. In that specific thread, a couple of posters intimate the company is understaffed and over-worked. One, in fact, claims he believes there are only two programmers working for the company... even mentions them by name... so this is definitely the place to get information much closer to the source. The usual disclaimers apply, however. Alles Gute! (Good luck!)

[memristor]

Originally Posted by EvilDragon

That's where you contact Waldorf and they build you one on custom order basis.

Where did you get this information from ?
I doubt that very much, it doesnt make sense not to assemble as many units as pssoible and have
them distributed
otherwise you need to stock boards, cases, PSUs, keyboards
dead stock is dead money
AFAIK the Phoenix series is out of production

I like the Blofeld but would prefer to have a Q
The Blofeld does have some bugs which are said to be fixed in a future OS that has been announced yet

some bugs are annoying some are just funny, like the spacing of the comb filter grafic changes when you
increase resonace which doent makes sense technically

[Polarelch]

About the blofeld, I am not a big fan of its sound.
However, the blokey has *imho* the best 4-octave-keybed on the market.
I never use the synthesizer anymore, just the keys as Masterkeyboard, as I yet have to come over an equally good keybed with 4 octaves for such a price.

About the bugs, I think the most bugs were indeed ironed out with the last updates, but I can't say this for sure. The velocity bug on the keyboard is definitely *gone*.

[Transistor]

Originally Posted by Spectral Climax

As I can remember, the original Q keyboard was made of metal and had wooden or plastic cheeks....but unfortunately they missed the point of durability by using some low quality encoders...the same happened to early Blofelds too...I don't know what kind of encoders they are using lately.

I have a very early Blofeld (ser 115), and have never had any hardware problems.

r,
j,

[EvilDragon]

Originally Posted by Spectral Climax

You didn't mention the bugs and some instabilities in Blofeld...there were lots of them (I don't know if it's finally stable with the current OS though...)

Yes, there were quite a lot of bugs in earlier OS revisions (for example category filter could crap out when you reach the end of the category, in v1.12, not sure if this was fixed in latest OS). There are also some tempo sync issues I think, and tempo synced LFO behaves weird (these are yet to be fixed).

Still, if you're not bothered by tempo syncing (I know a lot of people are), Blofeld will still do an awful lot for its price tag. Even if you count in all the bugs.

[rydan]

Regarding bugs, well, the Waldorf stuff has ALWAYS been buggy. On the pulse, the first OS to actually trig the envelopes for every incoming note is 1.41if I remember correctly, and the pulse isn't even midi upgradeable, it's an eeprom swap. XTk had saome SERIOUS bugs still remaining in the last OS, broken aftertouch out and broken dual-trig mode to name a few, and let's not even start on the multi mode...

Waldorf has always made inspiring, unique, powerful, forward-thinking stuff, filled with bugs. That's just how it's been...

[realtrance]

Despite the minor bugs, if I had the money I'd definitely love to get a Blokey -- just cannot justify it at this time.

Yes, the current Waldorf I am _sure_ is a very small company; it was never an army of people anyways, it's always been a boutique company making small runs of synths for a small but dedicated (and patient) audience.

If you're familiar with Waldorf from early days, there's really nothing else out there that is quite like a Waldorf synth, in many ways, sound, features, "feel." They've always made unique instruments.

[DrDeltaM]

I actually want them to release the Zarenbourg. It has been on shows for years now, but still doesn't seem to be available I'm always interested in EP's, especially if they use physical modelling.

Waldorf has some very clever developers, and has a history of original products (anyone remember the USB connected analog filterbank that you used as a plugin?).

Let's hope the bugs are a thing of the past. Maybe it's why the Zarenbourg takes so long, better don't release it until it's really ready!

[Spectral Climax]

Originally Posted by DrDeltaM

I actually want them to release the Zarenbourg. It has been on shows for years now, but still doesn't seem to be available I'm always interested in EP's, especially if they use physical modelling.

Waldorf has some very clever developers, and has a history of original products (anyone remember the USB connected analog filterbank that you used as a plugin?).

Let's hope the bugs are a thing of the past. Maybe it's why the Zarenbourg takes so long, better don't release it until it's really ready!

...here they say that it is shipped between 3-12 working days, so it might be just a matter of an order (maybe)

Waldorf Zarenbourg Stage Piano, Off White | DV247

[DrDeltaM]

Originally Posted by Spectral Climax

...here they say that it is shipped between 3-12 working days, so it might be just a matter of an order (maybe)

Waldorf Zarenbourg Stage Piano, Off White | DV247

Most sites list them more accurately as 'not yet available'

Will check 'm at Musikmesse to see the status on it

[slippast]

I've just had the good fortune to interact with the support/sales folks at Waldorf regarding some very outdated hardware. They went well out of their way to help me out. Now let's hope UPS doesn't mangle the package in transit!

[Spectral Climax]

Originally Posted by slippast

I've just had the good fortune to interact with the support/sales folks at Waldorf regarding some very outdated hardware. They went well out of their way to help me out. Now let's hope UPS doesn't mangle the package in transit!

What do you mean? Did they send you spare parts for a Q or an XT?

[NEXUS-6]

Originally Posted by Spectral Climax

What happened to that company?

The software revolution VSTI's in general killed a lot of hardware..

[TitusRaindrops]

My Nextel blue Q is all metal and wood, no plastic, and it weighs a ton. I also love it. It never gets old. The few wonky encoders it came with have resolved themselves with a thorough "manual" cleaning. It's awesome.

In my opinion, the Q really doesn't need a redesigned user interface. A few more knobs to expose the modulation matrix perhaps, but no big deal. I wish other synths tried to emulate the Q in terms of UI. The Q should be the exemplar! The Bloaf, on the other hand, needs UI help. I couldn't stand it. I also was not a fan of the sound either, but that's just me.

The MW XT has tons of knobs (and sounds great to me) but I don't find the UI as intuitive as the Q's. To me it's a cross between a Q and a Bloaf in terms of UI. It's almost fully exploded into knobs and buttons, but enough is withheld and buried into nested menus that it makes it a chore to program.

I also really like the UI layout of the MiniMoog/Voyager, but that's a different thread.

[casiosk1]

Originally Posted by TitusRaindrops

My Nextel blue Q is all metal and wood, no plastic, and it weighs a ton. I also love it. It never gets old. The few wonky encoders it came with have resolved themselves with a thorough "manual" cleaning. It's awesome.

In my opinion, the Q really doesn't need a redesigned user interface. A few more knobs to expose the modulation matrix perhaps, but no big deal. I wish other synths tried to emulate the Q in terms of UI. The Q should be the exemplar! The Bloaf, on the other hand, needs UI help. I couldn't stand it. I also was not a fan of the sound either, but that's just me.

The MW XT has tons of knobs (and sounds great to me) but I don't find the UI as intuitive as the Q's. To me it's a cross between a Q and a Bloaf in terms of UI. It's almost fully exploded into knobs and buttons, but enough is withheld and buried into nested menus that it makes it a chore to program.

I also really like the UI layout of the MiniMoog/Voyager, but that's a different thread.

Couldn't agree more. You think properly.

[zvukofor]

Originally Posted by TitusRaindrops

....I also really like the UI layout of the MiniMoog/Voyager, but that's a different thread.

You know, Axel Hartmann did UI design for almost all Waldorf synths, for Alesis Andromeda, and for recent Moog instruments...oh, and for Access Virus TI !