3rd Wave from Groove Synthesis -- Both Keyboard & Desktop

The Lounge Other Gear
#1

There is an advanced wavetable keyboard on the way from California based Groove Synthesis.

3rd Wave Synth from Groove Synthesis
3rd Wave Synth from Groove Synthesis2048Ă—526 367 KB

The picture comes from SoundCloud, although there is nothing to hear there, yet.

They have a website that says arriving in 2022.

I have little other information, aside from a recollection that it is expensive. I also have a recollection that the they were at one time being represented by Geoff Farr, GSF Agency. That is not presently being shown. I am not positive on either of these recollections.

Anyone who knows more about this please help.

Thanks to @Touch for bringing it to all our attention.

13 Likes
Sequential Joins the Focusrite Group
Behringer PPG Wave
#2

Quite a bit can be gleaned from a close examination of the photo. You can even look “through” the overlayed text windows on the left.

1 Like
#4

Available at the end of summer. For more information, email us at info@groovesynthesis.com

6 Likes
#6

Looks great. This is how you re-imagine…

1 Like
#7

I don’t know how much it costs but I’m quite sure I can’t afford it.

2 Likes
#8

This article also contains a short Instagram video with the synth being played.

#9

Sounds fantastic. Obviously far too early to try and compare in any meaningful way but on first impression it does somehow sound a bit different to the M on the classic patches, to me at least. Maybe I’m just hearing what I want to hear because I like the idea of the M having its own little niche?

The possibilities with linear FM on 3 oscillators with wavetable import are pretty mind-boggling, can’t wait to hear people really going crazy with that.

2 Likes
#10

Not just PPG Wave, it sounds like a lot of other influences for this too. It seems like you could take this many directions.

Only my impression, but i think for this early demo Julian Pollack was told to hold back a little. Only once did he touch the controls, other than the wheels. At the end, he tweaked one of the filter cutoffs. Some where along the line, they’re going to show off some of the other controls.

We’ll be going surfing, on that Wave Surfer control.

Guessing J3PO is doing some patch design for them.

Wondering among many things about the sequencer. If it goes deep on control, this could have some amazing possibilities with just its built in sequencer.

#11

Yeah, I don’t really hear that grit that just flows from the M, but it could just come down to what patches are being played. J3P0 is probably not one to push grit and nearly broken sounds, also probably not something I would expect to see in the first demo. One thing looking at the front panel is that its wave envelope might be simplified a bit over the M. But yeah M has lots of interesting quirks, so I’m pretty sure they will stand apart.

#12

A detailed look at the controls :

More about what this is from the comment on the video :

The 3rd Wave is a powerhouse wavetable synth with analog filters, 24-voice polyphony, and 4-part multi-timbral performance capability that’s like having four independent 6-voice synthesizers at your fingertips.

Each of its 3 oscillators per voice can be a classic PPG-era wavetable, a modern high-resolution wavetable, or an analog wave shape. Create up to 64 custom wavetables of your own with the 3rd Wave’s Wave Maker tool, which features sample-to-wavetable capability. Connect an audio source to the built-in audio input and generate a wavetable at the touch of a button.

Linear FM, a 6-stage wave envelope per oscillator, 4 envelopes and 4 LFOs with delay, dual effects per part, a pattern/song based sequencer per part, and an easy to use 16-slot mod matrix all make it a sound designer’s dream.

Also good to note the two effects processors.

The keybed is from Fatar, but Fatar’s poly-aftertouch keybed came along too late to be part of this, although the synth responds internal to poly-aftertouch.

Oh and they will be at NAMM 2022, so we will hear a lot more from and about this soon.

2 Likes
#13

Huh, interesting choice they made on the wave envelope… I do kind of think the 16 stage one on the M is pretty nice to have. I suppose you can probably get a lot done with a separate one for each oscillator but only 3 position in it does seem a bit limiting if you’re into playing with sustain and note off loop points.

*edit looks like it is 12 parameter and 6 position looking at it closer, which is probably enough to get most things done.

#14

The 3rd Wave gets talked about on Sonic TALK #716. Not an awful lot new here, but if Nick is right about the price it’s a lot less than i would expect.

NAMM is stacking up to be an exciting show.

Good to hear that Nick will likely get a 3rd Wave to review.

#15

I think they said $3800 was the intro price on the Gearspace thread, seems pretty damned good in 2022 for 24 voices with analog filters.

Some presets:

1 Like
#16

… which since Nick was talking in GBP, is pretty much in agreement. There is an awful lot of synth there for the money.

Those presets sound good to me !

#17

though i could easily live with 12 voices for $1,900

2 Likes
#18
2 Likes
#19

Specs have been published. This thing is even more than i expected looking at the photos.

3rd Wave Specs from Groove Synthesis

Also check out this SynthAnatomy article.

The people involved come from Avid/Digidesign and Sequential.

The four separate parts are quite independent of each other, so each includes its own :

  • Four envelopes
  • Four LFOs
  • Mod-matrix
  • Sequencer that can sequence notes, songs, and parameters
  • Arpeggiator
  • Two digital effects
  • Panning and Volume
  • Physical audio output

The effects include BBD, stereo delay, tape delay, chorus, phaser, flanger, distortion pedal, rotating speaker, ring mod, and different reverbs (room, hall, super plate).

3 Likes
#20

I want to see a video demonstration / tutorial of the Wavemaker tool, used from the external audio input. They make it sound so one-button easy, but i’d imagine there are a few choices along the way going sample to wavetable.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Three days later.

From this new gearnews article :

Sequencing

The synth also has a pattern-based sequencer that includes capturing parameter movements. It seems to be about realtime recording, with or without quantization of up to 32 measures. You can then arrange up to 24 patterns into songs. The multi-timbral side means that you can sequence a couple of layers while playing over the top which is very nifty. There’s also an Arpeggiator in there somewhere.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Here are some good sound examples.

This one played by a musician, Mattea Simovich :

It’s a lot more than a wavetable synth.

Here’s a sounds only video from Sonic State that gives a feel for the diversity and quality of sounds.

#21

This thing looks awesome, but it’s firmly out of my price range unless I sell several other things.

#22

Yeah agreed, that’s a lot of money. But it’s not because the synth is over-priced. It’s because this is just a lot of synth. I think the price is good for what you get … it’s a good value.

3 Likes