Anyone tried a Blofeld?

Daisuk · 2013-09-19T07:43:22.000Z

""nedavine"":

[quote=“Daisuk”]I’m thinking about getting one. I got rid of my xt a month ago, mainly due to a couple of things,

the ‘responsiveness’ of the knobs, sometimes it felt like I could turn pretty much all of the knobs either way without it really making much of a difference to the sound. Probably user error somehow, but it left me feeling it a hopeless beast to tame.

some of its parameters was hidden deep inside it. You had to push the matrix editor button three times, and then scroll the selection wheel, even though there was nothing to indicate that there were more parameters to edit. Frustrating experience.

I have since been wanting a new keyboard, multitimbral synth and wavetable synth, and the blofeld seems to fit the bill perfectly. Now, I don’t really mind the editing matrix of the blofeld, as long as every available parameter is visible on the screen, and every screen accessible from the edit matrix.

But how does the blofeld compare to the xt in the sense of responding to parameter edits? Will you often end up editing a lot of parameters without it really affecting the sound? For people who have both, how would you compare the two interface wise? I know a lot of people would prefer the xt soundwise, I’m not concerned about that, but its the interface I’d like to know how compare between the units.

Opinions much appreciated!

I’ve never used an XT so I can’t compare directly, but I did own a Blofeld and I sold it for the same reason you sold your XT.

I bought it because it was cheap as and came highly recommended from gearslutz. It was a great synth for the price, I found editing in a matrix style perfectly fine and it didnt bother me, in fact the visual displays were quite nice for editing.

But for me the issue was when I programmed stuff it felt like nothing was happening. Especially with the filter. The filter on the blofeld was amazingly mundane and more often than not just drowned my sound.

Now I have heard people make amazing blofeld patches that rocked. I am not saying its not capable, but I couldn’t get it to do what I wanted so I got rid of it. I found the filter especially unresponsive. It sounds like you had a similar experieince with the XT and so maybe it’s a waldorf thing.

Anyway thats my two cents. Take them with a pinch of salt as many people have very different experiences with different synths. Best of all if you can get out and play one in a shop and see for yourself.

Despite disliking the blo, since I got my OT I kinda wish I still had it as a multi timbral poly would be awesome to sequence.

If I was gonna get a VA I think I would try the nord x2. SImilar price nice sound.

Sorry for the long reply. [/quote]
Hmmm, thanks for your reply, man! Well, it’s the “unresponsiveness” I’m a bit weary of, but I think I just need to try it out for myself. The filter on the XT was actually really good! One of the really responsive and great parts of it, hehe. But a lot of the mod-matrix things in it just didn’t really affect the sound at all, in my opinion.
I had a Nord 2, but sold it, as I found its sound a bit boring, kind of flat.

Daisuk · 2013-09-19T07:45:10.000Z

""namnibor"":

I have the Blofeld Keyboard, ‘Shadow Edition’, and the key-action is quite good with very responsive after touch, velocity and release velocity. I waited a bit before purchasing and when stable OS released went for it and perhaps I indeed acquired a newer/better encoder version because honestly have had NO issues whatsoever.

The editing matrix is actually quite intuitive and have no problems there either and it’s quite the capable synth. With that said, it really is a synth unto it’s own, meaning, it does not ‘replace’ my XT or Q rack synths by Waldorf and although I love the Blofeld, the Q is my favorite Waldorf Synth (not microQ…full blown Q). Having a Virus KB and KC, I dare still have opinion that the Q is still the deeper mod matrix and more versatile synth. The XT is a purely wavetable synth so not really comparison to the Blofeld.

Would think any genre of music could find a place for Blofeld. It can do sublime atmospheric moving pads and ambient dreamscape sounds to rip your face off sounds and has a very capable arp.
What I love most about the Blofeld are the various filter drives and filters themselves. Waldorf filters are notoriously misunderstood and more often than not, people do not realize they are constantly “overdriving” the filter, when all you need do is turn the filter freq and resonance down and apply various drive curves to the filters and you get wonderful sounds of all kinds. This is true of the Q as well. This of course is all very subjective but the very large display and menu system is quite well implemented and as aforementioned, intuitive. But I have heard people say this about the Octatrack as well as polar opposite…again, subjective.

Lastly, I think the Blofeld is A LOT of synth for little money and think it marries well with both A4 and MnM.

That’s good to hear! I’m basically getting it to accompany my A4 and MnM as well, so that’s good news! Thanks for your reply, man!

Daisuk · 2013-09-19T07:45:47.000Z

""Upright"":

I have a desktop Blofeld…it’s a great synth! It’s got a lot of modulation options even more than the A4 has. Comes with 1000 presets and does wavetable synthesis. For the price you can’t go wrong with the Blofeld IMO.

Cool, thanks! I think I’m moving towards getting one, in all honesty, hehehe. Couldn’t possibly contain myself.

Daisuk · 2013-09-19T07:46:29.000Z

""3l3ctronix"":

I’m not a fan of menu-diving, and using the Blofeld includes some diving, but it’s not so bad really. The sounds are amazing, and it’s a great synth to go with my MD. Build quality is very good, the knobs for example feel a lot sturdier than the ones on MD. The latest OS is bug-free as far as I can tell.

Cool - that’s good news! I’ve also read that the OS is supposedly very stable now. Thanks!

Daisuk · 2013-09-19T07:47:35.000Z

""sixto"":

its a great synth yes but i recommend you a Waldorf Q

Too big, too old, far too expensive, but thanks for the recommendation!

Daisuk · 2013-09-19T07:49:45.000Z

""SB-SIX"":

I have a blokeys. It’s a good synth, but I don’t use it very often. It’s because of the interface. The matrix interface is not bad at all, and with the big screen you can really see what’s going on but this synth has so many parameters that depend on each other, which result in alot of params doing nothing if they are not setup right (dependant on other params)

Bottom line is, I like to “play” with my synths, and not “think” too much. When behind the blofeld, I always realise the stuff I’m trying to do would be much easier on Largo.

Maybe an option would be to hook up an ipad with lemur to the blofeld. You’d have much more hands-on control that way.

Hmm, interesting, as this was my experience with the XT as well, and what made me want to sell it. I think I need to try it out though, and worst casio scenario, I’d take a little financial hit, but I’d probably be able to sell it again, if it doesn’t fit me. Thanks a lot for your reply!
Thanks a lot, guys! I’ll save up for this one and have a go, too curious not to now.

PES · 2013-09-19T09:27:05.000Z

Just a quick tip before you buy: look at page 29-34 of the manual. There you can see which parameters are available on the matrix, and which are located on pages that you scroll to from these matrix points (the whole synth engine menu is arranged in tons of pages that you scroll through, starting at Oscillator 1 and all the way to Arpeggiator Length, with the matrix points working as shortcuts/performance controls in between).

To me the interface is a letdown on this unit. It’s sort of a compromise between performance and editing which doesen’t really work too well. While I haven’t really used the XT, it sure looks a lot more hands-on and intuitive to edit.

But!

The synth engine/sound is really good and weighs up for the shortcomings of the interface. And regarding bugs, I can’t remember encountering any (I use it monotimbrally).

Clubkaiser · 2013-09-19T10:29:45.000Z

Well, the Blofeld isn’t too bad at all…

I bought one a year ago, mainly for creating pads and textures for ambient tracks. Listened to quite a lot of youtube demos and stuff and they were pretty impressive and all BUT: As good as the Blofeld sounds, it never made me wanna sit down and program sounds from scratch. As a nord lead and virus owner I am used to have lots of parameters straight at hand.

Connecting to a Novation Remote SL MKII didn’t do the job either unfortunately. After all I sold it and bought Camel Audio’s Alchemy - that thing is a beast and beats the blofeld in every aspect. Still have to use the Novation though but the advantages of Alchemy justifies that.

So in short: As long as you don’t mind menudiving Blofeld is a cool synth especially for its price but the handling is not for everyone.

Upright · 2013-09-19T12:26:59.000Z

""Daisuk"":

Cool, thanks! I think I’m moving towards getting one, in all honesty, hehehe. Couldn’t possibly contain myself.

Yeah man. There are menus but they are really well laid out and make complete sense. Blofeld is very intuitive and sounds great. I know there are a lot of Blofeld users over at Gearslutz so you might want to ask more specific questions there.

glidepro · 2013-09-19T13:00:10.000Z

I’ve owned one previously, and it certainly does have great sounds however I found the interface slightly too limiting to really have fun with it - mainly because you do find yourself paging around the interface. However, despite that, it is a very deep synth and everything is laid out well. No doubt, the costs are kept low because of the minimal hands-on UI. One thing I did like (and lots of synth manufacturers should follow suit, not Elektron I hasten to add!) is the use of endless encoders, so no dodgy snapping of parameters when flicking between pages/presets!

A nice alternative, if you happen to have an iPad is the app Waldorf Nave contains all the same waveforms as the Blofeld and more (http://www.waldorf-music.info/en/products/nave.html), mentioned in the 3rd paragraph.

Not wanting to get start a hardware vs. software battle, but in terms of range of sounds Nave would appear to trump the Blofeld on a few things - not a bad choice for $20 for that Waldorf sound.

Daisuk · 2013-09-19T15:45:34.000Z

""PES"":

Just a quick tip before you buy: look at page 29-34 of the manual. There you can see which parameters are available on the matrix, and which are located on pages that you scroll to from these matrix points (the whole synth engine menu is arranged in tons of pages that you scroll through, starting at Oscillator 1 and all the way to Arpeggiator Length, with the matrix points working as shortcuts/performance controls in between).

To me the interface is a letdown on this unit. It’s sort of a compromise between performance and editing which doesen’t really work too well. While I haven’t really used the XT, it sure looks a lot more hands-on and intuitive to edit.

But!

The synth engine/sound is really good and weighs up for the shortcomings of the interface. And regarding bugs, I can’t remember encountering any (I use it monotimbrally).

That is very valuable information! Thanks a lot, I’ll check out those pages in the menu before I splash out on it.

Noisebuddy · 2013-09-19T17:05:22.000Z

i have the blokey since 2011 and i like it …

positive:
[ul]
[li]awesome sound, digital and sharp, a bit too much highs … anyway[/li]
[li]modmatrix is well implemented (strangeness soundwise on a very complex level is possible)[/li]
[li]built like a tank[/li]
[li]good key-response[/li]
[/ul]

negative:
[ul]
[li]knobs are not the best, maybe it changend in recent productions[/li]
[li]LFO2 doesn´t synchronize to midi-clock (a known bug)[/li]
[li]ARP has some problems when triggered via external gear (ex. Octatrack)[/li]
[li]the menue isn´t well implemeted when you programm on the blo[/li]
[/ul]

neutral:
[ul]
[li]Soundwise the blo has much pressure and i found it hard to fit the sound in a mix … it is always dominating[/li]
[li]somehow the sounds tending to be unstable in terms of leveling, so much help via the modmatrix on the levels is needed to gain stability[/li]
[/ul]

in my case i use the blo for pads, atmos, FX and some leads and i can recommend this gear for every one who is looking for wired digital sounds

if it comes to editing, i point to a guy on google+ named Softknob. He programmed an editor for the BLO, its free, and still in beta, but this guy is working constantly on it … you can donate if you want

guga · 2013-09-19T20:49:23.000Z

if you don’t want to go for an XT or a Q then the Blofeld is a good compromise considering its price and dimensions.
unfortunately, as already mentioned, you won’t get all the knobs you get with the big brothers so you’ll find yourself flipping menus to change parameters (unless you hook it up to an external MIDI controller) but you sure get their sounds and sound shaping capabilities
there’re a lot of presets (categorized) that can be used straight away and with the SL license you get sampling feature as well (don’t expect to do a lot with the samples though, but surely a plus)
the blofeld comes in handy when playing with knobs is the last thing you want to do and you just want to get something playing straight away; with the XT or the Q you would need a bbit more time. no MIDI OUT unfortunately and no audio in but hey…
one thing that annoys me is the crackling you get in some cases with some sounds when using effects, sometimes it makes the sound unusable (even if other times is nice to have some random generated crackle here and there )
it fits well in a setup where you can sample/filter its output (i like to use the MnM to filter it and with an OT or an A4 it would be even better )
so, apart from some OS bugs (which i read have been removed with the latest update…will need to upgrade) and wobbly knobs (i believe that was probably a problem with early models), the blo is a nice desktop synth to have and use…and it’s a Waldorf anyway

Daisuk · 2013-09-19T21:12:47.000Z

Hmmm, bit “worried” (not really the appropriate word) that it’s difficult to fit in a mix (had the same experience with the XT, very dominant sounding thing), but I figure it’s worth a shot anyway.

Thanks a lot for all your replies, you guys! Very valuable information for me!

namnibor · 2013-09-19T21:50:02.000Z

The Blofeld Keyboard INDEED has both DIN midi in and out as well as USB. It’s only the Desktop Blofeld that only has midi in DIN…just for accuracy, as I have the Blofeld Keyboard.
As far as “overpowering sound”, that’s easily remedied with all other overall levels and there’s always use of compressor/limiter.

Save from the A4 and Virus Series, not too many synths have really outstanding effects on-board. I will freely admit the effects on Blofeld are not outstanding but I have always used outboard effects anyway and in my opinion the A4 is better/great as, dare I say, Lexicon ones!!! Yep, I said it!

As aforementioned regarding the “Waldorf Q being OLD”, it’s same age as Virus KB/KC and these are the deepest VA synths I have ever used and still set the bar for hardware and even some software. The Q Rack does take up 5 rack spaces but also happily sits at an angle as a desktop unit. If you ever have a chance where I fellow musician has a Q for you to take for a “test drive”, I think you would understand why it’s so revered.

Also note that the “old Waldorf team”, upon their prior bankruptcy, they all went over to Access Music to further develop the Virus Series. So, they both share some Synth DNA and that should tell you something.

Lastly, if anyone had to try to program any of the synths of late 80’s to early 90’s when the industry thought it a great idea to have itsy-bitsy screen, only knob was volume, if you were lucky…the Blofeld is a joy to program in comparison and it’s User Manual is quite well implemented. Try to program a DX7 and you will understand!
Good fortune on your quest!

kirlian · 2013-09-19T22:25:39.000Z

i had one for a while. i really loved the sounds it made. i would say they were some of the better sounds i have made. brutal, harsh, shimmering, very delicate, weird as you could ever want. i have a microwave xt and still wouldn’t hesitate to get a blofeld again. i wish they made a knobby one.

namnibor · 2013-09-19T22:35:18.000Z

""kirlian"":

i had one for a while. i really loved the sounds it made. i would say they were some of the better sounds i have made. brutal, harsh, shimmering, very delicate, weird as you could ever want. i have a microwave xt and still wouldn’t hesitate to get a blofeld again. i wish they made a knobby one.

Although I have never (yet) tried this, but if you have a Waldorf Q/Q-rack, have read on more than a few occasions where people state that most of the midi cc’s correspond with the Blofeld and make a great controller for it.
Have seen many of your music videos, providing your same Kirlian on YT, and thought had spotted a Q rack at some point but if it was in black and white, perhaps it was a Polymorph or Rave o Lution? I own an XT Rack so would never confuse it with the Q rack.
I wanted to add that although Waldorf Nave App would never replace the Blofeld or even the XT in my opinion, I recently purchased first iPad 2 and the Behringer iStudio Dock, just to own NAVE…it’s quite a wonderful sounding synth.

jonah · 2013-09-23T00:08:21.000Z

Does the blofeld have the same modulation options as the XT?
This SOS article got me semi interested in the XT.
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Jan03/articles/microwavetips.asp

I was reading up on wavetables to try and get the most out of the monomachine…and between running it into the analog4 and sampling that into the octatrack, I’m sure it’ll be at least a year before I can be bothered. Still, they show up super cheap from time to time.

I wonder if Elektron could add waveform interpolation or hack the LFO designer from the octatrack into a waveform creator for the monomachine? Or like turn a VO machine into a wavetable?! The one thing I’m not feeling about the monomachine is that it doesn’t “make it’s own gravy”, in terms of wavetables.

glaciertree · 2013-09-23T00:20:28.000Z

""jonah"":

Does the blofeld have the same modulation options as the XT?
This SOS article got me semi interested in the XT.
Getting Creative With Waldorf Microwave Synths

I was reading up on wavetables to try and get the most out of the monomachine…and between running it into the analog4 and sampling that into the octatrack, I’m sure it’ll be at least a year before I can be bothered. Still, they show up super cheap from time to time.

I wonder if Elektron could add waveform interpolation or hack the LFO designer from the octatrack into a waveform creator for the monomachine? Or like turn a VO machine into a wavetable?! The one thing I’m not feeling about the monomachine is that it doesn’t “make it’s own gravy”, in terms of wavetables.

I don’t have an XT, but the Mod matrix is quite similar between the two. I have seen that article and have been meaning to try out the modulations in there on the blof.

RyanElektric · 2013-09-23T02:09:57.000Z

What’s the unlock able “sampler” thing on the Blo? Is it just loading up short waves and mapping/modding them? Or is it more?