Korg Wavestate

No way to import samples currently.

I can’t answer as the only absinth I own is in a bottle :smiley:

No retrig option, but you can simulate it using the timing lane, wich may affect other lanes.

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Well I love both :rofl:
Absynth allow to play back sample that you can morph with wavetables and filters and so… really powerful for any kind of sound design. I am trying to find something similar in hardware synths…

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Here’s a link to the unofficial editor. I haven’t been able to get it to work on my Mac but some people seem to have had luck.

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Ok, good to know. I’m not sure you can find similar thing in hardware.
Check further specs of both Wavestate and Modwave, as Modwave is based on wavetables.
Wavestate already has massive amount of samples, so you can wait loooong before getting bored.
Morph between samples feels great, maybe not as accurate as waveforms based synths on slow morphings, but still very enjoyable.

Ok, had a Wavestate here for testing. My very biased personal view: Built quality is not that great. Plastic elastic, despite that metal faceplate. The knob shafts are all plastic too. Imho the Minilogue/Monologue have a better built quality with metal knob shafts. The Keybed feels absolutely awful to play. Even the minikeys from the *logues feel better to use.
Display is surprisingly good, I expected it to be much worse, but it’s actually quite good, not too small, clear and bright enough. Knobs feel strange, one knobs had some strange ā€žsandā€œ feeling when turning, as if there was some sand inside, but it was otherwise functioning properly.
The UI is weird, but I was able to navigate without looking too much into the manual.

The sound… i have to say, it is good, but it reminded me a lot of NI Absynth, and it sounded to me like a (good) VST.

Had actually no fun tweaking it, and creating your own sounds is not that difficult, but the overall sound character didn’t invited me for further exploration.

Verdict: I see this as a producers quick powerhouse for the new age ambient genre as well as for filmscoreing purposes. For these purposes it’s a very giving specialized tool.

Regarding the built quality… I guess that the other two Korg synths, modwave and Opsix are of similar quality, so I will stay far away from those and I am happy with Digitone Keys, Novation Peak and Waldorf Iridium.

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I think they came up with the Wavestate SE to answer the build parts you mention.

As for sounding like a VST, it’s not that far from being one. It’s a Raspberry Pi in a custom controller/box.

"At its heart beats a Raspberry Pi Compute module (based on an STM32 ARM CPU). While some may find this a point of contention, Korg is no stranger to the use of Common Off-the-shelf Technology Systems (COTS). Historically, they’ve excelled at incredible DSP-based instruments on such platforms as proven by the Oasys and Kronos workstations. "

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The Raspberry PI has been discussed already, but I think the point is, despite that fact, they could have improved the sound more. Having the Iridium here, I have to say that the Waldorf sounds soooo much better. And it’s also basically just some DSP centric machine inside.
They used the same compressed sample material from former Korg Workstations but without having their quality DA converter, so it seems. It sounds quite stiff and weird to my ears. But hey, otoh it’s a great and fast tool for a producer who needs to get the job quickly done. That’s my guess why they did the SE version too.

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I agree on the sound. I barely use mine. A bit too menu/click heavy for my liking, and sounds seem a bit brittle sounding.

I keep holding on to it thinking I’ll commit more time to programming it, but the truth is, I doubt I ever will.

That said, if it ever got sample import, it would be a game changer, and motivation to dive in and spends time programming it.

Edit: I do have to say though, that after a few years of spending a small fortune in eurorack, the Wavestate is exceptional value, considering what you get for the price.

Edit 2: After writing this, I decided to spend some time with, and just spent the last hour messing around programming a performance, and actually quite enjoyed it…

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A short preview of my new custom presets. I had fun to create these patches, for sure! Wavestate is an amazing ambient synth, imho :slight_smile: Now I want the possibility to import my own samples!!! Come on Korg!

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Very very nice sounds you created here :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

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It’s crazy that any sample capable synth doesn’t let you import your own, same with any wavetable synth with no import custom waves, These sorts of ā€œfakeā€ limits to a synth are massive deterrents. We are not in the 80s with tech limits so why are creators pretending?

It’s like the creators don’t trust having a good enough idea for another product so cripple what they are currently working on, bonkers philosophy.

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I totally agree agree with you. That’s so frustrating for customers. Maybe it’s because of the limited internal samples memory, i dunno :man_shrugging:

There are words about several gigabytes… related to Modwave as well.
Modwave will support wavetable import. Wavestate - probably never.

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Part 2 :slight_smile:

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Hey all, haven’t read through this thread but thought I’d gauge how this synth fits into an Elektronaut’s setup. I’ve got a DT and an OTmk2, and I’d like to have a versatile synth that can cover buttloads of sonic ground. The full size keys are a big appeal to me, and this thing seems to have a lot going for it. Does it do bread and butter synth sounds well? The multiple filter types seem cool. Would you guys consider this a good synth to act as sample fodder for the Octatrack?

Edit: Oh, and how well does it do bass sounds?

It can act as a pretty standard VA if you don’t use all 4 layers at the same time. The wave sequencing is very fun once you can wrap your brain around it. Because there are so many parameters, it will take you a bit to get the hang of setting things up. In my use case, I created a few template patches that had my basic settings I prefer as the init patch was not to my liking. Saving is a bit weird as well but again, not too crazy. Midiclock is pretty tight in my usage so it syncs up nicely with other sequencers in my set up and it’s very fun to play along with my elektron machines that are running more static sequences. Also, I think any machine can be good sample fodder for the Octa :slight_smile:

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It can sometimes get tedious to find the good waveform-sample-whatever to use as a sound source like an oscillator, as there are so many. But they sound really good so definitely can be used to create bread and butter sound.

UI can sometimes be weird, and not as immediate as some other synths, and you may spend more time to set things up.

But the performance knobs and the fact that each of the 4 layers can have its dedicated midi channel makes it a beast controlled by your Elektron stuff while controlling multiple parameters with own Wavestate performance knobs.

It can go very far, and wave sequence brings it to new territories.

And the effects sound reaaaally good!

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Thanks for the replies, ended up pulling the trigger and played with some of the presets for a half hour before work. This thing is great! I can tell its going to be very inspiring to work with. I was using Reason as a synth rack for my setup but this will get me there so much quicker.

I hope you will have fun!
Little advices:

  • take some time to learn (wave sequence concept, how modulations work,…), and some time to have fun and just playing with presets. These 2 ways are important to not feel overwhelmed after the honeymoon time. It usually is the same for most of all machines.
  • by exploring presets you like you will get a better understanding of how to make this synth sound great.
  • learn the power of the Step Seq Lane :wink: SynthDad made a very clear video on Youtube about it, ask if you need the link.
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Hey thanks for the advice! I can already tell this is going to be a deep dive as far as learning goes, but it seems very rewarding as well. Kinda like the Octatrack lol. I’m staying in the shallow end just exploring the presets for now, and getting a full feel for it’s range of sounds. Not regretting it so far!

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