No, but Scala support has been on Vlad’s roadmap more or less from the beginning. Hopefully it can be added before he’s done.
Is the M good for bass sounds? Can it give deeb and steady subs or cool basstone over top of it?
IMO the real, real low end is maybe the weaker point of the M sound-wise. Pretty much the first thing I ever do with a synth is try to make the deepest, dubbiest bass I can to see how well a given synth can do it - either filtering something way down or just clipping a triangle/sine or whatever. I’ve seen comments elsewhere from people with Microwave 1s who’ve also said the M doesn’t quite have the oomph the Microwave 1 has down there.
You can get a tonne of great basses out of it of course but its real strength is in the mids upwards for me. Lots of synths can do great basses (take your pick of Moogs or similar) but what the M does in registers higher than that is a more rare form of magic.
Has anyone tried user samples or transitions as they seem to be called?
Unfortunately no youtube videos or anything about it.
Yeah, for “low sub” i don’t know why you wouldn’t double with a simple sine and use the wavetables for overtones instead.
I do love the jank, artifacting basses you can get from the M though. They do have a really nice character, it’s just I haven’t quite managed to get to that weighty ‘screw your face up’ bass straight out of the synth. But I’ve found some VCO synths lacking that way too in fairness, I think a lot of it tends to be in the specific character of the mixer and/or VCA. I’m guessing the nonlinearities in the M’s are largely responsible for the sweet mids so I imagine it’s all a trade-off.
More than likely you could get it there with some added processing though!
I’ve been using them, chord stab samples sound great, a long with vox/choir samples. I’ve mostly used ones from the PPG wave… there is a jankyness to get then looping but I think they sound good enough to consider it one of the best features of the synth.
@Mumdad have you tried using a multimode like unison with slight detune on a bass sound? I remember getting some nice big sounds that way, although admittedly I am using cascadia for my bass lately.
Good idea, I haven’t used the multimode at all to be honest - one of those things where I’ve been like ‘I’ll wait for the issues to get ironed out’ then the months trickle by…
In fairness I do now have a Matriarch so it feels rude not to use that for bass, especially when all the beef you could ever need is just ‘triangle wave->distort mixer to taste->job done’
Yeah, plenty of subharmonic processing that’ll fill out any need for additional bass more cleanly and controllable than the default wavetables may.
Filter design and DACs a bit less wild and unstable I have heard in (Youtube) direct comparison, however the increased utility and flexibility of the M makes me still want it over MW1.
Will be fun to check out the Microwave XT emulation as well (same Discord as the Virus chipset emulation project.)
If i ever decide to sell my MD UW i’ll consider a M, though.
Is there any documentation on transitions?
edit: it’s in the changelog.
It’s pretty simple, just takes a while as you an only load one at a time. Figuring out loop points (and turning on looping) with the TRstart and TRend also takes a bit of trial and error to land on a sustaining sound that’s not just a short clinker or an out of time short looping sound. Shift/encoder turns with those start and end points are what unlocked it for me a bit.
After getting this synth I’ve been mostly just making mild variations of the init patch while trying to wrap my head around the way everything works.
I’ve been very happy with some of the cheesy and plucky sounds I’ve been able to create but this morning before work and now after a short day at work I’ve tried some more experimental things (in my still limited understanding of this instrument) and goddamn.
I’m absolutely in love with this thing and the way it behaves and sounds (and looks).
Been reading the GS thread and have seen lots of critique about various aspects of this synth from users that have experience with the earlier Waldorf WT stuff, and it got me a bit worried bcs I really hadn’t done my homework when buying this. I just knew that the sound is magical to me and that this would broaden my palette the most of the polys I can afford, cough, buying with installments cough
The digital filters have a similar grit to the MnM filters and this whole thing just oozes character in every way.
Combined with the OT’s midi capabilities this is the most insane synth I have ever tweaked.
My mind is melting, melting I tells you!!
edit: One of the concerning things about the M was on Stimming’s video about the free envelope glitching when pushed into audiorate, but it seems to work just fine no matter how fast it’s been dialed, which is a big relief.
Someone please help me understand how the negative VCA envelope is working.
I’m completely lost with it.
Waldorf M or Hydrasynth?
I have an Hydrasynth but I’ve been watching closely the M. Now is the time for me to consider switching my HS for the M because there’s a substantial discount on new units at my local store.
What I want to know is what are the bugs that still occur on the M? Sorry, I don’t want to read every posts and if someone would provide such infos, I will be very grateful.
Thanks.
Cannot comment on the bugs but I’ve had the Hydra and currently am rocking the M.
I really liked the Hydra’s modulation potential and its innovative osc’s but never deeply connected with the sound and UI.
The M on the other hand really keeps producing sounds I’m absolutely in love with and I really like the interface.
These things of course come down to preferences so it’s hard to say which one would better fit you… but… the M sounds (to me at least) so much better and what’s even more important the sweet spots are vast and plenty.
I guess that’s not something that can be said about the Hydra.
Thank you @Strutter for taking the time to write your experience with both units!
Gladly!!
In all the demos of the Hydrasynth I’ve heard I haven’t been struck by the sound either. It always sounds kind of hard and flat. The M on the other hand is one synth that I’m very tempted to pull the trigger on and it’s so pleasing to look at.
This.
Incoming Midi clock drifts on the M so syncing the arp (which I personally have no use for) from an external source does not work. That is the primary bug that I know of and Vlad the developer has mentioned that it should be in the next major firmware update which will require a UI update to accommodate the resources needed to fix the bug.
In terms of the hydrasynth comp, it’s kind of tough. The hydra was designed for maximum features to cover a very broad spectrum of sounds and synth techniques. That is reflected in it’s excellent UI which tackles a ton of complicated options but makes it very streamlined.
The M on the other hand was made specifically to be an update of the original Microwave ( I believe the filter is closer to a PPG though) so it definitely lacks the versatility of the hydra being that it’s based on a 30 year old synth. Vlad/Waldorf have added a lot to it since release and it is certainly not a basic synth by any means but you might miss the filter versatility of the hydra (or the LFOs, extra envelopes, etc).
All that being said, I currently have an M and it’s staying for the long haul due to it’s amazing sound. I’ve had a hydra in the past and may pick up one again in the future as it’s still an insane deal for the price/build quality.
there are a few outstanding bugs I think… one is with having the main lfos sync not working properly under certain settings, plenty of envelope and the global lfo if you want synced modulation sound until it is fixed or the work I believe is if you slightly adjust the phase of lfo it will start to working? I think some say the digital FM filter is not sounding correctly not totally sure if that is a bug or just a raw limitation. But yeah the only bug that has ever been a huge bother to me was a early hanging note bug that got squashed ages ago. Its my “daily driver” synth so I do use it quite a lot, although admittedly I haven’t used multimode much, I usually only use that as a bootleg stab chord mode.