Waldorf Edition 2 LE (thoughts)

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I got Waldorf Edition 2 LE for free thanks to a coupon code that murnau shared in the Bargain Center discussion thread. Thank you Waldorf and murnau. Here is some feedback. I am trying to be as objective as I can be even though I got this for free. I am interested in your thoughts, and perhaps I am missing something...

Attack

I could see myself using this for synthesized drums. It's possible to get some nice sounds out of it even though it's an old (13 years old?) drum synth, but why do the 6 outputs display on the GUI since the LE version doesn't support multiple outs? This is sloppy. I really don't want to see anything in the GUI that I can't use. At least grey those areas out....

The effects section... Please tell me I am missing something. At first I thought you could only use 1 different effect per sound, which would have been limited but at least something to work with, but it turns out that the effect section is global (you have to use the same effect on each sound if you want to use an effect on a sound) and you can only use 1 of the available effects on any patch. There's a delay, Phaser, chorus, etc.. but you can only use 1 of these effects at a time for the entire patch. Am I missing something here or is this truly the case? This effects section is new from what I gather. I am thinking that this must be a limitation of the LE version. Can you choose a different effect per sound in the full version? I was expecting something like Geist, where you can use different chains of effects for each different sound...

Other than that, it's good, but I will most likely create sounds in Attack and then record these as WAV files to use in samplers (due to no multi outs in LE version and poor effects implementation).

PPG:

This is probably the highlight for many folks interested in this LE version but frankly my opinion of the Waldorf PPG synth hasn't changed over the years. I tried the demo twice over the years. This synth does nothing for me. It sounds weak and plasticky. I really don't understand the praise that it has been getting throughout the years... the 128 presets that come with this LE version sound outdated and do nothing for me. I have freeware synths that sound way better (granted they are not wavetable synths). I really don't get why folks love this synth. It's a mystery to me..

D-Pole

This is the full version of D-Pole and it has a nice sound and some interesting, unique features for a filter plugin. Getting this as a freebie is awesome. This is also an older plugin but it stands the test of time and I will definitely find some good use for it.
Play it by ear

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As far as PPG, what I love about it is it's digital low bitness, and most importantly that you can cycle through Wavetables with the LFO and they don't fade/Morph into each other. No other synth can make that sort of sound and it has an organic beauty. I don't know why other Wavetable synths don't have the option to step through instead of interpolating but they are missing out :) It certainly isn't a preset synth for me but I rarely use presets anyhow really as I spend most of my life making them.

This is PPG 3.v but this is what I am talking about. It's just an improvised held note (with an occasional higher note) with 2 preset layers in 3.v:

https://soundcloud.com/astralp/industry

That's how I see it anyway and I think the 2.v is just as good for this type of thing, not sure what is limited in the LE version though.

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Oh, and as for Attack I've never really used it very much, but in answer to your question I think that each output has it's own effects and you can hardwire each instrument to one of the outputs, so I guess in LE you only have one of those to play with. I could be wrong but I think that's how it works. I think they have added more FX stuff in v2 but I haven't had a chance to look at it yet beyond opening it for a couple of minutes.

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And you can now upgrade to the full Waldorf Edition 2 for €33.

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This release of Waldorf Edition is a huge disappointment. Basically it's the same old Waldorf Edition with a bunch of additional bugs. No real improvements at all. :(
No signature here!

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I tried PPG and Attack on a tune I was working on as I downloaded Edition 2 LE. Attack didn't work well for me in what I was doing, but I found a place for a PPG bass sound immediately.

I don't know about the bugs. I've read about many of them, but haven't dealt with any yet. And Edition 2 LE may not be for everyone, but for the price, I can't see how anyone could complain (unless they had just paid for it before finding out about the coupon, which I know some did).

My biggest concern (if you could call it that), is Waldorf's general attitude toward support. We have one poor guy on KVR who seems to have to handle all of Waldorf's issues...and then deliver the bad news to customers when Waldorf doesn't respond to their concerns (which seems to happen often, from what I've read). And from what I've seen on Waldorf's forums, it's no better there; most of the questions haven't been answered in months. Also, it wouldn't have hurt my feelings if they'd made the GUI for PPG bigger when putting into the "Waldorf Edition". It's still too small.

Maybe if I'd spent 19.90€ for the bundle (or 69€ for the full version), I might be more concerned about the bugs or functionality. But I'd already know I probably wouldn't get any real, direct support from Waldorf, so there would be no point in complaining. For what we paid with the coupon, I just think of the bundle as something nice to mess around with to see if it sparks any ideas.

All that said, I did like PPG Wave 3.V, when I had it for a trial.

Steve
Here's some of my stuff: https://soundcloud.com/shadowsoflife. If you hear something you like, I'm looking for collaborators.

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is D-Pole still mono?

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i rushed in and bought Waldorf Edition 2 purely for attack, which ive wanted for years.

As far as i can tell, this version of attack is virtually identical in function to the original version (which is more than ten years old) except it has a new skin, a 'sample' section which is too dangerous to use (if you load a sample on the fly, or pitch env mod it too aggressively, it breaks and needs to be re-loaded), and finally an expanded effects section (which has odd issues with the delay sync, that werent present in the original version).

So - its still basically a very good piece of software, if all of this gets ironed out soon-ish, im happy. If not, im just going to make sure that i write scathing reviews of this on every forum i can find - i didnt get a cheap/ discounted upgrade or voucher offer, i payed for the full thing, and feel a bit stupid.

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mattk wrote: As far as i can tell, this version of attack is virtually identical in function to the original version (which is more than ten years old) except it has a new skin, a 'sample' section which is too dangerous to use (if you load a sample on the fly, or pitch env mod it too aggressively, it breaks and needs to be re-loaded),
As already mentioned in the other thread there is alraedy a fix for that. The next official update should contain fixes for most bugs that were found so far which is why we take some time for those fixes.

Theoretically i could provide links for current unofficial Updates here but i am not really allowed to do so.

Currently also certain things concerning the workflow are discussed (this does not include changing the GUI colors back to the old ones...). Not sure if and how many of that will be implemented in the next update but maybe in a later one.


Ingo
Ingo Weidner
Win 10 Home 64-bit / mobile i7-7700HQ 2.8 GHz / 16GB RAM //
Live 10 Suite / Cubase Pro 9.5 / Pro Tools Ultimate 2021 // NI Komplete Kontrol S61 Mk1

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Thanks for the info Ingo

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Bought it as well just now, mostly to update from 1 LE to 2 LE and see if that will stop the plugins from crashing Ableton Live 9 when I close them. :)

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Astralp wrote: https://soundcloud.com/astralp/industry

That's how I see it anyway and I think the 2.v is just as good for this type of thing, not sure what is limited in the LE version though.
...that sounds beautiful, I also like the Picture very much!
Image

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I bought it last March when it was new, and then just two weeks later Waldorf gave it away for free, smart move on my part :oops:

The package is worth the €13,33 I paid for it though

The arp of PPG2 is the rasion d'etre for me, a really great one :tu:

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