Still there. I guess people won't trust it, because it is used as a demonstration model.
Or maybe because it is called KinkKorg
http://www.marktplaats.nl/a/muziek-en-i ... ousPage=lr
KingKorg vs. Studiologic Sledge 2.0
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- Banned
- 307 posts since 30 Sep, 2015
@EvilDragon
Still there. I guess people won't trust it, because it is used as a demonstration model.
Or maybe because it is called KinkKorg
http://www.marktplaats.nl/a/muziek-en-i ... ousPage=lr
Still there. I guess people won't trust it, because it is used as a demonstration model.
Or maybe because it is called KinkKorg
http://www.marktplaats.nl/a/muziek-en-i ... ousPage=lr
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- KVRist
- 52 posts since 28 Feb, 2004
So I've had the Sledge 2 for several weeks now and figured I would give some feedback. Of course I bought the bright yellow version a week or two before the unbelievably hot looking black version was announced, with improved keybed, signal volume, and a few other things. Ah well, thats how it goes. Anyway, back to the emoji-colored Sledge 2.0 ...
I've programmed about 70+ patches at this point, which may not seem like much but I'm a little anal when programming so I've probably done enough programming for 1,000 sounds, but only kept 70. The one thing that really irks me is the volume control. When you turn it down to 0, you can hear the audible click of a relay that appears to cut off all sound. WTF? I only noticed it because I was emulating patches from my Roland JP-08, and switching between the two synths using volume to compare the sounds. At times, the volume control even made the JP-08 go nuts, like it was sending something over MIDI occasionally. Weird, but nothing that should put anyone off.
BTW, it was easily able to mimic the JP-08 and improve on it in almost all cases. Having the 3rd oscillator and noise is awesome but you're limited by a single filter and volume ADSR that affects all oscillators. If each osc had it's own filter and volume ADSR, this thing would be stratospheric!!
A testiment to its Waldorf roots, there are several hidden filters that you can apply by sending a specific CC message and values. The hidden filters are from the Waldorf Blofeld and include the infamous PPG filter, which adds a very nice flavor to some of the sounds.
I was able to get some really fat sounds out of it, and with a mixture of 3 oscillators, noise, FM, variable PW using an LFO, and some admittedly "grungy" $50 effects, you can get sounds that will blow you away! This is yet another of those hidden gems that people don't know about until they're off the market and unavailable - Remember the Yamaha FS-1R? Anyway Kraft Music has them for $899 including a few audio and midi cables.
There are still a few bugs in the software, especially in regards to how the physical buttons translate to the virtual world. For example pressing the Mono button mode puts the synth in mono, but also ups the loudness for some reason. However if you save the sound, change to another patch, and change back, it sounds "normal". Little quirky things I don't care that much about, but would prefer they never existed.
My biggest gripe is support. Nobody is providing any free sounds, Studiologic only programmed about 110 sounds for it, which is pathetic! They certainly don't try to create any buzz, for sure. I'll eventually provide my sounds for free when I get a chance, but this is a synth that could shine if given the chance.
I've programmed about 70+ patches at this point, which may not seem like much but I'm a little anal when programming so I've probably done enough programming for 1,000 sounds, but only kept 70. The one thing that really irks me is the volume control. When you turn it down to 0, you can hear the audible click of a relay that appears to cut off all sound. WTF? I only noticed it because I was emulating patches from my Roland JP-08, and switching between the two synths using volume to compare the sounds. At times, the volume control even made the JP-08 go nuts, like it was sending something over MIDI occasionally. Weird, but nothing that should put anyone off.
BTW, it was easily able to mimic the JP-08 and improve on it in almost all cases. Having the 3rd oscillator and noise is awesome but you're limited by a single filter and volume ADSR that affects all oscillators. If each osc had it's own filter and volume ADSR, this thing would be stratospheric!!
A testiment to its Waldorf roots, there are several hidden filters that you can apply by sending a specific CC message and values. The hidden filters are from the Waldorf Blofeld and include the infamous PPG filter, which adds a very nice flavor to some of the sounds.
I was able to get some really fat sounds out of it, and with a mixture of 3 oscillators, noise, FM, variable PW using an LFO, and some admittedly "grungy" $50 effects, you can get sounds that will blow you away! This is yet another of those hidden gems that people don't know about until they're off the market and unavailable - Remember the Yamaha FS-1R? Anyway Kraft Music has them for $899 including a few audio and midi cables.
There are still a few bugs in the software, especially in regards to how the physical buttons translate to the virtual world. For example pressing the Mono button mode puts the synth in mono, but also ups the loudness for some reason. However if you save the sound, change to another patch, and change back, it sounds "normal". Little quirky things I don't care that much about, but would prefer they never existed.
My biggest gripe is support. Nobody is providing any free sounds, Studiologic only programmed about 110 sounds for it, which is pathetic! They certainly don't try to create any buzz, for sure. I'll eventually provide my sounds for free when I get a chance, but this is a synth that could shine if given the chance.
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- Banned
- 22457 posts since 5 Sep, 2001
I really dig the king korg's sound.. i'd choose that personally between those two if they are the choices, and if you really want the blofeld type sound you can get second hand ones on ebay for like 300 bucks rather than the sledge (which is only marginally pricier than blofeld anyway).
Plus, the KK really has a unique bling factor to it. I'm really impressed with my little microkorg XL.. initially for the same price it was the nord a1r for me or the KK but i chose the former for space reasons and decided to get into korg va a much cheaper but still valid way with the micro. If the KK had a rack the decision would have been tougher. I really enjoyed playing with it in the store. They are basically double the blofeld price here, and 35% more expensive than the sledge..
Do you need big polyphony? There's other options you can mix and match for variety for the KK's price. perhaps a real analog with a mopho X4, which you can chain with tetras at any time to make poly bigger. tetras will be all over the place s/h and there are stores still blowing them out. Then you could get the blofeld.. basically a mopho x4 and blofeld is the same price as a KingKorg. Just something to think about.
Plus, the KK really has a unique bling factor to it. I'm really impressed with my little microkorg XL.. initially for the same price it was the nord a1r for me or the KK but i chose the former for space reasons and decided to get into korg va a much cheaper but still valid way with the micro. If the KK had a rack the decision would have been tougher. I really enjoyed playing with it in the store. They are basically double the blofeld price here, and 35% more expensive than the sledge..
Do you need big polyphony? There's other options you can mix and match for variety for the KK's price. perhaps a real analog with a mopho X4, which you can chain with tetras at any time to make poly bigger. tetras will be all over the place s/h and there are stores still blowing them out. Then you could get the blofeld.. basically a mopho x4 and blofeld is the same price as a KingKorg. Just something to think about.
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- KVRist
- 411 posts since 25 Apr, 2007 from Northern CA
If you like tweaking, I converted hundreds of Blofeld patches (from files freely available on the Internet) and put them in this .zip file:analoguesque wrote:I've programmed about 70+ patches at this point, which may not seem like much but I'm a little anal when programming so I've probably done enough programming for 1,000 sounds, but only kept 70.
Blofeld to Sledge patches
How did I do this? I wrote a sysex patch librarian for the Sledge ( see my previous post ) that allows you to open Blofeld sysex and .mid files. A word of warning though - watch your volume ( and your ears ) because some of the parameters obviously don't translate exactly. Many of them are very useful as is, but it does seem like the three osc buttons are off by default on some of the patches, so turn them on! It also seems like some of the Blofeld filter stuff survives the translation
You can load these patches into the Studiologic app and send them, or you can try my patch librarian ( I have some enhancements that you should like ). Have fun, and please share anything useful you come up with.
It's funny that you mentioned the Yamaha FS1R. That was the other thing I purchased last month instead of the KK. However, I would be interested in a rackmount version of that keyboard. It does have a superior infrastructure and sound for many things.
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 2267 posts since 9 Mar, 2009 from Copenhagen, Denmark
And they surely kept that a very well-hidden secret. Hadn't it been for KVR, I wouldn't have known anything about. In the light of Blofeld offering well over 1000 factory patches, 110 is a joke. That's likely to change in the forthcoming Sledge though. I'm sure they've received a fair bit of criticize because of the lack of presets.analoguesque wrote:my biggest gripe is support. Nobody is providing any free sounds, Studiologic only programmed about 110 sounds for it, which is pathetic! They certainly don't try to create any buzz, for sure. I'll eventually provide my sounds for free when I get a chance, but this is a synth that could shine if given the chance.
he he I still follow this thread despite opting out and getting a Blofeld Desktop
THe new one does look great, although the black keys takes some getting use to. I'm sure it's not a problem when playing though
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- KVRist
- 52 posts since 28 Feb, 2004
Excellent, thanks. I'll give those sounds a try - always provides new programming inspiration when you hear what others do with it.
The new black beast sure does look good. Wish I had waited a few weeks more before getting my 2.0, then I would have been aware of this and waited a little longer. I'm hearing rumors that the 2.0 owners will be dropped in favor of the black beast. Hope this doesn't happen, but I see they never posted the new default patches on the support site for the black version. We may have to wait for someone to buy it and post the sounds.
Being a 2.0 owner, I wish the black version didn't come out now. The software still bas some annoying bugs so a new synth just takes away from time and money spent on fixing these.
I have a full compliment of patches on my Roland JP-08, that covers every synth sound used on Depeche Mode's Speak & Spell album. Not everyones taste in DM but it was the first album I ever bought so I am biased. Anyway the sledge has so far been able to replicate the sounds very convincingly, even though the JP-08 has a more rubbery sound to it like a Korg Poly-800. Not complex sounds by any means, but nice that they can be replicated so easily. BTW, the way that Roland handles their patches is awesome. They are just text files located in a folder on the synth - editable and understandable in a text editor, and easily copied to a desktop. I was able to create an Excel spreadsheet in a few hours, to load them and provide approximations of the settings so that I can replicate manually on the Sledge. So far it is working well - gets you 90% of the way there and then all you need to do is tweak. Crude, but much easier than dealing with Sysex.
The new black beast sure does look good. Wish I had waited a few weeks more before getting my 2.0, then I would have been aware of this and waited a little longer. I'm hearing rumors that the 2.0 owners will be dropped in favor of the black beast. Hope this doesn't happen, but I see they never posted the new default patches on the support site for the black version. We may have to wait for someone to buy it and post the sounds.
Being a 2.0 owner, I wish the black version didn't come out now. The software still bas some annoying bugs so a new synth just takes away from time and money spent on fixing these.
I have a full compliment of patches on my Roland JP-08, that covers every synth sound used on Depeche Mode's Speak & Spell album. Not everyones taste in DM but it was the first album I ever bought so I am biased
. Anyway the sledge has so far been able to replicate the sounds very convincingly, even though the JP-08 has a more rubbery sound to it like a Korg Poly-800. Not complex sounds by any means, but nice that they can be replicated so easily. BTW, the way that Roland handles their patches is awesome. They are just text files located in a folder on the synth - editable and understandable in a text editor, and easily copied to a desktop. I was able to create an Excel spreadsheet in a few hours, to load them and provide approximations of the settings so that I can replicate manually on the Sledge. So far it is working well - gets you 90% of the way there and then all you need to do is tweak. Crude, but much easier than dealing with Sysex.-
- KVRist
- 176 posts since 7 Jan, 2007
analoguesque, the sledge sends an all notes off message when the volume is turned to zero. I've never noticed a click myself. I have created a set of samples that I have installed on mine and that adds a whole new layer of power to the synth. I may post them online to share.
Studiologic does not yet have the new sounds posted on their website for the new black version. I am sure they will as they have sounds posted for the yellow version. they don't have the o.s. for it posted either yet...I would think they would be compatible. I hope this equates to a new o.s. update for the yellow sledge. Maybe the internal synth updates are software not hardware and we will benefit as well.
Studiologic does not yet have the new sounds posted on their website for the new black version. I am sure they will as they have sounds posted for the yellow version. they don't have the o.s. for it posted either yet...I would think they would be compatible. I hope this equates to a new o.s. update for the yellow sledge. Maybe the internal synth updates are software not hardware and we will benefit as well.
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- KVRist
- 52 posts since 28 Feb, 2004
Yeah a new OS update would be great. If they keep up support and promote this synth a bit (more and better patches would help), it would probably be much more accepted. Most people who trash it have never edited sounds - once you start doing that, you realize just how little energy they put into the patches, and how much more power is under the hood.
I previously wrote software to generate multisamples, based on a 4-op FM synth on steroids. Generated multisamples at A1 through A5, which was great for samplers and especially "single-cycle" samples. I loaded a couple of these onto the sledge and they work great as long as the sample size is not too small. For example at A5 a single-cycle sample is really tiny - The Sledge can't loop it properly so many of these could not be used unfortunately.
I previously wrote software to generate multisamples, based on a 4-op FM synth on steroids. Generated multisamples at A1 through A5, which was great for samplers and especially "single-cycle" samples. I loaded a couple of these onto the sledge and they work great as long as the sample size is not too small. For example at A5 a single-cycle sample is really tiny - The Sledge can't loop it properly so many of these could not be used unfortunately.
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- KVRist
- 176 posts since 7 Jan, 2007
the sledge will import korg triton samples. I used my triton to loop samples then import into the sledge. It worked fine. I created a few dx7 samples, strings, choirs, brass, tuned precussion and a fat polysynth from my virus. I ended up using about two thirds of the sledge's sample memory so it was plenty large enough that I wasn't too concerned having to create single cycle samples.
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- KVRist
- 176 posts since 7 Jan, 2007
I contacted Studiologic about features of the new black sledge being available to us yellow sledge owners. here is the question and answer.
Hi, as an owner of the current yellow sledge, I was wondering if any of the new features of the new sledge black edition will benefit us as well. Also will we get the new sounds created for the black edition, the lack of factory patches is one of the few weak points of the sledge. thanks.
Hi Mark,
technically the firmware is 100% compatible (while the colors and the new keyboard cannot be downloaded
So far I'm not allowed to tell when the related data (firmware and sounds) will be published as a retrofit (sorry).
Naturally all sample-based sound Programs could be compatible (if/when published) only for instrument with the Sample License installed, that means the the original factory built "Sledge 2.0" of any previous updated instruments, with the Sample License enabled by Waldorf (if bought on their site).
Let me know, thanks and regards !
Hi, as an owner of the current yellow sledge, I was wondering if any of the new features of the new sledge black edition will benefit us as well. Also will we get the new sounds created for the black edition, the lack of factory patches is one of the few weak points of the sledge. thanks.
Hi Mark,
technically the firmware is 100% compatible (while the colors and the new keyboard cannot be downloaded
So far I'm not allowed to tell when the related data (firmware and sounds) will be published as a retrofit (sorry).
Naturally all sample-based sound Programs could be compatible (if/when published) only for instrument with the Sample License installed, that means the the original factory built "Sledge 2.0" of any previous updated instruments, with the Sample License enabled by Waldorf (if bought on their site).
Let me know, thanks and regards !
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- KVRist
- 52 posts since 28 Feb, 2004
Not sure if that is promising or not . Even if they purposefully changed the sysex format to make them incompatible (which would make little sense to do), it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to convert the format. Their best bet is to keep all current owners happy, discontinue the yellow one, move forward with the black, and keep both compatible going forward .... Especially because we all know they are 100% the same at the firmware level anyway.
I will provide all my samples but unfortunately the A5 samples are useless because the loop point is too small to be looped on the Sledge, even though it works fine in the software. I also lost many of my samples in a HDD crash at one point
, and only have them in SoundFont and E-Mu format. Yes, they get backed up now .
. Even if they purposefully changed the sysex format to make them incompatible (which would make little sense to do), it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to convert the format. Their best bet is to keep all current owners happy, discontinue the yellow one, move forward with the black, and keep both compatible going forward .... Especially because we all know they are 100% the same at the firmware level anyway.I will provide all my samples but unfortunately the A5 samples are useless because the loop point is too small to be looped on the Sledge, even though it works fine in the software. I also lost many of my samples in a HDD crash at one point
, and only have them in SoundFont and E-Mu format. Yes, they get backed up now .
Last edited by analoguesque on Sat Jun 11, 2016 3:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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- KVRist
- 176 posts since 7 Jan, 2007
I was concerned that this:
The audio output level is enhanced, for a stronger, cleaner and fatter sound. The LFO2 is now synchronized, allowing to keep the same modulation phase on all notes.
New modulation features and sounds, with a mix of pure synthesis and sampling, push Sledge further than ever before.
could have meant a change in the motherboard. It's good news to me that it is not and current Sledges can be updated with a simple o.s. update.
also that it appears that the new sounds also include new samples which in my opinion is long overdue. Creating sounds along with sample data adds a lot more power to this synth.
The audio output level is enhanced, for a stronger, cleaner and fatter sound. The LFO2 is now synchronized, allowing to keep the same modulation phase on all notes.
New modulation features and sounds, with a mix of pure synthesis and sampling, push Sledge further than ever before.
could have meant a change in the motherboard. It's good news to me that it is not and current Sledges can be updated with a simple o.s. update.
also that it appears that the new sounds also include new samples which in my opinion is long overdue. Creating sounds along with sample data adds a lot more power to this synth.
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- KVRist
- 133 posts since 10 May, 2012
Sledge Deluxe Edition (sort of)
http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2016/ ... 0000-euro/
http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2015/ ... ter-synth/Only 20 black and 20 silver will be made
Waldorf / Sledge Synthesizer Engine
SPL Supra Op-Amp audio technology
Wavetables
Hartmann Neuron Synthesizer Sampleset
Pure aluminium shell, milled from a massive blocl
Collapsable, milled ultra thin aluminium panel
Custom-built pure aluminium knobs and wheels
Custom-built acrylic-glass switches
Highest quality, custom-built, all black Fatar TP 8 Keybed
http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2016/ ... 0000-euro/
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 2267 posts since 9 Mar, 2009 from Copenhagen, Denmark
Now THAT's a thing of beauty- The synth equivalent of a Bang & Olufsen product
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- KVRAF
- 35459 posts since 11 Apr, 2010 from Germany
Looks nice. I'm a bit surprised though, about the successors. I thought the Sledge wasn't really a big commercial success. Its price dropped about 200 € shortly after release, so i had the impression that it doesn't really sell well. And on some forums i read that people were a bit disapointed about the limited synthesis capabilities compared to, say, the Blofeld. Well, maybe i got a wrong impression.
