KVR Audio

antitolg · Post by **antitolg** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 6:42 pm

i'm considering a new synth which will accompany my nord electro on stage. we cover pink floyd and similar artists. so since my hammonds, ep's and pianos are covered i got curious if i could find a synth that could help me in the analog department (moog, solina etc. sounds). i'm not after exact replications but i don't want it to sound "too digital" either.

so my candidates are a blofeld or a second hand korg 3. a brand new nord lead 2x costs twice as much and i can't convince myself to purchase a novation which is out of production.

what i'm asking from you is:

A) blofeld (and all waldorf synths i've heard for that matter) sound kind of "digital" to me. maybe it's all those dancey-trancey patches and demos... so i'm assuming being VAs they can be tweaked to sound the way i want?

B) and if you believe that the blofeld (or korg r3) can do convincing moog etc. stuff, how much tweaking would each require? does any of them sport "old school" sounds out of the box? do they need much tweaking? how difficult is it to create a patch? etc.

waiting to hear your own experiences before i demo the blofeld myself in person (little time on my hands)-(and any other device recommendations (but my budget won't allow me to go beyond a blofeld).

antitolg · Post by **antitolg** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 8:52 pm

(a humble bump)

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 9:16 pm

Blofeld can sound very awesome when you use PPG filter. Yeah the demos are quite digital and harsh sounding. Tweak it and you'll be in prog heaven! (I should know because I wanted to achieve the same thing!)

antitolg · Post by **antitolg** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 9:21 pm

do you own one dragon? if so, can you elaborate on your experience with it? since i seem to remember you posts on kurzweil pcx, i feel i can trust you with the sounds i'm after

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 9:33 pm

Well, for example - Blofeld has 3 oscillators. Minimoog had 3 oscillators

So yes, you could achieve moogish sounds, if you use the great PPG emulation filter (which sounds GREAT). Editing is not hard at all, all the most important patches are right on those 4 knobs, and a few buttons, which enable matrix editing. The LCD is VERY informative - you always know where you are and what you're doing.

There are over 1000 patches in Blofeld. There are some classics inside as well

Also, I don't own one YET, but I'm keeping an eye on a Blokey - I'll enjoy it so much! I had extensive sessions with a Blofeld desktop module which my neighbor has, so you can just believe me when I say - it's great, the price is great, and the possibilities are extending FAR beyond the price! If you're willing to tweak around (and spend just one day with the EXCELLENT manual), just get it, you won't regret it.

antitolg · Post by **antitolg** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 9:38 pm

well thanks. this much has convinced me to at least go check it out on saturday

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 9:46 pm

Well, yeah, you should never buy a synth blind-folded. Just go out and bring your headphones! Then tweak it for an hour of two, if they let you. Come back with your impressions!

antitolg · Post by **antitolg** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 9:50 pm

the distributor is a friend so that shouldn't be a problem. but i still wouldn't mind hearing about some alternatives (if any) like the korg r3

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 9:57 pm

R3 is ok, but entirely different beast.

antitolg · Post by **antitolg** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 10:02 pm

different as in?

stimresp · Post by **stimresp** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 10:08 pm

Blofeld is versatile and sounds great with a huge bank of very useable patches. It is very easy to program too I find.

My only gripe is the buggy firmware, which could impact on a live situation - particularly if using usb as the midi-in.

Anyone else encountered similar strangeness?

antitolg · Post by **antitolg** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 10:24 pm

i'd be using it via a midi keyboard so it's ok i guess. i just need to make sure that it sounds (or can be tweaked to sound) like what i described in my initial post

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 10:32 pm

Who would be using Blo with USB as MIDI in for live applications :/

Anyways - Blofeld is entirely different beast than R3 - the main reason being wavetable engine and more flexible modulation options.

Goseba · Post by **Goseba** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 11:06 pm

Waldorf are working on an updated OS which is currently beta testing. Not sure when it will see the light of day though.

antitolg · Post by **antitolg** » Mon May 17, 2010 11:25 am

here's a rather late wrap-up...

i purchased a R3 first. and like the little guy for its vocoder if nothing else.

and last weekend bought a blofeld and despite my worries about it sounding too digital, cold...(whatever you call it) it surprised me with its versatility. but my primary buying point was the sampling option thus the following questions (should anyone feel like answering, of course)

- how difficult is it to upload samples? i intend to sample numerous fx (one shots) so that shouldn't be a problem but what if one wants to sample a favorite sound (hardware or vsti)? does spectre take care of mapping, velocities etc?

- i admit that i didn't get the firmware update of the device. and since i don't wan to block it maybe someone could clarify the process (load the midi file on a midi track in cubase and assign output to blofeld and simply hit "play"? or .....)

regards,

t.

blofeld for prog?