How easy is the Korg Wavestation to use?

[beely]

Some pathces and parts have asterisks by their name which ma indicate something relevant.

As I wrote above, in a Patch, Wave Sequence references have asterisks by their name (to the left of them), to indicate they are Wave Sequences rather than just standard PCM waves. That's it. Patches in one of the 8 parts in a Performance do not have astersisks.

(Asterisks to the right indicates you've edited data in this that isn't saved yet.)

Honestly, I really recommend googling for a WS Init bank (one doesn't come with the plugin) and experiment from scratch in that. If you can't find one, I can sort one out for you...

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

I wrote up a bunch of this stuff about Wavestation programming in the long-ago times of the Wavestation mailing list - I haven't read it in a while, but it's this kind of format with a bunch of tips you might find useful.

https://muz4now.com/Stan/music/ws-toc.html#top

I'm happy to clarify some of these things or go into more depth of people are interested in getting deeper into the WS in general...

Doing a good YT/video tutorial is a lot of work, and I'm not sure the demand is there to make it worth the effort...

Thanks for the link. I bet there's more demand for a good video tutorial than ever considering the plug-in is pretty darn popular but I totally get the crazy an amount of work that would entail. I wouldn't do it even if I had the knowledge.

I'm hoping Groove3 get around to it some day. That said, I've got your link in the meantime. Thanks again.

[ghostwhistler]

Some pathces and parts have asterisks by their name which ma indicate something relevant.

As I wrote above, in a Patch, Wave Sequence references have asterisks by their name (to the left of them), to indicate they are Wave Sequences rather than just standard PCM waves. That's it. Patches in one of the 8 parts in a Performance do not have astersisks.

(Asterisks to the right indicates you've edited data in this that isn't saved yet.)

Honestly, I really recommend googling for a WS Init bank (one doesn't come with the plugin) and experiment from scratch in that. If you can't find one, I can sort one out for you...

Thank you, but I'm using the demo version which iirc limits that.

[gentleclockdivider]

I also never wrapped my head around why sometimes the wavesequence is greyed out .
Take this example , patch Syn vox (ram 1 ) , going into the strucure we clearly see
rom 11 , wave 161 (wave sine ) sine , and rom 11 , wave 214 .
None of which have wave sequencing enabled ,
Now change from Rom 11 to ram 1for one of the waves ( wave sequencing is now enabled ) and changing back to rom 11 the wavesequencing is still enabled ( while it was previously not )
I think it's a bug

[beely]

I also never wrapped my head around why sometimes the wavesequence is greyed out .

I thought I explained this. Will give it another go:

In your first screenshot, you have two oscillators with single PCM waves selected for each. Therefore, the patch has no wave sequences in it, so the Wave Sequence edit button is disabled.

In the second screenshot, the first oscillator has a Wave Sequence selected, as indicated by the 0-31 range of waves, which are always Wave Sequences for that RAM bank, and the asterisk to the left of the Wave Sequence name. As a Wave Sequence is chosen for at least one of the oscillators, the button to edit that Wave Sequence is enabled.

You might want to re-read my previous postings if that's not clear. I think you're thinking about this wrong. If you select a PCM number of 32 or above, you have selected a single PCM wave for that oscillator to play. If you have selected a wave number lower than 32, you have selected a Wave Sequence for that oscillator to play - and can access the edit functions...

So, RAM1 Waves 0-31 are the Wave Sequences for that RAM1 bank, and Waves 32 and up are single PCM waves from that bank (there are no PCM waves in RAM banks, of course, but the main ROM bank contains both Wave Sequences and the internal PCM waves).

Hopefully that clarifies things, if not let me know and I'll try to be more explicit...


--

For reference, when you choose a "Wave" for an oscillator, the available choices for the oscillators are [deep breath!]:

- ROM4-ROM10 0-31 - Wave Sequences from the WS SR ROM banks 4-10 respectively
- ROM11 0-31 - Wave Sequences in the WS ROM bank (original Wavestation ROM)

All Wave Sequences will have a wave number between 0-31 and an asterisk to the left of their name to indicate they are Wave Sequences, not single PCM waves.

Any Wave numbers from any ROM bank from 32-515 are the internal single PCM Waves (original Wavestation waves). They do not have an asterisk to the left of their name.

The actual "ROM4-ROM11" designation is unused for single waves, ROMx 32 is just always the first internal PCM wave, "Soft EP". There is no difference in the display of ROM4-32 "Soft EP" and ROM9-32 "Soft EP", it's the same thing - the ROM bank number designation is unused in this case.

- RAM1 0-31 - Wave Sequences in RAM bank 1
- RAM2 0-31 - Wave Sequences in RAM bank 2
- RAM3 0-31 - Wave Sequences in RAM bank 3

(None of the RAM banks have PCM samples, you can't use your own samples in the WS), so there's nothing higher than 31.

The 6 CARD banks all come from the Korg PCM/Card sets, so they all have their own card bank of Wave Sequences from 0-31, and the Card/Expansion PCM samples from 32 and up.

The KLC bank also does not have extra PCM waves, so just 0-31 Wave Sequences from this bank are selectable.

[dumbledog]

Honestly, I really recommend googling for a WS Init bank (one doesn't come with the plugin) and experiment from scratch in that. If you can't find one, I can sort one out for you...

I gotta give you a shoutout for this -- I've never had good luck parsing how the Wavestation VST works, but reading this gave me the compulsion to see if I could create an init patch, and go from there to a boring 2-osc sawtooth VA synth and it taught me a lot about how things are put together. Thank you.

[gentleclockdivider]

@ Beely , thanks for the detailed explanation

[gentleclockdivider]

Dunno ,still think there are some bugs


Take the following example , the sequence loops between 1-8 , but when shortening the loop ( 1-3) it stopped working , even increasing loop length and it stops looping
The wavesequence in queston is romm 11 , sequence 7 , it has 12 waves in the sequence

[beely]

Set the "ext velocity" mod source amount to zero (instead of +50), and you'll get your 3 wave loop as you expect.

A large mod source modulation amount from the velocity of the note is putting the start step beyond the small loop length and into the wave steps later on in the wave sequence (after the loop).

(Or alternatively, only have 3 waves in the wave sequence, and delete the later steps in the wave sequence.)

Honestly, when working with stuff I'm not 100% on, I generally assume behaviour I don't immediately understand to be a lack of understanding on my part *first*, and only when I can rule that out comprehensively, do I start thinking about bugs...

[ghostwhistler]

I appreciate the help.

I'd love to indulge myself with this instrument, but I'm not sure I can afford it right now. It's going to require a lot of dedicated effort to decipher. We'll have to see the finances before the end of the sale. I definitely think it's great value right now.

[Chrisk-K]

Well, the Wavestation is super easy to use if you don’t want to create your own sounds. Even Tony Banks simply used presets on Genesis songs. There are thousands of WS performances and patches readily available, so why bother to program?

[gentleclockdivider]

There are thousands of WS performances and patches readily available, so why bother to program?

Uhh ..maybe to get your own unique signature sound

[gentleclockdivider]

There is still one thing unclear to me
Here's a patch with 4 waves , yet only the first one is heard (glass hit )
I obviously checked all amp levels for the other waves , no luck

[PatchAdamz]

It looks more difficult then it is, in fact once you understand the basic design you will find its not that difficult after all.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

We should rename this thread to: “Ask Beely: The Korg Wavestation Expert”.

Or maybe: "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Korg Wavestation But Were Too Affraid to Ask Beely".

I’m learning a lot and loving it.