Opinions re. Sound of Waldorf Largo

[Robmobius]

Never really rated Largo. I do like Nave, however. It's got a great filter.

[chk071]

How does NAVE stack up against Largo ?

I have both, and prefer Largo, by far. Nave has a few issues, really. The unison ALWAYS phases, no matter what I do. The envelopes are not as snappy either, no clicky sounds possible at all, and the architecture isn't that much to my liking either (Largo has VA or wavetable oscillators for all oscilattors, Nave only has 2 wavetable oscillators, and one dedicated VA oscillator. The Überwave feature is also only possible for the VA oscillator).

Nave goes on sale quite often, I could get it for next to nothing, worth a punt for a cheap price even with its issues ?

I guess so. I picked it up used myself a few weeks ago. Tried it out a little, and decided that I prefer Largo. One thing I liked better about Nave is that the modulation resolution, or whatever to call it, is higher. Largo is pretty sloppy in that regard. Modulate the filter with a square wave LFO, and you hear that sloppy "blep blep blep", because it's not a pure square wave, but has slopes at the beginning and the end. There's a cure to that though (thanks to EvilDragon for point it out ): Most parts of the synth have a FM slot, so, you can just use that, and it has a higher resolution, and works better.

[chk071]

If you can point me to a demo for Largo/Blofeld that actually sounds good, I can be swayed.

IMO, this is a pretty good showcase of what they're capable of:



Anyway, hard to argue about taste. It's just that I think those "thin", "ugly", "awful" tags are just not justified. IMO, those synths can sound absolutely beautiful. They're also far from cold IMO. Can sound cold (like wavetable stuff often does), but, they can sound very warm as well.

[Echoes in the Attic]

Yeah I have it but I don't know why. Never use it, just doesn't inspire me. The filters are nice but the oscillator sound is just flat to me.

[kobal]

How does NAVE stack up against Largo ?

I have both, and prefer Largo, by far. Nave has a few issues, really. The unison ALWAYS phases, no matter what I do. The envelopes are not as snappy either, no clicky sounds possible at all, and the architecture isn't that much to my liking either (Largo has VA or wavetable oscillators for all oscilattors, Nave only has 2 wavetable oscillators, and one dedicated VA oscillator. The Überwave feature is also only possible for the VA oscillator).

Nave goes on sale quite often, I could get it for next to nothing, worth a punt for a cheap price even with its issues ?

i read someone saying if his xt die he won t buy a other one and just replace it with nave, he said sound is a lot similar.

i like the sound of both but rarely use them strangely..i think just like falcon their caractere is a lot of contrast with my other synths.. but i think i m gonna try to use them more thnaks to this thread..i almost never think about these synth and go straight to my go to..
i think problem with synths like that is once you use them in a track when you end the section with these synth and remove them it just feel strange cause nothing replace their caractere and it feel empty so you have to use them again in the track to keep it coherent.. at least for me, maybe others feel like that also.
it s logical as a extreme exemple it s like using only vintage analog sound and at one point in the track a very digital lead sound of largo come in , it can only suprise cause the tonal balance is different, the caractere is totaly different so the ears jump on it...it s that kind of thing that happen, it s hard to mix very different caractere and keep it coherent.. but well done i guess it s dope

[gaggle of hermits]

Never really rated Largo. I do like Nave, however. It's got a great filter.

i can barely tell the 24db filters apart, when level-matched, except at extreme resonance and that seems to be more of a range thing than behavior. both largo and nave are very sensitive to internal levels, and it's particularly true of largo as the drive options are more varied although you can only have them acting on the filter - on nave you have other places to push up the tube drive etc.

one reason for largo (and Blofeld) seeming harsh is that the default oscillator levels are really high if you're going to use any drive at all. you can back off the levels a long way to get a better internal gain staging - though I think a lot of people don't do this because the output amplifier won't compensate for it all that much. but if you don't, they can break up in ugly ways (unless it's the ugliness you were going for). you also get wild differences in levels between the pickup 1 and 2 drive options vs the others.

with largo, you've also got fm and more filter options - which give it a lot of range.

[syntonica]

If you can point me to a demo for Largo/Blofeld that actually sounds good, I can be swayed.

IMO, this is a pretty good showcase of what they're capable of:



Anyway, hard to argue about taste. It's just that I think those "thin", "ugly", "awful" tags are just not justified. IMO, those synths can sound absolutely beautiful. They're also far from cold IMO. Can sound cold (like wavetable stuff often does), but, they can sound very warm as well.

Thanks, but that's the sound set that pretty much convinced me that I didn't want a Blofeld.

There are a handful of nice sounds to be had, for sure, but if that's the best on offer, then that's not the device for me. De gustibus, etc., etc.

[Aiynzahev]

While we're here talking about Largo, does anyone else have this problem:

I can save a preset and a bank, but I cannot load it. When I go to load it, the same preset or bank is not selectable in pop up browser/finder. I am on Mac. This is the second Mac computer that I've installed it on, same problem.

[v1o]

I'd use it more if it didn't cause crashes for me.

[zoidkirb]

I have a Blofeld desktop. Bought it when i didn't know any better.
But, it can be really fun. I enjoy pushing it towards really harsh and strange sounds. FM from oscillator to oscillator, to filter is useful for that. And the comb filters can get pretty crazy.

I say 'can' be fun, because mines an older unit with glitchy and unresponsive encoders. With a synth that's big on menu diving the encoder issue is a bit like the nail in the coffin.

So occasionally I'll dust it off and have a play using a software editor but that's a bit cumbersome and almost defeats half the fun of having hardware in the first place.

[gaggle of hermits]

While we're here talking about Largo, does anyone else have this problem:

I can save a preset and a bank, but I cannot load it. When I go to load it, the same preset or bank is not selectable in pop up browser/finder. I am on Mac. This is the second Mac computer that I've installed it on, same problem.

i think it might be an old bug returned from the dead.

are the greyed-out presets saved as fxp format? those don't load from the file dialogue (but they're available from the user-library preset list on the left). on a hunch I tried saving a bunch as aupresets - they show normally in the file dialogue and can be loaded. but that doesn't work for banks as they use the fxb format - I can only pick them from the user library's scan folders.

[kobal]

I'd use it more if it didn't cause crashes for me.

yes last version can random crash projects

[briefcasemanx]

I also bought PPG Wave and I haven't used that in a project either. Maybe because the interface just looks awful AND is tiny, so I don't want to spend the time to actually learn it. Is that one good once you actually learn how to use it?

[chk071]

I have a Blofeld desktop. Bought it when i didn't know any better.
But, it can be really fun. I enjoy pushing it towards really harsh and strange sounds. FM from oscillator to oscillator, to filter is useful for that. And the comb filters can get pretty crazy.

I say 'can' be fun, because mines an older unit with glitchy and unresponsive encoders. With a synth that's big on menu diving the encoder issue is a bit like the nail in the coffin.

So occasionally I'll dust it off and have a play using a software editor but that's a bit cumbersome and almost defeats half the fun of having hardware in the first place.

I remember having watched a video on how to fix that on Youtube. There seem to be different stances though. Some seem to think that the issues are due to too much grease in the encoders, and some seem to be sure that the issue was due to faulty encoders, or a firmware issue.

As I mentioned, for me, the "better Blofeld" is Largo, considering I had my issues with programming the Blofeld from the hardware interface as well. They sounded so similar to me that I decided to send the Blofeld back.

[chk071]

I also bought PPG Wave and I haven't used that in a project either. Maybe because the interface just looks awful AND is tiny, so I don't want to spend the time to actually learn it. Is that one good once you actually learn how to use it?

I absolutely hate the interface. I also don't like that it doesn't interpolate between the waveforms. Not my cup of tea.