Korg Wavestate and Opsix for Win/Mac

[kritikon]

Won't be able to demo for a few days, but curious, for those who have tried this or the hardware - How are the MS20 filters? I never liked the Korg MS20, but maybe it was more about the oscillators or other parts of the signal path. Do you find the sound of the MS20 modelled filters in the wavestate to be an improvement over the fairly old MS20 plugin?

Also, MPE compatibility would be nice, but doesn't seem like that's on their radar.

I find the filters on all of their latest hw to be very similar to the legacy ones (I thought they were pretty well ported over directly if my memory serves me right - which it might not ). They definitely don't have the hard-edged bite of real MS20 filters but the overall character is definitely there. If you don't like the legacy filters you likely won't like the Opsix/Wavestate filters, though there are way more than the MS20 & PolySix ones and some good ones in their own right.

Of note in the Opsix is things like wavefolding FX operators, which can give you very filtery type sounds that can be very raw and almost like sync type sounds and there is a large choice of options with the wavefolding.

[Examigan]

Yeah. I don't see any demos either in software pass.

Sorry about that - our error! Please update to the brand-new (as of this morning!) Korg Software Pass 1.1.10:

https://id.korg.com/static_pages/3

I installed that version of the Software Pass and still don't see the new demos in there.

[kritikon]

How diff is it to the Wavestation?

The basic sound is very much Wavestation. The differences are how much more you can mangle the wavesequencing - e.g. you can now modulate the timing of the wavesequencing, loads more modulation of how it loops etc and even syncopating them, then things like pitch etc are also very fluid - almost all of the stuff that was fixed in time in a Wavestation can now be dicked around with. A shitload more modern options aka the filters, and some really quite good FX with a whole load of mod options. It's not far off a full blown modular actually - so many things can be modulated by so many other things.

If you like Wavestation sound, you'll love what it does extra and it takes the sounds into a whole new territory. But if you don't like the basic Wavestation sound then more likely you won't like Wavestate also. They're unmistakably connected.

[HAL76]

How diff is it to the Wavestation?

The basic sound is very much Wavestation.

From what I have heard from the wavestate in the last months I´d say that since the target group, the music and genres today as well as the the expectations are completely different it also sounds accordingly. Accordingly. It´s 2022, the love generation is preparing for pension .

I´ll skip it. The demos are completely "off topic" for me and the people have made online demos of their custom patches sound pretty sick.

I have always liked them somehow. But Korg never managed to make a lead with me except M1 + Wavestation apps for sentimental reasons.

[mholloway]

How are you guys demo'ing these? The website says to download korg software pass, which I already have + use, but these new synths are not showing up inside the software pass app....? something I'm missing?

[dogzilla]

Have you got the latest Software Pass (1.1.9 on Windows/1.1.10 Mac)? The new product demos won't show on earlier versions.

[mholloway]

Have you got the latest Software Pass (1.1.9 on Windows/1.1.10 Mac)? The new product demos won't show on earlier versions.

That solved it, thanks! I thought the software pass would notify me when it needed to be updated, but indeed I needed to manually download / install the latest version, and now the new synths show up. Thanks!

[Oopi]

Try to search your system for Software Pass, maybe there's more than one of them installed for some reason...

Yeah thanks, that was it. There was earlier version which always opened and not the newest one.

[damayor]

Can you load 3rd party libraries from the hw wavestate in the software version?

[Teksonik]

Software pass failed to update itself here. It just got stuck in a loop of download update,install, update still needed. I had to manually delete from Apps in Win 10, then find and manually delete the .exe, then download and install 1.1.9 and then Wavestate showed up and could be installed.

But once installed and after a few minutes with the demo, I like Wavestate. I'll have to get my head around the workflow to see if it's a better wavesequencing synth than Wusikstation.

It may not be for those who look at a synth like this and immediately think "filter" but as a huge fan of wavesequencing as a powerful form of synthesis Wavestate shows a lot of promise.

[aMUSEd]

What's CPU like?

[dumbledog]

For the opsix, not great.

On my 2020 Intel Macbook Pro, the standalone is using 35-40% (single-core) CPU when idle, and 45% when playing six notes of what seems like a relatively complicated preset. I think the GUI is processor intensive for whatever reason, as it can really chug when scrolling through presets. Heavy interface, light sound engine.

For comparison, Pigments is using 15% idle and 50-70% with a chord.

[Zoopy]

I don't think the Wavestate demo has all the samples, it has a bank installed called "Taste of Wavestate." I don't see any big files installed anywhere either, makes sense they wouldnt give away all the samples w a demo. The install file was extremely small as well.

One thing that is kinda weird is that none of the mod destinations are labeled...so to modulate anything with the step sequence or shape is pretty fuckin hard without a big ass chart. On the wavestate you just move a knob.

mods.png

You route your mods in the mod list or by parameter to another macro knob or something? It's all very confusing and roundabout seeming.

[beely]

They seem pretty bad on M1, under Logic. Running Native, the wavestat pegs a core, until you play some notes, at which point the CPU drops to a more reasonable 40% or so, but when you release the notes back to silence, so wavestat is not doing any processing, and the core pegs back to 100%.

The opsix pegs a core so much it causes glitches in the audio, even just a note or two. This is an M1Pro, running Logic 10.7.3.

Running Logic under Rosetta, the performance is more reasonable and predictable, but running native they are borderline unusable, and take at least 3x-4x the processor load than running under Rosetta.

[Zoopy]

Ok I stand corrected, it installed 2gigs of samples to my C: drive without asking, like i thought. Pretty annoying, located at C:\Users\Public\Documents\KORG\wavestate native\System\Internal\Collections