Korg Wavestate and Opsix for Win/Mac

[Biome_Digital]

Is it just me or is opsix native pretty unpolished at least on Windows?
- UI is sluggish as hell
- It comes only as VST3 plugin and suggests C:\Program Files\VSTPlugins as a placement folder by default (which is where most DAWs don't look for VST3 plugins). It took a while until a realized I had to point the installer to Common Files\VST3 in order for my DAWs to even find it.
- When I tried to uninstall and reinstall it to find out whether I did something wrong, I didn't find it in the programs listing under KORG where all the other Korg plugins are. It took me a while to realize it may be listed under opsix and not under Korg.
- ...

The weirdest thing is: everything opsix native does wrong (in my eyes), wavestate native does right. Proper UI, proper proper UI coloring (who still makes such an eye-soring white background nowadays), proper plugin folder placement, proper preset browser (with categories, author and details visible).

Very sluggish and laggy, yes. Not bothered about the white GUI though. It does seem like it needs an update really quickly!

[aMUSEd]

Have you Checked the Cpu usage in Task Manager if you are on Windows (OPSiX)?
On one of my setups it was fast and snappy and showed reasonable Cpu usage in My Daws Cubase 12 and Studio One V5 so everything seemed normal but yet it wasn't.

In Taskmanager it showed 40+% Cpu usage Without even playing When the Gui was open and when i Closed the Gui it showed the same cpu usage as in the Daw's.

I see now what you mean! Yes in the task manager is much higher than Massive X and Pigments, but in Ableton Live itself, it is little bit less than Pigments!

I don't know! Still, for me, it is not a problem, but maybe for other CPUs it might be? Well, it would be great if they can do it with less CPU usage and better optimization if they don't sacrifice the quality.

Here is a screenshot of playing a tri-chord (it is little bit less when idle!) compared to Pigments:

I'm seeing the same on my iMac 6-core - when the gui is open Activity Monitor shows it using an extra 20% cpu - however this doesn't seem to translate into major impacts on performance for me.

[fmr]

Very good, both of them, but too pricey. I agree they still need some "code polishing".

But I was especially disappointed to see that Korg Collection users (even those that have EVERYTHIG, like me) didn't got any kind of discount. The only ones entitled to a discount were the hardware owners.

[Goseba]

Very good, both of them, but too pricey. I agree they still need some "code polishing".

But I was especially disappointed to see that Korg Collection users (even those that have EVERYTHIG, like me) didn't got any kind of discount. The only ones entitled to a discount were the hardware owners.

There is still currently a discount for non hardware owners.

[EnGee]

Have you Checked the Cpu usage in Task Manager if you are on Windows (OPSiX)?
On one of my setups it was fast and snappy and showed reasonable Cpu usage in My Daws Cubase 12 and Studio One V5 so everything seemed normal but yet it wasn't.

In Taskmanager it showed 40+% Cpu usage Without even playing When the Gui was open and when i Closed the Gui it showed the same cpu usage as in the Daw's.

I see now what you mean! Yes in the task manager is much higher than Massive X and Pigments, but in Ableton Live itself, it is little bit less than Pigments!

I don't know! Still, for me, it is not a problem, but maybe for other CPUs it might be? Well, it would be great if they can do it with less CPU usage and better optimization if they don't sacrifice the quality.

Here is a screenshot of playing a tri-chord (it is little bit less when idle!) compared to Pigments:

I'm seeing the same on my iMac 6-core - when the gui is open Activity Monitor shows it using an extra 20% cpu - however this doesn't seem to translate into major impacts on performance for me.

What's your CPU? Intel or Apple's new one?

I don't see really a noticeable difference if the GUI open or not. The thing is, adding about 12 instances made my CPU in the task manager reaches about 80% while in Ableton Live, it is still around 20%.
Personally, I would use one or two instances. So, it is not a problem, but if someone wants to use several instances, it might be a problem.
(it is ok! I'm not that greedy! I will act like I have two hardware synths of each one! ).

However, I hope they'll optimize the code in future updates.

[jdoo]

Very good, both of them, but too pricey. I agree they still need some "code polishing".

But I was especially disappointed to see that Korg Collection users (even those that have EVERYTHIG, like me) didn't got any kind of discount. The only ones entitled to a discount were the hardware owners.

+1

Yes.. there is a small discount for everyone right now - but no consideration for existing customers who have all the Collections and other software based instruments.

[aMUSEd]

Have you Checked the Cpu usage in Task Manager if you are on Windows (OPSiX)?
On one of my setups it was fast and snappy and showed reasonable Cpu usage in My Daws Cubase 12 and Studio One V5 so everything seemed normal but yet it wasn't.

In Taskmanager it showed 40+% Cpu usage Without even playing When the Gui was open and when i Closed the Gui it showed the same cpu usage as in the Daw's.

I see now what you mean! Yes in the task manager is much higher than Massive X and Pigments, but in Ableton Live itself, it is little bit less than Pigments!

I don't know! Still, for me, it is not a problem, but maybe for other CPUs it might be? Well, it would be great if they can do it with less CPU usage and better optimization if they don't sacrifice the quality.

Here is a screenshot of playing a tri-chord (it is little bit less when idle!) compared to Pigments:

I'm seeing the same on my iMac 6-core - when the gui is open Activity Monitor shows it using an extra 20% cpu - however this doesn't seem to translate into major impacts on performance for me.

What's your CPU? Intel or Apple's new one?

I don't see really a noticeable difference if the GUI open or not. The thing is, adding about 12 instances made my CPU in the task manager reaches about 80% while in Ableton Live, it is still around 20%.
Personally, I would use one or two instances. So, it is not a problem, but if someone wants to use several instances, it might be a problem.
(it is ok! I'm not that greedy! I will act like I have two hardware synths of each one! ).

However, I hope they'll optimize the code in future updates.

Intel

[fmr]

Very good, both of them, but too pricey. I agree they still need some "code polishing".

But I was especially disappointed to see that Korg Collection users (even those that have EVERYTHIG, like me) didn't got any kind of discount. The only ones entitled to a discount were the hardware owners.

There is still currently a discount for non hardware owners.

Yes... for ALL, no matter if they have the first Collection, ALL the Collection instruments or NONE at all.

[misterpatrick]

Hi All, playing with the demo but before I dive too deep how similar are both to Pigments from what they can do? I'm really enjoying the presets on Wavestate but to my ignorant ear it sounds like it excels at multiple voice patches and the wave sequencing. I just took the $149 plunge with the Arturia crossgrade so don't know if I'll mostly be covering ground I already have covered at least as far as straight-forward sound creation is concerned - the sequencing features are pretty different. Thanks!

[Examigan]

I am getting used to Wavestate over the past couple of days and just noticed something. When I click on Librarian in the upper-right, I saw that one in the list at the very top that has no info. I thought maybe it was a kind Init Performance or something similar, so when I tried to open it with a double-click (I'm using Windows 10) it sits there for about a minute and then crashes. I am using Cakewalk, but it happens in the standalone version also.

EDIT: I just noticed it's not part of "Wavestate 1" collection like the others, so I wonder if that has something to do with it.

[PAK]

For those, who see high idle CPU usage with Wavestate, can you try the following?..

Load a fresh instance with nothing else loaded. Don't play anything. Load the preset Epichondriac Split. Take a note of the CPU usage inside your DAW. Now play some notes. Stop playing, leave to idle for 20 seconds, and take a note of the CPU usage again. Did the CPU usage increase?

Here, using the Cubase Performance Meter, it'll idle at around 25% on loading the preset (from a clean launch). If I play notes, then allow it to idle, it'll go to almost 100% usage, and real-time will spike at 100%. These numbers will likely vary based on your CPU and what you use to measure.

If I then turn off "Epichondirac Split" ModFX A B C, and PreFX C and D, the real-time idle usage meter will drop to around the 10% mark. So the high idle CPU load, at least here, appears to primarily be generated by the FX section, with the CPU load actually increasing on idle. I'm curious if this is the same for others?

Note this is different from the behaviour with OPSix (again PC, not Mac), where CPU usage is even higher on idle, and may spike your CPU core at 100% usage depending on your PC and the patch used (some appear to use more CPU on idle than others). For example here, Preset 053 Jazzy Gutar, uses under 20% CPU real-time whilst playing, but will max out the CPU at 100% when left to idle. On OpSix I haven't found any setting which changes things.

[Biome_Digital]

Hi All, playing with the demo but before I dive too deep how similar are both to Pigments from what they can do? I'm really enjoying the presets on Wavestate but to my ignorant ear it sounds like it excels at multiple voice patches and the wave sequencing. I just took the $149 plunge with the Arturia crossgrade so don't know if I'll mostly be covering ground I already have covered at least as far as straight-forward sound creation is concerned - the sequencing features are pretty different. Thanks!

I think they are very different. Especially the engines in pigments.

[D-Fusion]

For those, who see high idle CPU usage with Wavestate, can you try the following?..

Load a fresh instance with nothing else loaded. Don't play anything. Load the preset Epichondriac Split. Take a note of the CPU usage inside your DAW. Now play some notes. Stop playing, leave to idle for 20 seconds, and take a note of the CPU usage again. Did the CPU usage increase?

Here, using the Cubase Performance Meter, it'll idle at around 25% on loading the preset (from a clean launch). If I play notes, then allow it to idle, it'll go to almost 100% usage, and real-time will spike at 100%. These numbers will likely vary based on your CPU and what you use to measure.

If I then turn off "Epichondirac Split" ModFX A B C, and PreFX C and D, the real-time idle usage meter will drop to around the 10% mark. So the high idle CPU load, at least here, appears to primarily be generated by the FX section, with the CPU load actually increasing on idle. I'm curious if this is the same for others?

Note this is different from the behaviour with OPSix (again PC, not Mac), where CPU usage is even higher on idle, and may spike your CPU core at 100% usage depending on your PC and the patch used (some appear to use more CPU on idle than others). For example here, Preset 053 Jazzy Gutar, uses under 20% CPU real-time whilst playing, but will max out the CPU at 100% when left to idle. On OpSix I haven't found any setting which changes things.

Just Tried it here with the mentioned preset and the Weird thing is that Wavestate Works Excellent on my Setup but OPSiX is a Horror show.

When idle It uses 7% Cpu in Studio One 5 and goes up to 8% When Playing some keys.
In Taskmanager (Windows 10) It shows 2-2.4% Cpu usage and it goes upto Max 3.5% When playing a bunch of keys and goes down to 2.2-2.4% When i stop playing.

Hope they will Release a Update soon to all who have woken the Gremlins inside the Plugins.

[Synth Master Jedi]

I might not be up to date on all of the latest Korg hardware, but can we expect a Modwave plugin soon or eventually?

Is there any other newish Korg hardware besides Modwave that would make a nice plugin?

As for these 2 new Korg plugins, I ended up buying Wavestate recently and I quite like it. I've already used it for a part on a track I was working on.

I would never have bought a hardware Wavestate, even if I liked the sound, but for 1/5 of the price of the hardware and you get the same identical sound, I can certainly grab the plugin without any second thoughts.

If you had asked me a few years ago, I would've had a different answer, but I'm quite happy with the state of Korg software in 2022. Almost all of their plugins have now been modernized and I'm glad to have their entire collection inside of my DAW. Well, almost their entire collection, I didn't get the Opsix yet. I'll grab it in the future sometime.

[PAK]

When idle It uses 7% Cpu in Studio One 5 and goes up to 8% When Playing some keys.

Thanks for checking. So no noticeable CPU increase on idle using Epichondriac Split with your CPU? Interesting. As I said, I can get it to "behave" with that patch, but only by turning the mentioned FX off.

Since it's a noticeable increase, on idle, here my best guess is such a difference might be related to Korg's compiler settings.. It really seems, very much, like Korg are neither testing much (if at all) with the earlier generations of i7 CPUs, nor Nvidia graphics configurations. Makes me wonder if they're Bootcamping Apple machines to test on Windows