Waldorf Largo 2

[halcyon68]

Either way: Good job, Waldorf. Happy you're still working on your software products.

I don’t see how anyone can think Waldorf has done a good job here. Imagine any other developer releasing a v2 after 10 years, which is still annoying to use and buggy, only to add a resizable interface and a new filter, and then charge for it!?

Many reputable developers reward loyalty with free updates, some do charge, but only when the updated content is warranted. I’m a Waldorf fanboy and own an Iridium, but frankly they’re taking the p**s on this occasion and should be called out for it.

They did what was asked of them by a lot of people for a long time - make the GUI resizable. On top they added the new filter types, which aren't that interesting to me, but I'll take it.

Yeah, it's not free, but that is their own choice. Just because other companies do it differently doesn't mean they have to follow. And its not the only company charging for relatively modest upgrades. Vote with your wallet. I already did.

[inkwarp]

I'm baffled by their GUI designs. They are not clear at all and the browser is the reason I stopped using it. This new GUI is worse. It's amazing that they are still on the track after this length of time. Personally, I find that the sound is on the 'thin' side.

[jobinho]

Either way: Good job, Waldorf. Happy you're still working on your software products.

I don’t see how anyone can think Waldorf has done a good job here. Imagine any other developer releasing a v2 after 10 years, which is still annoying to use and buggy, only to add a resizable interface and a new filter, and then charge for it!?

Many reputable developers reward loyalty with free updates, some do charge, but only when the updated content is warranted. I’m a Waldorf fanboy and own an Iridium, but frankly they’re taking the p**s on this occasion and should be called out for it.

They did what was asked of them by a lot of people for a long time - make the GUI resizable. On top they added the new filter types, which aren't that interesting to me, but I'll take it.

Yeah, it's not free, but that is their own choice. Just because other companies do it differently doesn't mean they have to follow. And its not the only company charging for relatively modest upgrades. Vote with your wallet. I already did.

Yes, I’m not saying Waldorf don’t have the right to charge people for a re-skinned and buggy 10 year old soft synth, it’s entirely their right to do that. I’m just saying it doesn’t reflect well on Waldorf, and they should care about that and do better.

My guess is they just don’t care about plugins anymore, with their core business in hardware. I think they could do alot more with Largo, even a bit more to make saving a patch or assigning a mod easier. It’s so low effort and boarderline insulting to call it Largo 2.

[Robmobius]

On paper, it's a great synth. But it always sounded mushy to me.

So if there is no significant sound enhancement I won't bother, tbh.

Can anyone comment if the sound has changed at all? The demo video sounds a lot sharper and clearer than I remember Largo V1 sounding.

I'd love to know that too!

[Cyforce]

It`s a bit hmmm I don`t know... upgrade fee - ok, even with no massive new features, bringing an old plugin with probably new framework for UI scaling etc, compatibility improvements etc is still a bunch of work.

Hmm v1 UI wasn`t a beauty, it was too shiny and very contrast-missing for my taste. But now the v2 UI - scaling or not - it looks like a default DAW plugin. No character and just the thing with the knobs, what is this? V1 clear logical knobs for semitones, cutoff etc, v2 these weird things. And in the past months, some companies getting quite a bit roasted (even if KVR is there by nature sometimes a harsh place) with e.g. Gforce Oberheim UI... Developers should have noticed, UI design is important.

But maybe I am personally a bit too biased, since Blofeld. As a hardware and software company, they never offered the users a simple MIDI editor for it, which many others do. Followed by Blofeld black as a "limited edition" - which is after +8 Years still available ... feels mhmm not so cool in some ways.

Is Largo v2 at least skin-able? Like some plugins have it as feature, some can be "skinned" by editing the graphic files (if accessible)?

[zerocrossing]

Oh my dummkopf god. The PDF download has a link to the actual demo download.

[felis]

On paper, it's a great synth. But it always sounded mushy to me.

So if there is no significant sound enhancement I won't bother, tbh.

Can anyone comment if the sound has changed at all? The demo video sounds a lot sharper and clearer than I remember Largo V1 sounding.

I'd love to know that too!

Sounds the same to me, except for the new filters.
Someone said it sounded mushy, and I just don't get that.
It's always sounded unabashedly digitally sharp and crystal clear to me.

[oneway]

I was hoping the NKS implementation might compensate for the still crappy browser, but unfortunately they have only converted the Factory patches and forgot to tag any of them.

The KK knobs are linked to none of the synth parameters on my M1 mbp.
I think the NKS was an rush job (read not finished). Maybe 1.01 will fix ?
Also the bank loaded when starting the plugin or using an NKS preset is not the factory bank.

Looks to me like they based the NKS mapping on the VST2 but incorrectly implemented migration so VST2 NKS load in the VST3 but the params don't translate. Also even with the VST2 they work, but with the wrong params. What a mess!

I have completed a 'fix' of sorts for the dreadful NKS implementation for Largo 2. It doesn't fix all the bugs of course, and there are still a couple of params that just won't map, but I have corrected the NKS assignments Waldorf messed up and also improved the layout. The original had all 4 layers mapped, even though no params were actually working or even pointing to the right param. For ease of use I have reduced it to 2 layers as it was crazy having so many user pages and most patches just use one layer, only a few even use 2. Also retagged everything and added previews

https://www.dropbox.com/s/p22n87z485vb7 ... x.zip?dl=0

You could overwrite the factory patches with these, but I expect at some point Waldorf will release an update and it is likely to overwrite anything in the factory location so I recommend putting it in User for now. Hopefully eventually Waldorf will issue their own fixes.

btw they have also not created NKS patches for any of the add-on banks, might get around to doing some of those but it will depend on the ones I like best first.



This is VST3 only - the VST2 and VST3 NKS are not 100% compatible - they seem to have made the originals with the VST2, which is one reason why the NKS params were not working in the VST3, but even in the VST2 they were not working properly because clearly they had added new automation targets but 'forgot' that this had changed all the automation IDs so every single mapped param was pointing to the wrong target. Anyway I made these with the VST3, they will not work properly with the VST2.

Thank you so much for this! It’s very helpful, considering how infrequently they update their plugins.

[felis]

Oh my dummkopf god. The PDF download has a link to the actual demo download.

There's a lot of room for user error with this one.

[zerocrossing]

I’m actually fine with the UI. Is it pretty? No, but it’s clear and resizable. The OG is microscopic on my 4ks. What kills me, though, is that in 2023 they didn’t bother at least giving the option to do a bit of oversampling. They’ve got the PPG filter from PPG 3, why not include it?

Part of me wants to upgrade, just for nostalgia’s sake, but really, compared to modern wavetable plugin, Largo 2 falls short on a lot of fronts. You’d be far better off bringing those wavetables into Dune 3 or Icarus. The only thing I’d miss out on is the modifiers.

[goldenanalog]

Sorry for the late reply, felis

for the v1-v2 upgrade: jrrshop - I used ‘forum’

Thanks. I never bought from jrrshop - did you get the license right away?

I did, yes.

I’ve bought thousands of dollars of licenses, etc from jrrshop - they are probably my favored go-to for soft-whatevers

[Friends of Mine]

Personally, I find that the sound is on the 'thin' side.

GUi concerns aside (with which I totally concur as someone who thinks the Largo v1 UI is a design masterpiece,) I just don't understand why most of the Largo presets sound so gratingly digital and unbearably shrill.

I have an obscure bank of Largo presets that almost perfectly nail the classic sounds from my hardware MicroWave I Rev A. So Largo is certainly capable of so much more. But why can't sound designers seem to take advantage of Largo/Blofeld's super powerful synth engine? It's one of life's great mysteries.

[EnGee]

I bought the upgarde. I think it is a no brainer if you have 4k monitor and can't use the old one, but love Largo!

For 29 euro I think it is ok upgrade for the GUI alone. The old GUI of course is much nicer, but not comfortable to the eyes on 4k monitor. If I have still 1080p monitor, I wouldn't upgrade just for the formant filters (and ugly but clearer GUI)!

Anyway, the sound of Largo is still from the best synths ever! So back to use it again now

[Cyforce]

I have an obscure bank of Largo presets that almost perfectly nail the classic sounds from my hardware MicroWave I Rev A. So Largo is certainly capable of so much more. But why can't sound designers seem to take advantage of Largo/Blofeld's super powerful synth engine? It's one of life's great mysteries.

I think a major reason for this is, that not many sound designers touched it and created 3rd party soundbanks for it, which maybe would have made more use out of the capabilities of the engine. Simply because years back, Largo didn`t look like a mainstream synth, so less popular and with that - fewer potential customers...

[bmanic]

Also, it's still stuck in early 2000 and doesn't respond to sample rate changes in host at all correctly. Filters and LFO speeds don't stay consistent, not even between 44 and 48kHz samplerates.

You mean when you change the sample rate of the project?

Yes.