blofeld for prog?

[Ingonator]

Blofeld can sound very awesome when you use PPG filter. Yeah the demos are quite digital and harsh sounding. Tweak it and you'll be in prog heaven! (I should know because I wanted to achieve the same thing!)

I totally agree. The PPG filter is more or less my "standard filter" at the moment.
BTW on Wednesday Rob Lee will publish his Blofeld soundset and currently i'm working on patches too. The Blofeld could sound very warm and smooth if you know how to use it. BTW don't forget to use the filter drive, the "Tube" mode is my favorite.

[rob_lee]

Blofeld can sound very awesome when you use PPG filter. Yeah the demos are quite digital and harsh sounding. Tweak it and you'll be in prog heaven! (I should know because I wanted to achieve the same thing!)

I totally agree. The PPG filter is more or less my "standard filter" at the moment.
BTW on Wednesday Rob Lee will publish his Blofeld soundset and currently i'm working on patches too. The Blofeld could sound very warm and smooth if you know how to use it. BTW don't forget to use the filter drive, the "Tube" mode is my favorite.

Listen to the second sound in the demo here:

http://www.basslinerecords.com/Blofeld% ... 20Demo.mp3

This is going through the *Tube* drive in Blofeld as are many..and i'd recommend a Blofeld without doubt.

Cheers

Rob

[yellowfever]

check out Rob Lee's current thread with the new Blofeld soundset. Always worth having.

[JimmiG]

and last weekend bought a blofeld and despite my worries about it sounding too digital, cold...(whatever you call it) it surprised me with its versatility. but my primary buying point was the sampling option thus the following questions (should anyone feel like answering, of course)

This is similar to my experience. I thought "Well, I have a lot of great virtual analog plugins, but occasionally, something cold and digital is what I'm missing. Then the machine arrives and I discover those huge, warm analog pad sounds and some great leads and basses. Of course it can sound "digital" too when you want that.

how difficult is it to upload samples? i intend to sample numerous fx (one shots) so that shouldn't be a problem but what if one wants to sample a favorite sound (hardware or vsti)? does spectre take care of mapping, velocities etc?

The "Spectre" software is very easy to use. You can find the manual here (the first half of the PDF is in german, the second half in english):
http://www.waldorfmusic.de/en/downloads ... ld/spectre

It doesn't do velocity switching (different samples depending on how hard or soft you play), but you can define key ranges and root keys for samples. So you can sample a synth at C3, and then again at G3 and at C4 and so on, instead of using just one sample for the entire keyboard range (which tends to sound bad when you get too far from the root note of the sample).
You can of course have the Blofeld's own filters shape the samples based on key range, velocity or many other parameters. You should think of the samples as building blocks for new sounds, not as complete sounds in their own right. However it's definitely possible to use it as a rudimentary sampler/ROMpler if you have no other equipment.

Uploading samples is a bit slow, and you have to re-upload the whole set when you change something.. so spend some time in Spectre to make sure everything is set up correctly before you upload. You can preview the samples using the virtual keyboard inside the software.

- i admit that i didn't get the firmware update of the device. and since i don't wan to block it maybe someone could clarify the process (load the midi file on a midi track in cubase and assign output to blofeld and simply hit "play"? or .....)

That worked for me in Reaper. I think I lowered the BPM to something like 90 and turned off loop mode, and also unchecked "Send clock" on the Blofeld MIDI-out. Then I just imported the MIDI file to the track and hit play.

[antitolg]

so many responses; i guess everyone's happy with their blofelds

i haven't purchased the sampling license but plan to by the end of the month. thinking about what i've heard from the device so far, i'm beginning to think that it might actually be possible to sample fx only and just program/request/buy sounds for the 'feld.

i'm watching the other thread (Ingonator's?) for patches as well but that one seems to have headed towards largo rather than blofeld.

wish waldorf had enough time to put together a decent editor for blofeld; the 3rd party stuff are average, and they can't (naturally) cope with all the updates produced (even nord does that right )


and a final note about rob's patches: i DO hear the analog timbres i like in those but most are too "modern" sounding for me: i'm quite content with the older and simpler stuff (pink floyd, yes, alan parsons etc.). and imagine my amazement when i discovered the patch "crazy diamond" on the blo

[Ingonator]

i'm watching the other thread (Ingonator's?) for patches as well but that one seems to have headed towards largo rather than blofeld.

Originally i started the thread when i made my free sounds for Largo. The Blofeld was added after i finally got one. This was intended to be "filled" not only by me but by anyone who wants to post links for free or commercial patches.

BTW here's the link for those who don't know what we're speaking about:
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... &start=135

another Blofeld thread: http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4039534

and a final note about rob's patches: i DO hear the analog timbres i like in those but most are too "modern" sounding for me: i'm quite content with the older and simpler stuff (pink floyd, yes, alan parsons etc.). and imagine my amazement when i discovered the patch "crazy diamond" on the blo

True, Robs patches are more dance or "modern" oriented but there are also some patches which fit the "older" stuff.

Anyway like i already told somewhere i am also working on Blofeld patches which besides some "modern" stuff focus more on classic sounds i the style of e.g. Vangelis, Jarre or Pink Floyd or synths like the PPG Wave, Jupiter 8, Moog, Prophet, Oberheim OB-X or the Hammond Novachord.

As a "reference" i use my own patches for other synths and synths like e.g. PPG Wave 2.V, OP-X Pro, Virus TI, Arturia Jupiter 8V (i also had a real one for some months...), Reaktor ensembles, Arturia Prophet V, Minimonsta, LittleOne, TimewARP 2600, the Novachord + PPG Wave 2 samples/programs from Hollow Sun and several other samples from vintage synths.
In some cases i could only use the original song as a reference.

[zerocrossing]

Here's my 2 cents. When you say Prog, you mean "Progressive" right? Or do you really mean retro ala 1972 era King Crimson with a Melotron and large Moog modulars? I'd say that the Blofeld is great if you really mean progressive, not so great at capturing warm retro sounds though. I don't know about the Korg, but you might want to look into a DSI Tetr4 to cover the real analog side of things. I think a Blofeld/Tetr4 combo would be a damn powerful punch.

[antitolg]

Here's my 2 cents. When you say Prog, you mean "Progressive" right? Or do you really mean retro ala 1972 era King Crimson with a Melotron and large Moog modulars? I'd say that the Blofeld is great if you really mean progressive, not so great at capturing warm retro sounds though. I don't know about the Korg, but you might want to look into a DSI Tetr4 to cover the real analog side of things. I think a Blofeld/Tetr4 combo would be a damn powerful punch.

i mean both actually but we play pink floyd mostly so it ain't as heavy weight progressive as king crimson etc. i really enjoyed tetr4 (and mopho and prophet and evolver for that matter) demos but they are way beyond my price range and would be overkill at the moment.


all in all, i'm pretty satisfied with my nord electro 3 and blofeld combo right now.

[antitolg]

purchased the SL upgrade for the desktop today but ran into issues:

1. uploaded samples (factory and my own) via both spectre software and midi but can't seem to find them on the device. read both manuals but i'm still clueless about how to go about it. what path should i follow to upload samples?

2. where exactly are they uploaded? do i get to choose which program/bank?

[Ingonator]

purchased the SL upgrade for the desktop today but ran into issues:

1. uploaded samples (factory and my own) via both spectre software and midi but can't seem to find them on the device. read both manuals but i'm still clueless about how to go about it. what path should i follow to upload samples?

2. where exactly are they uploaded? do i get to choose which program/bank?

On the left side of Spectre you create the sample "programs" or load the file like e.g. factory_01.wpc which includes the programs for the factory samples. A program in Spectre is basically the samples + key map.
The .wpc file could be downloaded here:
http://www.waldorfmusic.de/en/downloads ... ld/spectre

If you loaded the programs (by clicking on "Load...") from e.g. that factory_01.wpc file you just have to click on "Transmit" for sending them.
Of course in the "Audio/MIDI" settings you must select the Blofeld as the output.
Finally the samples appear after the list of the wavetables (only in OSCs 1 + 2). The first factory sound is called "Sample A1 Clavinet".
In the new OS version 1.15 the list of the wavetables ends after Nr. 118 BTW.


So far i haven't tried to use my own samples for doing Spectre programs so i could not give a hint about that so far.

[antitolg]

thank you for the quick reply Ingonator but this, unfortunately, doesn't get me anywhere. see, i've correctly setup the necessary connections and can upload samples, or sets for that matter (since my blofeld displays the sample uploading message) but i can't find them on the device so the culprits are:

- either they don't get uploaded

- or they get uploaded to a section of the device i'm not aware of. (normally i expected a sample program to be found in bank A1 since that's what it displays on spectre but i guess i'm supposed to access it in a different matter)


is it possible that you described me how you upload a sample program and place it it at, say bank A program 1?


EDIT: I've managed to find my sample set but the factory wpc (which i uploaded via spectre is nowhere to be found). i think i'm gettin there

[Ingonator]

thank you for the quick reply Ingonator but this, unfortunately, doesn't get me anywhere. see, i've correctly setup the necessary connections and can upload samples, or sets for that matter (since my blofeld displays the sample uploading message) but i can't find them on the device so the culprits are:

- either they don't get uploaded

- or they get uploaded to a section of the device i'm not aware of. (normally i expected a sample program to be found in bank A1 since that's what it displays on spectre but i guess i'm supposed to access it in a different matter)


is it possible that you described me how you upload a sample program and place it it at, say bank A program 1?


EDIT: I've managed to find my sample set but the factory wpc (which i uploaded via spectre is nowhere to be found). i think i'm gettin there

I guess that the name of the location is a bit misleading. Sample location A1 has nothing to do with the locations of the "normal" patches if you thought about that. Like i wrote above the samples are in the same list as the standard waveforms and the wavetables. You choose it with the "Shape" knob.
Sorry if i understood your problem wrong.

BTW you could not add new samples after you already uploaded others. You must do a list of the old AND the new samples at once and send them all together then !! If you don't do this the old samples are overwritten. For this reason the samples always start at program A1.

I would suggest to add the factory samples at the beginning since some future soundbanks maybe use them. Of course the RAM is limited so don't load the factory samples if you don't need them.

[antitolg]

misleading, true. after searching everywhere to no avail, it occurred to me, as a last resort, that samples would be uploaded as wave(form)s and bingo! it makes sense on a "wave" device, sure but with no proper editor to handle these affairs (patch management and sample upload along with organization) it proved to be rather obscure.

all seems ok for now. i hope i won't be needing any patches that use custom waves in the future without an editor. management will get even worse