Groove Synthesis 3rd Wave Desktop verison announced ($3500)

[zerocrossing]

I have to add modwheel and expression petal to the mod matrix and often add something to after touch.

My impression after a week with the 3rd Wave is that they rushed all the factory patches.
Waldorf and Groove Synthesis have one thing in common: they sell synthesizers with after touch enabled keyboards then make no use of them in factory patches.

Yeah, I don’t get that at all. I don’t rely on presets that much, and adding aftertouch is not really a problem, but I think it’s bizarre that manufacturers don’t insist their presets utilize all major real time modulation options. They should all look at how Sequential does it.

[DrGonzo]

I have to add modwheel and expression petal to the mod matrix and often add something to after touch.

My impression after a week with the 3rd Wave is that they rushed all the factory patches.
Waldorf and Groove Synthesis have one thing in common: they sell synthesizers with after touch enabled keyboards then make no use of them in factory patches.

Yeah, I don’t get that at all. I don’t rely on presets that much, and adding aftertouch is not really a problem, but I think it’s bizarre that manufacturers don’t insist their presets utilize all major real time modulation options. They should all look at how Sequential does it.

I have no idea on how the preset development works with the 3rd Wave but I can easily imagine a situation where not all parameters were available during the preset design phase. It common that you get a 0.1 alpha release full with bugs and weirdness. Then when you finished your job a new version of the firmware comes out which breaks the mappings of the sounds. And you get to have the unit for 48 hours or so before the demo unit goes to the next guy.

I'm not saying this happened in this case. Just that this is quite common.

[zerocrossing]

I have to add modwheel and expression petal to the mod matrix and often add something to after touch.

My impression after a week with the 3rd Wave is that they rushed all the factory patches.
Waldorf and Groove Synthesis have one thing in common: they sell synthesizers with after touch enabled keyboards then make no use of them in factory patches.

Yeah, I don’t get that at all. I don’t rely on presets that much, and adding aftertouch is not really a problem, but I think it’s bizarre that manufacturers don’t insist their presets utilize all major real time modulation options. They should all look at how Sequential does it.

I have no idea on how the preset development works with the 3rd Wave but I can easily imagine a situation where not all parameters were available during the preset design phase. It common that you get a 0.1 alpha release full with bugs and weirdness. Then when you finished your job a new version of the firmware comes out which breaks the mappings of the sounds. And you get to have the unit for 48 hours or so before the demo unit goes to the next guy.

I'm not saying this happened in this case. Just that this is quite common.

Yeah, I can understand that, but there should be a late beta phase where it’s someone’s job to go through all the presets, make sure there’s consistency and that each one has elements that respond to velocity, mod wheel, aftertouch, etc.

[CoolColJ]

Damn local supplier of 3rd Wave here said they won't be stocking the Desktop Module
So it's either keyboard or import from the US I guess

edit - they said they no longer stock any 3rd Waves, and have no stock when they quite a few before, and was the only local supplier. They will no longer stock any in the future

very strange...

[egbert101]

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cze_7T5P2kO/?hl=en

NOW SHIPPING! The 3rd Wave desktop module. All the power, all the features, all the ins & outs, and all the awesome sound of the keyboard. Available in now from our dealer network: $3495 USD.

Damn, still expensive.

[CoolColJ]

I'm getting closer to pulling the trigger on a 3RD Wave desktop module
Might sell my Yamaha VL1 to help fund it - leaving the WSA1, SQ80, Hydrasynth Explorer as my only digital/hybrid/modelling synths

Good demo -

[egbert101]

I went with Modwave Native, for the ridiculous cheap price of $99.99. As for VA, (Modwave can do it) but I have KingKORG, System 8, and Dense plugin from Sinvibes in the Minilogue XD. I am still lusting after a Take 5, so that might be my last real analog for my setup.

But hey, if you can afford it, go for it, it's a beautiful instrument.

[Jim Roseberry]

3rd Wave's VA "authenticity" has IMO come a long way since the initial release.
Free running oscillator mode helped a lot.
The zippering noise I experienced (bending notes) with firmware 1.5 was resolved in firmware 1.6.
The developers seem pretty responsive (unlike Nord).

If you like the Prophet 10's filter, you're most likely going to like the 3rd Wave.
It can sound HUGE without much effort.

The PPG like sounds are (for me) a bonus.

Playing live has influenced my current keyboard gear.
Nord Stage 4 and Montage M8x are (for me) more practical than more specific synths.
Thus far, I've gotten by with taking out a single 88-key keyboard.
Trying to keep it simple so cartage is easy... and load-in/out quick.
I've been thru the OB-X8, Prophet 10, Model D, Moog One, and Trigon.
Liked much about all of them... but wouldn't take any of them to gigs.
3rd Wave lets me get into those realms... in a more practical, higher polyphony instrument.
Haven't taken out the M8x to gigs (yet). Have a lot more sampling/programming to do.
Also, not looking forward to the 80+ pounds when in case.

[CoolColJ]

Local shop here in Australia appears to have stock of the 3rd Wave.
Now I can go audition her!

Although the price is crazy high here compared to other places... close to $10,000AUD...
That's way more than the Moog One 8 voice!
Desktop from overseas for $6000AUD is a lot better

[CoolColJ]

Just came back from trying out the 3RD Wave keyboard
And I love it!

It looks more industrial rugged than beautiful, and smaller than I expected.
The knobs feel a bit cheap for the price, wish it was more like Prophet 10 knobs for the price....

There are a few head scratches which won't matter on the Desktop module -
No octave switch buttons near the pitchbend, but rather a knob and it's situated further up.
Glide is in the menus, rather than a knob....
And so on

The filter is good and syrupy but not like the Prophet 10, the resonance doesn't scream like it.

Got some patch going with high resonance, latched arp, and blissed out for a bit.
So much like what I used to do on my Jupiter 8

I did an INIT and made some patches.
Turned on circuit drift and free running oscillators.
Snappy and pointy envelopes
Sounded good, not analog sounding, based on my current experienced synths, but still nice and vibey.

There was a patch called Osaka Massive -
turned on circuit drift and free running oscillators.
Cranked resonance up.
Sounded so nice.
Turned off the effects and still sounded the same!
And just noodled for 10 mins on this one patch... a good sign!

So the 3rd Wave is on my shopping list now!

[Constructed Identity]

They are on sale in the US. I know of a negative you didn't mention: it has room for only 16 of your own custom waves.
I was slightly bummed given that it imports Serum wavetables so easily (posted an example elsewhere).

[CoolColJ]

Is there a way to make a 3rd Wave patch, transpose an octave every 3rd or 4th note played?

I enjoy doing this on the Korg Wavestate and Modwave with the per note advance feature on their pitch lane/step sequence thing.
On the Hydrasynth you can approximate it with the step LFO, which advances a step per note press.
Originally done paraphonic mono synths, Oberheim 8/4 voice, and Matrix 12/Xpander etc as well as they cycle through voices
And in the Vital wavetable VST using the LFO, point cycle mode, where it only advances a step in the custom LFO shape per note press, so you get per note press, modulations.

Sounds really ear catching with the random moving chord inversions

[egbert101]

I guess the Prophet Rev 2 is a nice alternative if you don't mind DCO oscillators. But no the price is ridiculous but if you're rich then money is no object.

[Jim Roseberry]

I had a Rev 2 for a brief period. To my ears, it sounds pretty thin.
The 3rd Wave's VA sounds massive by comparison.

BTW, Sweetwater has the 3rd Wave module in-stock.

[zerocrossing]

I had a Rev 2 for a brief period. To my ears, it sounds pretty thin.
The 3rd Wave's VA sounds massive by comparison.

BTW, Sweetwater has the 3rd Wave module in-stock.

The REV2 is definitely on the “thin side” of things, though can fatten up quite nice if you use Analog Voice Modeling. The guy who came up with that moniker has free template presets you can pick up on his site. It makes a huge difference. I also think that a lot of times I’d switch to my REV2 when I already had a fat synth in the mix. I think it’s often easier to use a synth like the REV2 than work on EQing a fat synth into a mix. Still, I decided that I was getting equally good results, and sometimes better, from Cypher 2, so I ditched the REV2 for a Nina. If I didn’t use software, I definitely would have kept the REV2. I do kind of miss it.