New KORG Wavestation [Hardware]

AndyPlankton

@JohnnyGoodyear said:

@u0421793 said:
Would you believe it!

One of the little projects I anticipated beginning over christmas was a new handful of WTFKnobs but based on iWavestation. I didn’t get much of it done other than some note-taking and structure / outline. In fact I didn’t get much done of anything over the break.

I think I’ll still go ahead with it, as the particular approach I intended is still useful. In fact, probably even more useful now.

Please do!

Make that double Do

rs2000

@mungbeans said:

@mungbeans Have you done sound design with iWavestation?

I have it but I don't like using it at all so have hardly used it. The wavestate to me however seems nothing like the wavestation except in distant ancestory. But we're not talking about the iWavestate or original wave station, the wavestate looks a hugh step above those. I'm not yet really seeing any sound design red flags that leap out at me that are going to make me hesitate in getting one (and I'm into deep sound design, my number one preferred synth is the Virus TI due to its depth).

I guess you're right. And I suppose I'll be unable to resist getting one either!

auxmux

Ready for Wavestate Module in NAMM Summer 2020.

rs2000

@auxmux said:
Ready for Wavestate Module in NAMM Summer 2020.

...and add a keyboard with aftertouch

lukesleepwalker

I was pretty much not interested just glancing at the features, but the Wave Sequencing 2.0 stuff looks great!

cloudswimmer

Hopefully they come out with a 4 or more preferably 5 octave version for keyboard players 🙄

PhilW

@jipumarino said:

@PhilW said:
Anyone seen an indication of price yet?'

$800 at American retailers

And £649 at a UK retailer. That is at the low end of my expectations!

R_2

The randomizer is great fun, after 26:00 mark in this vid:

MonkeyDrummer

Sooooo... Aparillo inside a midi controller...

Telstar5

This is WAY ahead of the original and iwavestation, if for nothing else than the volume of gigabytes sound ROM. They don’t specify exactly for some reason.

u0421793

This Wavestate is a very interesting move. I like the idea of it a lot. I’ve been looking at the manual. Here’s my thoughts so far, in comparison with iWavestation.

• The Wavestate is fully programmable as a synth, there’s a lot of weight on newer performance capabilities.

• The iWavestation is more powerful as a synth in terms of sheer loading of sonic sources, ignoring the performance aspects and effects:

  • Wavestate can have four parts, each with one wave sequence, wave or multi sample.

  • iWavestation could pile in eight parts, each of which could have four wave sequences or waves etc.

    • I would argue that the latter is just fucking insane, just because you can doesn’t mean you should, and really, it’s pointlessly capable. Don’t do it.

  • The Wavestate seems to be a recognition of sanity and gives you a sane amount of sonic loading. I approve of this reduction.

    • It’s a bit like camera manufacturers giving you a 150 megapixel sensor. Should you? If you’re a nerd, you probably would, but to be frank, just limit yourself to 8 megapixels and you’ll have an easier life.

• The lanes concept is very intriguing. I don’t think there’s a lot of what the lanes offer that you can’t get through the iWavestation’s other more hacky and less consistently thought-out methods of piling on unnecessary complexity (and it certainly does), but the equivalent methods in the iWavestation are lacking in power, conceptual uniformity, in many cases capability or predictability, and above all, are largely incomprehensible because it was designed by boffins who didn’t know when to stop.

• I very much approve of the control panel on the Wavestate, it totally beats the iWavestation’s performance controls in terms of immediacy and the possibility of learning it usefully enough to play in a performance context.

rs2000

@u0421793 said:
This Wavestate is a very interesting move. I like the idea of it a lot. I’ve been looking at the manual. Here’s my thoughts so far, in comparison with iWavestation.

• The Wavestate is fully programmable as a synth, there’s a lot of weight on newer performance capabilities.

• The iWavestation is more powerful as a synth in terms of sheer loading of sonic sources, ignoring the performance aspects and effects:

  • Wavestate can have four parts, each with one wave sequence, wave or multi sample.

  • iWavestation could pile in eight parts, each of which could have four wave sequences or waves etc.

    • I would argue that the latter is just fucking insane, just because you can doesn’t mean you should, and really, it’s pointlessly capable. Don’t do it.

  • The Wavestate seems to be a recognition of sanity and gives you a sane amount of sonic loading. I approve of this reduction.

    • It’s a bit like camera manufacturers giving you a 150 megapixel sensor. Should you? If you’re a nerd, you probably would, but to be frank, just limit yourself to 8 megapixels and you’ll have an easier life.

• The lanes concept is very intriguing. I don’t think there’s a lot of what the lanes offer that you can’t get through the iWavestation’s other more hacky and less consistently thought-out methods of piling on unnecessary complexity (and it certainly does), but the equivalent methods in the iWavestation are lacking in power, conceptual uniformity, in many cases capability or predictability, and above all, are largely incomprehensible because it was designed by boffins who didn’t know when to stop.

• I very much approve of the control panel on the Wavestate, it totally beats the iWavestation’s performance controls in terms of immediacy and the possibility of learning it usefully enough to play in a performance context.

Very valid points that I've tried hard to ignore but I just couldn't. Just pre-ordered the beast.

BTW, I wouldn't mind a 150MP digital cam paired with a lens that delivers an appropriate resolution at f-stop 1.0

Crawlingwind

I had a play with iWavestation last night. Fiddly, but lots of fun to be had - already paid for.

Matt_Fletcher_2000

@u0421793 said:
This Wavestate is a very interesting move. I like the idea of it a lot. I’ve been looking at the manual. Here’s my thoughts so far, in comparison with iWavestation.

• The Wavestate is fully programmable as a synth, there’s a lot of weight on newer performance capabilities.

• The iWavestation is more powerful as a synth in terms of sheer loading of sonic sources, ignoring the performance aspects and effects:

  • Wavestate can have four parts, each with one wave sequence, wave or multi sample.

  • iWavestation could pile in eight parts, each of which could have four wave sequences or waves etc.

    • I would argue that the latter is just fucking insane, just because you can doesn’t mean you should, and really, it’s pointlessly capable. Don’t do it.

  • The Wavestate seems to be a recognition of sanity and gives you a sane amount of sonic loading. I approve of this reduction.

    • It’s a bit like camera manufacturers giving you a 150 megapixel sensor. Should you? If you’re a nerd, you probably would, but to be frank, just limit yourself to 8 megapixels and you’ll have an easier life.

• The lanes concept is very intriguing. I don’t think there’s a lot of what the lanes offer that you can’t get through the iWavestation’s other more hacky and less consistently thought-out methods of piling on unnecessary complexity (and it certainly does), but the equivalent methods in the iWavestation are lacking in power, conceptual uniformity, in many cases capability or predictability, and above all, are largely incomprehensible because it was designed by boffins who didn’t know when to stop.

• I very much approve of the control panel on the Wavestate, it totally beats the iWavestation’s performance controls in terms of immediacy and the possibility of learning it usefully enough to play in a performance context.

Great post.

I agree with everything you’ve said about iWavestation. Much as I love it - it’s ridiculously ‘overly-capable’ in some areas (and lacking in some others - eg no portamento at all!)

I don’t expect I’ll ever be able to justify spending £600 on a hardware iWavestate - but I’d love it they made an iOS version at some point.

R_2

@u0421793 said:

• The lanes concept is very intriguing. I don’t think there’s a lot of what the lanes offer that you can’t get through the iWavestation’s other more hacky and less consistently thought-out methods of piling on unnecessary complexity (and it certainly does), but the equivalent methods in the iWavestation are lacking in power, conceptual uniformity, in many cases capability or predictability, and above all, are largely incomprehensible because it was designed by boffins who didn’t know when to stop.

I agree with all points/comparisons. The lanes do offer more than the ‘linear’ wavesequences in iWavestation. Did you see this info?

Feature wise Wavestate seems like a good mix of both its grandmother (Prophet VS) and mother (Wavestation) with some nice modern/performance stuff added. A sounddesign playground I wouldn’t mind getting lost in.

RUST( i )K

@cyberheater said:
Details here

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/electronic-music-instruments-and-electronic-music-production/1293589-new-korg-wavestate.html?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

Just got email back from trusted source who played with one.

Sounds great.

Amazing presets.

Plastic.

Like, lightweight plastic.

Gave me a MEH on the build quality over long term and just how it felt due to its "lightwt." nature.

Real source.

Take for what it is worth.

The Deep Mind was also light for my taste.

I like my things big and hard to play with.

Waitwut.......

R_2

Personally don’t mode the plastic (this is perfect on my lap ) never take my synths outside.
The buttons and knobs is the only thing I’d worry about, particularly the Value knob next to display and the 2 cursor buttons. These’ll get used a lot.

Anybody with a Monologue here? Reports of failing knobs?

haulin_notes

@R_2 said:
Personally don’t mode the plastic (this is perfect on my lap ) never take my synths outside.
The buttons and knobs is the only thing I’d worry about, particularly the Value knob next to display and the 2 cursor buttons. These’ll get used a lot.

Anybody with a Monologue here? Reports of failing knobs?

Well, i let my synths run around in the backyard, do their business, sniff each other... 🐶
Seriously though... i have a Korg Monologue, and it seems very solid. I changed the knobs themselves cuz i like ones with a “pointer”. But the potentiometers are all solid after a year.

Also, on Gearslutz the Korg rep said that the Wavestate has a metal top panel, and a plastic body. (Same as Monologue).

GovernorSilver

Another Monologue owner here. Yup, metal top panel. Seems better built than the equally cheep Arturia Microbrute that I owned for a bit.

No failing knobs yet. Haven't heard of it from other fellow owners. Granted I don't hang on the Korg forums that often - dunno why, I sure I have enough Korg products in my possession.

Jes

Hmmm.. anyone wanna buy a Korg Wavestation?

waka_x

maybe some1 will hack it to load user wavs!?:)
that would close the circle.

R_2

R_2

Software update with user samples import:
https://www.korg.com/us/products/synthesizers/wavestate/v2.php

knewspeak

@R_2 said:
Software update with user samples import:
https://www.korg.com/us/products/synthesizers/wavestate/v2.php

Thanks for the update about the update

rs2000

@knewspeak said:

@R_2 said:
Software update with user samples import:
https://www.korg.com/us/products/synthesizers/wavestate/v2.php

Thanks for the update about the update

This one is big.
Multisample import supporting WAV files with loop points and finally a really good editor! 😃

R_2

”Dive deep into Effects with access to all internal parameters and create your own Effects Presets”.
Is this as good as it sounds, or is it the same set of parameters as on the unit itself?

auxmux

4gb of room to upload user samples is awesome. Makes me reconsider this one for the future, but only if a module version is coming. Hope this means wavetable support is coming for Modwave too.

colonel_mustard

@rs2000 said:

@knewspeak said:

@R_2 said:
Software update with user samples import:
https://www.korg.com/us/products/synthesizers/wavestate/v2.php

Thanks for the update about the update

This one is big.
Multisample import supporting WAV files with loop points and finally a really good editor! 😃

Import up to 4 GB of your own Multi-samples into the wavestate via the new Sample Builder application for Mac and Windows. Use your samples in Wave Sequences or as single Multi-samples, just like the factory Multi-samples.

This is big.

Any news on the fancypants special edition?
https://www.synthanatomy.com/2021/01/korg-wavestate-se-61-key-version-of-wave-sequencing-with-aftertouch.html

rs2000

@colonel_mustard said:

@rs2000 said:

@knewspeak said:

@R_2 said:
Software update with user samples import:
https://www.korg.com/us/products/synthesizers/wavestate/v2.php

Thanks for the update about the update

This one is big.
Multisample import supporting WAV files with loop points and finally a really good editor! 😃

Import up to 4 GB of your own Multi-samples into the wavestate via the new Sample Builder application for Mac and Windows. Use your samples in Wave Sequences or as single Multi-samples, just like the factory Multi-samples.

This is big.

Any news on the fancypants special edition?
https://www.synthanatomy.com/2021/01/korg-wavestate-se-61-key-version-of-wave-sequencing-with-aftertouch.html

I haven't seen it anywhere in the wild yet.

CalCutta

Hoping they make a tabletop/non-keyboard version eventually (need all the real estate I can get these days). This synth looks extremely fun and awesome. iWavestation is a great app.