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Korg Wavestate


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I spent a fair amount of time exploring a performance and one of the four layers which is where you can edit the program parameters (filters, envelopes etc ) and modify or create the wave sequences. While the interface is way better than the original I found this to be an extremely tedious process, especially since you"re now dealing with 3 lanes of sequencing parameters plus.

 

I"d still want an editor if I was interested in rolling my own from this type of synthesis. Having recently revisited the Legacy WS I"m not. But...as far as just playing this thing and operating the controls in real-time it is a total blast and sounds great. Not everyone"s cup of tea but for those who gravitate to pre-created rhythmic sounds the Wavestate is both unique and maybe king of the hill.

 

I agree the keyboard is nothing to write home about but keep in mind how this thing will be used by most. It"s also light as a feather maybe reflecting its price point. I heard the designer talking about his original concept with a 5 octave or larger keyboard, a lot more knobs, bigger display and a price to match. Korg sent him back to the drawing board. I think they probably had in mind the success (or lack) of the original Wavestation.

 

I doubt we"ll see a larger version anytime soon.

 

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I really like what I've heard from it. It's squarely in my wheelhouse in any number of ways, but I haven't pounced on ordering it for a couple of reasons. The keybed is one. Three octaves of meh just seems like a waste of space, so I'm holding out hope there's a desktop or rack module coming. The other is the lack of immediacy in programming wave sequences. They've done a lot to try to make it fairly accessible, but the notion that you can't program a series of pitches simply by playing them is absolutely baffling. I'd also want to be able to program a pattern of samples in less tedious fashion than they've allowed for and will have to give some thought to how that would work.

 

I guess they took the legacy of the original Wavestation a little too seriously! It wouldn't be a member of the family if it wasn't still somewhat tedious to operate.

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Yes, this thing sounds great. Instant gratification! Great piece of gear in the music store as it sounds so cool pressing a few keys.

 

Many will find ways to work this into their music, but those big, busy patches have so much going on it's hard to find a way to use it. Same problem with big multi's on many keyboards. Fun to play but not always useful.

 

That 3 octave keyboard brought memories of my Akai Miniak. It was a neat little board that had some cool multi's, but it was painful to try to play those on so few keys.

 

Cool piece.

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Korg's specs say that the keyboard offers RELEASE velocity, which I find welcome but odd in a 3-octave instrument. I immediately envisioned this as doing desktop module service anyway, so three octaves is about right, mainly for triggering sounds while programming. I know Korg's general M.O. as a long-time user, so its easy to imagine slotting it in productively.

 

There is also a free librarian for download, but this thing needs a real editor. Someone is bound to offer one, because the instrument seems likely to draw a lot of adherents. Its too instant-grat not to become popular, at least to the 'logue level for a while. I don't need it $800 worth of Real Badly, but I may end up buying $550 worth of it at the Just Semi-Badly point.

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Cuckoo's tutorial gives some idea of what preset programming would be like. A number of people were traumatized by the part of the video in which he shows what it is like to create a wave sequence from scratch, and ran away screaming "Too much menu-diving!". However, if you just ignore that part of the video and look at what it takes to tweak fitler, envelope, and LFO settings - which are the settings I tend to go for anyway - the process looks easy-peasy to me.

 

[video:youtube]

 

Some nice sounds by a longtime ally of the forum

 

[video:youtube]

 

I do agree that a software editor would be very desirable for those who do want to make their own wave sequences from scratch. Elektron Octatrack users can do something similar by assembling sample chains with OctaEdit or their favorite audio editor, although cross-fades from one wave to another seems to be firmly in the Korg camp and not the Elektron one.

 

At the very least, a librarian would be essential. In another video, there is mention of 2 GB of unused RAM which will be eventually used for ???.

 

Another mystery is Korg's Download page for Wavestate points to this Github repo:

https://github.com/korginc/wavestate_OSS

 

No immediate plans to buy this, but looking at it as a gigging alternative to my aging and delicate Korg M3, should I have need of good quality rompler tones for the gig. Piano sounds for example are at least as good, if not better than the ones in my M3.

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Someone over on GS said the Wavestate will include the Prophet VS waves and the Korg DW8000 DWG's.

 

If so, then this synth may end up combining the best of Wavestation EX, Prophet VS, and Korg MS2000 (even RADIAS?).

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  • 4 months later...
I can't hear the ARP2600 without being reminded of Roger Powell's pre-Utopia jazz fusion album "Cosmic Furnace". I played it constantly while in high school.

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I joined this one late...

 

I still own my original ~1991 W/S which was upgraded to an EX. Unfortunately the power supply is dying so any wave sequencing / vector reminiscing these days is done with the wonderful Korg Collection (which is arguably better anyhow given the resonant filter and much improved GUI).

 

My FiL and I might do some surgery on that W/S one day (he"s an electrician), but I don"t know if we can save it. Truth be told it wasn"t the right instrument for me at the time. I was just following the crowd. The Roland JD-800 that bowed a year later would have been a better fit for my music at the time.

 

I don"t think anyone has really found the optimal solution to wave sequencing. I think a software instrument is the right answer, or maybe hardware with one hell of a CPU and a bundled editor. My taste has always been toward cross faded sounds (as opposed to the rhythmic band-on-a-key patches), and I think it"s a synthesis idea that could still be advanced and pushed in new directions. If you *did* do it in software and had disk-streaming, ultra-deep modulation routings, bad-ass filters, user sampling, etc. I think you could get some great sounds.

 

And for God"s sake, can Korg drop the Prophet VS and PPG tones? Those grungy, single-cycle waves were never good to start with. I"ve never understood the appeal.

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I joined this one late...

 

 

I don"t think anyone has really found the optimal solution to wave sequencing. I think a software instrument is the right answer, or maybe hardware with one hell of a CPU and a bundled editor. eal.

 

I agree. Software will be the answer.

 

I have Kronos which has some Wave SEq'g. I can also buy some 3rd party stuff which takes it further.

 

And Wave Seq'g is a music production choice/tool for a song. IMO.

I use it in about 10% of my material. Its not an end in itself.

 

I wouldn't buy a WaveState as a total music production keyboard.

More of an partner to dance with, to use a analogy.

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Korg's specs say that the keyboard offers RELEASE velocity, which I find welcome but odd in a 3-octave instrument....

 

Alesis Micron and Akai MiniAK both have it, as does the Clavia G2. All 3 octaves, and all discontinued though.

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Someone over on GS said the Wavestate will include the Prophet VS waves and the Korg DW8000 DWG's.

 

If so, then this synth may end up combining the best of Wavestation EX, Prophet VS, and Korg MS2000 (even RADIAS?).

 

It's the filters I want from the DW8000, but there is nothing analog in the Wavestate, correct?

 

I listen to all the big old ol bad keyboards, and between my virus TI and DM12, I don't lust after them usually, however, the DW8000 has these utterly unique analog filters (rest is digital). Nothing really sounds like it.

 

judging by the prices, I am the last to have learned this, LOL

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I owned the rack version for a while, and loved it, but like most used gear from that era, it had unfixable problems, so I resold it as I thought the MS2000B kind of superseded it. Maybe not entirely.

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  • 6 months later...
I started a separate thread for the newly-announced 61 - the Wavestate SE, since it seems a little different (aftertouch, more/different sounds, aluminum build).

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A luscious texture machine like this with only 37 key is of zero interest. Give it 61 keys and after touch you have something cool.

"It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne

 

"A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!!

So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt

 

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