I’d love to upgrade to the Blo Keys if it weren’t for space. Although the dilemma would be whether to upgrade A4 to AK first.
I bought the Patch Base iOS editor this weekend when they had the All Access (all the PB editors, including future ones) option on sale, and I’ve gotta say that it’s pretty fantastic, and makes the Blofeld quite easy to program. Very well laid out editor, and it’s quite nice to connect it to the desktop Blofeld USB port so you can fetch patches from the synth (since there is no physical midi out). Worth grabbing if you are so inclined.
Hi, i really love this one Blofeld Stab sound (Bank: C 63) …
example of the sound with some various midi chords: https://soundcloud.com/jianghuspirit/stab-example/s-GSTox
recently i followed @umonox cool tutorial on how to make dub techno stabs on the A4 … well i like the resulting sound (https://youtu.be/Fc4SRlZz4XU) and it was fun to program that sound on the A4.
Edit: this is not at all a critique of the sound of the tutorial… just, if i compare the sounds, i just somehow at the moment like the blofeld (without delay) more… for a type of song idea i have in mind.
They are quite smilar, but already without FX the blofeld sounds much more stabby or percussive and powerful…
But, now the question… is there a way to make a sound on the A4 wich is really near to this c63 blofeld stab? How to maybe tweak the tutorial A4 sound more to the blofeld stab?
Or do you think i could use my Diva vst for it?
I`m quite new to programming synths (was using presets only for a long time) so would be happy for a few hints how to get -->> that <<<-- sound, without buying a blofeld
Thankful for any hints…
I sold mine a while ago, thinking I would replace it with an iPad, in theory it’s totally working, in practice, I miss the hell out of the blofeld!
I have a question about the Blofeld; is it worth $300?
I have an iPad with lots of synth apps. I also have rytm and do but not synth hardware. I’m just curious if it’s going to bring me something audio wise that I can’t get from apps?
Also, it seems it has FM synthesis, is it comparable to a preen/dx, or am I way off?
mighty synth - not FM in the way that a DX operator algorithm works, but the Blofeld is so much more than it seems from the specs - wave tables and modulation possibilities make it a powerhouse and it has great filters - whether an iPad app can be compared or not (even their own) I don’t know, but computer programs on all devices bring headaches of some description in my experience - turn Blofeld on, it makes sounds, shame the desktop has no DIN MIDI out though for OT connection
A proper FM synth would be another thing, but Blofeld is a special synth in its own right
Thanks for merging, lots info to read
And, of course, thanks for your reply
had a Waldorf Micro Q for years. Loved it - sold it. Had a Blofeld for some years. Don´t really loved it - sold it. Now thinking about giving it a new chance because I just feld in love with the wavetables stuff on MI Braids module and Logic Wavetable Synth. But the interface is still not my cup of tea.
Yes, for sure. In fact there’s no other synth with that much synthesis power at such a price. Even the mighty Virus TI can’t read samples. It’s a bit of a sound designer’s paradise. A few caveats:
- Some units have faulty encoders. Mine doesn’t. Try before you buy !
- Reverb is not the best you can get
- Multimode has weird fx management
Yes it is. But it’s not about the price, it’s about the sound and about the modulation flexibility of the synth at all.
But first things first … the Bolfeld delivers Waldorf sound … don’t expect the VA to achieve Moog, Roland, you name it. It’s just not designed to do that.
- The Blofeld can sound warm and natural, as well as digital, even with an old-school aliasing attitude, if we want it. This can be controlled by the “Brilliance” parameter.
- The FM, particularly the audio-FM, is very good implemented and very flexible. Oscillator crossmodulation, filter modulation are there, and most important, it sounds very good to my ears.
- The modulation capabilities are fantastic, not only 3 LFO, 4 ADSR are impressive, the modulation matrix comes with 16 slots and there is a 4 slot modifiaction matrix too, which allows every interesting and silly combination of modulation sources.
- Last but not least … this is a wavetable synth, which comes with 68 wavetables of 64 waveshapes each … AND … it supports user wavetables for free of charge too.
Everybody, who likes Waldorf sounds, will get an instrument worth of many years of exploration and exploitation … and much fun, of course.
Did we mention the filters drives/distortions are fantastic ?
Absolutly … my favorite is “Pickup 2”
The presets are pretty awful though. Best to ditch them and start from scratch.
You’re damn right… to any blofeld user I would recommend this patch bank as a starting point:
They are beautiful! There’s 2 synths I really regret selling, Blofeld and Evolver.
The Patch Base app makes me feel I should buy another Blofeld (and maybe another Evolver too)…
I also regret the evolver. Another beast…
2nd hand prices for the Evolver are crazy at the moment, Desktop is almost £450
as low as 360€ here…
Great synth, wavetables, filter drive options, a matrix, 007 reference, 1000(!!) slots for presets, large display with useful information, multitimbral, etc what’s not too like!
Get the pots replaced if they start skipping values. The rest of the build quality is solid, I dropped the white desktop unit last year and “catched” it with my right foot. I broke a toe in 3 places, still need to get some surgery for that, it never healed right. Thank you Waldorf for forever ruining my Yoga game.
Wow! Lots of responses.
Thanks