Yep I hope so!
Do I want this? It has an arpeggiator and midi which are my only āmust havesā ā¦ all the other stuff is icing on the cake, my āneedā is a hardware poly synthā¦ Iāve been using serum for poly doodies since 2014ā¦ but iridium keys is a lot of currency and looks kind of complicated.
MPE + PAT = no-brainer. I got it from Thomann at $2685.
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Itās $3800 USD at Sweetwater, and other US retailers.
I see about the same price as you blipson at Thomann.
The price on the Quantum had the same disparity in the past too. I always attributed it to the US distributor for Waldorf, which is still Korg i think.
So despite the hassle of a return to Germany, if there was any problem, that looks like the way to go.
Of course, Iām going to have to pay about 20% customs duty.
I was expecting to get fleeced when I bought the Iridium from Thomann, UPS charged me $38. Paid online the day before it was delivered.
Iāve gotten lots of stuff from Thomann, and itās all gone smoothly. Until just now: my bank is rejecting the payment for some security reason. Because itās the weekend, it might be a few days to resolve, and who knows how many Thomann has in stock.
1 HOUR LATER: Itās fixed.
Banks are likely on tighten security at the moment.
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IMHO Iridium is easier to use than Serum (others may disagree), even though it has four additional synth engines. The one thing Serum has going for it over the Iridium (aside from being ITB, which is mostly a negative in my opinion), is its very convenient way of setting up modulation and destination sources. Iridium has a robust modulation slot capability, and is easy to use, but not very convenient. On the other hand, Iridium really shines with its ability to so easily switch from a parameter of an Oscillator, LFO, Envelope, Filter, Effect, Modulation, either by hitting the dedicated button, or just turning a knob in one of those sections, and then seeing it immediately pop up on the really nice screen makes sound design, tweaking, moving around the OS so much easier. As Waldorf says, the Iridium is ācomplex without being complicated.ā Agreed 100% (Elektron could take a few lessons here, I think).
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I can get a well specād computer and a nice controller & probably a whole bunch of other stuff for the same price as the iridium. I think itās too much $$$ but I still kinda want one.
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Yeah, although there is always argument that a hardware synth is gonna last you through many computers and hold it resale value pretty well.
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A quote from Rolf Wƶhrmann of Waldorf on GS:
Hi,
some useful info:
-
Firmware updates will continue to be developed for all 3 flavors: Quantum, Iridium Desktop & Keyboard.
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Please contact support@waldorfmusic.de for getting on the 3.0 beta
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The new patches from the Iridium Keyboard will be made available for download in the upcoming days. I would recommend to use them running the latest 3.0 beta 12.
State of 16 voice digital-only polyphony for Quantum:
I have a development firmware running for Quantum which allows for up to 16 voice polyphony when using digital filter only. There are also some hybrid modes mixing 8 analog with 8 digital filter voices in various fashions which I find interesting to play with.
I like to do further performance optimization done as I am not always getting full 16 voices yet but I like to provide this version as a special beta soon for test to collect your feedback.
Please keep safe, make some music & spread some love. Times are not easy but we can do it.
Best
Rolf
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That confirms for me that Waldorf will continue to update and evolve the Quantum / Iridium synth engine. Adding 16 voices (with hybrid filter combinations) to the Quantum would be esp welcome to Quantum owners.
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Very good to see how well Waldorf is supporting current owners.
There are lots of options to consider now if you are a prospective buyer, especially between the two keyboard versions. Will the new one supplant the old ?
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At first, I didnāt care about this synth because I thought I didnāt really care about the Iridium. I started watching demos though and I totally changed my mind. I impulsively ordered one and have to sell a bunch of stuff now lol. This would go so well with the M.
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Nope, looks like you donĀ“t want that. You would be more happy with something like a Novation 61SL MKIII. That one has an arpeggiator and MIDI too, and will play well with your Serum. Orā¦for a quarter of price of your computer and the controller keyboard, you could buy a second hand iPhone and a 15$ softsynth app like Waldorf Nave and be happy with that one too.
The Waldorf Iridium Keyboad is clearly targeted at professional keyboard players, who want to extent their gig rig with a versatile polyphonic synth. Like putting the Iridium Keyboard on top of a Rhodes.
Kudos to Waldorf for doing this. And great to see that OS 3.0 is still work in progress. I guess sourcing parts for their synths is not easy nowadays, but at least itĀ“s great to see innovative products like this coming from Germany.
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I looked at new laptops online today and I knowpt the fuck out of that idea too.
In that video, Matt Johnson says he talked to Rolf at Waldorf who said they are looking for third-party support to make creation of multisample instruments in the Particle engine on the Iridium easier to load and create, so maybe weāll get some kind of Iridium editor, or partial editor software in the near future. That would be a nice addition to the software.
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I so hope so, itās the only thing that drives me nuts. I got spoiled with the Hydrasynth patch managerās drag and drop functionality - makes it so easy to rearrange, delete, paste, etc.
I havenāt even attempted creating a multisample instrument on it, since I have other instruments that can do this so much more easily, but it would be nice to be able to do this. And yes, a simple editor/librarian with drag and drop functionality, would be great. I mean, software processes for creation of multisample has become so much better in the past few years, as in the āauto sampleā functions of both the MPC and Logic. I am not expecting something as automated as that, but I donāt see why not.