nick@LFCS.ED.AC.UK (Nick Rothwell) (02/05/90)
>So, campers, are we gonna fork the $2K for the Waldorf kitchen appliance, >or hold off and see what Korg can come up with? The wavetable synthesis >market heats up... This could be interesting. I don't think the Waldorf is going to take off in the US because it's too expensive there; this new Korg might not take off here because the UK prices for Jap gear are quite a bit higher than the US prices. So... Btw, who the hell buys synthesisers because of how programmable they are, anyway? I know all the advertising hype goes into how intuitive the architecture is, how much realtime control it has, and all that, but I can't help feeling that the average punter just wants a machine with nice (preset/buyable) sounds (which go CHIFF). Anybody know how many people buy machines that they want to program? Does the marketing reflect this? Just curious. Does anybody know enough about the VS to say whether it's really comparable with the the PPG/Waldorf? Presumably the wave mixing has the effect that sweeping through a PPG wavetable does. I wonder if it's more flexible? I seem to remember that the VS let you set parts of the envelope to loop, and things like this. The Waldorf does as well. Being Korg (=> Yahaha), the new machine will presumably be microtunable. The Waldorf is as well. The VS could accept new samples (it supported sample-dump messages for 128-word waves); the Waldorf has MIDI-loadable wavetables... I think these machines might well be (as Anne of Green Gables would say) kindred spirits. Nick.
METLAY@PITTVMS.BITNET (02/06/90)
I'm inclined to believe that the Waldorf is going to fall flat on its face in every market outside Germany; nobody who (a) speaks English and (b) isn't enough of a gearhead to recognize Wolfgang Palm's mark of genius is going to buy it. So it sounds great; big deal. A lot of other synths do, to most ears, and THYEY have (a) cool looking black cases and (b) REAL names, like ZXQ511. Pfui. As for the Korg WaveStation, I think it will follow similar ideas to the Dorf's (shoot, even I'M making fun of it), but that sweeping through a wavetable should produce different timbres than mixing wavetables en masse. Anyone want to correct my ignorance? Is there any difference between interpolating wavetables and generating mixes of them in the digital domain? metlay PS. I am not a "NO FACTORY PATCHES" fanatic, but I love to program. Might I point out that this is a biased sample of folx to ask? |->
galanter@ACNS.NWU.EDU (Galanter Galanter) (02/06/90)
Lets move this past the rumor stage...the Korg WS is a real product and is covered in the recent "Music Trades", a magazine targeted to music retailers. Phil || Philip Galanter, Manager \\ 627 Dartmouth Place // AppleLink: A42 \\ || Advanced Technology Group \\ Evanston IL 60208 // Compuserve: 76474,154 \\ || Northwestern Univ. - ACNS \\ (708)-491-4050 // galanter@acns.nwu.edu \\
nick@LFCS.ED.AC.UK (Nick Rothwell) (02/06/90)
>I'm inclined to believe that the Waldorf is going to fall flat on >its face in every market outside Germany; nobody who (a) speaks >English and (b) isn't enough of a gearhead to recognize Wolfgang >Palm's mark of genius is going to buy it. (...brief silence as Nick tries to work out the double negatives...) Yes, quite possibly, after all, the marketplace is very different now to how it was in 1980 or whenever the PPG arrived. Now there are lots of nice sounding machines around, which must make it more difficult for a new machine to break in, especially if it's unconventional ("is it as hard to program as a DX7?"). If it's not going to be a sellout in the US, that's an even bigger reason for me to buy one, since it will be all-the-more unique. The downside is perhaps the technical/service support... But when the Japanese obselete their own gear every two years anyway, I don't think it's going to be too bad, comparatively... >As for the Korg WaveStation, I think it will follow similar ideas >to the Dorf's (shoot, even I'M making fun of it), but that sweeping >through a wavetable should produce different timbres than mixing >wavetables en masse. Anyone want to correct my ignorance? Is there >any difference between interpolating wavetables and generating >mixes of them in the digital domain? The reviews said that the 'dorf would sweep through the tables and "interpolate" the harmonic differences; I'm not sure what this means. The Waldorf also has analogue filters which hopefully count for something [ :-) ]; this is probably why it's only an 8-voice machine (with dynamic multitimbral voice allocation, yet, which must be fun when it comes to instantaneously switching filter settings). >Might I point out that this is a biased sample of folx to ask? |-> True, so I'm going to try and get some comments from my local dealer (they're getting five for Edinburgh alone, so I'll ask them how fast they go compared to the usual Japanese Chiff-generators). Nick.