This is my first virtual analogue synth in hardware form. I used to be an analogue purist but after hearing this, I no longer feel the same way. This thing has 128 voices in 8 parts. Absolutely mental specs. I know some vst synths also sound good but the voice count and sound quality on this due to the FPGA architecture with oscillators running with an oversampling value of 32x, you would either have to have a top of line computer just to get close to this and that wouldn't leave you with much compute power to run effects and let alone compose and mix a track with quality plugins. This is one of my favourite synths I've heard and I have 4 other synths that are analogue, so I know what I'm hearing. My favourite aspect of this synth, leaving aside the absurd voice count, multiple parts and quality of waveforms, is the filter. How have they managed to make a filter sound this good with what is technically speaking, an emulation of classic ladder filters. This filter is cream in space. Weird description but it's the first thing that came to mind. The synth as a whole is cosmic, futuristic and atmospheric. It can do many genres of sound, the basis fantastic but the area were this is best is wide, panoramic atmospheric pads. I can imagine this being a go to for science fiction film scoring.
There are many positives about this and I don't regret buying it at all. It's actually up there with some of the best of the investments I've made into my musical exploration. It really suits my taste. Their are some cons though, and I do want to mention them. This is now discontinued from Waldorf and there is likely not going to be any firmware revisions. This is a big shame because there is some serious untapped potential here. The 4096 waveforms, often referred to as "wave tables" are not morphable or scannable. The synth, during early promotional material at shows like NAMM, shows the synth and mentions wave tables consistently, I also heard them say that you will be able to import your own wave tables. This is crazy, if this were possible, this could of been one of the greatest virtual analogue of all time. The lack of a rotary encoder for scrolling the waveforms and such is also a missed opportunity.
I really like this and have signed a petition for Waldorf to bring the original developer back on board to do revisions into the firmware. I encourage everyone to let their voices be heard in this regard. This has so much potential. It is however, even in its technically "unfinished" state, a great piece if kit and has some of the best sounding filters ive ever heard, combined with the high quality waveform oscillators, including hypersaw and the very good build quality. It also looks good too. I have the white version and prefer it over the sea blue version. Overall, very pleased with it.
