Would I recommend it? Yes, more or less, but it may be time for Waldorf to upgrade their design to 2020 standards. You can easily lose the sound you created if you're not careful. blofeld / blokey cross-platform software editor: monstrumfeld was created by msepsis Six parameter knobs is just not enough for all this amazingly powerful synth is capable of Monstrumfeld is a cross-platform (windows, os x, linux) software editor that covers every single parameter on the synth for ultimate control when designing and editing. These apps run on windows but members on the Blofeld Facebook forum indicate the apps run fine under Wine (). He also makes the free and popular Waldorf Blofeld editor. Also a big absence in my opinion is a confirmation dialog when you try to switch sounds. A popular and free app for drawing each wave within a wavetable is Kotr Lszl Lehel’s Waldorf Blofeld Wavetable Creator. Speaking of encoders, this is NOT a hands on device! It would be great if you could assign the 4 knobs to the W, X, Y, Z controllers, but I haven't found such option. Unlike Donald Pleasance's portrayal of the sinister Spectre overlord, Waldorf's Blofeld is benign and refreshingly free of cat hairs, thus should be welcome around your house, studio or secret base. Also many people have reported that the rotary encoders, do not work properly after years of use. Named after James Bond's pussy-fondling antagonist, the Blofeld is the first product from a revitalised Waldorf Music GmbH. The DSP is not too powerful, so polyphony may drop significantly depending on what features you use. However there are sacrifices to the quality. It's built like a tank, inside a metal housing. This is a device which carries out the legacy of Waldorf's rich sound, and you'll reckon that as soon as you start to test the presets. And third the community has matured, meaning there are thousands of sounds and utilities for it, and you won't get stuck with just the support files from the vendor.īlofeld, sounds AMAZING! Some people compare it with Largo VST, and although the later sounds excellent too, they DO NOT sound the same. Second, the device has matured and probable issues with the firmware have been fixed. So why, you'd wanna buy a 13 year old synth module? First because you're after the Waldorf digital sound at an affordable price. Only issue is that get noise from the PC on the Outputs if i connect it via USB.Īll in all its a nice Desktopsynth, that i recommended. The encoder are still working good here after 6 years of use. The buildquality is decent, metal case and encoder caps. One downside of its engine are maybe the Effects, they are mediocre at best. The range of sounds is huge, from the standard analog style subtractive bass to complex wavetable pads, its all in there.
If you dive deep into its synthesis options, with the Wavetables (2 of the OSC's have them), modifiers etc., the possibilities are almost endless.īut the Blofeld is not just advanced Users, because with the LCD Display it provides a very good Feedback for beginners that want to learn how to program a Synth.
Its packed with 3 OSC's, 2 multimode Filters wich can be used in parallel or serial mode, a bunch of ADSR envelops + LFO's and a huge MODmatrix. A nord's a nord and everybody has one.Iam owning the Blofeld since it came out back in 2008 and i think the featureset is still holding up, specially at its pricepoint. While the Slim Phatty is nowhere near a Voyager, it's still a lot of fun to play with. I can't get the TI to work but using the hardware is super fun. I would say get the Virus, it's capable of almost any sound and it's so much fun.
Blofeld users rejoice Waldorf has released a free firmware update for the Waldorf Blofeld synthesizer.
Update: 2TThis is a long article and I’ve rendered it as pdf and Open XML paper so you can read this offline and print it. Interesting question, I "sort of" have all 4. Another update: I noticed 1.23 is no longer available on Waldorf’s site. I think it'd be pointless for me to get a unit like the Pulse 2 or Blofeld or TI Snow or even the Slim Phatty when I could just use a soft synth with my Kore 2 controller to achieve the same kind of feel. I realize these are all good for different reasons but I chose them because of the amount of controls on the unit. Of the following, which would you guys go for: I don't really care to have a full keyboard version so I've been narrowing down my options to desktop/rack versions. Named after James Bonds pussy-fondling antagonist, the Blofeld is the first product from a revitalised Waldorf Music GmbH. I've got plenty of amazing soft synths and I could use my Kore 2 controller to give me the hands-on feel but it just doesn't seem as fun as knob twiddling to find that sound you're looking for or even some that you weren't but found anyway. McQ714 wrote:Great discussion here as I've been eyeing a few hardware synths just because I love that hands-on feel.