Playing the Waldorf Q - Carlo Mezzanotte

video upload by carlomezz

"I have owned the Waldorf Q for a while, but only in recent times I have had the opportunity to really sink my teeth into its very powerful synthesis architecture.

The first batch of patches that I have programmed includes several well-known synth timbres, plus a few more adventurous sounds. I find this an excellent approach to familiarize with an instrument. I didn't try to directly imitate the warmth of analog vintage synths; the Q has a strong personality in itself, and a big, aggressive basic sound. All the mod routings allow for very complex timbres of a special kind, cold and precise, but also full and satisfying.

What you hear in this video is all single patches, no multis. Only the internal effects were used, with no external processing except a little bit of eq."

Playing the Waldorf Q - Carlo Mezzanotte (Part 2)


"Here's the second part of my Waldorf Q programming adventures, where I try my hands at more complex sounds, plus a short multitracked improvisation at the end. With FM, ring mod, wavetables, oscillator sync, four multi-stage envelopes, comb filters, and plenty of modulation options - there's a lot of ground to explore. In particular, I like to ride the fine line between tonal and non-tonal timbres, where the sidebands build up in a dynamic way, creating groups of partials which can grow until they 'almost' become noise, but always keeping the original root clear. (well - almost always. : - ) ) Very often, I have programmed aftertouch and the mod wheel to change important details of the harmonic spectrum.

For some reason, several of these sounds ended up with a strong ambient/hypnotic connotation... I guess it's just an inclination that I have. : - )

Again, what you hear in this video is all single patches, no multis. And again, only the internal effects were used, with no external processing except a little bit of eq.

At 15:52, I did a brief improvisation using some of these sounds, plus a couple from Part 1. I used 4 stereo tracks, without adding any external effects.
I had some fun with video editing, but I'm a total amateur at that.... the moral: better to focus on the sounds! : - )"