"Join us at @superbooth_berlin (May 8-10)! Meet founder Bob Coover, get hands-on with the 3rd Wave keyboard and desktop module, and geek out with the Groove Synthesis team at booth 0246.
We're passionate about building instruments that inspire creativity and push sonic boundaries. Come experience sound that is inspiring and in the “groove”.
Who knows? Maybe you’ll even see something brand new from us in Berlin…"
"@devinbelangermusic made a great video together with @VultureCulture comparing Devin's modern analogs with Alex's Vintage gear. Devin was so kind to share the midi - so I could make my version. Check out their video!"
Do Vintage Synths Actually Sound BETTER?! (with Vulture Culture)
Vintage Synthesizer list:
Yamaha CS-70m
Kog Polysix
Fender Chroma Polaris
Formanta Polivoks
Roland RE-501 Chorus Echo
Kawai
Korg MS 20
Modern Synths:
UDO Super Gemini
Groove Synthesis 3rd Wave
Oberheim OB-X8
Moog Matriarch
Hologram Microcosm
Meris MercuryX
Polyend Play+
🎹 Get my custom analog synth patches: https://shop.milesawayofficial.com/
🎵 Stream my original music: https://beacons.ai/milesaway
0:00 - intro
0:31 - rules of the competition
0:55 - vintage synths choices explained
6:25 - vintage synths final song
8:39 - modern synths explanation
12:08 - modern synths final song
14:21 - what we learned from this experiment
19:37 - who won? tell us in the comments!
20:10 - ???
"We talk once again to Bob Coover, enthusiastic audio engineer extraordinaire, about the latest features and updates to the Groove Synthesis 3rd Wave synthesizer. In addition to PPG-style wavetable synthesis and superb analog emulation, 3rd Wave now features Prophet VS-style synthesis, as well as sampling. An excellent synth just keeps on getting better.
https://www.groovesynthesis.com/
Under the Big Tree is Nicolas Peck's YouTube channel, focused on esoteric electronic music, modular and vintage synthesizers, sound design equipment and techniques, and the composition, production and performance of music."
"At NAMM 2025, we caught up with Bob from Groove Synthesis, who introduced us to the *Third Wave Desktop*. This compact version retains the core features of the original keyboard, including its processing power, 24 voices, analog filters, and all 8 outputs. While the control set had been slightly abbreviated for size, it still maintained ease of access through button controls for oscillators and effects. The price point also provides a more budget-friendly option.
Since our last encounter, Groove Synthesis had integrated additional features, such as the inclusion of sampling capabilities. The unit allowed 35 seconds of sampling and supported up to 12 samples simultaneously, processed through the synth engine.
Bob also highlighted the Prophet VS engine addition. With 48 wavetable positions, this was a nod to the Sequential influence in its design history."
"A song which shows some of the Groove Synthesis 3rd Wave's sound. I used a cymbal waveform I recorded into the instrument for the cymbal swipes at 1:50."
"Groove Synthesis 3rd Wave in wonderful condition. Has the latest OS installed, which adds sampling capability. Honestly, you can do almost anything with this synth and it's core sound is fantastic. Includes manual and power cable."
"The 3rd Wave by Groove Synthesis is a powerhouse wavetable synth with 24-voice polyphony and 4-part multi-timbral capability—it’s like having four independent synthesizers at your fingertips.
In this video, brought to you by Groove Synthesis founder Bob Coover, you'll get a broad overview of the plentiful features and underlying concepts of the 3rd Wave keyboard and desktop synths, including the latest addition: Sampling.
Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 00:25 The PPG Legacy 00:52 The PPG Sound 02:09 PPG Oscillators 03:28 User Wavetables 05:20 Analog Waveforms 06:07 Sample Waveforms 06:54 Wave Envelopes 08:34 Filters 09:18 Multi-Timbral Sequencer 10:49 Multi-Timbral Stacks 12:16 Sampling Deep Dive 17:52 LFOs 18:09 Modulation Matrix 18:24 Envelopes 19:03 Stereo and Binaural 20:06 Effects 22:27 Ease of Use 23:20 The 3rd Wave Desktop 24:25 How to Find Out More"
"This sound set includes 100 new synth patches for the 3rd Wave, focused on the hybrid analog capabilities of the synth. Lots of classic/vintage synth inspired sounds, famous song patches, binaural stereo stacks and modern analog designs. https://sounddesign.sellfy.store/p/3r...
I've made hundreds of sound designs on this great synth, using all the various engines, including PPG, modern wavetables and the new sample engine -- but this sound set is focused entirely on the hybrid analog / VA capabilities of the synth. Dozens of famous song tone patches are included, and classic analog sounds inspired by legendary vintage synths: Sequential Prophets, Oberheim OBs, Roland Jupiters, Yamaha GX and CS, and Moogs,plus modern sound designs that take advantage of the extensive capabilities of the 3rd Wave.
The patches inspired by famous artists/songs include ones by: Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, MUSE, Tears for Fears, Toto, The Cars, Boards of Canada, Prince, RUSH, Daft Punk, M83, Stranger Things, Blade Runner, Harold Faltermeyer, Foreigner, Journey, Duran Duran, Simple Minds, Talk Talk, Van Halen, Thom Yorke, Radiohead, Steven Wilson, Adam Holzman, Michael Jackson and more.
The demo video features about half the patches included in the soundset... there are 50+ more patches as well! The sound in the demo video is direct from the synth, using only onboard 3rd Wave effects, and no external effects added. The drums in a few of the demos are from a Roland TR-8S.
0:00 PAD Analog Core Intro 0:32 SYN Subdivisions (Rush) 1:32 BAS LED Around the World (Daft Punk) 2:08 LED Uniglare Arp 3:05 PAD M83 Outro (M83) 4:07 SYN Any Colour (Pink Floyd) 4:28 BRS All My Love (Led Zeppelin) 4:52 SPL Stranger Things (Stranger Things) 5:36 KEY No Quarter (Led Zeppelin) 5:55 SPL Noisy Planet Arp 7:00 SYN BAS KEY Axel F (Beverly Hills Cop) 7:51 SYN Waiting for a Girl (Foreigner) 8:13 SYN Welcome Machine (Pink Floyd) 8:40 LED Pink Dogs (Pink Floyd) 9:15 STR Supersaw Strings 9:41 BRS Blade Runner (Vangelis) 10:53 SYN Separate Ways (Journey) 11:25 SYN Rule The World (Tears for Fears) 11:59 SYN Mays Prophet (Lyle Mays) 12:21 SYN Muse Uprising (MUSE) 12:53 SPL PadBass Split Stack 14:05 SYN Just What I Needed (The Cars) 14:37 BRS Toto Africa (Toto) 15:14 SYN Save a Prayer (Duran Duran) 15:34 STR Orchestra Binaural 15:58 LED Lets Go (The Cars) 16:35 BAS BoC ROYGBIV (Boards of Canada) 17:03 BRS Don't Forget About Me (Simple Minds) 17:30 SPL Arp Split Stack 18:52 BRS Camera Eye (Rush) 19:55 SYN Tom Sawyer (Rush) 20:23 BRS Vital Signs (Rush) 20:38 KEY EP Pluck Pad 21:08 BRS 1999 (Prince) 21:26 SYN Doves Cry (Prince) 21:34 SPL Arpple Pad 22:29 BRS VH Jump (Van Halen) 23:03 LED CreativeSpiral Lead 23:33 KEY Yorkeything 24:16 LED Take On Me (A-ha) 24:35 BRS It's My Life (Talk Talk) 24:54 SPL Guitar Palm Pulse 25:40 KEY Dawn Chorus (Thom Yorke) 26:39 BRS Concert Brass 27:01 LED Robot Rock (Daft Punk) 27:20 LED Holzman Regret (Steven Wilson) 27:51 BAS Punchit 28:33 SPL Ticking Clock 29:33 STR Smooth Stack 30:13 KEY Everything Right (Radiohead) 31:00 PAD Slop Hop Outro
Latest Firmware - Optimized for Analog Sounds Update to Latest Firmware Before installing the patches on your 3rd Wave, make sure you have the latest release of the 3rd Wave firmware installed. (v1.8d as of time of release of this sound set) There have been several important firmware updates since launch including addition of vintage voice modeling, free running oscillators, adjustments to the VA oscillators, new envelope retrigger modes and unison glide settings. You can download the firmware updates from the official Groove Synthesis website, here: https://www.groovesynthesis.com/support/"
"I think this will be my final soundscape with the 3rd Wave. I will need to return it to its owner. It's been fun playing through it and learning its ins and outs, to the extent that I could.
It's... a cool synth. I think the overall 'crystalline' sound it has is maybe not for me. I couldn't really shake that. Probably just didn't spend enough time with it, but it's hard to say. You can't really make it sound bad, but I guess I'm not sure if that's a good thing.
I'm conflicted. But also, I know I gravitate towards keyboard versions of synths, so maybe that plays a role (although I love the Modor NF-1). I don't know. Something I need to do... test my Virus TI and its wavetables. Add some oscillator saturation, use the analog filters and ask myself, "does this take me anywhere near where the 3rd Wave took me?'
Eventide Blackhole VST used for reverb (I didn't want FX clipping).
"A Deep Dive walkthrough and demo of the groove synthesis 3rd wave. It's the longest demo I've ever made because there's so much to look at. Hopefully someone will stick through to the end!! (there's a rather nice sounding demo to finish)"
"B E A U T I F U L - the Groove Synthesis 3rd Wave can make some blissful tones. Here's some rather nice laid back vibes. This is a sounds only demo track that features at the end of my upcoming full demo.. which is a monster at almost 90 minutes long."
"The Groove Synthesis 3rd Wave Desktop and Keyboard versions are pretty much identical... but so many have asked what the differences are, snd why I bought the desktop.. and have now gone for the keyboard version... I thought I'd put this little explanation together.
The big differences are price, size, keys and paint job.. the interface is very similar and I don't feel like there's more menu diving on the desktop. If you need to use the menus then its the same on both."
"Learn how Groove Synthesis' sound designer Kurt Kurasaki quickly creates a beautiful and lush PPG-style pad sound from scratch using some of the basic concepts and features of the 3rd Wave.
Coming to you from Superbooth 2024, Kurt starts from a clean slate by initializing a preset to reset the settings of the synth. He then works with a single oscillator choosing one of the classic PPG type wavetables included with the 3rd Wave. Using the amplifier and wave envelopes, he adds movement to the sound. But the true magic to creating the iconic PPG sound lies in copying the settings of one oscillator to the other two and slightly detuning the oscillator to each other. Utilizing the 3rd Wave's multitimbral capabilities, Kurt then creates a stack of sounds that he can spread out into the stereo field by panning and detuning them ever so slightly. Within a matter of seconds, he ends up with a beautiful, shimmering, and lush PPG-style patch."
"Yesterday I had made my first impression video and stumbled through the 3rd wave. It was quite interesting the different tones I could pull out of it - and I knew it would be fun to make a soundscape with it. Actually, yesterday I pulled it out TO make a soundscape, but remembered my friend wanted me to do a 'first impression' video first. So I decided to do that video and then today do this video.
I'm glad I did it that way, because I was able to familiarize myself with the unit before I made the soundscape. I even learned things after I messed around with it that helped me today.
Well - you know, I think it sounds really nice. Unfortunately the FX themselves began to clip. I didn't realize that would happen. My apologies for that.
"Enjoy this short and sweet demo of an old-school Drum 'n' Bass preset with the legendary Amen break hosted by Groove Synthesis sound designer Kurt Kurasaki. The version 1.8 firmware of the 3rd Wave includes a powerful new enhancement to the sonic capabilities of the synth, giving it the ability to support sampling. With this, we believe we have added the missing piece to its PPG heritage enabling you to achieve the sampled sounds you could get with a PPG Waveterm System."
