Musikmesse: Waldorf Stromberg

No way! Via Quad on the Waldorf list:

"Last night I was watching TV when the doorbell rang. I opened the door and saw a women standing there with a man behind her holding something large in his outstretched arms covered with black velvet. My first thought was they were going door to door, trying to sell what the man was holding.

When they introduced themselves and said they work for a German synthesizer company, I knew it had to be Waldorf ... so I invited them into my house.

The woman handed me an envelope before she sat down while the man was still standing holding onto what was underneath the black velvet.

Inside the envelope was a letter that said:

Dear Stephen,
We would like to thank you and your overwhelming support for Waldorf
synthesizers by making you an honorary beta tester for our flagship synthesizer
"The Stromberg."

Best Regards,
Wolfram Franke

The women then stood up to remove the black velvet cover and that's when I
saw my first glimpse of heaven ... a Stromberg in my own living room!

My first thought was to bring it downstairs to my studio and power it up. It
has a brushed gold looking finish and illuminated knobs and with the dimmer
lights set low it was totally breath taken.

We spent about an hour going through the presets and filters when they told
me they had to leave to catch a plane back to Germany.

Funny thing is they never said how long I can keep the Stromberg or if I
ever have to give it back someday.

Today I am a very lucky man.



Today also happens to be April Fool's Day!

GOTCHA!

PS. My apology goes to Wolfram for using his name. Without it would have
made this April Fool's joke less believable.

Steve Siers ~ AKA Quad
www.theqrazysynthman.com
www.myspace.com/aliensghostsanddemons
www.myspace.com/fluorescenteclipse"

The Waldorf Wave II

You are looking at renders of what was to be the Wadorf Wave II, designed by Axel Hartmann, the man behind the upcoming 20 Electronics synth, and hardware designer for numerous manufacturers including Access, Moog, and of course Waldorf. There was also the Waldorf Stromberg that never made it into production.

"Got to pull these out again . . . from somewhere in our archives. This baby was supposed to be the "Wave II", back in the days, somewhere around the year 2000. We have been working on some wicket ideas then; - wanted to use huge trackballs, to create animated surround sound coming directly out of that machine. Also, for the lefthand controls, we were trying to implement some ideas that I had years before, when working on the "Gambit" study. I was asking myself; - why should a keyboard player, who is capable of doing the wildest things with his left hand, be limited to using just the hand or the thumb to control things . . . so we came up with the 4 dynamic switches array; - one switch for each finger, in combination with a pitch bender, that we stole from Hans / Nord (sorry for that, but it is such a GREAT thingie . . .). The switches have been located ergonomically perfect, just below the left edge of the wheel block . . . Also, look at that display . . . oh man . . ."

"A synth with balls."


"The entire front panel is a glass surface; - printed from the back. Of course, the pots are all encoders with lightrings. OK; - it is a bad rendering; - but not too bad for the time, when it was created ;-)"

"Achja; - klar - polyphonic pressure . . ."

CLICK FOR MORE »

Waldorf Stromberg Plug-ins

I finally got around to looking at the Waldorf pdf in more detail. There's been a bit of buzz around the plug-in capability. This image shows you two hardware plug-ins in the back of the synth, the valve and the a-filter. According to the brochure these are fully analog, not digital VA plug-ins. Title link takes you to the pdf in case you missed it.

PDF and new Waldorf gear previously posted here.

Wolfram Franke on The Blofeld and Legacy Support

Many on the Waldorf mailing list have been discussing what the new Blofeld and Stromberg synths will be as well as OS updates for the previous Waldorf synths. As for the Blofeld, the consensus was it was either and updated Micro Q or a new synth based on the Nano plug-in for the CME plus more. If you caught the Gearwire interview with Wolframe Franke (posted here), you might have caught a few details on the new synths. One, the Blofeld is basically an updated Micro Q, and two, the Stromberg will support both the architecture of the Q and the XT/Microwave in addition to the hardware plug-in capabilities with an analog filter in line. Check out the video for yourself.

Wolfram popped by the Waldorf list today with the following on the Blofeld and addressed support for previous Waldorf products:

"Regarding the Blofeld: yes, the Blofeld basically has the architecture of the Micro Q. This can easily be seen when you look at the spec list on the Blofeld product page. It will certainly have some new features, among them more than 1000 sounds or the cascade filter types. We might add further features but I won't go into detail about them right now.

Colors: the Blofeld is almost white. We chose this color because it simply looks cool combined with the aluminum controls.

Updates for old products: we really understand the need for taking care of some issues that are bugging you, like the Aftertouch bug in the XTk. But please give us a chance to get a financial foundation first. We are, however, *talking* about the bugs. Only, finding a time slice to work on that is not possible right now. I hope you understand that. And please, no emotional discussions about that. We are aware of it and we try to find a way to take care of it."

Waldorf Blofeld and Stromberg Initial Specs

The product pages for the Waldorf Blofeld and Stromberg are up along with the Zarenbourg and Phoenix edition Qs. Looks like the Blofeld is very close to the Stromberg aside from the hardware and add on modules. I did a quick A/B of the features and the following are the main differences I was able to identify:

Stromberg:
- external audio signal
- analog filter with analog distortion*
- surround delay
- tube distortion**
- output configuration switchable between stereo and surround

* Only with optional analog module a-filter with 16 analog filters.
** Only with optional analog module valve, number of tubes not decided.

Waldorf Blofeld Pro and Stromberg

Render via Facebook. The Stromberg, below, was officially announced as a new product from Waldorf years ago when they reformed. Since then there has not been an update.

Waldorf's latest of course is the
PPG Wave 3.V

Stromberg via MIDIzoo

Another gorgeous shot of the Waldorf Stromberg. This one via moose on MIDIzoo. Again, check out MIDIzoo for more NAMM shots.

New Products from Waldorf

Update: PDF in English is up.

Google translated link.

"Current mountain [Stromberg is actually the name of the synth, Google translated it is 'current mountain.' 'Whale village' is Waldorf]
Current mountain offers strong oscillators with Wavetables of the inventor of the Wavetablesynthese. Two multi-mode filter for each internal and external source of sound contain the exclusive PPG, comb and cascade filter beside a comprehensive selection of classical filter types. The instrument is up to 100 stimmig polyp-hone and 16-fach multitimbral playable. The entrance is made by an ergonomically optimized operating panel with genuine aluminum automatic controllers (behind-shines). As play assistance serve Mod and Pitchwheels and/or - optionally - a Joystick. Current mountain can be rigged over andockbare high-quality analog modules to an extensive hybrid system. A-filter is a 16-fache analog filter bank. Valve is an adjustable tube module, which can be merged in the signal chain or before the master Out. Current mountain is accommodated in a compact, wertigen full metal housing."

"Zarenbourg is a traditional Electro Piano, which goes completely different way than those so far admitted to representatives of this species. The Zarenbourg Piano does not only see funky out it plays itself also in such a way. Zarenbourg is the guitar for the Keyboarder - an instrument, for which many musicians waited for a long time - and they never again missen would like."



"Blofeld
The Synthesizer module Blofeld contains the newest generation that whale village similar to Modeling technology. 3 oscillators, whale village filter technology, universal LFOs and very fast envelopes fulfill professional requirements - at an extremely attractive price. All substantial parameters are on a clear control matrix. A large Paperwhite display serves purposeful navigation by sounds and less common attitudes. Over solid aluminum automatic controller is served. The instrument contains 1,000 sounds fully capable for editing. The connection to the computer takes place over the integrated USB 2 connection. Micro Q sound are loaded and shown without any klangliche restriction. The high-quality full metal housing can be adapted over an adapter to usual 19 the” format."

Can't forget the Qs.
Whale village Phoenix edition
With the Phoenix edition 3 the successful Synthesizer of the Q series the latter is produced times in a limited special edition. 200 Q and Q+ as well as 500 Micro each Q are available starting from February 2007 in the specialized trade. The instruments are provided with a special product diagram and housing color (jet black), possess a dark-blue display and have otherwise the proven characteristics:

Q and Q+
• Exclusive user interface, with ever a dedicated continuous automatic controller per function
• Up to five oscillators and two multi-mode filters per voice
• Q plus with 16 genuine similar to filters
• Snaps envelopes
• Clear step Sequencer
• Up to 100-stimmig

Micro Q
• Almost identical sound production such as Q
• Compact 19” full metal housing
• Logical matrix control philosophy
• Exzellenter sound


Update via Tsching on the Waldorf list: "Stromberg and Blofeld are the bad guys in the old James Bond movies :-)"

Waldorf Stromberg Coffee Mug

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.
via this auction

See the seller's other items for more.

Ruffa - Quick Trance Melody

YouTube via Rufon
"Trance Melody Composed By Ruffa. Used the Clavia Nord Keyboard, one powerful Synthesiser!"
Two odd/interesting things about this one. The obvious - the image is the Waldorf Stromberg which hasn't been released yet. Two, I wonder what Nord Keyboard. It doesn't sound like a Nord Lead, more like the Virus, although I guess it could be heavily processed. Nord Lead 3 or G2? Anyone with one, feel free to comment.

Musicmesse via Sequencer.de

More great shots are up on sequencer.de. Title link takes you to them.

For the archives:
Solaris Shots
Messepics THU 2007
Verstaerker Pics from Musikmesse
Frankfurt MusikMesse 2007 - Pics 2
MESSEPICS Part 1 (WED 2007 out of 1.3 GB)

Waldorf Stromberg pictured

NAMM via Inside Home Recording

You'll have to weed a little for the synth content, but I'm sure some of you are interested in more that synths as well. Title link takes you to Inside Home Recording where you'll find images and audio of the show. Also... I see they are the source of this Flickr shot, which was the first shot of the Waldorf Stromberg in the flesh that I'm aware of. And hey, they got to hang out with Bert and Ernie.

Waldorf on Novamusik

Looks like the new Waldorf products are listed on Novamusik. Prices are still TBA for BloFeld, Stromberg, and Zarenbourg. The Q Phoenix is listed at $2299 and the Micro Q Phoenix is $699; both include a free copy of the Waldorf Edition (Attack, D-Pole, and PPG Wave 2.V).

New Waldorf MSRPs

Stromberg: $3999 with a target release date of July.





Blofeld: $799 with a target release date of April.





Zarenbourg: $3999 with a target release date of April.





MSRPs courtesy of Novamusik. Note the actual street price is usually much lower than MSRP. For example the Q Phoenix has an MSRP of $3149 with a street price of $2299.

Waldorf at NAMM

There it is.... : )

The Stromberg.

flickr by penmachine