A Mini Waldorf Largo Review and Samples

via Boele of SCD on the Waldorf list, posted here with permission.

"Yes, Largo is approaching :D

Largo looks like Blofeld/uQ in terms of parameters, but it can sound quite different and has some very fine additional features.

First of all, it has all the wavetables Blofeld has, including the Upperwavetable, the matrix, the 4 envelopes, 3 LFOs, 2 filters, FXs etc. all known from Blofeld/uQ. Also the arpeggiator is there.

In addition, the first two oscillators have a sub-oscillator with selectable foot and level settings.

The phaser FX has been improved a lot. It sounds *way* better than the one on the Blofeld (personal opinion).

There is an added Fuzz FX in the FX section which also sound pretty good.

My personal favorit: the step LFO (only LFO3). you can set a value for each of the maximum of 16 steps and you can also smooth out the steps a little if wanted. Last but not least, you can set any number of steps while the LFO speed is maintained.
Now when you sync the LFO to MIDI clock you can imagine the funny things you can do. I really love this feature and hope to see it back one day in Blofeld.

The delay has gotten extended delay time up to three seconds. Very usable for ambient sounds :)

There is a global equalizer and also a bass boost knob to finetune the overall sound of Largo.

You can create four layers of sounds and send them to various outputs if wanted. Waldorf also developed some smart bank/preset loading/saving routines. (maybe some other betatester can spread a bit more light on this? I didn't use it yet).

All in all, I started to like this piece of software a lot. Not bad for a hardware guy :) 90% of the parameters are approachable by MIDI CCs so with a good controller it feels like hardware anyway.

Is there nothing to complain about? Well, maybe only the missing PPG filter. Not sure if Waldorf intends to add this in a future release. But even without it Largo gives so much sound fun.

The above is just my own personal view on Largo, developed during testing. It will hit the market in the very near future as far as I know.

Check it out!

Boele"

And via Stefan Trippler:
"If it's of any help, the Largo demos I already posted on the list were made
on a Pentium Dual Core 2,4 GHz

http://www.trippler.net/files/mp3/tanzindenmai.mp3
http://www.trippler.net/files/mp3/messie.mp3
http://www.trippler.net/files/mp3/lullaby.mp3
http://www.trippler.net/files/mp3/murmur.mp3

In terms of the sound character: when I made these demos I had only my own weird sounds available that always have a little too much overdrive, FM or modulations of any kind. The Largo can also make nice sounds ;)"

Update: More info on the Moog Source DIN Sync In

see the update in this post.

KURZWEIL K-2500 XS Parts

via these auctions
not the best shots, but interesting.

In order:
"KURZWEIL K-2500 XS "MASTER VOLUMEN, ASSIGNABLE CONTROLLERS FADERS, SOLO, MIXDOWN, MIDI FADERS BUTTONS USED BOARD MODEL ASSY 121076"

"KURZWEIL K-2500 XS "MAIN PANEL CONTROL BOARD MODEL ASSY 121069 COMPLETE ALL CAPS AND ROTARY INCLUDED"

"KURZWEIL K-2500 XS "HEADPHONES, (R & L) MIX, (R & L) A, (R & L) B, (R & L) C AND (R & L) D AUDIO OUTS USED BOARD MODEL ASSY 121065"

"KURZWEIL K-2500 XS "CC PEDALS/BREATH/SWITCH PEDALS/SCSI THRU PORTS IN/OUT USED MODEL ASSY 121074 BOARD"

Evolution of a controller

flickr set by joshua_schnable
(click for more)

"I recently acquired (and then painted) an Evolution X-Session UC-17 controller. It's a nice retro-ish color ('almond'), and has new knobs (the soft-touch kind) courtesy of Mouser."

some additional notes from Joshua of chromedecay:
"1. This is a custom-painted Evolution UC-17 X-Session controller. I used Krylon's Fusion paint ('Almond') for it.

2. It's sitting on top of my Yamaha p-80 piano. It's not attached to the piano or anything.

3. I replaced the stock knobs with soft-touch black knobs with grey indicators. NOTE: I ordered ones with the wrong orientation from Mouser on my first try. If you want to replace the knobs on your X-Session, this is the Mouser part number of the ones that should work: 550-40086 (mine are here in a couple of days - I'll post to comments if they work out ok) . The X-Session has 6mm "d-shaft" stems, with a "south" orientation."

rexerRd200

YouTube via abertronic. via this auction
"demo of Rexer (guyatone) rd 200 Vintage digital delay" with Casio.

Thalassa Modular Madness Buchla Style

YouTube via Thalassa77

Roland MC-4 Step Sequencer Micro Composer MC4

via this auction

"This unit can sync to or generate DIN sync, so syncing it up to a laptop, TR-808, TR-909 or TR-606 is no problem at all with the proper DIN converters. I used it with a Roland SBX-10 to sync to Ableton so I could capture the loops I was making with the MC-4 sequencing my Arp 2600 and SH-101."

VFD Springmodulator

flickr by LoFi Ninja
(click for more)

full size

Update: video here

gattopardo studio

flickr by Squarenoise
(click for more)

Update: Another PPG Wave 2.2 Typo and some Tips

see the second update in this post. Again remember to check posts for red Updates throughout the day. The red stands out and should be easy to spot scrolling quickly down the page. Always click on the Older Post link at the bottom of each page and do the same. Each new day starts with a red date header, so it's easy to see where new days start as well.

Remember you can submit stuff via my contact info on the bottom right, or in the comments of any post. The rule is you have to be able to ID the synth in a post. Posts are about the synth first, music second, so if you want to promote your stuff in a vid or the like, be sure to show your synth. Also I try to spread things out so the site doesn't get overrun by one person, so send me your best and I'll link to the rest.

Finally, auction posts are welcome. Anything goes on MATRIXSYNTH-B and good pics, rare items, interesting facts and the like go up here on MATRIXSYNTH.

Update: and of course check out the forum's WTB and WTS for more.

Please post PPG comments in the PPG post linked above. Comments on the tips and what goes up are welcome here.