Waldorf Quantum
The Waldorf Quantum is 4½ synths in one. Maybe even more. First you got 4½ different types of oscillator modes to choose from:
- Wavetable engine a la Waldorf Nave (that is classic Waldorf wavetables plus spectral modulation and more)
- VA oscillators waveshapes (including layering and detuning of shapes per oscillator)
- Sampling with added Granualar Synthesis function (or is it the other way?)
Including multisample, velocity switching, stereo and looping functions - Resonator
And you can select these modes individually on each of the three oscillators per voice.
It is a hybrid synth, as it features two analog lowpass filters per voice and digitale filters (trademark Waldorf ones including the digital PPG filter clone in 2 and 4-pole version) as well. The oscillators allow to route them via a crossfading parameter to the digital and7or analog one individual. And you can set the analog and digital filters in parallel or serial routing per sound.
The analogue filters got a s pleasing sound of their own. They are not distorting as the Pulse filters or good old CEMs. And they are not special "creamy" like a SSM 2044 filter with resonance. They are somewhere in between them, wich is very usable on a polyphonic instrument, where a too bold sound would be just too much.
- 6 well equipped LFOs (3 of them on available on the front panel) and
- 6 ADSR envelopes with variable slopes and loop function (again 3 of them directly accessible via panel knobs)
- Komplexer (multistage LFO/envelope modulator)
- a full modulation matrix
- 5 digital effects per sound with user selectable FX type and order
- a good Fatar TP/8SK keyboard with channel aftertouch
- arpeggiator and step sequencer
- about 4 GB internal memory for samples
- SD-Card slot for data import/export
- colour LCD touchscreen with encoders for editing menue values
This is not a Q+ on Steroid, it is more like this centuries WAVE.
Werner Schönenberger did a little tool to convert user wavetables of the Waldorf WAVE ready to import into a Waldorf Quantum synth (version 1.3 or higher). Download the Mac or Win version of it here (22 MB).
From the included Wave2Quantum.ReadMe.rtf:
Wave2Quantum is a small "drop-file-application" that converts WTB-files created by the Waldorf Wave into WAV-files which can be loaded into the Quantum.
First the wavetable has to be stored in the Waldorf Wave by using the <disk> menu to store it on a floppy or USB stick. Then the .WTB file has to be copied to a Mac or PC.
When starting Wave2Quantum, the .WTB files can be converted into .WAV-files. The tools shows a form where the user drops one or multiple files by use of drag and drop.
The tool creates four new files in the VERY SAME directory of the original .WTB file:
- *.128.WAV - is a .WAV file with sample length of 128 samples
- *-N.128.WAV - is a .WAV file with normalized waves with sample length of 128 samples
- *.512.WAV - is a .WAV file with sample length of 512 samples where each sample is 4 times repeated with slight random values to create more harsh spectrum
- *-N.512.WAV - is a .WAV file with normalized waves with sample length of 512 samples where each sample is 4 times repeated with slight random values to create more harsh spectrum.
E.g. the file "MyTable.WTB" will be converted into the following wavetables
- "MyTable.128.WAV"
- "MyTable-N.128.WAV"
- "MyTable.512.WAV"
- "MyTable-N.512.WAV"
The .WAV files are imported into the Quantum in the Wavetable mode by selecting the menu to load wavetables from WAV files. When importing the .WAV file the sample size has to be set corresponding to the file, either 128 samples or 512 samples per wave. The sound of the wavetable equals most to the Waldorf Wave if the Wavetable mode of the Quantum is set to "stepped".