NAMM & NOT NAMM - New Products on the Synth Front

Well, it's that time of year again. Keep an eye out on the NAMM label (added to top right menu) for everything NAMM and more. More in that anything new will get the label whether it's shown at NAMM or not. It's about new gear. Updates in this post will be preceded in red. Some already in below. See "The NAMM List!" link under the Twitter, Facebook, and RSS labels on top of the right to get back to this post later.

(A note on the top site menus: I removed the iPhone and iPad labels as they go up in posts every day now so you can find them there. eBay links are on the right, so I removed it as well.)

That said, the following are some of the things to look out for. If you have any NAMM info feel free to comment and/or send it in. If I missed anything, let me know! If you are going to NAMM, feel free to send pics and video in.

On the list:

CLICK FOR MORE »

NAMM: Blofeld Test Pilots

follow-up to this post
Pictures taken by three crazy Waldorf betatesters: Dr. Georg Müller, Till "keep on turning these knobs" Kopper and Boele "SCD" Gerkes.

http://www.waldorfmusic.de
Note: Waldorf stated that they have NO part in this and may consider looking out for more sane beta-testers... :)

Some notes and samples via Boele via the Waldorf list: "Here is an mp3 [samples-teaser1.mp3] showing a tiny bit what samples sound like in the BLofeld engine. Of course these sounds are my preferences which not necessairely have to be yours :D

Don't expect General Midi sounds from Waldorf please. The samples CAN sound like that, but the *real* fun is in mangling these samples with drive, filters, effects and blend them with wavetables and VA oscillators!

And THAT it does REALLY REALLY REALLY well! This mp3 is bare Blofeld recording. No external processing or FX. I was already VERY impressed with the Blofeld, but this option opens a whole new world. Boele takes his hat off for Waldorf. Again."

followed by:
"Two more sounds [samples-teaser2.mp3] using no wavetables at all. The second one has a nice phaser. Without using the phaser ;-) Again, no external FX or processing. Bare Blofeld."

Remember to click on the images for the full size shot. Yeah, I'm getting one...

NAMM: Blofeld - Very Nice Indeed

follow-up to this post
Pictures taken by three crazy Waldorf betatesters: Dr. Georg Müller, Till "keep on turning these knobs" Kopper and Boele "SCD" Gerkes.

http://www.waldorfmusic.de
Note: Waldorf stated that they have NO part in this and may consider looking out for more sane beta-testers... :)

Note this is the last in the series of the unofficial Blofeld teasers from the three blomigos. :) Waldorf is one lucky company to have such support like this. They did a fantastic job! I have never seen this level of support and enthusiasm for a synth company before. I'm an old Waldorfian myself actually. They are a great company. The official release is coming up next. :)

NAMM: Waldorf Blofeld in Black

via @brandon_dnl's NAMM Set.

Thought this one should get it's own post. If anyone has any more info or pics on this one, send it in.

Update via Kevin: "From the NAMM show, Waldorf people said this was a limited edition run of 250 units"

Update: new pic via Analog Industries. Super size shot here.

NAMM: Blofeld - Beast, Yes. Wii Support, No

follow-up to this post
Pictures taken by three crazy Waldorf betatesters: Dr. Georg Müller, Till "keep on turning these knobs" Kopper and Boele "SCD" Gerkes.

http://www.waldorfmusic.de
Note: Waldorf stated that they have NO part in this and may consider looking out for more sane beta-testers... :)

NAMM: Blofeld Road

follow-up to this post
Pictures taken by three crazy Waldorf betatesters: Dr. Georg Müller, Till "keep on turning these knobs" Kopper and Boele "SCD" Gerkes.

http://www.waldorfmusic.de
Note: Waldorf stated that they have NO part in this and may consider looking out for more sane beta-testers... :)

Hmm... The local Migros is somehow not as flattering as Abbey Road. :) If you could only pick up synths at the supermarket...

NAMM: Blofeld - Wavetables, Yes, Snow, NO!

follow-up to this post
Pictures taken by three crazy Waldorf betatesters: Dr. Georg Müller, Till "keep on turning these knobs" Kopper and Boele "SCD" Gerkes.

http://www.waldorfmusic.de
Note: Waldorf stated that they have NO part in this and may consider looking out for more sane beta-testers... :)

Note the original Microwave.

You can see all posts in this set here.

NAMM: Blofeld - B3 Stacked with Effects

follow-up to this post
Pictures taken by three crazy Waldorf betatesters: Dr. Georg Müller, Till "keep on turning these knobs" Kopper and Boele "SCD" Gerkes.

http://www.waldorfmusic.de
Note: Waldorf stated that they have NO part in this and may consider looking out for more sane beta-testers... :)

Don't scratch them!

You can see all posts in this set here.

NAMM 2012: Waldorf Music Booth Pics

flickr set by MATRIXSYNTH

Waldorf were primarily showing their Zarenbourg electric piano which was working this time. A Blofeld and the new Pulse 2 were present. The Pulse 2 wasn't plugged in but it felt like a real unit in weight and metal enclosure. Note the number of knobs in the main programming matrix section of the Pulse 2 is six while the Blofeld is four. You can see Stefan Stenzel showing the Zarenbourg to a gentleman who apparently was well known in the industry. If anyone can ID him let me know.

NAMM 2018 Waldorf STVC String Synthesizer

Published on Jan 25, 2018 Kraft Music

"Find exclusive Waldorf STVC String Synthesizer BUNDLES at Kraft Music:
https://www.kraftmusic.com/brands/wal...

Nick Kwas From Korg USA a Waldorf distributor, demonstrates the Waldorf STVC String Synthesizer and Vocoder at the NAMM Show.

The Waldorf STVC is based on the Streichfett string synthesizer module. STVC combines the fat string sounds of Streichfett with a powerful vocoder. Housed in a rugged metal chassis, STVC features the same great 49-key keybed as the Blofeld keyboard. The simple panel layout provides immediate access to Solo, Strings, and Vocoder sections, as well as built-in effects.

Get more for your money with an exclusive Waldorf STVC string synth / vocoder bundle from Kraft Music. These package deals include the accessories you'll need to get the most out of your new synth, all for one low price. If you have any questions, please give us a call. Our knowledgeable Sales Advisors will be happy to assist in choosing the bundle that's right for you!"

NAMM: Waldorf Blofeld Keyboard

And the official announcement.
"The little villain grows up

Not only on the outside did he gain weight, also his inner qualities have seen a remarkable step-up: besides the virtual-analog synthesis and the classic wavetables it now sports a whopping 60 megabytes of sample memory.

Just imagine to add a vocal-like noise spectrum to a typical Wavetable pad, spice-up a virtual-analog solo sound with a strong attack sample or just process any other sample with the countless oscillator and filter modulations.

Play your sound creations on the high-quality keyboard with velocity and aftertouch. Pitchbend and modulation wheel are at your disposal and, as a matter of course, you can connect a sustain pedal.

All this is packaged in a sleek metal enclosure with a big graphic display, endless stainless steel rotaries and an internal power supply.

And although it comes for an unbeatable price tag, we add something very special. It comes:

From Waldorf with Love!"

Full specs and details: http://waldorfmusic.de/en/products/blofeld-keyboard

NAMM: Waldorf Largo Software Synthesizer

"Many producers and synthesizer enthusiasts asked for a full-blown Waldorf Synthesizer for their virtual rack. We listened, and now we proudly present Largo. Largo is the first pure software synthesizer with Waldorf DNA. And again – it is the cutting edge sound that makes the big difference.

No wonder, as Largo mirrors the technology used in Blofeld and Q hardware synthesizers. As for every Waldorf instrument, ergonomics are a core feature on screen as well. Your eyes will be pleased with a clearly structured, graphical user interface that supports your workflow intuitively.

Largo offers three fat oscillators, two of them with sub oscillators. These oscillators include models of classic analog waveforms as well as a selection of waves from the PPG and Waldorf Wave stored in two Wavetables. All these run through two Waldorf multimode filters with steep cutoff, resonance up to self-oscillation and a drive stage to add even more punch and grainyness to the sound. Ultra-fast envelope generators and flexible LFOs as well as an easy to understand, yet extremely versatile modulation matrix make for a sound designer's dream.

The filters have always been a core part of any Waldorf instrument. With outstanding expertise in both analog and digital synthesis, our developers took utmost care in developing the filters. And you can hear a significant difference when working with a Waldorf filter - they just sound right! Use the comb filters for plucked, stringed or blown sounds. Band pass, high pass, low pass and notch filters are all available with 12 dB and 24 dB slope. All of them sound extremely accurate and add pure sonic quality to the sound of your music.

Largo contains a flexible arpeggiator with 16 freely programmable steps as known from the exclusive Q synthesizer line plus an array of high quality effects such as Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Overdrive, Delay and Reverb.

The clearly arranged user interface helps you to create your own powerful synthesizer sounds in a breeze. Oscillators and filters are always in direct access while the submodules are only a mouse click away. It has the same exclusive voice architecture as the Q and Blofeld synthesizer line, fully integrated into the total recall system of your Digital Audio Workstation.

Largo works as a VST and AudioUnit instrument.
General Features"

http://www.waldorfmusic.de/en/products/largo

NAMM: WNAMM09: Wallander WIVI Orchestral Synthesizer

see the write-up on Sonic State
Note the Waldorf Blofeld keyboard as the controller.

NAMM Picks via attacksustain.com

pics here

Starts on page five so be sure to Prev at the bottom of the page. Pictured here:

Tiptop Audio Modular & Z-Burn
Elektron Octatrack
Mode Machines SL1 & Asid Sixty Four
Livewire Chaos Machine
Waldorf Blofeld Black (& orange)

There are tons of pics in this set, so be sure to click through.

NAMM: Waldorf Introduces the Pulse 2 Paraphonic Analog Synth

"Cutting edge and powerful lows in one compact box (available summer 2012)

Sometimes they do come back, and this time, it's with even more brute-strength power onboard. You are looking at a completely analog synthesizer that accurately delivers what synthesizer enthusiasts around the world truly crave. Pulse 2 is the reincarnation of it's legendary ancestor, the Waldorf Pulse, that dominated the electronic music of the 90s.

Three analog oscillators in combination with a true analog cascading filter is what Pulse and Pulse 2 have in common. But we didn't stop there. The filter circuits now also offer Highpass and Bandpass modes. We added analog Filter FM and Ring Modulation along with paraphonic modes that allow up to eight voice chords.

Like the Blofeld Synthesizer, the Pulse 2 is housed in a sturdy metal desktop case. Besides its large LCD display, 8 stainless steel knobs are available to surf through its clearly arrayed parameter matrix, set master volume and edit display accessible parameters.

Specifications
Analog Monophonic Synthesizer

3 analog oscillators + 1 noise generator
Pulse width modulation
Hard sync
Filter FM from Oscillator 3
Ring Modulation from Oscillator 3
XOR Osc Mode
8/4 Voice Paraphonic modes
Cascade Filter
24dB/12db Lowpass, 12db Highpass/Bandpass filter modes
Powerful Arpeggiator
8-slot Modulation Matrix
USB
MIDI
External analog signal input
Stereo line out
Headphone out
Backwards compatible with classic Pulse
128x64 character backlit LCD
8 stainless steel knobs
500 Sound Programs
Electron-absorbing black case

All specifications subject to change without notice"

Regarding Paraphonic via Wikipedia: "Paraphony is the property of an electronic musical instrument that can produce multiple notes or voices, but falls short of being truly polyphonic because the voices are not fully independent since they share at least one common element. For example, there might be just one single filter working on all voices collectively rather than the one filter per voice of truly polyphonic instruments; or there might be only one envelope generator."

MATRIXSYNTH NAMM 2013: Studiologic Sledge Pics

Some pics of the of the Studiologic Sledge with the synth engine by Waldorf.  The stand out for me on the Sledge is the interface.  Everything is big and spread out which invites you to explore it in a way you might not on Waldorf's own Blofeld synth.  Note that although the technology is similar between the two, they are slightly different.  If you haven't watched them yet, see this post for a video overview of the engine, and this one for audio demos from our friends at Sonicstate.

Side note: They had a HUGE banner.  That's it in the background.  One more pic of the top half below.

CLICK FOR MORE »

NAMM: WNAMM09: Waldorf Blofeld Keyboard and Largo Vi

see the write-up on Sonic State

NAMM: Waldorf Blofeld Keyboard? Check.

Pictures taken by three crazy Waldorf betatesters: Dr. Georg Müller, Till "keep on turning these knobs" Kopper and Boele "SCD" Gerkes.

http://www.waldorfmusic.de

Note: Waldorf stated that they have NO part in this and may consider looking out for more sane beta-testers... :)

Update 1/10: Bosendorfer and Migros images added.
Update 1/11: Snow and Reverb added
Update 1/12: Bunny, Wii added
Update 1/13: Microwave, Snow added
Update 1/14: B3, Effects added

NAMM: Waldorf Blofeld to get Sample Functionality

bleepology has the scoop. It will be available as a paid upgrade. No price yet.

Funny side note for the archives: Brandon of bleepology asked Stefan Stenzel and was told he was the first person to actually ask them there! :)

Bert and Ernie Spotted at NAMM

No sites of Stromberg and Blofeld, but here's Bert and Ernie.