Waldorf Blofeld Keyboard

to start is a waldorf, it's not a common synthesizer, also you have to keep in mind that there are not many keyboards of this manufacturer to choose and If we look at the market, we will not find many with the same conditions, with the ability to modulate samples, wave jumps, fm synthesis, substantial synthesis, additive synthesis and that are polyphonic with 16 multitimbral parts. ... that makes it more exclusive.

When I took it out of the box for the first time I was impressed by its futuristic, compact and modern design, weighs 8 kilos, its appearance from the beginning gives that feeling of robust quality, its bright and perfect keys without any imperfection in their lines make clear that is all the work of a good product of the manufacturer.

This German synthesizer has been used in electronic music for a long time,it came out a year later than the desktop version, n 2019 will be 10 years old and it will still be the only wadorf synthesizer with 16 multi-factor parts.

many themes of avant-garde music and pop content such as trap and dubstep contain a blofeld waldorf among its tracks, it is very recognizable by its more trance-like sound and glitch-like bass. .

he defends well in front of an access virus, nord lead ...

this keyboard where it shines the most is in its interior, its minimalist aspect does not do justice to that feeling of having nothing, even so, in its interior hides a whole ecosystem of incredible possibilities.

after almost 10 years this synthesized does not age and continues in the market being of interest to many musicians, its junior hermeno is the modulo version, all a success of sales for its price so low in the market, but the keyboard will hardly see it secondhand and if you see it, it will be in small quantities, sometimes ... it is not very frequent to see them for sale.

to start with waldorf blofeld is a digital synthesizer with 25 voices of polyphony (not bad for only use 10 fingers...) has 3 polyphonic VCOs oscillators with 66 wave types to choose from and another 20 that we can create through our computer and also the option of using samples to use them as an oscillator source.

has a cutoff of 127 steps, the vast majority of digital and analog synthesizers have potentiometers with digital coding with much less steps, which is what is really important in the end in a filter.

it does not have a sequencer, but that's not going to be a problem, because its arpeggiator covers those needs well, the arpeggiator is editable and works as a 15-track drumtable with 16 steps at most, besides that you can also change the notes for create impossible melodies, is arpeggiating with a device that divides a MIDI chord input into your individual notes and repeats them rhythmically, ideal for handling other synths with the powerful arpeggiator that this synthesizer has.

Different sequence modes can be defined for the arpeggiator, to cover a wide range of applications.

In addition to the synthesis features, the Blofeld offers a deep programmable arpeggiator for each sound program.

It can reproduce a wide range of different rhythm patterns, including different accents and timings, and allows the creation of sophisticated personalized rhythm patterns, the range of BPM's is from 40 to 300 BPM's maximum.

The arpeggiator uses a list of notes that can store up to 16 notes in each of the 15 tracks in the rhytm rom. This list is established based on the configuration of the parameters of the arpeggiator.

Blofeld has two filters and 3 LFOs, multiple FM processors and internal routing of modulation and effects and process destinations.

it has a Glide with the random timing / -3 ... + 3 and it also has the knobs for the filter sweeps, they can not be done at once, they have to be done at least in two laps and depending on the speed that we do it moves more or less distance moving the same degrees, although this is also configurable to the taste of the musician.

it has its serial software but there are also unofficial ipad editors for blofeld.

without a doubt it is a very serious synthesizer with many users behind it, I have had several high-end synths such as access, clavia, roland, yamaha and it gives me the feeling that this synthesizer is high-end to medium-range property

delighted to have it, it brings many impossible sounds to my tracks.

How can I start? Weighted aftertouch keys, amazing sounds (even the best memories you have of the PPG), a few decent arpeggiated sounds. A truly amazing, cost-effective, and fun synth ..

Midi implementation is great (send), but is tricky (receive), so watch out integrating this into a Live set-up, or controlling other keyboards.

But in general, the Blofeld is a joy, continually a surprise, and one of my great Thomann impulse purchases : )

Meiner Meinung nach ein fantastischer Synthesizer. Einer der wenigen VAs, die es mit einem Korg Radias aufnehmen können.

Die Hardware ist wirklich äussert solide gebaut. Schwierig, so eine Qualität heute zu finden. Auch kluges Design im Detail, Lage der Anschlüsse, kleiner Stromanschluss. Das macht das Gerät solide und gleichzeitig handlich. Hätte vielleicht noch etwas weniger tief sein können :) Das Keyboard spielt sich äussert präzise, der Aftertouch ist ok. Es wird alles stabil. Die Tasten klacken manchmal, vielleicht aber nur, weil das Gerät noch neu ist. Jedenfalls immer noch leiser als meine Korg M3 Tastatur. Ein Modulations-Pedal-Anschluss fehlt mir aber doch.

Firmwaremäßig ist die Hardware laut Aussage vom Waldorf-Support mit v1.22 ausgereizt. Der Synthesizer bietet zahlreiche Features und viele Modulationsmöglichkeiten. In der Modulationsmatrix können sogar ADSR-Phasen angesteuert werden. Im Vergleich zum Schwester-Synth Largo klingt der Blofeld sauberer und präziser. Ich vermute, dass der Blofeld oversampling macht oder die Parameter-Changes in höherer Frequenz stattfinden (Waldorf könnte also den Largo verbessern :) ). Die Latenz ist unterhalb von 2ms.

Würde mir von Waldorf noch einen Schwung Produktpflege wünschen. z.B. das Hinzufügen von "free OSC-Phase", dass ein OSC nicht retriggert. Auch fehlt ein amtlicher Midi-VST-Editor, der das Editieren erheblich vereinfachen würde. Waldorf könnte einen aufkaufen und anpassen... Der Reverb ist leider als einziges überhaupt nicht gelungen.

I'm using this synth mainly at my studio but intending to use it live later on.

The basic structure is quite sturdy and this synth is actually quite heavy given the metal casing. Not too heavy to carry around though. The encoders feel quite good and I unterstood that Waldorf changed the specs at some point because many earlier encoders started skipping values. The keybed is totally wonderful. I like it even better than some of my more expensive synths.

I like the basic layout, it's quite easy to understand and every basic function is easily accessible straight from the front panel. The user interface isn't sadly wysiwyg though as it involves some menu diving to get to the more advanced functions. This might not be the go to synth for someone looking to create new soundscapes live but it's possible if you take the time to learn or use an external controller.

Soundwise this I love this little thing. To be honest it's kind of cold sounding like many software based synths are but it excels at what it does. You might get similar sounds out of software synths but this is an affordable option if you don't want to use computers.