Apollo Studio Changes

Last week I got back from holiday and I wanted to get back to my music, but I'm having serious jet lag troubles. I'm very tired and I can really focus unfortunately. I'm sure it will pass in a few days, so I started doing some little studio changes. I recently sold quite some stuff to be able to get some new synths soon. One of the things I did was sell most of the stuff from my mobile modular rack. I only kept the Semtex XL that I put in the modular desk now as you can see. And on the spot where the mobile 19" rack used to be I could now finally put my ARP 2600. So now it has a decent spot where I can play on it and it is also next to my modular desk so that I can patch it to the other synthesizers. I had this in mind for a long time already, but just didn't find the time. Well now it is there I'm quite happy with it.

I also found a new spot for the Blofeld module. I removed the front cover from the Arturia Origin and that just gave me enough room to put it on front of it. So now it is finally on my desk within reach. I'm sure this won't be the final way I set my desk up, but for now it will do. The next major update will be the addition of some new synthesizers. From the stuff I sold I'll buy a new Korg Kronos and a new Roland Jupiter 80. I have ordered them a long time ago, but I'm still waiting for them. I hope to get them soon and then I'll let you know right away of course :)

M-Audio Venom and Blofeld module

A while ago I sold myWaldorf Blofeld module to get a version with keys and now I did it the other way around again. It was a stupid move moneywise of course, because I lost some money in the sale twice, but I had to make room for something else and the Blofeld was the only synthesizer I could trade back again for a module version without losing those sounds. A well those things happen. In the back of the Blofeld you see the UltraNova by the way. I hope they will make a module version of that one too in the future. I can't seem to find a nice place for the keyboard version either.

Well and here is the synthesizer I wanted to make room for. It is the new M-Audio Venom. I just picked it up today and played for a very short while on it. I don't have much time unfortunately now, since I'm struggling to make the dead line for my new album. But skipping through the presets was pleasant. It sounds quite refreshing :) And new sounds mean new inspiration! That is always good news. OK now back to work ;) I'll try to send another update on Apollo soon.

Waldorf MicroWave 1 Rom Update

I have had a Waldorf MicroWave in my studio for a long time. It is a very nice digital wave table synthesizer with analog filters. It sounds really sweet, but my friend Hanz told me that it could sound even better. I still had the old OS Roms in there. So he pointed me to some Roms on E-bay that I could buy to upgrade it. Well actually I had these roms in my drawer for months already, but today I decided that it was time to finally install them into the MicroWave. So first thing was to get it out of the rack. Luckily the cables are long enough to even be able to test it this way.

And here are the new Roms. They are just normal Eproms so I guess when you have the software and an Eprom burner you could just burn them yourself, but I'm sure you can also find someone on E-bay that still sells them. As you can see mine came shipped in a nice antistatic box with some antistatic foam. There are two E-proms one is marked H for High and one is marked L for Low. I guess you can't go wrong there. So it was time to open up the Microwave. Opening it up is quite easy. You just have to remove 5 screws and you can lift of the top cover.

The Roms are in the upper left corner. I removed them using a small flat screw driver and my Roms were also marked H and L so that didn't require any puzzling. You just have to watch the oriention of the Roms. When I picked it up by the way I heard something moving inside the MicroWave and when I held it up side down a screw fell out :( I guess I was lucky that this screw never caused any short circuit. Well after screwing the lid back on I powered it up and it said version 2.0 so that looked good :) And then I put it back in the rack and played a bit on it. I think I will have to look up some new presets for it, but I'll ask my friend Hanz about that. Well another thing to scratch of my to-do list :)

Waldorf Blofeld upgraded with Keys

About a year ago I bought this little synthesizer. It was the new Waldorf Blofeld. It holds about all the technology that Waldorf developed so far in the Q series (virtual analog) and the Wave. And even though I have a MicroQ and a MicroWave this is so much more easier to edit because of the display and of course it is also nice to combine these techniques. And there is more as well. Waldorf put some very nice stuff in this very small box. And even though it looks good and it is metal in stead of plastic and very decently build I somehow couldn't take it very serious as a synth and didn't use it much so far in my productions. Waldorf came up with a nice solution for that.

This solutions comes in the form of the Waldorf Blofeld keys. So I traded in my module for this keys version recently. You can see it just below the three Clavia's in the picture on the right. It is still nice looking and actually all the controls are the same and the layout is the same, but it has keys now and a pitch wheel and modulation wheel and somehow I like it WAY more now :) I know it sounds stupid but for me it is a way more mature synthesizer now. The keys does have something elke extra by the way. It has extra internal memory that you can use some sample bases sounds. So in this way it actually is more then the module. I played around with it last week and I like it a lot actually. It is great especially for pad sounds. So I'm sure you will hear it around on my future songs somewhere :)

Waldorf Pulse

I just acquired a Waldorf Pulse. It is monophonic analog synthesizer with 3 analog Oscillators, 2 LFO's and an analog filter. It even has an arpeggiator on board. Especially the modulation routing possibilities are quite flexible. That can mean only some great sounds I think :) I heard it is great for analog bass and lead sounds, but I didn't hear it yet. Just picked it up. At least it doesn't take up a lot of space.

I think it is a nice addition to my Waldorf collection. But I'm still doubting if I will put it in the rack toghether with the MicroWave I and the MicroQ Phoenix edition or that I will put in in my analog corner. Where I actually think it belongs because it is analog and the other Waldorfs I have are not. So I'll see. First let's play with it :)

Walforf Blofeld Arrived

Another fine addition to my studio. I bought a Walforf Blofeld. The first time I played with this little synthesizer was at the Musik Messe in Frankfurt last year. To be honest I was not impressed by it at that time. I think because the factory presets that were in it by that time were very crappy. Recently I played on a final model in a music store and I was completely amazed. They have turned it into a little monster :) It is amazing what a powerful sound you can get from this little synthesizer. Especially the pad sounds you can get from it are very good. At first it looks cheap, but the enclose is very solid and also are the knobs. Everything feels very good.

I found a nice place for it in the digital corner of my studio. Just to show you how small it is I made a picture so you can see it next to some equipment you might know. I think I will use some Waldorf Blofeld sounds on my next album. But for now I'm still discovering a bit how it works. It is an easy synthesizer to edit now with the display. The graphical representation they made of some parameters are quite nicely done. I think you get a lot of moneys worth. A lot of synth for a low price. I would say check it out at your local music store!