Thanks a lot Ricky. Now im not going to stop thinking about this synth until I own one myself. I've been having trouble deciding which poly synth i want to buy. I definitely want this one. It sounds so good.
These are the synths I dream about, truly innovative, and with our own imported waveforms this synth prepares it for wavetable synthesis automatically and quickly. This fast experimentation with our custom wavetables through automation make this a synth for today and 30 years from now just as wonderful. By being able to send hundreds of custom experimental wavetables through this synth every week, we the sound designer, should become experts at which waveforms are best for the desired sound. Then armed with this knowledge, continue to hone are imports for surprising, unexpected sound experiences.
Your videos are just amazing, I’d watch a video twice as long on this because you do the whole thing so well. This and the Deckard’s Dream would make a great video too.
Ricky, gotta say Rippin' Action! (In other words - this is Smokin'!) And... almost all of this was done with one oscillator. Can't wait to hear it with three oscillators. 😄
High praise indeed!!! @bobcoover6215 I received my 3rd wave a few days ago - and it is incredible. My other synth is a Prophet 10, and based on first impressions, the 3rd wave is a league above it in every way. Thank you for firmware 1.5 too!
In 1990, a synth like this would have cost $4000 in 1990 dollars, which makes paying $4000 in 2023 dollars for a more advanced verision, a pretty good deal actually.
I find it interesting that, in spite of the proliferation of new, relatively inexpensive synthesisers in the last few years, there doesn’t seem to be anyone crafting really novel sounds. We always seem to come back to the same old tones. Nice video nevertheless.
Totally agreed… but it does beg a question or two… Chief among them being, “Would Guarneri / Stradivarius have continued inventing new violins _after_ having reached perfection”? Back in the goodol days, you just had to accept that your Juno-60 was a Juno-60 was a Juno-60. But in Modern Times, my Iridium can become evermore the Iridium it could possibly be! And, truly no offence to anyone, but it seems even the first “version” of my Iridium was more capable than the 3rd Wave (as much as I’m intrigued by the latter, don’t get me wrong!)?!
It's an amazing synth! 24 voices, each with a Prophet SSI 2140 analog filter. :) The Authentic PPG and Modern Wavetable capabilities make the headlines, but the hybrid analog subtractive synthesis is amazing as well. The latest firmware has great vintage voice modeling (via Misc Menu: Circuit Drift param)... combined with the analog filters and quadtimbral stack capability, its such a versatile and great sounding synth.
Ooooo! Lovely and luscious sounds! I'm just starting to explore wavetable synthesis and for now I have my Polyend Tracker and Pigments to help with that but, yeah... this has some great aspirational points to aim for, like a musical North Star. Thanks for sharing it!
I had a super hard time to select between the module or the keyboard version. Ended up with keyboard version just to have the few extra controls and I don't regret it :) very fun machine to program and it offers so much possibility!
@@brhodes0 The reason lies in your comment and the one you echoed: viewer fatigue. Only novelty interests the masses. The 18th jam would only get 3 views, so there's no point in producing it on YT. On the other hand, there was an 18th jam and even a 100th, but you won't see them here. Quite simply.
When a machine is powerful, it arouses passion and sometimes exaggerated exaltation. But I've never heard anyone say the same about mediocre or limited synths (like the Volca, for example). So you have to admit that there's either a truly extraordinary coincidence, or, more likely, a basis of truth... Take an interest in the latter rather than criticizing the exaggeration of passion. Unless, of course, the bitterness of not being able to afford the machine forces you to diminish its benefits in an attempt to mitigate your inner contradictions between the desire to own the machine and the reality of your insufficient ability to finance it. This is just a hypothesis, of course, so don't take it the wrong way. But I know that if it doesn't concern you, it concerns many others who are making remarks similar to yours. Listen, vibrate, and take an interest in the instrument and not in the person showing it to you and his understandable joy in manipulating the machine.
Long time analogue guy since 1980s... recently I've fallen in love with wavetable synthesis on the Iridium. Especially making my own wavetables.... this sounds gorgeous.
Such a deep synth. When I bought a Waldorf Q when it was first released, it changed my brain forever. In a good way, lol. Thanks for the review, you are a lucky man!!!
I want this SO BAD. I heard it and it's INSANE. It makes my Modwave look like a toy and wouldn't talk to my Hydrasynth if they bumped into each other at a party.
@@StabilAmboss - What does? Other than the HS and Iridium, both of which have essentially bespoke actions, I can't think of any keyboard synths with poly AT keybeds in current production. Prior to those you pretty much have to go back to the 1990's to find more (Generalmusic S2/S3 and Ensoniq SD-1). A surprising number of hardware synths and most soft synths will respond to poly AT if you have a poly AT or MPE controller though.
@@MFitz12 Lumi keys and Hydrasynth (explorer) are what I had in mind, and a fraction of the price. You specified hardware synths, do software synths not have poly at functionality?
@@StabilAmboss - I was careful to differential between hardware and software. Lumi keys is more of a learning program IIRC. Hardware synthesizers in current production with poly AT responsive keybeds: HS in all its variants Iridium Hardware synths that respond to poly AT messages via MIDI; Most of the recent Sequential stuff (OB6, P6, P5, P10, etc,..) except the Trigon. 3rd Wave. Everything from Black Corporation I think some of the Korg stuff might too, can't remember. Softsynths that can respond to poly AT messages: Most of them. Probably easier to list the ones that don't.
The chorus in this synth is bonkers. Great sounding synth! Have got a Prophet X, and would say the character of the filter is pretty similar. Which is not surprising considering it’s almost the same chip. Rossum is a genius.
I have the modal argon 8x and its comparable in sound. The ppg wave 2.3 was one of Trent Reznor's first synths. There's a video of him performing eyes without a face and using the ppg.
Great review. Yea man 3rd Wave really nailed it with this beast. Safe to say I will never own one, so I'll just enjoy this video...until one day another synth comes out 10 times better and this one's price drops and then you get really pissed for the amount of money you slung out for this. Or maybe it goes up b/c 3rd Wave REALLY nailed it and it becomes another collectible beast. Time will tell.......
Woo! All these cool cats getting their 3rd Waves and sharing them with the world! Did you _also_ get convinced at NAMM last year? :D I'm gonna have to miss NAMM this year... My wallet will thank me!
damn, i been considering copping either this or the moog one, and i was already leaning hard towards the moog. but this video, though. this thing sounds so damn good
Congrats man. Know how it feels to drop that kind of money on a synth, got myself a Moog One last year (8-voice don't get too excited) and I've hardly paid attention to anything else since (though the 3rd wave did catch my eye). Very different synth, but same thing where it just does what I want and it definitely won't be going anywhere for a long while. I'm grateful I can have a machine like this around, and when I want to sit down and work on a sound I know where I'm going first most of the time. Enjoy it, don't stop enjoying it, and then enjoy it some more.
I see the occasional gopher pop up in comments field not impressed with the sound. I’m guessing they didn’t catch the era of Wolfgang Palm’s unmistakeable synths sounds in old album mixes, because this is essentially a vintage reissue of the PPG series. It was brilliant of GS to include the 8 bit wave sets, but the inclusion of hi-resolution, no aliasing waves as well makes it a modern tool that covers the past perfectly, but can move into the future, and with 4 different timbres at once. It also has the ability of infinite new sets if waves because it has a super hassle-free wavetable maker that can convert any sound in a couple of minutes. If you want to be ‘80s Rush or Tangerine Dream, you’re set, but have the option of sounding like them in an unknown future alternate universe and for a long, long time as well.
I like the delay feature of the 2nd amp envelope and I assume you can do that with the 3rd and 4th part as well to create an evolving sound. It takes some time to dial up a great patch I see. Wish I had more time for programming amidst composing deadlines.
I realize that comparing a eurorack module with the 3rd wave is "silly", but I would be curious about 3rd wave vs E370? (They can both be "really cool", for that matter)
Ricky, you should record an ambient album! Your sound design skills are so good. Just tweak some parameters for an hour or two on your favorite synths and record everything to tape :)
Bro your videos are inspiring! This synth sounds amazing - Would it be possible that any sound play throughs you upload covering either presets or sounds you made to give us one key shots in C :) that way can sample best in my sampler, hope that’s ok! I can’t afford a synth like this lol
Not really feeling this synth. It just doesn't grab me. I think there are lots of synths out there doing much more and doing more with less. Glad you like it though.
3rd wave seems like a great fit! Definitely somethings it does I wish the Waldorf M did but then the M also does things that I am not willing to give up to go 3rd wave. M is totally worth a look if you get the chance, let's you push the 8bit digital noise even further and has some great digital filters and wave folders before its analog filter and my favorite transient samples 😍. Crazy time to be a PPG/microwave fanboy
Very cool. I do want one. But I didn't realise that the price of this was going to be quite so high. Was thinking it was going to be around 3.5k. Oh well, can't afford this. But for flexibility / malleability a Hydrasynth can out flex this, even if it doesn't have as pleasant a character. Up in this new premium powerhouse synth price range, Baloran's The River seems interesting. Heard Ian Pooley or one of the other French producers talk about it on a podcast. It's fully multi-timbral, and 8-voice in base model, with 8 seperate audio outputs. And it's expandable with voice cards. Has to have heavy bass, given it weighs 26kg, and looks heavyweight ;) Nice shelf on top to put a microcosm, zoia and other nice pedals on.
There are a lot of superficial similarities: both are wavetable synths with the SSI 2144 filters. M has 8 voices (theoretically expandable to 16, but the expansion still isn't available yet in the US), the 3rd wave has 24. 3rd wave has three oscillators, vs. 2 in the M. 4 LFOs vs 3 in the M. Built-in effects vs. none in the M. 4-part multi-timbral for the 3rd wave. The M has some additional digital 'grit' and aliasing that sounds really nice, as well as some other digital features like wavefolding. Both synths have digital SV filters. I own both, and I have to say that though this video isn't necessarily the best demo, the 3rd wave is easier to get really nice sounds out of. It feels like a Dave Smith wavetable synth, and if you've used something like a Prophet (any version) or OB-6, it's instantly familiar. The M is a little harder to wrap your head around, but still quite rewarding. Both sound great. The M costs basically a third of what the 3rd wave costs...
@@coyotegeek wow, thank you so much for your deep explanation!😊 "feels like a dave smith wavetable synth" is really great to hear...!! 3rd wave sound is so beautiful.
Appreciate the tech to create this synth no doubt but i have never been a fan of digital sounding synths they just feel cold and distant to me. Would be a good complement to a studio for some though.
