Korg Wavestation EX: Wave Sequences, Textures and Atmospheres 

link please

I would love to demo some of the wave sequence patches that I have downloaded. Would anyone be interested. The Aquila Rift patchbank is the most fantastic and beautiful set of patches I have ever heard. If you like Prophet VS too the Wavestation does some wonderful VS patches. 😎

Could we get a link?

Interesting. Bored.

Thanks so much for your comments :) I agree, it is just so different to anything else out there, and remains a very special synth for me. I know a few of the sounds tend to get used a lot, but there's a lot under the hood that can be tweaked to get some totally unique sounds. The architecture in there is mind-boggling; if I remember correctly, you can sequence something like 256 waves in sequence, and layer up to four of these in a sound, and layer up to four of these sounds in the vector. You could spend a lifetime exhausting the possibilities. I remember delving into the deeper levels of this and smiling to myself when I found the little sequence the programmers have put in there where the wave sequence sounds like the keyboard is saying its name. When you're playing the sounds, be sure to check out the effects that can be had using the vector and mod wheels - for example, the Midnight Run sound in the demo (10:28) is got by having the mod wheel fully on - it changes the sound completely.

I'm a noob with this MIDI stuff but I'm having a great time with it. So, interesting re: the "wave station" call out that is hidden... is it THIS? @ 2:03 --> ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-FQ-BQGlKkro.html

Thank you!

@@jaxonjaxonfied1931 yes duh lol.

Thanks! :-)

how do i get a WPC-01 card?

Good for you! It's awesome!

@@holygeneration7 I'm trying to buy it for like $130ish. Seems like that's quite a steal of a price! It'll be my first big-keyboard vintage synth (and first synth worth over $500) so I'm excited! I'm just dreading learning to program it, but I bet it's not *that* bad once you get the hang of it.

@@mikeexits Just replaced all the tactile switches on my Wavestation. Now learning how to program it.

Thanks very much! :-)

Sure is! There's just so much depth to the sounds; possibly stemming from the fact that each partial can comprise so many subsets of sounds. Almost infinite variety.

It sounds BETTER than most modern synths.

@@msxwiki We have that new Wavestate coming. :)

@@mikeexits Definitely the Wavestate does not sound as good as the old Wavestation. The Wavestate lacks all the magic, it sounds thin and boring like any regular VST.

@@Synth_Tools agreed it is just so bad, and it's too complicated for its own good. I know the wavestation was a beast but it just feels like the extra capabilities of the wavestate don't really have as much musical value, at least not in my eyes. Not to mention it's a raspberry pi stuck to a crappy keybed, it should have been just a VST in the first place. And yes I know they are allegedly making a full keyboard wavestate but it's been delayed a lot and I think that's because obviously no one is buying the wavestate

I like the Legacy version. It seems close enough to the real thing to me, certainly in a mix. And a lot smaller and lighter than the original! :-)

Bill Blair Speaking of being lighter: the original was built like a tank! Very solid metal case and elegant, almost minimalistic look. Downside was that editing patches meant diving very deep in the complex menus. 😅

@@calculus77 Yes, I certainly remember hours doing that, and being amazed at the depths to which you could dive - something like 255 waves sequenced per oscillator, and four layers per patch and then these combined to form a performance. And I remember finding the patch somewhere buried deep down where the Wavestation says its own name :-)

Thanks!

This and the Roland JD800 were the flagships of my synth arsenal in the 1990s :)

@@billyruss and T3, 01W

I have an MI, and I await the Wavestation to pair with it soon.

@@andythomas6246 I gigged a Korg M1 and a Korg 01/W for many years. Good workhorse instruments.

Thanks very much! 🙂

Yea, the 80s and 90s were good times for synths generally - some interesting pieces of kit. I had the Wavestation (sold it when I got the Wavestate), a Trinity (still think it was better than what followed on) and still have a Z1. I think synths back then had more character; nowadays, sure the piano and guitar samples are bigger and better but a lot of the workstations seem to be merging to a common ground, there's no uniqueness anymore. Back in the days of the even the X-50, the sound designers had to work hard with the limited samples they had and they got some really interesting sounds. Nowadays, with the better samples, I think they may have become a little lazier.

I have software versions, but also have the original Wavestate, which is pretty amazing also 🙂

@@billyruss You mean the original Wavestation or Wavestate? I still have the Wavestation EX which I bought in 1992 (with my entire 'life savings' at the time). Wavestate Rack on order (+ I have the VST Legacy Collection). I added Wavesequencing and Vector synthesis to my plugin, much inspired by Wavestation.

I also have the WSSR.. I guess I just need to get the Wavestation A/D to complete the collection 😄

@@wavesequencer The original Wavestate. I had thought that I would be bound to get the SE when it came out but, watching the reviews on here, I'm not convinced; the additional features don't seem to justify the price tag to me!

It's great to have the option of the Wavestate rack + good MIDI controller. Seems the best option to me.

I agree! I know purists will beg to differ but, for me, the VST version was close enough for me to sell my original hardware Wavestation.

@@billyruss Agreed, I sold my hardware Wavestations as well, the VSTi is good enough (which is an understatement) to use!

I agree, using now 2 Wavestation EX's, but the vst sounds incredible good too :-)

Thanks for the comments! From what I've seen/heard of it, I'm impressed with the Korg Legacy version of this synth, too - although I'm not sure how easy it is to edit the sounds. It's a lot lighter though :-)

Thanks!

The Golden Age of synths :-)

@@billyruss the late 80s and the early 90s have been the best Ages of Synth. Sorry for my bad english. Now i like to play my old ESQ-1

I think he did a number of demo tracks for various Korg synths - I remember seeing his name on a few, but I can't recall which ones :-)

Eric worked at Roland, not Korg; probably you are confusing the D-50 with the Wavestation.

I've had all three versions. For my money, there's not a lot of difference in the sounds... I've had this argument with "purists" before, on this channel, but the VST really does come very close. Especially once it's in the mix.

@@billyruss I agree with you that it does come close but at least in these videos there's better bass response probably due to the DACs, I'm really looking to get an ex to have fun playing with it and to sound a little better.

... or check out the Korg Legacy collection: www.korg.com/uk/products/software/korg_legacy_collection/ :-)

Or if you have a Ipad or a Iphone there is App called iWavestation by Korg on itunes store that is well worth checking out.

Same

Yea, I get the same feeling whenever I hear some of these patches played somewhere. The uniqueness of some of them makes them instantly recognizable, and that sound can transport you straight back to where you were when you first heard this beast. :-)

I've seen a few videos of the Wavestate - it looks pretty interesting, and I'm keen to give it a play! I've read that some (or all) of the wave samples from the Wavestation are on board, but not put together into these sound patches. Some nice textures out of it, though.

@@billyruss I will try it if I can too, of course, but I'm not so interested on it though, especially if they keep the 3-octave form factor which I find useless. I think the Wavestate deserves a 5-octave keyboard or at least a desktop version that I can play from a proper master keyboard but 3-octave is a joke. Too big to use it over the desktop, too small to use it at stage or to play it at the studio. I hope that other upcoming demos show a better sounding presets. I find its sound too sterile and lifeless but of course it could be because there aren't still enough demonstrations.

@@msxwiki I quite like the Sweetwater demo - at 36 minutes, it shows quite a few of the sound possibilities, and I'm interested enough to hear more. If you find that video and leave it running in the background, it's like an ambient/new age album playing!

@@billyruss I did. But I just don't like that sound.

The wavestate isnt multitimbral, right?

Thanks! :-)

PS1 startup sound is actually the Roland D50. Half of it is the factory preset patch "Spacious Sweep" with some tweaks. Not sure what the PS2 used though.

I'm assuming you heard about David Wise's inspiration for how to work around the SNES hardware? There is a great, if not several, docs and interviews talking about it. Very interesting.

@@johnmeroney2007 He tried to emulate the Wavestation via hex code, correct?

@@Ancaja123 Any computer is programmed with hexedecimal after, what, 1975? I think you just mean he wrote some very clever software to mimic the Wavestation sound techniques.

These sounds are soothing like the awesome musicscapes of Donkey Kong Country. I loved discovering new music or different arrangements of previous music on successive levels.

@@benanderson89 what I never understood is if he actually had a wavestation at the time and used it samples while programming the SNES to act like it, or if he was just really impressed by it and tried to copy it using his samples from his other gear

I will check on my soft version the patch you mention if you are correct i will send a photograph of michael cretu dancin with a donkey

@@pepinillosazucarados6743 yes RAM11 prog2 you can hear at the end or start of find love/principales of lust .

@@pepinillosazucarados6743 with a donkey MDR !! 😹😹😹

@@Reptilusable thanks were you from ?

@@pepinillosazucarados6743 from france and I m inconitionaly fan of Michael cretu compared to god because in french I say michael crée tout ! lol.

Thanks! The sounds are pretty much all original Wavestation sounds. This recording was made on the actual hardware Wavestation EX synth, and I'm not sure how you would control the vector joystick in the software version; I imagine you could move it pretty easily with the mouse, but there are probably other hardware controllers that you could map to it. Sorry I can't give more insight into it than that!

I Googled that and it translates as "decent device", or "good machine".

I think they would work fine with the software version of the Wavestation I'm pretty ceratin they wouldn't work with the more recent Wavestate hardware, though.

Difficult to say without seeing it, and I'm no expert. Not sure how much they go for nowadays - you can check on eBay. I think, if you've got the space, it's probably worth hanging on to - you can always play the sounds through MIDI.

According to Wikipedia, "Identical in form to the original Wavestation keyboard, Korg created the EX in response to player feedback and criticism. The EX doubled the ROM to 4MB by adding 119 new samples (most notably piano, drums, and the remaining Prophet VS waves), and eight new digital effects... Those who had purchased an original Wavestation could buy the EXK-WS upgrade kit to convert their keyboards to the EX version." Which is exactly what I did - I had the original Wavestation and a mate of mine who worked in a music shop managed to get me an upgrade kit at a great price and fitted it for me. I think the main benefit at the time was the addition of a piano wavesample, which was noticably missing from the original Wavestation. There were a few other goodies in there too, of course, but I can't remember what. I notice that I labelled the expanded ROM sounds as starting from 21:45 in the video, so these sounds would only be capable on the EX.

@@billyruss thanks for the info!

As I remember, a mate of mine worked in a music shop and had one lying around, asked me if I was interested and I got it for a knock-down price!

Wow! Yes, it does 🙂

Alas, I sold it a few years back! :-(

Or The Equalizer with Edward Woodward!