I haven’t been this fascinated with a piece of hardware in a while. No experience with software can come anywhere near this. You get what you pay for. God knows I’m paying for it!
Disagreed. There are plenty of software synths that can do everything this does hell its remarkably underpowered even for a hardware digital synth. 16 voices? The virus TI which is 17 years old had up to 90. Also had wavetables (albeit fewer of them). Also had VA style oscillators, had more modulators. The only thing to doesnt do is the granular side but then this doesnt do that part remarkably well either. It is a real shame, they could have done something wonderful here but its just a bit ... blah!
@@sacredgeometry Yeah, but you've lost all sense of tactility and of it being an instrument with a software synth. You're basically doing musical Excel - and most of us spend our entire day in front of a mouse and monitor, god knows the last thing we want is to spend our evenings sat on our bums doing the exact same thing to make music !
@@2112jonr Why? I have better keyboards on my other synths (or digital pianos) than this has. I can use them with any soft synth. I have (two) ableton pushes I can use those too, multiple other midi devices from piano keys, to breath control, to midi tracking for guitar. All of which can be used with any MIDI compliant device. Why on earth would I be losing any tactility? I play 9-10 none electronic instruments btw. Half of which over grade 8. I own digital and analog hardware synths. Its not like I am not familiar with instruments. Tactility is absolutely not something this synth will offer you offer you over any soft synth. Its not like there is a 1:1 mapping between controls and its not like you are touching analog potentiometers which directly effect the circuitry.
@@sacredgeometry Then why are you even watching this video? Surely it must bore you to watch a hardware synth being used? Or did you just come on here to troll everyone's comments?
Wow ! The screen animations of course in real Time ! I don't find words ! Thanks to the enginers and Waldorf and processors capacities, and Martin. Great vidéo.
Beautiful ! The screen represanting a wave, Moving/form's changing..., as you move the CC, looks like a ''space-ship'' ride... ...in Space. Great machine. How lucky you are, FM work is so interesting. I'm gonna bye a Digitone soon ... Processors, nowadays ones, are so stronger and stronger with Time.... Alban.
It's been a while since I've heard a synth that I really want. Some of the ambient sounds are mesmerizing. But I have a Korg Wavestate and an Omnisphere VST. Together they might possibly produce 60% of the amazing sounds of this beast.
Killer Machine. Thanks 4 demo. I've ordered mine. Still I have 3 remarks : Unforgivable it has no digital I/O connector. (digital sampling) Also loading / sending samples over usb to a computer host is impossible. A Roland V-synth XT released in 2005 has this feature... Why no audio over USB ? Such a shame for a +2K synth...
Very nice Martin . I hope to get the Iridium soon , having owned a Blofeld . Waldorf make good , solid gear that gives a unique flavour compared to a lot of the other synths available . I decided to have a look again at my IPAD's Nave app and I forgot how good it was when played through my Amp. It'll keep me going and help to familiarize myself again with wavetable synthesis whilst I wait for the big day . I'll also be watching people like yourself for inspiration . Regards , Kieron.
Excellent! Definitely one of the most versatile synths ever. But I‘m waiting for the keyboard version (watch Matt Johnson‘s video!), not primarily because of the poly AT but the better UI.
@@MartinStuertzer Thanks Martin, I am considering starting with an Iridium for drone and a Rev2 16v for melodies I think with those two elements I could be 10 more years of my life traveling through interstellar space without getting tired..🛰️🛰️🛰️ I lose myself in that analog sound 💖
Same synth engines, different filters, different polyphony. The Quantum has an analogue filter with 8-voice polyphony, while the Iridium has digital filters and 16-voice polyphony. Part of me wants to see if I can sell my Quantum, buy the Iridium, and pocket the extra cash (though I imagine that this release may prompt others to do something similar...)
WALDORF NEEDS TO FIX THESE PROBLEMS ASAP: •The screen touch response is pretty BAD, first and foremost •Fix Multisampling workflow •Latch to external Keyboards •Visual feedback on the Wavetable scroll •Step Sequencer increase (32 steps is too short for the SEQ) •Undo feature (at least one step)
thats odd because one of the unbiased reviews here on YT claims the iridium touch screen is improved, and can be used with a stylus. What does "latch to external keyboards" mean? I dont care about a sequencer of any length.
@Waker Upper Nah, watch again. His exact quote is "the screen is quite response but you may have to hold your finger down on a choice for a millisecond longer in some deep menus with lots of information" - but he implies that case is rare and might just be his fingers. The Quantum which I own is less responsive and I still have no issues with it. The Iridium which I've tinkered with is improved in that regard. If this was a deciding factor for you, it's not a problem.
So this is a beautiful synth, both in sound and design. Has that Waldorf magic dust. Of course I want it, but 2K is a sizable investment. I have Blofeld on wavetable duties now. I understand this is far more advanced with different synth engines. Is it multitimbral or I think I read bi-timbral? I’d need to really sit and try it out before I drop $2K. Maybe it’s my ears but I’m still feeling Blofeld can do much 78% of these sounds. It perhaps sounds sharper and clearer-metallic sounding(?). Of course editing seems more in-depth yet more accessible and the screen is phenomenal, just lust worthy. Your thoughts on the more simple yet very nice Blofeld versus this shiny new alien tech Iridium? What do you ‘hear’ that justifies handing over a paycheck or two? Pads are gorgeous btw...but to be expected from Waldorf. Thanks!
This synth does it all despite hardware naysayers . This instrument is way better than any software vst and YES you can make future bass with it if you understand how synths really work
Hhmmm!!..That's subjective. I have the Irridium but I have to say in all honest it's about 45% of a VST I have called Falcon 2.5. That VST can do everything the Irridium is capable of and much more. More powerful, more flexible, especially granular and particle, and far easier to import and export samples to and from other devices...no need for micro cards etc. Many more oscillators and ability to load or create many more layers to create a patch etc...the list could go on and on really:).
What a great device! Unfortunately, it is far beyond my current financial possibilities. And actually beyond my skills when it comes to wavetable sound synthesis. But devices like the Waldorf Iridium show that the story of "Analog Heat", "Analog Pressure" and "Analog Fatness" are actually prejudices. But I also think that devices like the Iridium are only worthwhile for those of the musicians who, first of all, have the manual skills to be able to use the potential of such a machine, and who, on the other hand, have a precise idea of what kind of sounds they are want to create with it. I think if you just want to "jam around" with the Iridium, you will never, never come to an end ... ;-)
Does there have to be an end...ever? When I make musik I never have a clear idea how it should sound like. It’s the process that gets me to a finished track eventually
Ok,so I am thinking of getting a Sledge2,the Juno HS60/Ensoniq KS32/ASR10,I already have,and then something like the Iridium for live/production use.I already have some other samplers too,yet with this,would I be getting a great value as a sampler/synth??
I'm falling in love with this synth, I've always been a fan of analog synths but here I hear innovative sounds too I have the rev2 but I believe that here we are in a newer contemporary charm it seems the revenge of digital and it seems that there is done great. what do you think about it ? Can you compare the two synths to me? Just to know what you think ..Thank you
great sounds , got to say that screen is impressive , sorry to not go about the sounds - im mesmerised by that screen. typical wave sounds - prob become another classic - nice synth
Hello martin how are you? I 'm calling your retro engenering memory ! Please don't say you don't remnber I know you're good enought to do it. I tried to reproduce with visual infos your second patch at 01:09 and although you write in the comments that you used 3 wavetables, I may be wrong but we can see on the synth that 2 OSC are WAVEFORM, and only the 3thrd you tweak is WAVETABLE resonant according to buttons light. At first before reading your comment I thought it would be possible to have this airy / string and evolving sound 🤩with only one wavetable position modulate, the phaser etc... but it's not. (I also don't see filter movement, but maybe you didn't set the IR to show it at this time.) Q:To have this kind airy + evolving result when stacking OSC, what is you basic OSC form / Mod destination routine? Thank you. PS: maybe one OSC is a fix wavetable you'r tweaking in live for harmonic tones, a second OSC is a wafeform with filter mod sweeping , and the last is a fix OSC waveform for the ''string/airy'' part...I don't know.
Martin have some new toys to make some great music sounds from ,and it aint bought at Apollon music store in Bergen city,that's for sure.Prost mein Freund!
@@MartinStuertzer LOL! I live on the countryside of Bergen.So i dont go to bars or restaurants that very often anymore. Check this video out from Fløyen,with Edvard Grieg music in the background.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-q05o2XCMFGI.html ENJOY!
Could you play the opening of Watchers of the Sky with this, please. Watchers normally does best with two mellotrons live or overdubbing mellotrons. People cover watchers with modern synths yet I think this synth could go further.
Beautiful UI. Wish i thought it sounded any good. Filter models all sound flat; even the hyped ones sound flat. There’s a reason these and Quantums are readily available at a substantial discount used. And that reason is, people don’t need to keep them because overall it sounds dull, even though it does almost anything you could want.
I have a lot of synths and the Iridium became a substantial part of my live and studio setup. So I can´t agree with the bad sound. Which synths do you prefer?
Is there a random LFO or some way to modulate the sequencer's tempo? I like old school electro-acoustic music and I'm always interested to know if a synth will be able to produce modular-style, generative rhythms.
@@MONSIEURLANCEDRAKE That's true. I've yet to bite the bullet and start buying modular, though. In fact, I'm spending lots of money on synths to try to satisfy myself and satiate the urge! Unless I use VCV on my computer, but I'm kind of looking to keep those two worlds separate. Would be cool if this thing could do this internally.
After the first day I am sure! Could you give me some advise how to connect a USB drive for importing samples or wavetables? I get a "cannot access file system" error with every drive that I tested. Of course I formatted in FAT or FAT32.
Martin Stürtzer normally I use SD card formatted in ExFat. USB on Fat32 works for me but support for USB drives has been added recently and apparently is not as sure as SD. Try a pen drive not bigger than 16GB or an SD card.
I am curious how the CV inputs could be used. When for example using the granular engine as an external processor for euro rack. With clock i guess Iridium got all the necessary modulation sources it could possibly need. How would you use the CV inputs? Love your music! Thank you for sharing your techniques!
I'm guessing the utility of the CV makes more sense if you have a modular synth and want it to drive a portion of the Iridium based on what has already been configured in the modular.
@@zerix01 I think so too, like leets say you have Tides, Just friends, Ochd or Batumi and you want to make correlated modulation over both your euro rack case and Iridium. That is one way i could see that as an option. It would be nice to have CV outputs too, use the built in step sequencer or arp to drive the euro rack case.
Is this also a work station? Meaning does is have at least 8 tracks to record patterns on and then able to put these patterns into a song mode? Or better yet can I midi my sequencer up and sequence various parts without running out of notes? Also do those pads function as drum pads too? This thing looks ridiculously nice
The Iridium can play two parts independently. Of course you can sequence them by midi if you want. But this is not a groovebox or workstation, the strength is advanced synthesis methods and not a "all in one" machine.
@@MartinStuertzer thanks for the response. This really helped. I had to know because of the price. It's basically and expensive sound module. I feel let down. Lol. But seriously I kinda still want one. Maybe a future firmware update will allow for a work station type of flow. Doesn't even have to be 100 percent like one but at least some similarities
Thankyou… I know everyone's analog-mad at the moment but this is gorgeous to hear - I'm actually considering it. Until the horrible 80's FM sounds… then i'm like… NOT LIKE THIS. NOT. LIKE. THIS.
@3:50 it looks like the screen is really badly fit. The upper right corner is below the surface of the chassis and on the lower left and lower right corner it is above chassis level. Also if you push the touch screen in that timeframe, it looks like the touchscreen moves under your pressings (not tightly fit into the chassi). Can you maybe to a quality video of the Iridium? I am not sure if I like the build quality for the price point.
Like Fatty said: the screen protector is still on. I am so used to sloooow touch displays (remember Roland V-Synth or Fantom) that I press it very firmly. After a few days with the Iridium I realised that it is not necessary to push it so hard.
When I connect the Iridium´s USB port to my computer I get this background noise on the mainout. I recorded these first Iridium videos in a hurry so I didn´t notice. When I connect it via Midi instead the noise floor is very low.
Great show off of the different synth engines, 1.Can you sequence wavetables or samples a la Ensoniq “Transwave/ Hyperwave” or Wavestation Vector wave Sequence? 2. What are the sample rates available? They sound pristine clean, but I was wondering if you can downgrade the rates or Bitrates to get more “Dirt” out of it...
You can use the LFOs to sequence wavetables by syncing to BPM using the massive mod matrix, plus the wavetable engine has built in distortion/dirt.. but if that's not enough the digital filter section has a bitrate reducer, which you can use on all samples too.
