Waldorf M vs IRIDIUM // The Definitive Comparison 

did implement digital filters (LP12/BP12/HP12 with resonance, but not self oscillated) in the last FW, which was released yesterday. But this is not a direct copy of the Microwave 2 filters (based on *but not the same implementation*), as they operate in the classic OSC modes too. The implementation of true Microwave 2 filters (and *for modern mode only*), was planned after some UI updates and some minor yet-unfixed bugs. Now I did analyze the code of MW 2 filters, but perhaps I need to clear some points with the developer of Microwave 2, Stefan Stenzel. @Starsky Carr, fantastic incredible amazing shining crazy very cool intro! Now I am your big fan!

I was intending to get myself the M for Xmas this year - and this video hasn't changed my mind one little bit. The more I hear it the more I want it, thanks for the very informative video.

The greatest feature of the Iridium's wavetable potential is found in kernel synthesis mode. You can stack up to 6 wavetables within a single oscillator, and use a custom defined algorithm to modulate each kernel using phase FM, true FM, ring mod, AM, and wavetable position. Each kernel with individual envelopes, panning, feedback, and 3 algorithmic modulation sources. That alone offers essentially infinite sonic capability to be explored for the rest of your life, and it's only 1 of 6 possible oscillators in use. You can use up to 36 different wavetables moving simultaneously if your heart desired, which is a nearly incomprehensible amount of synthesis power. Another hidden feature in kernel synthesis, is the ability to import DX7 mk1 sysex programs. All of the DX sounds we know and love over the past 40 years, now with the possibility of wavetables and new wave shapes, instead of only sine waves. To me, the Iridium is one of the greatest and most powerful synths ever created, with sonic possibilities that put it in a league of it's own. As an Iridium owner, I appreciate this comparison with the M. I could see myself getting an M one day for it's unique strengths. It's nice to see and hear where the two overlap with one another. Though, the Iridium is quite undersold here in my opinion, with more focus on the M's strengths. That's understandable though, in order to make it a fair comparison between these two beautiful pieces of equipment. If you included all of the Iridium's strengths, this video would be way too long and miss the point of fairly comparing the two. Thank you for the very informative video Starsky! One more side note on the Iridium. If anyone is into creating microtonal/xenharmonic music, the Iridium supports 32-bit pitch precision. Meaning, the smallest harmonic tuning ratio you can enter is 2147483647/2147483646, which is 0.000000806168675731715 cents. That's over 7500 times more precise than MTS (0.006103515625 cents), and over 1.24 million times more precise than standard 1 cent pitch adjustments. This is some of the best pitch precision on the hardware market today, until more developers start implementing ODDSOUND's 64-bit MTS-ESP (please Waldorf!). Does anyone know what the M's tuning capabilities are? The M being an analog hybrid, so high precision is sort of redundant, but I'm curious what Waldorf decided.

Thanks for the video!! I do have the Iridium and the Kyra and about 100 other synths. I was thinking about adding this unit and didn't know much about it, now I do thanks to your generous comparison! Cheers!!

Thank you for this video. I got both and the M has this unique gritty, dirty sound. The Iridium is an absolute killer and together you can do hours of jams. Sold a lot of my analog gear and just keep my favorite synths. These two maschines are so inspiring and refreshing to my ears. I think that the return of digital Synths is a logical step because they are getting better and better. For me the Iridium is one of the most powerful and fantastic sounding Synths on the market. The M has its own character and if you start to tweak it you get lost for hours. Great work how ever. Keep on doing such great videos. Thanx

Love your videos Starsky thanks for all the effort and insights!

Brilliant videos btw. Love watching them!

Sweet, nicely done 😻

I don't own any hardware, use Ableton with VSTs, but found this fascinating to watch! Nice one.

Great video, thank you!! I was surprised the Iridium didn't have a filter mode that emulated the low frequency drop off, but perhaps such things will be added in a firmware update.

Great video Starsky - this is helping settle in my mind whether I want to get an m to go with my own quantum (and the pre-production iridiums I have here too). Something I noticed, at 9:30 you said you couldn't find the iridium saw going through any kind of filter - but that waveform looks exactly like what I see if "master>bass boost" is set to on, which is a global/perpetual eq/filter which softens everything. With that off, I see a much sharper defined saw. Something else to mention, when trying to emulate old gear, in addition to legacy mode, the wavetable keytrack (as distinct from pitch keytrack) is a useful parameter for getting closer to the behaviour of old hardware.

The M has this brutal sound quality to it that I remember from the 90s - And that I cannot get out of a plug-in.

M sounds alive. M's sound is in beetween PPG wave 2.2 and Microwave I.

Dejavu. I literally went and demo'd iridium today. Was super fun. My final thoughts were great, but that price tag...not for me, i thiink its great what their doing. But would much rather an analog synth over one

Thanks a lot for this comparison. Yes, it's unfair to reduce the Iridium to wavetables, but for me it is exactly the question: What can give me the M that Iridium cannot. I think that you made a very good comparison. And once more I am sold on the M.

I recently sold my Iridium, and later fell for the M. The Iridium can do everything, but it’s complicated and convoluted to play with. But the M sounds absolutely fantastic, buzzes in each ear, recaptures the LoFi spirit of the Xt. I’m super happy with the M in a way I wasn’t with the Iridium. Biggest cons are the lack of effects, no touchscreen, nicest pluses are those large double knobs for playing wavetables, and THAT sound!

It looks like a digital 12db DVCF was added yesterday to the M. More improvements to it are also planned. I am downloading this today and checking it out. I love the M, and this video really sold me on the smoothness of the Iridium. Different flavors of the same types of sounds for sure.

@9.25 8 bit is brighter because of the extra harmonics generated from the squareness of the lower bit rate

In a galaxy far far away ppl can afford Iridium and M and Kyra, that's how sound of universe is made :) I had Iridium, but at last moment flipped to wait on Polybrute. No regrets, but missed Iridium and M is cool! I can understand/hear the difference now. TNX!

When I hear the Iridium, I think, “Vital sounds as good and is free.” When I hear the M, I think, “what can I sell to make that mine?”

M! I had wanted a MW I for years, this fulfilled an unlikely wish. Aside from all the "dirty digital," with the analog VCF and VCA the M can be quite smooth and wam. Played the Iridium (and Quantum), but they didn't grab me; the M did so instantly. Without effects no less...

Las Year it was Sequential P10 that was my Xmas gift, this year it will be Iridium. I have been ignoring it for too long and choosing different synths in the process. All love to the M, I get the pros there, but I prefer Iridium atm.

Thanks for making sense of the relationship, Starsky! How would you compare the M to the MicrowaveXT? Does the M subsume what the XT could do and sound like! The XT was a synth I grew to feel I should like to have, but by then it was out of production and out of reach

IRIDIUM is like a posh version of my Blofeld! 😜

That low end! :)

I owned a PPG 2.3 many years ago and was looking at which Waldorf synth could replace it. I think I'll shoot for an Iridium keyboard and an M. Both are still far less money than lowest priced PPG wave 2.3 on the market. The Iridium doesn't replace the PPG, it's a monster synth on its own merit. I currently have a Microwave II XTk and it still never ceases to amaze me.

Hi, maybe you can help me out. I'm starting with synthesis. I've tried vsts and I need has on; I'm a piano player and I guess that makes me prefer more of a tactile workflow. I like composing anything from ambient, trance, to just warmth synth melodies. I want a synth that I can grow with over the years. I'm debating between something like the iridium, or buying a system 8 now and save the extra cash for later to buy another synth if I need one. What do you recommend?

I'm over here wanting an updated Blofeld

Enjoyed the video and love both synths. I’m a bit uncertain about the point of a ‘vs’ approach. Seemed like it should be called “Why the M is better at sounding like the M than the Iridium is.” Or something :) Could just as easily flipped the script and the Iridium would be better at sounding like an Iridium than the M. Subscriber who loves your content, but this fight was fixed from the start :)

I've had the M for three weeks and I'm in PPG heaven 🎈

loads of people who watch this have likely never had a waldorf, having owned most of them over the last 30 years i would always say to people that you just have to try them - they are always proper synths in the true meaning of the word - any waldorf can easily keep you entertained for the rest of your life, gas aside of course but that's not the synths fault.

Great comparison thanks. For a small company Waldorf do some really impressive synths, unfortunately many out of my price range 😕. I do hope you get your hands on a Kyra one day, it seems a bit of shame but Waldorf seem to have lost interest in that synth but it’s more the sort of synth I’m personally interested in so I’d love to see what you can do with one...

SC has to be the most pleasant and comprehensive synthuber of them all

Thanks for this, I was indeed in doubt between what to buy first, probably gonna have both someday but prioritizing is already a win... P.S. Afaik, the developer of M will try to implement XT filters in a firmware update but nothing is sure.

Question: if I have a Virus TI2 synth would the Waldorf still be worth getting as an addition in the future or should I get a different synth to complement the Virus?

You can add import wavetables from sounds. So it would be completely possible to just add the wavetables into the Iridium instead.

I like the dirty grittier filter on the M but prefer the user interface of the Iridium. Hard to say. But then there is Kyra to consider. Waldorf M sounds way better to me and costs a little less but the Iridium has nicer more advanced interface but tone not as good.

Thanks vor the Video. I was torn, then i have an iridium and think about for a M. But now i know, with the iridium i have all need.

Have you ever done an overview/tutorial on the Iridium Starsky?

I still use a Microwave from 1990. Never saw a reason to buy any other Waldorf instrument.

They are both awesome, and make a great couple. Yet to make a "bad" sound on my M. Iridium is a powerhouse. All you ever need..in the digital domain, of course.

The M is specifically meant to be more or less a Microwave I with a Microwave XT inspired interface.

I don’t care what Iridium can do when it doesn’t sound nearly as good as the M. The M oozes class and elegance and sounds special. The iridium sounds like just another dsp synth to me.

The PPG model does indeed go higher than the standard Iridium filter, which models the analog filters of the Quantum. I had to switch to that model on the Quantum for some patches to get the behavior I was looking for.

you could have sampled the M into the Iridium, or used white noise on both since white noise should be the same on both. Don't know if the M has inputs you can run through the filter, but the Iridium does for sure. A proper test would use a pink noise generator with the same level sent into both..but apparently I'm nerdier than most.

Starsky Carrnobi, you’re my only hope.

Would you recommend the Iridium or M for hard neuro dirty gritty basslines? thx!

Did you just… Make a Star Wars themed video for a brand associated with the James Bond universe? :)

being digital, isn't it possible to offer one hardware box where those 2 babies fuse - nowadays using the new FPGA technology and simply providing more audio I/Os along with multitimbrality?

I think the M sounds great and would be very desirable ... if it wasn't almost exactly the same price as the Iridium! That pricing makes no sense to me. The Iridium does so much more for the money. Its sample/granular and FM capabilities on top of wavetable just make it so much more bang for the buck. I've never been so keen on wavetable that I'd want to drop that much money on a dedicated wavetable synth. Would rather get the Iridium and then maybe a Hydrasynth Deluxe as a controller/companion.

The only rational answer is to get both. A Waldorf salad, if you like.

That's not a moon - that's a Waldorf desktop synth!

Waldorf synth designers: let’s design a synth that belongs in the control panel of a spaceship Starsky Carr: yes

I choose the Iridium because it just has more. If you want dirt, just run it into a distortion pedal.

I'm more taken with the M than Iridium, because it does that soundworld better. How M compares to a Korg Modwave would be interesting, (just the sound engine, not all the polyphonic sequencing). Probably wavetabling on an Iridium and a Modwave are more similar, and the M more of a sonic chainsaw (in a good way).

Looks like they just added a digital filter to the M in the latest update

12:15 Self-oscillating means that it starts oscillating all by itself. If it needs an "exciter" (beyond its own noise) and stops oscillating when that excitation is gone, the filter is not self-oscillating by any definition. What you hear there is just a high Q without any kind of positive feedback happening yet. [/Mr. Wiseguy aka Cpt. Obvious]

maybe the Quantum would be the "fairer" comparison? For the Filter. But the Oscillators do sound surprisingly different.

iridium is a dead digital characterless machine, while M has built in at least a bit of analogue and therefore sounds a lot more expressive than iridium. pls, however, with the iridium, all its functions are granular, etc., that's amazing. i think nowadays people prefer this clean digital - too bad. it doesn't matter which record you listen to back then, be it 90s rap, 70s psychedelic sound all floyd, dooors, it just sounds expressive and interesting. if you turn on the radio today, everything sounds the same and lifeless and mostly without any feeling or massage behind it, just procedurally. sry, maybe it's just me, but I don't think so. I think the best is the way from both worlds and the M has that, so I advocate the M.

My guess, Answer: M is 1/5th the cost ?

Is this instance M comes way way way after I.

I've something in my mind that i like to share: I think that these 2 synths and also the hydrasynth sound often realy cold/harsh. Like if the cut off for the low pass filter is on max/+. I'm not sure if i explaned it well because lack in knowledge. But what i do know is that my prophet rev 2 and novation summit sound smoother, in general. What do you think about this?

Different People, different opinions but : I want a 4piece live techno setup. I have the Perkons hd-01, octatrack, Analog Four Mk1. The 4th device will be the M or Iridium ( and will replace my virus ti2 ). I cannot make the descision...

Walfdorf

reason why the 8bit mode appears brighter than 16bit is, the latter emulates mwii/xt oscillator bandlimiting to avoid aliasing. in 8bit mode there is no band limiting and you get aliasing and mirroring artifacts from the phase accumulator engine, which not only reinforce, but better said add harmonics that weren't there in the source wave. as a result the 8bit i.e. MW mode is always inherently buzzier with more lively harmonics. i have the old MW revA and XT here, and with the same wavetable, you get similar behaviour respectively. in dream dream scenario i would love if they made new Iridium with analog filters from M, meaning 2144 and placed at the end of the audio path (like on ppg, mw, m) on a related note: im looking at Iridium btwn the two, as more complementary to my setup,but got little scared off with recent numerous complaints on quality control, displays falling out, buttons etc. dunno if Waldorf has upped the quality on the current batch. is your Iridium problem free @ Starsky Carr ?

What the hell is a Walfdorf?! 😜

the pricing on the M seems wrong, im curious as to how many people can justify that. It seems like a lot for an 8 voice digital synth with a very basic display.

I will take less features for superior sonics anytime.

Deeehhhhhrrrty..... so deeeehhhhrrrty.

I'd rather see an M vs an XT

Digital vs Digital, and the winner is....

love it but I cannot find a single sound that is actually nice to listen to in this entire vid. I get it, but why must everyone make everything so unromantic and ugly. I am also an audio person and very skilled synth programmer and engineer but I would never make a vid that didn't have any good sounds. I just that's wrong. hate me if you will. but I appreciate your vid and I want you to do well.

I like ASM Hydrasynth better and it’s much cheaper.

M is buzzy as hell, couldn’t do anything with this, like korg, never spoke to me.