A Deeper Look at the Waldorf Blofeld

The Waldorf Blofeld is a powerful synthesizer module with over 1000 digitized analog sounds in a solid housing with intuitive controls. Resident Synth geek Chris Ckine does a deep dive into the full capability of the Waldorf Blofeld Desktop Synthesizer.
SHOP SYNTHS: bit.ly/3W02gZ2
Find out more about Chris Cline at: www.civilianaudio.com
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[@SouthShoreSonics]

One of the first things I did with my first Blofeld keys in 2013 was to delete ALL the presets. It took 5 years but I ended up with 1024 custom patches. I added an additional 2 keys and a module. Preaching to the choir on how awesome the Blofeld is! My fave is the Blokeys as I am a live player. For reference have you seen how small the module is when put on the Blokeys! I call it "mini me" sitting on top of the Blofeld.

[@asoundlab]

Dedication!

[@555atU]

It says something of the success of the Blofeld that there are many recent videos showing off its features and flexibility despite its age.

[@TheFBK69]

I got a Blofeld a few years back and I love it. I was recently looking for a new device that has many of the features I really enjoy about it and to be honest you have to spend A LOT more money to get them. It still fills a niche that doesn't really exist in todays market especially for the price you can get them for, even new.

[@555atU]

@@TheFBK69 if you have some effects pedals, it's one of my favorite synths to use them with. I've had it for 6 years or so and still use it often.

[@AdamsOlympia]

I've seen Virus TI Snow as low as $600 , just a hundred more than Blofeld's average. Twice the voice count, far better effects. Audio over USB. Larger sound pallet.. I'm honestly baffled why it doesn't get as much love as Blofeld. The Waldorf is an incredible value but if I didn't already have a TI2, I'd pick Snow over it any day, no question.. Blofeld does have better wavetable synthesis but Virus makes up for it in many OSC modes blofeld lacks.

[@TheFBK69]

@@AdamsOlympia Well on reddit people talk about the virus line all day and it has way more love than the Blofeld over there. I think the Access Virus line is cool but I was interested in something made more recently. I ended up getting a Waldorf M used. I use the Blofeld for mostly wavetables and the M does that in a beautiful way with the analog VCF and VCA.

[@555atU]

@@AdamsOlympia that's fine..i think there are other great options for the money. But the Snow isn't made anymore and the Blofeld is. It's rare that a synth design goes this long with little change and still sells well. The first gen Microkorg is another example...although that just got its mkll.

[@cjlewis79]

Got one for 375 and it looked and sounded brand new! so much fun!

[@deauvillevrienden]

AT the end of the week i will have one in original box and mint condition for €350 ;p what a treat !

[@jnew9403]

Great video, great synth, great t-shirt.

[@ericjeker]

Just a few things: - You can buy a custom LED screen that is more readable and easily installable, search for "LED Display Upgrade" - Waldorf sell encoders so you can easily replace the shaky ones (this seems to happen quite often) - Softknobs provide an app for controlling your Blofeld from a PC to speed-up the workflow I love the sound of the Blofeld but the workflow is not its brightest point in my opinion. It's very menu heavy and you can make mistakes very easily. The biggest mistake is to turn the Play encoder and forgetting to save your preset. This will simply erase everything and you have no way to undo. The second is that the menu is not synchronized with the matrix led, so you can turn one of the 4 encoders but instead of changing what's displayed on the menu it will change the currently selected entry in the matrix. Though nothing that cannot be overcome with a bit of care and practice. Multi-timbrality is really great, like a lot of other Waldorf synths.

[@Ryan-xq3kl]

one of the coolest synths ever i would use it more if i had more time

[@midialchemy]

If you like the sound you should try the Studiologic Sledge 2.0 Black, the expressiveness is something to behold. The auto dual ability to perform and create splits and layers while performing is really cool. It really is underrated, how it uses Waldorf's engine.

[@mattkaz9604]

It really is a remarkable sound design tool. FOr the price, a must-have.

[@Screaming-Trees]

It's a great sounding $600 synth that comes with an awesome Fatar keyboard. That is always going to be relevant. Waldorf sound is a classic.

[@RealityShiftUK]

love my minilouge xd not selling it but its nice to have synth with a lot more voices!

[@jamesgreene6077]

Just picked up on a few weeks ago and have been wishing for more Blofeld content. You delivered!

[@jamesgreene6077]

Also, have you encountered the issue with using the clk delay? I’ve had to turn it off on all the patches due to the bugginess : /

[@carstenaltena]

Got one and so far have only used the presets 😆

[@teddym2808]

I actually love it. If I want a pad sound I am going to go to the Blofeld first cause it's always just so easy to find and tweak something to fit. I think this might be one of the cheapest yet most underrated desktop modules ever, and I love how it's nice and small too, fits anywhere. I have mine side by side with my black Pulse 2, another underrated little thing that is great for bass. I actually seem to prefer Waldorf's cheaper stuff to their really overpriced new stuff. But then again, I don't like my Virus TI either, so maybe I am weird. That was my biggest regret purchase and it's never made it into a song.

[@AndyFirebladeMuza]

Just ordered one for a bargain price. Looking forward to receiving it and seeing what it can do.

[@blackbelt8124]

How much did you pay?

[@AndyFirebladeMuza]

@@blackbelt8124 I paid £235 for it. It was used but at the time nothing used was under £300. It had a wobbly encoder control which wasn't mentioned in the advert. I fixed that in about ten minutes. Considering how powerful this little beast is, I got a bargain in my opinion.

[@duketranslucent3rd]

Really helpful! It doesn't have a lot of hands on controls for performance, but presumably you can assign a bunch of params to various controls of a midi controller?

[@asoundlab]

Absolutely. Just need to know how to map the controllers to the appropriate CC.

[@iixorb]

I bought one when they first came out, maybe 15 years ago? It was ok, but I started getting into VST's in a big way and it became increasingly redundant. Plus the rotary encoders started to fail (you'd scroll to increase a value for example, but the reading would jump about all over the place). I guess they solved the hardware issue in the end, but I sold it years ago. Not sure that I miss it, but it did look quite cool; a bit like a circuit bent Roland TR-505 or something!

[@teddyjones3652]

Any VST's with a similar sound you'd recommend ?

[@lwpweb]

the whole thing reminds me on my roland D-05

[@christopherfarrell-artist3557]

How do I connent this beautiful machine so my Mac can record its audio. It doesn't seem to transmit audio via USB, I guess it's too old, my MC-101 and TB-3 records flawlessly via USB. I use garageband for quick and dirty recording and Albleton Live lite ( I am still learning this one ).

[@wallbrown1876]

It doesn’t transmit audio via usb.Only receives/transmits midi notes. You can connect the midi out of your sound card to the Blofeld and it’s audio out ports to the audio inputs of your card.

[@daryljohnson3896]

What setting did you use on the compressor?

[@christophschumacher640]

Hi , very cool video ❤ I‘m thinking about to buy this beauty, but one question, does it make sense to use it without the SL license? ✌️

[@asoundlab]

Do you think you're going to use it? I've personally never considered it.

[@klstay]

This thing plus the STVC sitting next to it combined is a lot of go juice. I think I would pick a modwave over it, but not by much...

[@jakelawson1]

"Cooking Tips with Your Synthesizer"...so, you've used the old Ensoniqs, huh? This thing sounds really, really good. It has a ton of useful, inspiring, and expressive sounds and it's relatively clean and easy to change.

[@PORRFNK]

Super cool synth, but the IU is way too slow, and get slower as multitimbral parts are added

[@grazstarr]

The sound wasn’t changing at all when you first go through different shapes on oscillator one?

[@synthfluencer]

I agree with everything and I like the Blofeld a lot but I have to add some critics as well. At 3:09 it's been said that "user wave tables can be added to the blowfeld using software on your computer". That is basically true but in order to do that you have to purchase the "License SL", costs you 50$-100$ (50 if you're lucky and they're having sort of a special offer). While I think it is questionable at all to offer such an out-of-the-box feature for extra money, the software you need to use is frankly junk. It indicates that you can add single wave tables/samples but instead you have to do a "full dump" of all 68 user WTs EVERY time you want to add or change one of them. The process takes about 30 minutes. Besides from that the whole process is rather fragile, it happens often that you end up in an error message. I found out that it is a common problem, I had lots of communication with Waldorf support and what they basically saying is "it is as it is, you have to deal with it". This is something I did not expect from a premium brand Waldorf pretends to be.

[@lwpweb]

everything thick, sturdy etc but the fonts are sooooo tiny hard to read in a live situation forsomebody wearing glasses.

[@asoundlab]

That's certainly a valid point! The SoftKnobs editor might be a solution for that, and it's free. softknobs.com/docs/blofeld/

[@Deeplycloseted435]

Its a little POS, but if you know how to use it, and put it through some quality FX, it can sound incredible. Punches way above it’s weight class.

[@azurduy117]

the encoders are absolute trash. haven't yet found a good software editor. annoying menus. but that sound is a stunner, especially when the sampling upgrade is added. nothing else like it.

[@javiceres]

The menu is completely logical

[@azurduy117]

@@javiceres endless scrolling is the definition annoying. No shortcuts to skip through subsections.

[@hostnik777]

This wasn’t a deeper look, this was the shallowest look possible. It was a nice intro overview, but it was the exact opposite of deep. Thumbs down for not delivering on the title.

[@wgaule]

Gosh, it's a real shame that the free video didn't satisfy!

[@wallbrown1876]

Sadly I must agree with you.Playing presets and the filter/modwheel,isnt really a deep dive.

[@hostnik777]

@@wgaule- time is money, but I’m sure yours isn’t worth much. The issue is the clickbait title, but you have to have at least 2 brain cells to understand that.

[@capitolabill1921]

To me, most synths are useless pads and spacey garbage. Will it do the intro to Head East "Never Needed A Reason" or The Who "Won't Get Fooled Again?"

[@nevets68]

Just buy a casio or yamaha home keyboard. I enjoy pads and spacey sounds.

[@Purrevill]

It’s crap, has the worst and the weakest sound. Buy a cheap korg volca instead.

[@carstenaltena]

That's like saying "that motorcycle is crap, buy a cheap bicycle instead".

[@javiceres]

Wrong. User error.

[@teddyjones3652]

It sounds great what on earth are you talking about lmao , Korg Volca sounds like a fart compared to this

[@martinstubs6203]

@@teddyjones3652 LOL I couldn't put it better!

[@wallbrown1876]

You need to know a synthesis to do something with it.

[@JM-yk6eh]

The Blofeld sounds so cool but the workflow on it is slow...

[@wgaule]

1st world problems!