Waldorf Microwave VST, exacoustics Ghost, and New Lo-Fi Wavetables in Mathwaves

[@kcrosley]

Here's the link to get KRC Mathwaves for $17 off the usual price (just $12!): www.wavetables.lol/l/wavetables/NIN

[@HJPhilippi]

Thank you very much, that's generous. You've got me!

[@RealmsOfThePossible]

Back in the day I lusted after a Microwave XT synth but could never afford one. Now I'm all grown up the originals going 2nd hand are still out of my price range! 😄

[@kcrosley]

@@RealmsOfThePossible in that case, you just might be the target market for the plugin! Thanks for watching and chiming in!

[@toddjbradshaw]

Keith, you remind me of some of the few best friends I've had in my life. I appreciate your work here, perspectives and teaching style. I too, passed on the Waldof which surprised me. I really wanted to like it more. I do agree with you on GHOST. I'm keeping a close eye on that one once it develops more. PluginGuru showed it off last week and reached the same conclusions in terms of the development state. With that said, it makes some insane sounds and looks promising, by a sole developer at that.

[@kcrosley]

Hey @toddjbradshaw, well, thanks for the kind comments! We're all synth pals here! Yeah, if Microwave VST had been introduced at less than $100 US, I'd probably have jumped on it (and then probably not really used it much, but ya know, just to have it). I saw Skippy's stream on Ghost too, but forgot to mention that (I should probably link it in the comments). I was like, why isn't he ripping this like he did Myth? And then, after exploring Ghost more -- when it would run for me -- I was like, "ah, OK, there's something here..." If exacoustics gets their promotion sorted, this is ultimately a synth I'll probably have to own just because people will want to use Mathwaves with it. (I've been busy with other stuff so haven't reached out just yet, but will ping them next week.) It could really be one of the best tools to use Mathwaves with, but currently, adding too many wavetables to the User wavetables folder causes a crash with an out-of-memory type error. There's no real reason it should be that way, so prolly an easy fix. Thanks for watching and commenting! Cheers!

[@cathalhex7948]

Love your content

[@kcrosley]

Thanks! That means a lot! Cheers!

[@INeedsMoneys]

On the topic of new synthesizers. You should give Phase Plant a shot. It is far superior to any other software synth. It does everything. VA, FM, and the big selling point of it is it's wavetable capabilities. It's even got wavetable distortion effects with user tables. Lfo wavetables. You name it

[@INeedsMoneys]

Pretty much limitless amounts of oscillators ,effects and modulators. Anything can be routed anywhere. Click and drag. It's incredible really

[@kcrosley]

@INeedsMoneys, I actually haven’t checked our PhasePlant at all and I should at least do a “how to import” video. I’m sure there are some unique and interesting things to talk about! Thanks for watching! Cheers!

[@TemmeSikkema]

@@kcrosleyYou’ll love that synth. Also check out what Joel Blanco Berg did with wavetables to create brilliant orchestral brass and woodwinds sounds for it. Definitely some of the best “instrument modeling” I’ve heard. It’s on Gumroad. You’ll be impressed by those patches too I think. TL;DR Phase Plant is definitely in your wheelhouse

[@TemmeSikkema]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/aH_MnHZ_bNGmo8ksi=QCjD0BFzO435CCjf ^ Brass patches in Phase Plant (wavetable based)

[@CapriciousBlackBox]

Hey, it’s my old pal Keith! Queued up to watch next!

[@kcrosley]

This one is maybe moar talky that usual, so an extra special "thanks for watching"!

[@CapriciousBlackBox]

@@kcrosley talky is good…..beats the hell out of being perpetually sold stuff on “gear tube.” I appreciate your straightforward approach.

[@watchaddicts1213]

Some beautiful sounds in there! I can’t pull trigger on it either. I have PPG 3.0 (2010-sized GUI, magnifying glasses required, and NAVE and Largo, blah blah, Waldorf is just behind in with their UI and graphics, I agree , Mictowave sounds really a good; it bugged me that no token discount was offered to Waldorf customers. The interface is just NOT slick, a bare minimum approach to it. For $150, the UI should look like a XILS LABS synth…- some works of art there . I’d grab it without hesitation for 75 bucks. I wish they’d done RHE WAVE! The big dog with keyboard and tilt-up like minimoog layout. THE WAVE was their moment of glory

[@kcrosley]

Yeah, Microwave VST sounds great, but it doesn't scratch any special itch for me, so I did not wind up licensing it at the price they're currently asking! (I agree that it would be a lot more attractive at about half the price. Also, I think it's weird that there's no easy wavetable import and I never did figure out a workaround.) And like I pointed out in the video, the intro pricing for the Streichfett VST was impossible to pass up, so the launch of this one felt kinda weird to me. 🤷‍♂️

[@watchaddicts1213]

@@kcrosley I agree. Microwave needs to be a DEC 31st at 11PM for $59 and I would buy it. Add it to the other 5 or 6 hundred plugs. What I need: a winning lottery ticket...and a 48 hour day! I might then have the time to learn a lot of what I already own.

[@HJPhilippi]

The Microwave hardware was 3000 DM (Deutsche Mark) in 1989 and thus still not very "affordable" to most customers back then. The monstrous Yamaha TG77 was only a a little more expensive and I thought it would be a much better purchase. Well, today I think I was wrong...

[@kcrosley]

I didn’t remember it being that expensive. That’s still pretty eye-watering!

[@watchaddicts1213]

Have you considered a MAC? Happy to have found you!

[@kcrosley]

Glad to have you here watching! Thanks! While I'm an iPhone user, I'm not a Mac fan (mostly based on price vs performance issues). That phantom "ba donk" seems to be less frequent lately, but I'm still not sure what it is. I suspect it might be a somewhat aged USB hub acting up. (And it gives me an opportunity to roll my eyes at random moments and serves as comedic relief, right? 🫠)

[@watchaddicts1213]

@@kcrosley APPLE is awful; the devil maybe. I am 10 years in and scared to death of losing LOGIC and FINAL CUT PRO. They are problem-ridden and a ripoff: You can't open the case, can't really upgrade them. Somehow, like heroin, they suck you in and you're an ADICT. So, much more VALUE in a PC, not to mention the customization possibilities. I'm gonna watch all your MODWAVE stuff. I suspect it'll be a Beast.

[@watchaddicts1213]

You love Modwave. Do you care for WAVESTATE?? John Skippy L., as you likely well know, did the sounds for the original wavestate. He did a big stream when Wavestate dropped, John was wowed in truck the evolution of the tech. Just wondered if you’ve demo’d Wavestate ?

[@kcrosley]

Hey @watchaddicts1213, thanks for watching! So, yeah, I own both the Korg wavestate hardware and wavestate native plugin and I love that synth as well. (I was a beta tester on wavestate/wavestate native and also modwave native. With wavestate, I focused a lot on the Sample Builder utility, more than the VST itself.) While I haven't actually featured wavestate in any of my videos, KRC Mathwaves actually has multisamples for wavestate that were created from the original 29,000 single-cycle waveforms from the original Mathwaves collection. modwave and wavestate share the same core architecture and the main difference is that wavestate is purely sample-based and has the wavesequencing stuff, while modwave has a wavetable oscillator. (Their handling of "plain old multisamples" is basically identical.) The modulation capabilities of these synths remind me of the E-mu Emulator 4 and later E-mu modules, which is to say that more or less anything non-audio-rate can modulate anything else and there are modulation processors for doing "fancy stuff". I call wavestate the "final form" of the Emulator series of instruments. Of course, wavestate doesn't by itself sample, but these days that isn't so much an issue for us. I actually really enjoy programming patches on the wavestate hardware and I bought it during Covid when I was living at my place in Palm Springs, but all my gear was in San Francisco. I spent many hours with it during that time as a sanity-saver. (And this was before it had the user sample input features.) I have a deep and abiding love for that synth. Aside: while there are some cheesy samples in the factory set (which is shared by both modwave and wavestate), there are some real gems in there. For example, there's a Mariachi trumpet articulation that is absolutely charming (and seemingly unique).

[@watchaddicts1213]

What about 3rd Wave synth from Groove Synthesis ? Are you a fan?

[@kcrosley]

Hey there, @watchaddicts1213. I haven't played one in person, but I think it sounds lovely. While modern digital filters are great sounding, I do like the sound of digital oscillators through real analog filters. As for whether it's worth the price, well... that's up the individual I guess. One thing I think is weak is that it doesn't seem to have much memory available for user wavetable import, which is a missed opportunity for an instrument of that caliber. I'm also a bit surprised that no KRC Mathwaves user has told me they use Mathwaves with the 3rd Wave. (The "Serum/Vital" format should import perfectly to 3rd Wave and I'd love to hear how some of them sound in the 'Wave!)

[@nichttuntun3364]

​@@kcrosleyAll I heard from the 3rd Wave so far is gorgeous. Korg should have shipped the Modwave with analog filters too.

[@HJPhilippi]

Unfortunately, the fact that you can't simply import user-defined waves into the Microwave 1 VST seems very "German" to me (as a native German). They stick strictly to reproducing the original and ignore what could be state of the art today. Another missed opportunity. This is so typical of our country.

[@kcrosley]

@HJPilippi, ha! Perhaps so! I do think they should have just added a menu item that lets you import modern wavetables and just do the same trick I did-it’s hardly any code at all! 🤷‍♂️ Thanks for watching, as always. Cheers!