Another Waldorf Iridium Core Beta OS Update Just Dropped!

New Waldorf Iridium Beta OS Just Came Out!

Alright, so, full disclosure, this beta OS update is not strictly for the Iridium Core. It appears that it is also for the other Iridium models and the Quantums, so if you’re a member of the Beta Program, you can get this new update, which still includes the 16-voices expansion!

So far in this update, besides continuing the 16 voice stuff, it also updates the Favorites menu system, and includes

SHIMMER REVERB!

We installed it last night and tested it out on some current patches from the Arete Trance Soundset for funsies, and it made some cool patches sound interstellar on moderate and high settings (it made some of our Plucks sound like fragments of Hans Zimmer’s score for Interstellar), and is definitely going to enter our sound design work on a few upcoming soundbanks.

If you wanna take it for a spin yourself (always remember to back up your data and remember to be careful loading beta operating systems into your units), hop on over to the official Waldorf Beta Program and sign up to get it for yourself!

Waldorf Iridium Core Review 2026

Every synth manufacturer has its near-mythical legendary flagship synth that lives in a price realm beyond that which mere mortals can afford. Sequential has the Prophet 10. Moog has the Moog One. ASM has the Leviasynth. Access had the Virus TI2. Roland’s Jupiter-8, despite being long out of production, still commands prices that put many used cars to shame. And Waldorf, has the Quantum MK2.

But all those manufacturers also have budget versions of their legendary synths priced at points for more affordable. Moog has the Messenger. Sequential has the Fourm (or Prophet Rev2, if we’re talking about more full-featured synths), Access had the Virus TI Snow, Roland has an army of boutique synths, and Waldorf… has the Iridium Core.

If the Blofeld was Waldorf’s budget version of the Q and XT in a compact package, their Iridium Core is the budget version of the Quantum and Iridium, both tremendously powerful synths in their own right.

The Quantum is famed for its sound, synthesis depth, and… questionable build quality. The first Iridium also suffered from a couple similar issues. But the deep sound engine still remained (and subsequent repair kits to fix the build issues). So how does the Iridium Core, the stripped down, Blofeld-esque synth in this lineage, stack up against its bigger, knobbier, more expensive ancestors?

Let’s take a look.

---

OSCILLATORS

Naturally, the first place to start is with the tone generators themselves. And what can we say here?

The Wavetables are Waldorf’s bread and butter, and all the wavetables from the Blofeld (and presumably the PPG Wave) are here, with even more and more complex modulation capabilities and controls than ever. This is also the only section where the oscillators have a dedicated Brilliance control to amp up the high frequency content without needing to use an EQ. The 3D style view it defaults to when you boot it up is pretty cool, and it’s hypnotic to scan through the waves. There’s certainly a lot of magic to be had in here, especially with a touch of Unison, Chorus, Phaser, Delay, and generous amounts of Shimmer reverb.

The Waveforms section is our real bread and butter, as most genres of music we make sounds for lean on analog and VA waveforms. Your standard Sawtooth, Triangle, Sine, Pulse, are all there, with Warp controls for added wave sculpting, and there are also extended waves like White Noise, Pink Noise, Geiger, and others.

What’s super nice about the Iridium Core’s Waveforms is the Kernels feature on each oscillator. They describe it as up to 8 sub oscillators applied to each etc etc, but really, what that means is that it allows you to Super- whatever oscillator you’re using. SuperSaw? Yup. SuperSine? Yep. SuperSquare? You betcha. All the analog waves can be Supered. You can detune with any degree of granularity you want to go for nasally to Hardstyle screech. And there are Stereo controls that allow you to spread each of those kernels across the stereo field to achieve unison pan spread-like width, without sacrificing the polyphony to do it. Personally, we avoid using it and still use Unison or the Pan controls in the Mixer section, because the Stereo control on the individual oscillators spreads the notes apart and un-detunes the sounds, so if you want big majestic SuperSaws for a pad or lead, you lose the detuned lush sound as the tones spread across the stereo field and stop interacting closely with one-another’s harmonics. So we still use a couple different tricks to keep sounds epic and wide. In general, we find the actual timbre of the Waveforms to be a little like a Nord Lead 2X, or even a Prophet Rev2 at times. Which, if you know us and how much we love those synths, it’s not a bad comparison. The sound feels a bit thicker than the Blofeld, which may be a product of the filters rather than the oscillators, but we’re sure the source tones from the oscs play a part in the thicker sound. SuperSaw type sounds on the Iridium Core also come convincingly close to the JP-8080, and with a couple small EQ and FX tweaks, you could make sounds basically indistinguishable from an original JP.

There’s also a PitchVar feature hidden in the Pitch section of the Oscillators you can play around with to get varying amounts of random pitch drift, which is great for nailing proper classic analog sounds (alongside an EnvelopeVar, which will be mentioned later).

After that section, we start wandering out into strange and unexplored territory. The Particles mashes together granular and sample-playback synthesis, and frankly we’ve never used those features on anything except partially on Omnisphere, and we haven’t yet encountered a practical use for it for the kinds of sounds we make. That’s not to say we won’t ever. But we just haven’t yet. We do anticipate interesting uses of it in future banks though.

The Resonator is also a trip. We’ve tinkered around a bit with it, and it seems like an interesting way to generate crazy metallic and glassy sounds. Since it seems to operate off playing bandpass filters off each other while being affected by samples and noise, it sounds like the perfect section to create extra weird noises for dark psytrance. And maybe certain kinds of FM-style basses for Slap House or 80’s nostalgia tones.

Kernels is the final and 3rd most familiar kind of synthesis most folks will know. That’s the Iridium’s take on FM Synthesis, and predictably, that section is complex, and not a little opaque. There are a number of presets buried in that menu zone that spit out various bell and clang and glass tones, and in our tweaking with it, we almost managed to nail some of those dirty FM sounds that would work really nicely in dark psytrance and as midrange arp-basses for uplifting trance. It’s not as easy to mess around with as FM is on the Blofeld, but it looks like experimentation (and reading the manual) will reward the adventurous in there.

Overall, this synth offers an almost overwhelming amount of synthesis options, and feels a lot like a Hardware Omnisphere. The only downside in here is that the Noise generators are lumped in with everything else rather than living in their own space as independent generators (like in the case of the Blofeld, Virus C/TI and Mininova), so you have to sacrifice an oscillator to use Noise, which is a bit of a bummer. It’s not a dealbreaker (the same situation applies on the Nord Leads and JD-08 and JP-8080 as well), but just a bit of a bummer.

---

FILTERS

This is one of the more interesting of the Core’s features. It has the same dual-filter architecture with different filter slopes and styles to choose from as its Blofeld ancestor (Lopass, Hipass, Bandpass, etc), but there are notably more options to choose from as far as filter models. SVF is its default filter type, and as can be expected, it has a pretty typical digital filter sound, not unlike the Blofeld.

After that, we start getting into interesting territory. Raiser sounds like Waldorf’s answer to Moog’s famous Ladder filter, and while I’m not sure it behaves or sounds exactly like a vintage analog Ladder filter, it does sound nice on the 24 dB slope. It doesn’t sound entirely analog, but it is nice.

After that there are Largo and Nave style filters, which I’m not the biggest fan of. I designed a bank of patches for Largo, and was not as fond of its filter as the Blofeld’s.

Where things get cool is with the PPG filter model. That actually sounds the most analog of the filters on the unit, and it does some really nice round and juicy bass and pluck and acid sounds, especially when selecting the Sat or Dirty 24dB filter types. I found myself using this one a lot when designing bass and other patches that I needed to sound more “analog”, because it was the most convincing digital emulation of an analog filter I’ve heard outside the Virus line.

And the addition of the Quantum filter model is a nice addition. I haven’t had a chance to get my hands on a Quantum to A/B test the analog filter in person, but I suspect that the real thing sounds a bit richer than this emulation. But having said that, including it here is super helpful, as it means I can design analog style pads and plucks and basses on the Core, and a Quantum user can load them straight in and have the sounds come out the other side of their true analog filters sounding really nice and proper, without having to manually tweak parameters or swap filter models to get them working right (an issue one of our devs has encountered porting 4-pole Lopass Filter sounds from the Virus TI2 down to work on the Virus B)

If your aim is chasing vintage analog tones with vintage analog filters, the PPG filter really wins the day here.

Bear in mind, if you want to use a Comb Filter, it doesn’t live in the Filter Type or Model menus. The Comb filter has been relegated to the Digi Former menu, which we found slightly annoying, as we like doing things like combining rate reducer effects with comb filters to create trippy psychedelic textures for Dark Psytrance and Ambient soundscape patches.

Now is actually a good time to discuss the Digi Former section in a bit more detail.

It basically acts like a filter-level effect section, mostly devoted to Drive/Distortion effects, rate/ bit rates, comb filters, and other modifiers. You can set the effects to affect the sound before and after the filter, to change the intensity of it, which is nice. On the Blofeld the effect always affected the sound after the filter, so subtlety was hard to achieve except at very low amount settings. So you can add gentle tube saturation to sounds on the Iridium Core the same way you could on the Blofeld, but even more gently.

The Bit Crusher is super nice, and is a lot of fun to mix and match different Bit and Rate amounts, to create super grainy and crunchy noises. One feature we would really like to see in a future update on the Iridium Core though, is a Mix control for the Rate/ Bit Reducer on the Digi Former. Or have the whole effect shifted around to become a dedicated effect in the FX section. It sounds really nice, but having its volume on a sound sitting at one level, makes it hard to create subtle grains and crunch to sounds. The Level control in the Digi Former parameter affects the entire patch’s level, which is inconvenient when trying to add subtle talking rate movement to a bass patch. Your choices are either super loud and overwhelming grit, or so subtle you can’t hear the grains of the sample rate reduction. At least the available parameters of the effect can be modulated in the Mod Matrix, so you can do rate-reduced talking sounds, which is a feature we sorely wished for on the Blofeld. That is super nice.

Another feature that would be cool to see would be an 18 dB/ 3-pole filter, especially on the analog model filters, for achieving more classic 303 style Acid sounds. The original TB-303 had an 18 dB 3-pole filter, and the Mininova and Virus TI2 have it, and it makes it easier to create really classic Acid sounds on those.

It’s still totally possible to make killer Acid sounds on the Core, don’t get us wrong. We made plenty of them. We just know the really authentic sound would be even easier to replicate on a 3-pole filter, which would be awesome to see here.

The dual filter behavior is a lot of fun to experiment with, and we used the dual filter on the Virus TI2 to roughly emulate analog lopass filter sounds on it with the standard lopass, and we also tinkered around with the same idea here with the Core, since it’s also pretty easy to dial in the balance of the filters. Having 2 independent filters is definitely a must for all Ambient and Psytrance and Dub Techno producers, and if creating hazy morphing chord sweeps with tons of movement across mixed hipass and lopass/bandpass filters with lots of reverb and delay and phaser is your thing, you will not be left wanting, here.

---

ENVELOPES

This is another very interesting section for us. On most synths we’ve worked on, the Attack, Decay, and Release curves are what they are, and whatever their default slopes are, that’s what you get. With the Iridium Core here, you can’t fully tweak the curves to custom slopes, but you can switch between very straight digital linear curves, and a couple exponential curve modes that mimic different analog and VA envelope slopes. And for making analog-style plucks and leads, and pads with long tails, having all those options available is really nice.

The EnvelopeVar feature is also cool, although can be a bit weird to work with if you don’t expect it. Along with PitchVar that lurks in the Oscillator Pitch menus, it randomizes parts of the Envelope slopes by whatever amount you set, to mimic vintage analog synth VCA/VCF envelope behavior. If you’re after pure digital envelope precision for genres like Trance or Dubstep, you’ll want to dial this feature down or turn it off, as it can mess around with note consistency in plucks and short lead sounds.

But overall, this is a huge improvement over the Blofeld’s filters, and the only other synth I can think of with even close to this kind of depth of control over filter slopes and such is the Virus TI2 with its Sustain Slope modifiers buried in the Envelope submenus.

The Iridium Core is definitely a synth where you can make this thing’s envelopes sound as analog or digital as you want.

---

LFO

The LFOs on the Iridium line… are wild. Call us crazy but 6 LFOs almost seems like overkill. But we pulled an Ambient soundbank out of a Slim Phatty, so, take that for what you will. Anyway, the LFO section isn’t too out of the ordinary, especially for users of the Waldorf Blofeld or Novation Mininova. Slew, Phase, Delay, and other such features are on both, and are present here.

At first, we were annoyed at the lack of a Random LFO waveshape, until we discovered the Rand and Rand Bipolar Mod Sources in the Mod Matrix. We kind of miss the Random LFO, because you could adjust the “speed” of the random lfo cycles, but random is random, so whatever works. Besides that, the LFOs work just fine and are plenty tweakable for all kinds of modulations.

---

MODULATION

Onward we go to the Mod Matrix. This has always been one of Waldorf’s strengths, and the Mod capabilities of the Iridium Core are flawless. Just about everything can be a destination, and the bonus Controller function eliminates the need to use other mod slots to set up parameter mod chains.

The Komplexer is also quite interesting, and we had a fun time working at setting up Trancegate sequences in it for gated pads. We haven’t quite worked it out completely yet and gotten it to yield the results we want, but we’re going to continue experimenting with it in the future. This synth is a soundseeker’s dream.

---

EFFECTS

No doubt a fair few of you remember the Blofeld and its… lackluster reverb and phaser.

This is not the case here.

Waldorf completely overhauled all the FX, and these are world-class effects under the hood on the Iridium line now.

The EQ section is super helpful for tweaking the finer bands of sounds, the phaser finally sounds like a phaser and is about at-par with the legendary Virus Phaser, and the Chorus is substantially improved over the Blofeld. We had a tricky time trying to make it sound like a classic JP-8080 or Virus Chorus, but we’ve gotten pretty close results, and we’ll get closer the deeper into this machine we get.

The Delay finally sounds nice and full, and has lots of tone-tweaking controls to help it stay clean in a mix. Hopefully someday they add a Tape Delay setting in there, to facilitate some of those classic delay behaviors that makes Dub techno and Ambient so fun to experiment around with.

Flanger is also a nice touch, and is great for trippy Psytrance sounds and effects.

The Drive/ Distortion section is also nice (although we’d be lying if we didn’t admit we miss some of the old Blofeld distortion algorithms. The Blofeld could get mean and make some truly aggressive Dubstep and Industrial sounds with its distortion effects.

We must confess we are not the biggest experts at wrangling Compressors, and our own efforts at messing around with it in here had mixed results, so we’re not the best judge of how the Compressor in here is.

But we all know what you really want to know, is if the Reverb is any good.

And the answer is a solid resounding YES.

It can sound as massive and spacious, or as tight and confined as you want, and it has all kinds of mod and color controls to make it bright and airy or dark and lush, in any degree. And that’s just the standard reverb. As of October 20 2026, a new beta OS update for the Iridium Core gave it an additional Shimmer Reverb setting, which we have only barely scratched the surface of, but were extremely impressed in our early tests. The pitch warbles and creates spectacular Hans Zimmeresque cinematic tones that sends even the most basic synth plucks soaring off into the orbits of distant black holes. The regular and shimmer reverbs are going to be very hard not to abuse and overuse on soundbanks going forward. They just sound too frickin’ good. Definite Virus Competitor, these.

---

CONCLUSION

So, here at the end of it all, the question remains: Is an Iridium Core worthit? Do the features justify the price?

Thus far, we would have to say, yes.

In a world where thee Access Virus TI2 and Waldorf Q and Supernova II Pro X are long out of production and the Blofeld just ceased production, there is definitely a place in the market for a multi-engine VA/Wavetable/Sample-Processor synth with absurdly deep mod capabilities. Too many synths out there (in our opinion) are being released with either too small a featureset, or too few voices, and even at 12 stock voices, the Iridium Core punches above many other current synths on the market. The build quality of the Iridium Core is sturdy and the funky falling screen issues of past Iridiums and Quantums seems to have been resolved.

We scored our Iridium Core for less than our Prophet Rev2, and in that regard were exceptionally fortunate. But having said that, part of what makes the Iridium MK 1 and 2 so expensive are the knobs and extended new features (obviously).
And being long-time users of the Blofeld, working on minimalist interfaces doesn’t scare us. The Iridium Core is even more intuitive than the Blofeld, and the Blofeld wasn’t too hard for us. And the smaller featureset/ polyphony of the Iridium Core is, as of October 2026, is not the issue it was when the Core first dropped several years ago.

Back in September, Waldorf release the 4.1.0 beta OS update that increased the polyphony from 12 to 16, which we’re sure is a simple software change adding 4 extra dynamic voices that may or may not disappear under heavy DSP loads. But for most of what we do, that’s not going to be a problem. So we paid for a 12 voice synth, and got a 16 voice synth.

And thanks to these frequent and not-inconsequential OS updates, we’re being treated to all kinds of new effects and fixes that are rapidly making the Core close the gap with the Virus TI2. The practical utility of this synth is increasing for free just about every month, and that effectively makes it a synth worth its sticker price, and then some.

We’ve coaxed all kinds of superb sounds out of this machine in the relatively short time we’ve had it, and by the time you read this we will have made even more.

So if you’re a dance or ambient producer looking for a new hardware synth that will rock hard at the genres you make, and won’t suddenly die on you due to obsolete part failure because it’s 30 years old, the Waldorf Iridium Core is an excellent choice that is well worth the money (especially as time goes on and more updates and fixes add features and iron out kinks).

News From The Studio, Oct 2026: Synth Soundbank Bundles, New Soundsets for TORAIZ AS-1, Waldorf Iridium Core, New MIDI Packs & More

New Soundbanks

As you may have learned by now, we just released our first Waldorf Iridium Core/ Quantum soundbank recently. What we did not announce quite so loudly, is that we also released our first soundbank for the Pioneer DJ TORAIZ AS-1 synthesizer, a trance preset bank, and also released 4 Pedal Tones MIDI packs!

Soundbank Bundles

And on top of that, we also are beginning to add synth soundbank bundles to our different product lines. We’re creating special libraries collected from related genres, so if you’re after certain kinds of sounds and vibes and don’t wanna go through the hassle of manually ordering multiple banks and plugging in discount codes by hand, we have ready-made sets for you to add and buy (with their own baked-in discounts as part of the price)!

So far we’ve only done Moog Sub 37 / Subsequent 37 soundbank bundles, because we are finished making soundsets for those synths, but as we complete more, and more diverse collections of sounds for different synths, we’ll add bundle packs to their product pages, which you can browse and buy as you see fit.

Upcoming Soundsets

Right now Nisli is working on more Access Virus C/ B soundbanks, and in the studio, we’re gearing up to do our first new Mininova soundbanks in 2 years, and a new Prophet Rev2 pack after that! Then there will be more Iridium goodies coming around the holiday season.

Keep an eye on this space in the coming months, as we round out different synths’ soundbank collections and make more bundles!

Our First Waldorf Iridium Core Soundbank Is Out Now!

You’ve known us for making uplifting and classic trance presets for oldschool and vintage synths like the JP-8080 and Nord Leads and Viruses for years, and… after a fateful weekend at Superbooth this past May, we finally caved to our case of GAS and got our hands on our first truly modern synth, a Waldorf Iridium Core, in August!

And after wrapping up some other soundbank work, we are proud to announce we have finally released our first Waldorf Iridium Trance soundset: the Arete Trance Soundset for Waldorf Iridium & Quantum Series!

It’s loaded with 101 patches, designed using the latest beta OS update for the Iridium Core (the 16 voice expansion update), all inspired by classic and modern uplifting trance tunes, designed by Dawnchaser to be 100% production-ready for your tracks straight out of the synth. So whether you're working on the full-size Iridium or Quantum, or using an Iridium Core, these sounds exploit the full power of the engine.

Arete has already been reviewed by GearNews, and you can check out their full feature and review right here! We’re thrilled by the response thus far, and can’t wait to hear these patches in your releases!

Check out the demo below, and keep an eye on this space, as this is certainly not the last soundset we’ll be making for the Waldorf Iridium and Quantum synthesizer line!

Arete Trance Soundset for Waldorf Iridium & Iridium Core & Quantum Series

$35.00

101 uplifting Trance presets, compatible with the Waldorf Iridium, Iridium Core, and Quantum hardware synthesizer series. This soundbank is 100% Trance-oriented and comes packed with euphoric leads, majestic pads, thundering basses, epic plucks, and screaming 303 acid patches, with no filler sounds. The patches in Arete come straight out of songs written using the legendary Waldorf Q, XT, microQ, Blofeld, and Pulse synths. Designed to fully exploit the Iridium’s advanced virtual analog engine, complex wavetables, deep mod matrix, and dual multi-mode filters, this soundset pushes the Iridium and Quantum to their fullest potential!

Patches in Arete are based on sounds from songs by the likes of Rank 1, Pulser, Driftmoon, Armin van Buuren, Ferry Tayle, 7 Skies, DuMonde, Arctic Moon, Wavetraxx, Aly & Fila, Tom Porcell, Giuseppe Ottaviani, Roger Shah, Ferry Corsten, Ralph Novell, Basis 1, Gaia, Alphazone, Aimoon, The Mystery, Dawnchaser, Denga & Manus, The Thrillseekers, Airbase, BT, Manian, Ace Da Brain, Akira Kayosa, Ron van den Beuken, Scooter, DJ Scot Project, Vengeance, Marcel Woods, Ruff Stuff, K-System, Mike Shiver, Phalanx, and many many more!

No additional FX were applied to these sounds post-recording

Many sounds use the Modwheel for added control

Sounds in this preset pack are suitable for the Uplifting Trance, Hard Trance, Tech Trance, Progressive Trance, and Classic Trance genres, and are organized by category into Leads, Plucks, Pads, Acid sounds, and Basses, for quick reference

All patches are royalty-free and delivered instantly via email as a 24-hour download link

Requirements: Waldorf Iridium synthesizer

Also compatible with Waldorf Iridium Core and Waldorf Quantum Series

“This bank makes full use of the Iridium’s powerful VA and wavetable engines and those superb filters that make it stand out from the crowd.” - Rob Puricelli, GearNews

Add to cart

Waldorf Iridium Core OS Update!

Important info for all Waldorf Iridium Core users out there!

Waldorf just dropped the 4.1.0 b1 beta OS update for the Core that improves a number of features, most notably it increases the available polyphony from 12 voices to the Iridium line standard of 16!

So now you can turn your Core into a full-fledged Iridium for free!

And it’s also worth grabbing, because our soundbanks for the Iridium Core were made using the update, to make epic pad design work easier, so if you wanna get the most from our patches, grab the update!

Hear the OS update in action

We Just Got A Waldorf Iridium Core!

Well folks, after getting our hands on the Iridium keyboard and MK2 desktop at Superbooth this spring, we were bitten by the Iridium bug, and we knew we just had to get our hands on one!

So when it came time for us to mosey over to Sweden to visit family, we figured a trip into the EU was as good a time and place as any to get one!

The full size Iridium was too large for us to take on a plane in a carryon bag, and the keyboard was a nonstarter cause it’s just too dang big. So the Iridium Core seemed like the best compromise for size, space, and features. The 12 voices versus 16 wasn’t ideal, but we figured we could still make killer sounds on it.

And after a few months of hunting, and waiting for a good deal, we scored one off Reverb from Musicom in Spain, they got it delivered to us up in Sweden a couple weeks later, and we are now halfway through our first Trance soundbank for it!

You can expect tons of classics, deep cuts, and more obscure but super epic patches on that bank, and there will be many more soundbanks to come for that mighty machine!

Which will be even more awesome than we originally planned, as Waldorf just released a beta OS update for the Core that expands it to 16 voices, so now we don’t have to make as many compromises in the sounds we design!

Keep an eye on our store page in the coming months, as we will have many soundbanks for this killer Waldorf unit (and by extension the Quantum series) coming!

** We are not affiliated with nor are we receiving any compensation from Musicom or Waldorf Music for mentioning or linking their products/sites in this article. We’re just really enthusiastic about the synth and were very satisfied with the service from the shop, and wanted to give them a shoutout for exemplary service.

Armada Music Publishing Now Uses Our Sounds!

Couple weeks back, we got an email from the studio folks at Armada Music Publishing about them having just acquired a couple JP-8080s for their production studios. They asked if we could supply them with some soundbanks to make their gear production-ready for producers who walk in to work on tracks, and we sent them some of our packs!

They are happy with the packs, and if you follow their socials, you’ll hear our sounds in their posts from time to time!

Our JD-08 Banks Now Work On EVERY Roland Synth Related To The JD Series!

You heard it here first!

After a considerable amount of elbow grease, caffeine, and 3rd party validation, we can now proudly say our JD-08 Soundsets include usable bank files for:

Roland JD-08

Roland JD-800

Roland JD-990

Roland Juno-X

Roland Jupiter-X

Roland Fantom EX Series

Roland GO:KEYS 3 & 5

Roland Zenology Pro VSTi

Roland Zenology GX AU

Roland JD-800 Cloud VSTi

The Usual Suspects JADE VSTi

So no matter what flavor of Roland JD synth you’re using, or what platform you’re using it on, our soundbanks work on all of them!

Enjoy, everyone!

Hidden Fine Tune Pitch Modulation Trick For The Access Virus TI

If you’re anything like us, you like to make your patches sound as natural and organic as possible. And pitch modulations are an easy way to do that. We like the subtle pitch decay trick, for making patches behave like acoustic instruments, and for synths like the Nord Lead 3, JP-8080, Mininova, and Blofeld, that’s not too hard to do.

The Virus TI2 however, has been a thorn in our side for a decade on this one. Setting up a basic pitch modulation routing for say, a Mod Source of Env 3 or the Filter Env, and the destination as the oscillators, ends in squeaky disaster. The Osc Pitches are all Coarse by default, and if you mess with those even a little, it sends the tuning to hell in a ham sandwich. Unless you use LFO 3 to modulate the fine pitch for vibrato effects.

But if you want more flexibility in your pitch modulations, check out this technique we just learned!

Set up the routings like this (any mod Slot will work, but I chose 1 and 2 for simplicity’s sake), using any Envelope or LFO for the first slot, with the amounts all set to 0. Then set up 1% or 10% constant as the source on the next slot page, and experiment with the Slot 2 Amount numbers to dial it in and get the exactly amount of pitch change you want.

You can use the 1% constant instead of 10%, if you want even more granular control over the pitch.

It’s a little complicated, but it opens up the Virus sonically sooo much more to be able to add subtle pitch changes.

Happy sound designing!

GearNews.de Has Been Reviewing Our Banks!

3 of them, to be exact. Google hid this from us, so we had no idea until earlier today.

They’re all in German, so if you’re not German, you’ll probably want to use a browser translation plugin to read them.

Cool Jazz Soundset for Sequential Prophet Rev2

$29.00

94 smooth Jazz presets, compatible with the Sequential Prophet Rev2 analog DCO hardware synth. This soundbank is 100% Jazz-oriented, which means no Trance, Dubstep, or Techno sounds. The patches in Cool come straight out of songs by legendary artists of the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s. So this soundset is designed to fully exploit the Prophet’s bi-timbral architecture, rich Curtis filter, and 8-slot mod matrix to their fullest potential!

Patches in Cool are based on sounds from songs by the likes of Herbie Hancock, Bitchin Bajas, Parliament, George Clinton, Casiopea, Mehliana, Joe McPhee, Janelle Monáe, Snarky Puppy, George Duke, Gorillaz, Jamiroquai, George Benson, Resolution 88, Stevie Wonder, Weather Report, Seatbelts, James Brown, Chick Corea, and many many more!

Only 3rd party FX used in the demos was Virus TI2 reverb and delay applied to some Leads, Pads, and Plucks. All other FX are 100% from the Rev2. These patches are compatible with both the 8 and 16 Voice versions (sounds were designed on 16 V version).

Sounds in this preset pack are suitable for the Smooth Jazz, Acid Jazz, Funk, Soul, and RnB genres, and are organized by category into Leads, Plucks, Pads, and Basses, for quick reference

All patches are royalty-free and delivered instantly via email as a 24-hour download link

Requirements: Sequential Prophet Rev2 synthesizer

Add to cart

Desolate Ambient Soundset for Waldorf Blofeld

$25.00

94 lush Ambient presets, compatible with the Waldorf Blofeld hardware synth. This soundbank is 100% Ambient-oriented, which means no weird brass, pianos, or FX. This collection is based on many classic digital and analog sounds from iconic tunes of the last 50 years. So this soundset is designed to fully exploit the Blofeld’s multitimbral engine, complex wavetables, deep modulation, and expanded filters to their fullest potential!

Patches in Desolate are based on sounds from songs by the likes of Boards Of Canada, Hans Zimmer, Nightmares On Wax, All India Radio, We Are All Astronauts, Trentemøller, Shpongle, Brian Eno, Entheogenic, Tangerine Dream, Dawnchaser, Tycho, Angelo Badalamenti, Massive Attack, Amiranu, and many many more!

And to cap off the bank some patches were set to INIT, so you have room to write and store your own patches without overwriting any existing sounds!

Only 3rd party FX used on these sounds were Virus TI2 reverb on the leads, pads, and plucks.

Sounds in this preset pack are suitable for the Ambient, Chillout, Downtempo, Psybient, and Cinematic Soundscape genres, and are organized by category into Leads, Plucks, Pads, and Basses, for quick reference

All patches are royalty-free and delivered instantly via email as a 24-hour download link

Requirements: Waldorf Blofeld synthesizer

• SL license not required to use bank

Also compatible with Waldorf Blofeld VSTi (Windows and iOS versions)

“This collection of superb ambient-style sounds is a real treat and properly shows off everything that makes the Blofeld a much-loved synth.” - Rob Puricelli, GearNews

Add to cart

Elevate Trance Soundset for Waldorf Blofeld

$25.00

93 uplifting Trance presets, compatible with the Waldorf Blofeld hardware synth. This soundbank is 100% Trance-oriented, which means plenty of classic SuperSaws, and no weird clangs, effects, drums, shrieks, or pianos. The patches in Elevate come straight out of songs written using the Waldorf Q, XT, microQ, and Pulse synths. So this soundset is designed to fully exploit the Blofeld’s multitimbral engine, complex wavetables, deep modulation, and expanded filters to their fullest potential!

Patches in Elevate are based on sounds from songs by the likes of Armin van Buuren, Rank 1, ATB, Darude, Ratty, Ace Da Brain, DuMonde, Phalanx, Marcel Woods, PPK, and many many more!

And to cap off the bank some patches were set to INIT, so you have room to write and store your own patches without overwriting any existing sounds!

Only 3rd party FX used on these sounds were Fruity Delay 3 and ValhallaRoom reverb, on the leads, pads, and plucks.

Sounds in this preset pack are suitable for the Uplifting Trance, Hard Trance, Tech Trance, Progressive Trance, and Classic Trance genres, and are organized by category into Leads, Plucks, Pads, Acid sounds, and Basses, for quick reference

All patches are royalty-free and delivered instantly via email as a 24-hour download link

Requirements: Waldorf Blofeld synthesizer

• SL license not required to use bank

Also compatible with Waldorf Blofeld VSTi (Windows and iOS versions)

Add to cart

Do Analog Synths Belong In Trance Music?

When folks jump on Facebook or Reddit to ask about the best synths to use for Trance, it often seems like there’s only 3 or 4 names that ever come up. Spire. Sylenth1. Virus TI (or OsTIrus, now). JP-8000 (or JE-8086, as of December 2025). The occasional mention of Diva. Lots of digital polyphonic VST plugins with some version of a SuperSaw baked into the architecture somewhere in the signal path.

And following that same thread, an almost equal number of Trance fans (especially the older ones) complain that everything sounds the same, and the life has gone out of modern Trance. While I fundamentally disagree with that premise, I do think there is something to the idea that Sameness has taken over the sound. Some folks would say the genre has become trapped in its own tropes and experimentation and deviation from the standard SuperSaws & Arpeggios ends in apathy or punishment from the scene, but I also don’t agree with that premise.

A lot of great tunes from the 90s on to the mid-2010s did not use those sounds, or they weren’t the primary focus, and those sounds had a lot of character.

And with the massive explosion in interest of analog synths that has happened since the 2010s, I think now is the perfect time for Trance artists to veer away from the typical SuperSaw sound, and start incorporating a little analog character and unpredictability into their mixes.

It’s true that most Trance producers avoid Analog synths. Many are monophonic, and the ones that aren’t, tend to be expensive, and have limited polyphony compared to their plugin cousins.

But there are still many places where Analog synths can serve useful secondary, and even central roles in big Trance anthems.

Where Analog Fits In The Mix

The most obvious example is what most folks associate Analog synths with… bassline duties. And Analog is great for basslines. Sometimes too great.

Take for example, these 2 songs. On Heaven, Wavetraxx and I used the Prophet Rev2 for a midrange bass layer, to add extra character to the low end. The rest of the song is digital, but DCO Analog sound still occupies a supporting role in the mix, and lends the character extra depth. The bass sound didn’t get used for the entire sub + midrange layer because the saturation baked into the sound was too heavy for the mix, and without lopassing to cut the lows and some lo-mids out of the sound, it would have clashed with the kick. But hipassed and notched tastefully, it sat tidily on top of the sub bass, and added an extra dimension to the music that makes it feel more organic.

Midrange Bass: Sequential Prophet Rev2

And below in Cascade Highway, the Prophet Rev2 is fully on bassline duties, in both the sub bass and the midrange bass. I used the Virus TI2’s Rate Reducer FX to give the midbass a kind of ‘talking’ evolving character. But the weight and punchiness of the DCO Analog sound in the lows (with added Osc Slop to the oscillator tuning to add classic analog behavior flavor) gives the tune a round warm character. And the nice part of the Prophet is its Panning capabilities, making it possible to create bouncing midrange basses that widen the song without needing any special technical tricks.

Sub Bass & Midrange Bass: Sequential Prophet Rev2

Lead The WaY

But for less obvious uses, Analog synths work great for Trance Leads. As you can hear in the playlist below, most of the synths use some forms of Pulse and Sawtooth waves, with some added FX to liven them up. Except for Empire of Hearts, every other song uses sounds that can easily be made on any analog synth with 1-2 LFOs and some basic Pulse Width and Pitch modulation capabilities (which is basically all of them). The Empire of Hearts lead could be made on any analog synth with 3 or more voices, and anything with a sub oscillator alongside 2 regular oscillators. The songs in the demos (we think, anyway) mostly use VA synths like the Virus, or Supernova or Q. But the waves the sounds are based on can be found on everything from a classic Minimoog to a Sequential Fourm or OB-6.

Indeed, modern analogs like the Prophet Rev2, Teo-5, Fourm, OB-6, and OB-X8 can even do quasi-SuperSaws, with the Teo-5 and Fourm sounding the best of the bunch (according to our Superbooth 2026 live tests). You can make digital-style sounds on Analog synths very capably, and in the case of the Teo-5, sound even better than the original sound you were trying to mimic.

More Than Meets The Ear

There is a lot of underutilized Trance potential in the many Moog, Sequential, Oberheim, Korg, Arturia, Behringer, and countless boutique Analog synths made by smaller companies, just waiting to be tapped into. With little more than a couple octave-spread square waves, a fast LFO on the pitch at a low setting, and a touch of white noise, you can make a buzzy biting lead synth straight out of late 2000s epic and progressive trance that would cut through any modern mix and add a certain je ne sais quoi to your music that listeners may not know is specifically analog, but will recognize as unique and pleasing, and subtly set you apart from everyone else.

Get Plucky

The same logic applies to plucks as well. Mono synths can be tricky for plucks, but if you’re willing to write riffs that are not just racing 16th note arpeggios with the notes all clustered together, or big stacked chords, you can make an analog mono synth sound every bit as big and majestic in a mix as any Virus or Diva pluck. And small touches like pitch drift, or analog filter variations in VCO synths lend a more organic quality to the sound that will feel more natural, without the need to apply special settings in a plugin to achieve it. And with Moogs, their baked-in low-mid saturation makes upper register plucks sound super round and rich.

Opening pluck: PL Skylark (from Skylarking by BT)

Although Analog poly synths sound very rich for plucks too. The Prophets all have their own individual character, and because they’re all polyphonic to different degrees, you can play some super nice epic chords with them. Some synths lend themselves better to warmer gentler sounds, others to brighter snappier sounds, but synths like the Rev2 can handle both very nicely (although it tends more toward bright by default).

Pluck: PL Everytime (from Everytime You Need Me by Fragma ft Maria Rubia)

And because every synth manufacturer uses different parts for their gear, sometimes even different parts between different synths in their inventory, even things as basic as Square and Saw waves don’t sound alike between instruments.

The timbral differences between different Moogs

So if every producer is using different instruments, be they budget or flagship, they will all sound subtly different from one another, and Trance will gradually begin to regain its lost feeling of variety. There have been a growing number of artists doing this, Giuseppe Ottaviani being one of the most notable examples, and it shows in his music. Arguments that folks can’t hear the difference in a mix are missing the point. It’s not that they’re hearing Analog specifically. What they’re hearing are variations in tone, timbre, and the differences in workflows that guide the production and mixing decisions for each artist, based on their instrument choices. When everyone is using the same easily-pirated VST plugins, everyone starts from the exact same place, and room for variation is narrower.

When everyone starts from different places, even when they’re all making the same genres, they’re all going to sound a little different.

Thanks to companies like Behringer making full on budget gear, Korg making mid-priced synths like the Minilogue and Monologue (and even the oft-ignored Prologue) and companies like Sequential creating entry-level analog poly synths (to say nothing of their older discontinued units like the Mopho and the Tetra), and discontinued Moog synths like the Slim Phatty and Subsequent 25 commanding more reasonable prices than the super expensive new gear on the market, there has never been a better time to explore all the options out there and start incorporating less-conventional synths and synth sounds into Trance.

So, Do Analog Synths Belong In Trance?

Absolutely. Does everyone need the most expensive, feature-loaded piece of flagship kit from the biggest prestige manufacturers? No. Will an Analog synth magically make your music world-class the moment you turn it on? Again, no.

But like with most anything else, if you know what you want your music to sound like, and you understand some basics about sound design and music composition, you can turn even the most basic and cheap analog module into the centerpiece of your next monster Luminosity anthem. It’s like Murderface says in Metalocalypse: “It’s a very dangerous weapon to know what you’re doing”.

And in a world where every Uplifting Trance 2026 Mix sounds like the same 3 Spire SuperSaw presets, we all owe it to our listeners to do something different, even if it’s so subtle they might not notice it immediately. The music world’s homogenized a lot in the last decade. Let’s mix things up a little.

AltWire Just Reviewed Our Sub Phatty and Mininova Soundbanks!

Hey all! The good folks over at AltWire just reviewed our entire Sub Phatty / Subsequent 25 soundbank line, and our 3 Mininova Trance soundbanks, and you can read it all down below!

We're finally back to working on the Virus TI2!

We know, it’s been a hot minute since we last did anything for the TI series. But that is all changing this summer!

We have multiple new banks planned, and coming soon!

Some will be sequels, but most will be brand new, for new genres we haven’t yet touched!

So standby for some massive new sounds!

And check out the latest TI2 bank we’ve made, Misty Ambient Soundset for the Access Virus TI2 & OsTIrus!

Misty Ambient Soundset for Access Virus TI Series & OsTIrus

$29.00

95 lush Ambient presets for the legendary Access Virus TI virtual analog synthesizer series. This soundbank is 100% Ambient-oriented, which means no weird brass, Trance sounds, or Techno patches. Presets in Misty are based on famous sounds from songs by big artists of the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s. This soundset is designed to exploit the TI’s wavetables, HyperSaws, deep mod matrix, and multitimbral virtual analog sound engine to their fullest potential!

Patches in Misty are based on sounds from songs by the likes of Boards of Canada, Tycho, Bjork, Dawnchaser, Massive Attack, Amiranu, Nightmares On Wax, All India Radio, Tangerine Dream, The Orb, Shpongle, Trentemøller, Angelo Badalamenti, Brian Eno, Entheogenic, We Are All Astronauts, Hans Zimmer, and many many more!

And to cap off the bank some patches were set to Initial, so you have room to write and store your own patches without overwriting any existing sounds!

No 3rd party FX were used in these sounds.

Sounds in this preset pack are suitable for the Ambient, Chillout, Downtempo, Psybient, and Cinematic Soundscape genres, and are organized by category into Leads, Plucks, Pads, and Basses, for quick reference

All patches are royalty-free and delivered instantly via email as a 24-hour download link

Requirements: Access Virus TI, TI2, Snow, or Polar synthesizer

Also compatible with Adam Szabo Viper VSTi,* DiscoDSP Retromulator, and the The Usual Suspects OsTIrus

*there will be some differences in some sounds due to differences in the architecture and features between the TI2 and Viper

Add to cart

Our adventures at Superbooth!

Hey all, we’re back from Superbooth 2026 in Berlin, and GASing super hard over a lot of really powerful instruments!

Had a blast meeting all the people behind the synths we make sounds for, and we went deeeep down a hole designing patches on the Iridium and Leviasynth and Fourm (and also discovered just how kickawesome the Teo-5 is)

You can see our video of the weekend, and our explorations of different synths here!

Kulshan Studios Will Be At Superbooth 2026!

Not as a vendor, obviously. But we WILL be roaming around the event all 3 days, checking out gear, talking with synth manufacturers, and getting into shenanigans!

If you see us wandering around, don’t hesitate to give us a shout! We’re always down to have a bier and talk shop about synths and sound design and music stuff!

GearNews Reviewed Our Blofeld and JD-08 Ambient Soundsets!

You heard it right!

GearNews just reviewed Windswept for the Roland JD-08, and reviewed Desolate for the Waldorf Blofeld (again)!

Check it out through the button below!

Explore the ambient sounds of the JD and Blofeld

GearNews Review of the New JP-8080 Soundbank!

GearNews’ contributor Rob Puricelli just included Dawnchaser’s latest JP-8080/JP-8000/JE-8086 soundbank in his review of some new synth presets and synths! Check it out and see what the GearNews crew are saying about Dawnchaser’s latest work!

Altitude 5 Trance Soundset for Roland JP-8080 & JP-8000 & JE-8086

$27.00

50 uplifting Trance dual-layer performances, compatible with the Roland JP-8000 and JP-8080 hardware synths. This soundbank is 100% Trance-oriented, which means no weird brass, pianos, or FX. The sounds in Altitude 5 come straight out of songs written using the JP-8000 and JP-8080 synths. So this soundset is designed to fully exploit the JP’s iconic SuperSaw oscillator, lush chorus, and virtual analog sound engine to their fullest potential!

Performances in Altitude 5 are based on sounds from songs by the likes of Andy Blueman, Nitrous Oxide, Jorn van Deynhoven, Phalanx, Akira Kayosa, 3XM, Arctic Moon, Solarstone, DejaVu, Artur Obraans, Ruff Stuff, Carl B, Scot Project, Earth Inc, Suncatcher, Ace Da Brain, Markus Schulz, Alex M.O.R.P.H., Oliver Smith, Giuseppe Ottaviani, Warp Brothers, ATB, Sol 7, Standerwick, Aimoon, and many many more!

And to cap off the bank some slots were set to INIT, so you have room to write and store your own sounds without overwriting any existing presets!

Only 3rd party FX used in this video was Virus TI2 reverb, on the leads, pads, and plucks.

Sounds in this pack are suitable for the Uplifting Trance, Hard Trance, Tech Trance, Progressive Trance, and Classic Trance genres, and are organized by category into Leads, Plucks, Pads, and Basses, for quick reference

All performances are royalty-free and delivered instantly via email as a 24-hour download link

Requirements: Roland JP-8000 or JP-8080 synthesizer

Also compatible with Adam Szabo Airwave, The Usual Suspects JE-8086, DiscoDSP Retromulator, DiscoDSP Corona VSTi using included .syx file, and Arturia Jup-8000 V VSTi using included split Performance files

“The preset banks by Kulshan Studios immediately brings out the very best of what the Roland JP-8080 has to offer. A must have for any trance producer with one of these legendary synthesizers.” - Armada Music Publishing

Add to cart

New Pitch Modulation Tricks Video Is Up Now!

Feeling like your leads and plucks and pads are static and plasticy and lifeless? Unsure how to liven them up?

Take a gander at our latest tutorial video, and learn a few of our tried and true sound design techniques to instantly improve your sounds, with minimal effort!

Our Virus TI2 Presets Are Compatible With The Usual Suspects OsTIrus!

You heard it here first! All Kulshan Studios hardware soundbanks for the Access Virus TI2 are fully compatible with The Usual Suspects OsTIrus emulator plugin! All the original HyperSaws, Wavetables, Graintables, filters, modulations, FX, and original oscillator waves are perfectly-emulated in the DSP56300 Project’s code clone, and our Trance, Psytrance, House, Hands Up, Dubstep, and other hardware soundbanks will all load into the plugin with 100% accuracy! Whether you’re using only the software, or keeping it as a backup in case your hardware breaks, you’ll have full access to the exact same sounds no matter what!

So you can just load the soundbanks in, and get busy writing your next club smasher with the full power of the Virus!

To load the presets into the plugin, after you install the plugin and get the firmware installed, open the plugin, and go to

Browser

Right click on Data Sources

Select Add Folders

Choose the master folder where you store all your downloaded soundsets

The preset packs will all appear in Data Sources under their various folder and subfolder names, and since the packs are organized by genre, and subdivided by patch category, you can get right to work writing your next massive festival anthem!

Transform your productions with authentic Virus tones. Shop the preset collection below

Note: you can improve the emulator plugin’s dynamic polyphony and increase the available voices of the synth by using an external reverb plugin like ValhallaRoom, ValhallaShimmer, Valhalla Supermassive, or Valhalla VintageVerb, or Eventide Blackhole. If you use ValhallaRoom, here are some free presets optimized for modern productions using the Virus that will add professional depth and space to your tracks

Our Virus C & Virus B Presets Are Compatible With The Usual Suspects Osirus!

You heard it here at the source! All Kulshan Studios hardware Virus C/Virus B soundsets will work 100% in the The Usual Suspects Osirus plugin! All the original filters, modulations, FX, and oscillator waves are perfectly-emulated in the DSP56300 Project’s code clones, and our Trance, Psytrance, Hands Up, and other hardware soundbanks will all load into the plugin with 100% accuracy! Whether you’re using only the software, or keeping it as a backup in case your hardware breaks, you’ll have full access to the exact same sounds no matter what!

You can grab the packs right now and put the power of classic Virus synths in your modern tunes!

So you can just load the soundbanks in, and get busy writing your next club banger with the full power of the Virus C and Virus B!

To load the presets into the plugin, after you install the plugin and get the firmware installed, open the plugin, and go to

Browser

Right click on Data Sources

Select Add Folders

Choose the master folder where you store all your downloaded soundsets

The preset packs will all appear in Data Sources under their various folder and subfolder names, and since the packs are organized by genre, and subdivided by patch category, you can get right to work writing your next massive festival anthem!

Transform your productions with authentic Virus tones. Shop the preset collection below

Note: you can improve the emulator plugin’s dynamic polyphony and increase the available voices of the synth by using an external reverb plugin like ValhallaRoom, ValhallaShimmer, Valhalla Supermassive, or Valhalla VintageVerb, or Eventide Blackhole. If you use ValhallaRoom, here are some free presets optimized for modern productions using the Virus that will add professional depth and space to your tracks