Big news, softsynth users!

Most of you are probably already aware that Waldorf just released a VST version of the Blofeld hardware synth, and our Blofeld soundsets will work in them!

Waldorf Blofeld VST Plugin

So if you’ve been wanting to get your hands on our Blofeld soundbanks, but didn’t want to shell out for a hardware Blofeld, now you can have your cake and eat it too!

Dawnchaser is a Pacific Northwest-based electronic music producer, mountaineer, documenter of all things adventure, mountain, and travel-related, and manager of Kulshan Recordings. If he’s not in the studio writing music about adventures, he’s out on one.

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Waldorf Blofeld Review 2021

Glassy. Digital. Metallic. These are the most common words you’ll hear when asking about how the Blofeld sounds. And to those who don’t explore too deeply into it, that’s all the Blofeld will surrender. But for those with a more adventurous spirit, this synth will reveal treasures beyond their wildest dreams.

But first, a little history.

Back in 2004, the Waldorf company, manufacturer of such iconic synths as the Microwave, Pulse, Q, and their assorted iterations, had gone under. The company had gone belly up, and their engineers and staff were all left naked in the breeze. That is, until 2007, when Joachim Flor, a sales rep with a big idea, reassembled the team, gathered some funds, and relaunched Waldorf with a brand new synth. A Virtual Analog synth that would combine the best features of the best Waldorf synths, in a compact affordable unit bearing an elegant, minimalist look. And a sound that punched far above its 2.25 kg. It would go on to change their fortunes, and fuel their ascendancy back to the forefront of the industry.

And that brings us to 2021.

Amidst a sea of wavetable hardware and software synths, and with VSTs having progressed markedly since 2007, one could be forgiven for asking “Is the Blofeld even really worth the money now when I can just use Serum?”

To which I would say, Yes. Yes it is. Let’s go over why.

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Oscillators

Off the bat, the Blofeld sports 3 oscillators, all of which have basic Analog Waveforms (Pulse, Saw, Triangle, Sine), and the first 2 also offer wavetables. With the SL License (pre-loaded on the keyboard, and costs extra for the desktop) you can load in your own custom wavetables and samples, and expand the possibilities of your synth. The analog waveforms are distinctly Waldorfy in character, which is to say, bright and a little glassy. If you need the sound to be sharper or more cutting, every oscillator also has a Brilliance setting that mimics the aliasing behavior of the older Waldorf synths, which for making Trance plucks or super dirty Riddim basses, is perfect.

All that is fairly standard on any synth though.

What makes the Blofeld shine is the FM and PWM capabilities every oscillator has in its submenus. You can use a variety of FM sources per oscillator AND PWM on every oscillator without using up Mod Matrix slots, and it helps conserve a little DSP power. So without even leaving the Osc section, you can create insane ripping Dubstep and Electro House sounds using just the analog waveforms!

Once you start diving into the wavetables, that’s where things get truly exciting. These wavetables are full bodied, and you can experiment with modulating their position, and even use other wavetables as FM sources, to create truly devastating Dubstep wobbles and snarls that put Massive to shame. And if all you want to do is make some simple Trance leads, a little quick detuning and some Brilliance boosts will give you a nice epic lead that’s ready to roll in your next anthem.

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Filters

Here’s where things start to get really wild. The Blofeld comes with 2 filters, which each oscillator can be freely assigned to. Your basic 2 and 4 pole LPs and HPs are in there, as well as some bandpass, notch, and comb+ and - filters that really mutate the sound. For the old schoolers out there, the Blofeld even iincludes the classic PPG filter from Wolfgang Palmer’s original PPG Wave synth from the 80s. Vice vibes, anyone?

That’s not where the story ends, though.

Each filter has multiple submenus full of options including everything from Keytracking, to FM (yes, you can pick frequency modulation sources for the filter!), to filter drive, to even panning. For the moment let’s touch on the Filter Drive. This is where the Bass Music crowd will want to sit up and sharpen their pencils.

It contains multiple distortion types, which you can dial in for something as subtle as mild Tube saturation to a pluck, to dirty bitcrushing (the Binary drive type) on a square lead, to sine folding a wavetable bass. And the filter drive can be modulated by just about any source in the Mod Matrix, so you have mountains of options for how much you want to destroy your sound.

Having covered that terrain, the big question is, does the filter itself sound nice? A lot of folks harp on about it because it doesn’t sound “analog” enough and doesn’t behave like a Moog ladder filter. And yes, they are correct. It’s not a Moog.

But it’s not supposed to be. The Blofeld is its own animal, and the real secret to getting nice tight sounds is to switch to the 24 dB Lopass filter, and then experiment with Filter Envelope settings until you dial it in (a decent touch of resonance doesn’t hurt either). The sounds may not be as creamy as what you’d get from a Minimoog, but you can make incredibly tight plucks that cut through a mix. Big Trance pads on the Blofeld also sound incredibly smooth, and with the right pan spread settings, rival anything a Virus or Rev2 can make. If you want your sounds to have that same bouncy roundness that true analog yields, you can apply mild filter saturation and some resonance to make the sound more analog in character.

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Amplitude

We don’t need to devote a lot of time to this, as it comes with the standard ADSR envelope for Amp, Env3, and Env4. What IS special is that there’s a number of modifiable parameters for each that allow you to sculpt sounds in more complex and unique ways, to yield even more interesting sounds. Personally, I rarely use those extra features, as most Trance sounds don’t utilize that level of depth for sound design. But for modulating modifiers, the 3rd and 4th Envelopes are pretty cool, and allow for twisted sonic exploration when dabbling in Dubstep and Drum n Bass sound design.

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LFO

Now this is where things get exciting. The Blofeld has 3 LFOs that can be clocked or run freely, and they come in a multitude of oscillator types. Saw, Pulse, Triangle, Sine, Sample & Hold, and Random. So you can do everything from tremolos and vibratos to chaotic glitches, and even talking psytrance sounds (if you link the S&H lfo to the wavetable pulse width and then apply some crafty distortion).

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Modulation

This here, this is what the Blofeld is most famous for. 6 Mod slots, that allow you to modulate almost any parameter on the synth. The options are deep, and it’s easy to get lost down a Mod Hole just messing with potential settings in here. This is why the Blofeld is a sound designer’s dream. The one thing you can’t modulate, and it’s the one thing holding the Blofeld back from being truly equal to the Virus TI2, is that you can’t modulate any of the FX. For certain types of sounds I like to use in my own productions, that’s a hassle, and it’s the one lacking feature that really bothers me. Besides that, there’s myriad possibilities, and for most sounds most commercial producers use, it’s more than enough (most of us record dry and use ITB FX anyway).

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Effects

This is a somewhat divisive section in the Blofeld user community. Some folks love all of the FX, others hate them. It’s true, compared to the Virus, the effects on here are by and large not the best. With deep tweaking you can make most of the effects solid, but some are better than others. The Distortion for example, is excellent. In some ways it even surpasses the Virus’ onboard distortions. Plus, unlike the Virus, the Blofeld’s FX sections are independent of each other, so if you want to absolutely destroy an FM bass sound for maximum nastiness, you can pile on 2 different kinds of distortion plus add filter drive from one or both filters. And if you’re a fan of talking robot sounds, if you dive into the Triple FX effect, the S&H effect is a very good rate reducer. Sadly, it isn’t modulatable by internal parameters. So if you want to morph it, you have to do it manually.

The Chorus and Delay are good though, and the Phaser sounds great once you turn the Feedback and Spacing down.

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Unison

And finally, we come to the Unison section. In here we find the Poly vs Mono Modes, the Unisono Voice count and spread section, the Ring Modulator, and the variable-color Noise generator. The Voices can be increased to 6, which for you SuperSaw junkies, is great news (although if you’re using all 3 oscillators, you probably won’t want to go higher than 3 on Unisono, so you don’t hit a voice-stealing wall).

You’ll want to be wary of increasing the Unisono too high while using wavetables - wavetables take extra DSP on their own, and the voicing reduces that amount further. With a little clever tweaking, you can make some monster Ambient pads that rival the Virus and Mininova in power. It doesn’t quite touch the JP8000’s sound, but it doesn’t really need to. Its own unique sound is quite exciting and it comes with the added benefit of being tonally neutral, so it won’t be prone to frequency creep that piles up a ton of white noise and sibilants that drown out your percussion like Virus and JP SuperSaws can do when the Treble EQ controls get turned up.

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Conclusion

In all, the Blofeld is a powerful, incredibly flexible machine with a distinctive sound that can be both shimmery and ethereal, and dark and ferocious. It’s not a perfect synth, and the menu diving can be intimidating for new users, but the glitches that plagued early models have been largely ironed out, making it a worthy companion to any other synth in your studio.

14 years on, its sound is just as useful and relevant when it came out, and deploying one in your songs will give you a unique tone that stands apart from the rest. For those of you in the market for a hardware Serum that can manage glimmering sparkling Trance pads and leads equally as well as devastating DnB reeses and dubstep growls, this is the unit for you.

Still worthit today?

Absolutely.

Hear it in action:

Dawnchaser is a Pacific Northwest-based electronic music producer, mountaineer, documenter of all things adventure, mountain, and travel-related, and manager of Kulshan Recordings. If he’s not in the studio writing music about adventures, he’s out on one.

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Stereo Width Tricks For The Waldorf Blofeld

Achieving sounds that are both wide and spcaious, and also able to collapse to mono without phasing out of existence, is many producers’ biggest nightmare.

Thankfully, the Blofeld has a number of handy features buried within its many menus that allow you to manage both, and we’ll show you how right here!

Dawnchaser is a Pacific Northwest-based electronic music producer, mountaineer, documenter of all things adventure, mountain, and travel-related, and manager of Kulshan Recordings. If he’s not in the studio writing music about adventures, he’s out on one.

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Top 10 Desktop Hardware Synths For Trance Producers

If you've been feeling like VSTs aren't quite cutting it for achieving the sounds you want for your Trance productions, or just want a slightly different sound than everyone else, here's a list of the 10 best desktop synths for the genre. This list contains mixed Virtual Analog, Digital, and Analog synths. The ranking is in no particular order, but you can listen to the soundset samples of each by various studios, to decide which sound suits your tracks the best.

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Roland JP8080

The original Trance synth (along with its sibling, the JP8000). Made famous for its signature SuperSaw sound, it first came to prominence following the release of Rank 1’s iconic classic “Airwave”. Subsequently used by nearly every major Trance artist for pads, leads, and occasionally, basses. Nearly all the controls are laid out on the front panel, making this a very easy to use, friendly synth for the novice hardware user.

Polyphony: 10 voices

Oscillators: 2 Roland Analog Modeling DSP oscillators: Saw, Square (PWM), Triangle (PWM), Super Saw (7 de-tuned Saws), Triangle Mod, Feedback OSC

Filter: Resonant 12/24dB/oct low/band/hi pass, 12-band formant filter bank

Effects: 3 onboard effects: Delay; Multi-FX including Chorus, Flanger, Distortion and Tone control

Memory: 384 preset and 128 user patches; 192 preset and 64 user performance

Arpeg/Seq: Onboard Arpeggiator and real-time Phrase Sequencing (RPS) capability

Keyboard: None

Control: MIDI (2 parts)

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Access Virus TI2

Another legendary Trance synth, as much an icon of the genre as the JP80x0. The TI series expanded on the older Virus models with improved DSPs, higher polyphony, added effects, more complex routing options, and more effects. Useful for virtually any genre, and can be used to produce almost 100% of a track, it’s a true studio workhorse. And with an abundance of knobs and front panel controls, it’s easy to use and fun to sculpt sounds with. The TI2 boasts an additional 25% processing power over the first TI, making it extremely useful for long, complex pads, and sounds no other hardware synth can achieve.

Polyphony: Over 90 voices

Multitimbral: 16 parts

Oscillators: 3 osc + subosc + noise, FM, Sync

Waveforms: Sine / pulse / saw / hypersaw / wavetable / granular / formant

Filter: dual LP/HP/BP/BR with envelopes and addtional multi-pole analog emulations (includes Minimoog 4-pole emulation)

LFO: 3 LFOs, multiple options plus mod matrix 18 slots

Envelope: Amp / Filter / 'LFO as envelope' option

Sequencer: none onboard

Arpeggiator: Up / Down / Random / Chord / Multiple additions, editable in software to any variation

Effects: Reverbs, Delays, EQs with Q and freq control, Tape Delays, Distortions (multiple), Phasers, Flangers, Chorus, Analog EQs, Vocoder.

Memory: 128 patches in each of 30 banks plus USB storage / Librarian with additional free patchbanks provided regularly by Access

Control: MIDI, USB, 16-part multitimbral in Multi or sequencer modes

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Waldorf Q

Another amazing VA full of character. It’s a classic you hear in abundance in DuMonde and Ace Da Brain records, and its unique Waldorf Sound makes it distinct from the Virus and JP synths most commonly used, and its polyphony and tone make it great for bright pads, sharp leads, and punchy basses.

Polyphony: 16 to 32 voices

Oscillators: 3 per voice (sawtooth, triangle, sine, PWM, new oscillator algorithms, waves and a noise generator)

Memory: 300 single programs, 100 multi programs

Filter: 2 12dB/24dB Filters (Low pass, band pass, hi pass, notch, comb, ring mod and more; FM and distortion)

VCA: 4 envelopes (ADSR with loop and one shot function, bipolar)

Arpeg/Seq: Arpeggiator: Many user patterns (accents, timing, swing, glide, chords and more); Sequencer: 100 user patterns; 32 steps per pattern, polyphonic

Control: MIDI (16 parts), CV

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Access Virus C

The 3rd iteration of the Virus series. Where the TI series has HyperSaws, and higher polyphony, this has (according to users) a slightly fatter and heavier low end, making it ideal for basses, and thick pads demanding more low frequency content. It was commonly used in Psytrance between 2002-2005, and you can hear it in the basslines and acid squelches of the genre during that period.

Polyphony: 32 voices

Oscillators: 3 Osc per voice plus 1 Sub-Osc: Sawtooth, variable pulse, sine, triangle, oscillator sync. 5 FM Modes: 64 digital FM spectral waveforms.

LFO: 3 LFOs with 68 waveforms

Filter: 2 independent resonant filters; lowpass, hipass, bandpass, band reject, parallel, split & 2 serial modes with up to 36dB/voice (6-poles), overdrive/saturation.

VCA: 2 ADSTR envelopes

ModMatrix: 6 Sources, 9 Destinations

Effects: 98 simultaneous effects: 16 Phasers, 16 Choruses, 16 Distortions, 16 Ring Modulators, 16 Parametric EQs, Delay, 32-Band Vocoder, Surround Sound.

Memory: 1024 programs (256 User / 768 ROM / 128 Multi)

Control: MIDI (16 multitimbral parts)

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Moog Slim Phatty

When it comes to Trance, Analog Monosynths rarely take center stage. The lack of polyphony, and the tone drift can make using them difficult, and when they have Mono out instead of Stereo out, that makes using them for wide leads nearly impossible.
That said, the Slim Phatty, being compact AND the last synthesizer the founder Bob Moog designed, has that classic, magic Moog sound, and its true analog oscillators and filters make it fantastic for super fat, intense basses with just enough unpredictability to make it endlessly useful for unique, distinctive basses that cut through in a mix and add more character than any sterile vst or sample. Almost no one in the Trance world is using them, either, which gives you an extra reason to pick one up.

Polyphony: Monophonic

Multitimbral: No

Oscillators: 2 VCOs, both 16', 8', 4', 2'

Waveforms: Continuously variable: triangle through saw and square to narrow pulse.

LFO: LFO with triangle, square, sawtooth, ramp

Modulation: Mod Source: LFO, Filt. EGR or Sample and Hold, and Osc. 2 or Noise. Mod Destination: Pitch, Osc. 2, Filter, Wave.

Filter: 1 Low Pass VCF: 24dB/Oct Moog Ladder with overload and ADSR.

Envelope: 1 Volume amp with ASDR

Effects: None

Sequencer: None

Arpeggiator: Up, down, ordered. MIDI-syncable

Keyboard: None

Memory: 100 presets, all can be overwritten by user

Control: MIDI In/Out/Thru; USB; and CV: Pitch CV In (1 V/Oct) Filter CV In Volume CV In Keyboard Gate In

Weight: 5.75 Lbs (2.6 kg)

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Waldorf XT

Another underutilized legend. The XT was Waldorf’s wavetable synth, in a Halloween color scheme (for some reason), and when it came to evolving sounds, cutting leads, and exciting soundscapes, it was king. While not as well-known or used as its cousin the Q, it was an excellent synth, and makes a worthy addition to any studio.

Polyphony - 10 voice (expandable to 30)

Oscillators - 2 oscillators per voice of DSP wavetable synthesis; 1 Ring Mod; 1 Noise Source

Memory - 256 internal patches, 64 external card

Filter - 6/12/24 LP/HP, FM Filter, Sin (x)-LP, Dbl LP/HP, 24/12 BP, Band Stop, Waveshaper

VCA - 1 VCA, VCA ADSR, 1 Free Envelope

LFO - 2 LFO's, sine, tri, square, random, S&H

Effects - Chorus, Flanger 1 & 2, Autowah BP, Autowah LP, Overdrive, Delay, Amp Mod

Keyboard - none

Arpeg/Seq - 16 steps, 128 patterns

Control - MIDI (8-parts)

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Clavia Nord Lead 2X

An icon of Trance, the Nord Lead 2X (and the 2) really stands alone. The unique Nord Sound made it a feature in countless tunes throughout the 90s and early 2000s, featuring in tracks by San Van Doorn and Protonica, and other Nord synths appeared in E-Type’s, Armin van Buuren’s, The Thrillseekers, and numerous other big artist’s songs.

Polyphony: 20 Voices

Oscillators: 2 VSM oscillators: sine, triangle, sawtooth, pulse and noise

LFO: 2 LFO's (triangle, sawtooth, random) control OSC 1 or 2, filter, pulse-width, ADSR envelope

Filter: 12 dB/oct 2-pole lowpass, 24dB/oct 4-pole lowpass / bandpass / highpass (both with cutoff, resonance, env amount, env velocity, key tracking, ADSR envelope)

VCA: ADSR envelope and Amplifier Gain control

Keyboard: 49 keys (velocity sensitive)

Memory: 99 patches (59 preset, 40 user), 99 performances, 10 drum kits

Control: MIDI (4 parts), and all knobs and controls are MIDI

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Waldorf Blofeld

Perhaps one of the rare synths deserving of the title Most Obscure Modern Classic. Well-beloved in sound designer circles, it’s a descendent of the Waldorf Q, Micro Q, XT, and Microwave series (and includes a number of their wavetables and filters), it is easily one of the most versatile synths on the market. What it lacks in user-friendliness and front panel accessibility, it makes up for in creating clean, fat plucks, basses, evolving pads and soundscapes, and gnarly basses. Users can upload their own wavetables into the synth, and with 25 voices of polyphony (not fixed, though), it works well in Trance. And hardly anyone in the Trance world is using it, so it’s perfect for creating sounds no one else is making.

Polyphony: 25 voices maximum (Poly, Mono, Dual or Unison modes)

Multitimbral: 16 parts

Sampler: 44.1kHz mono with 60 Mb RAM

Oscillators: 3 oscillators per voice (128' to 1/2') plus noise, frequency modulation, ring modulation

Waveforms: All Q Oscillator models: sine, saw, triangle, square with PWM; 68 digital 16-bit wavetables from Microwave II/XT/XTK

LFO: 3 LFOs per voice with square, sine, saw, triangle, S&H, random with delay and fade in/out

Modulation: Modulation Matrix with 16 Slots, freely programmable

Filter: 2 independent Multi Mode Filters per voice: Low pass, High pass, Band pass, Notch, Comb; 12 or 24 dB/oct modes

Envelope: 4 Envelopes per voice, ADSR, AD1S1D2S2R, One Shot, Loopable

Effects: 2 Effect units with Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Overdrive, Decimator, Delay, Reverb

Vocoder: None

Sequencer: None

Arpeggiator: Programmable, 16 steps, Up, Down, Alt Up, Alt Down, Random

Memory: 1024 sounds, 128 multi sets

Control: MIDI IN (plus OUT on Keyboard), USB

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Novation Supernova

Another piece of Trance history, the Supernova is one of those synths you hear everywhere, but might not immediately recognize. It’s versatile, flexible, and lacks a singular character just enough that when you use it, people in the know won’t groan and go “Guuh, they used a _”. You CAN hear it in tracks by ATB, and Ace Da Brain.

Polyphony: SuperNova: 20 voices, expandable to 32

SuperNova II: 24-, 36-, 48-voice models plus additional 12- or 24-voice expansion boards

Oscillators: 3 (sqaure, saw, variable width pulse) and noise

LFO: 2 with control of VCA, VCF & pitch; saw, square, tri, sample/hold

Filter: Hi/Low/Band pass, 12/18/24 dB/oct ranges, resonant self-oscillating filter with overdrive

Effects: Distortion, reverb, chorus, flange, phaser, delay, pan, tremolo, 2-band EQ, comb filtering

Memory: 512 expandable to 1,024 patches; 256 performances

Control: MIDI (8 parts)

Clavia Nord Lead 3

Another classic, that you can’t pass up. It sounds different from other Nords, which you may or may not like, but it has higher polyphony and an expanded oscillator section relative to the others, which makes it even more useful for fat leads and wide pads.

Polyphony: 24 voices

Oscillators: 2 oscillator groups each with Six waveforms: sine, saw, triangle, square (pulse with width modulation), noise, synced noise, dual sine; 2- and 4-op FM and differential FM; osc-sync; ring-modulation; variable unison.

LFO: 2 per voice, syncable to MIDI. Triangle, saw, square, smooth and stepped random, and triple-peak sine waveforms. Seperate vibrato effect.

Filter: 2 multi-mode filters (series or parallel). Lowpass, Bandpass, Highpass, LP-HP, LP-LP and Classic mode. 1-, 2-, or 4-pole.

VCA: ADSR envelopes for amplitude and filter; Amplifier Gain control

Memory: 1024 patches, 256 performances

Control: MIDI IN/OUT/THRU (4-parts)

Dawnchaser is a Pacific Northwest-based electronic music producer, mountaineer, documenter of all things adventure, mountain, and travel-related, and manager of Kulshan Recordings. If he’s not in the studio writing music about adventures, he’s out on one.

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