Music • Sound • Video • Art

This is a 'key' purchase. Get it? Key? You know 'Key' as in Key....

I’m a big fan of Waldorf gear.

I own a MicroWave II and a MicroQ (yet I STILL troll around on eBay for a MicroWaveXT and a plain old Q). My current studio set up is not really optimized for using them easily in compositions — my mixer/ergonomic set-up for using actual gear “has issues” at the moment — but the MWII and microQ are a blast.

Waldorf released the Blofeld in the last year or two. Interesting, but something about it said “cheap” to me (stereo outs only might have had something to do with that). Probably unfair. In any case, Waldorf announced the Largo some months back and this promised to be the Waldorf experience on (virtual) steroids.

Having messed around with it for an hour or so, I’d say it is.

General Features

• up to 256 voices per instance (depending on available CPU power)
• up to 4 layers per sound
• 4 stereo outputs (alternatively 1 stereo sum)
• host automation of almost all parameters
• MIDI Controller automation of the most important parameters

Per Voice

• 5 Oscillators
  • 3 Main Oscillators
  • 2 Sub Oscillators
• Virtual Analog Models:
  • Pulse with Pulse Width Modulation
  • Sawtooth
  • Triangle
  • Sine
• Wavetables:
  • 68 wavetables taken from the legendary Microwave and Wave synthesizer as also Q and Blofeld wavetables
• Frequency Modulation between Oscillators and Noise Generator
• Oscillator Synchronization
• Ring Modulator for Osc 1 / 2
• Noise Generator with Noise Colour
• 2 independent Multi Mode Filters
  • Filter FM
  • Resonance up to Self-Oscillation
  • Low Pass 24 dB / 12 dB
  • Band Pass 24 dB / 12 dB
  • High Pass 24 dB / 12 dB
  • Notch 24 dB / 12 dB
  • Comb Filter with positive / negative Feedback
• 2 Drive Stages per voice with adjustable Drive Gain and selectable Curves
  • Clip
  • Hard
  • Medium
  • Soft
  • Sine Shaper
    and more
• Modulation Matrix with 16 Slots, freely programmable
• Modulation Speed far into Audio Range
• Modulation Sources include all internal Modulation Sources plus various MIDI messages
• Modulation Destinations for almost all continuous sound parameters
• various pre-routed Modulation Destinations with selectable Sources
  • Pitch Modulation
  • Oscillator 1 / 2 / 3 Frequency Modulation
  • Oscillator 1 / 2 / 3 Pulse Width Modulation
  • Filter 1 / 2 Cutoff Modulation
  • Filter 1 / 2 Frequency Modulation
  • Pan 1 / 2 Modulation
  • Amp Modulation
• 4 Modifiers for transforming Modulation Sources with various Algorithms
• 3 fast LFOs
  • syncable to MIDI Clock
  • Note Retrigger with adjustable Start Phase
  • monophonic LFO
  • Keytrack
  • freely drawable LFO waveform with 16 steps (only LFO3)
• 4 fast Envelopes with selectable types
  • Single Trigger / Retrigger per Envelope
  • ADSR
  • ADS1DS2R (2 Decay/Sustain stages plus adjustable Attack Level)
  • One Shot
  • Loop S1S2 (Loop between Sustain 1 and 2)
  • Loop All (Loop over all stages)
• Poly, Mono, Dual or Unisono Mode with selectable Voice Count, Unisono Detune and Stereo Spread

Per Layer

• powerful Arpeggiator
  • Hold and One Shot modes
  • syncable to MIDI Clock
  • Direction Up, Down, Alternate
  • Range up to 10 Octaves
  • various methods to modify Note Sort Order
  • freely programmable Arpeggiator Pattern with up to 16 Steps
• programmable per Step:
  • Accent
  • Timing
  • Length
  • Pause
• 2 Effect slots per layer
• Effect Types:
  • Chorus
  • Flanger
  • Phaser
  • Overdrive
  • Delay (2nd effect slot only)
  • Reverb (2nd effect slot only)

Damn.

Initial impressions: This puppy sounds really, really good.