Despite the company’s difficulties back in 2004, Waldorf has finally returned into the competition. Surprisingly, the German manufacturer has returned with a bang that goes over than just living up to their former reputation. With a sense of humor, Waldorf has named their recent products after the villains in the James Bond movies. Waldorf Blofeld is the one available for a budget of about five hundred bucks or so. Despite the humorous name, Waldorf Blofeld is a very serious instrument. Don’t get fooled by the compact footprint; Waldorf Blofeld possesses a vast collection of sound shaping options and capabilities, and it is hiding an enormous power to produce great, detailed sonic output. For the money, Waldorf Blofeld makes an outstanding value!
Waldorf Blofeld’s metal front panel is speaking about simplicity. The simple and straightforward design allows for easy and intuitive operation. There are seven silver rotary dials and five buttons, along with a very nice monochrome graphic display and a parameter matrix for selecting various modes and adjusting settings quickly and precisely. We really like the fact that the display is backlit, allowing you to read the information displayed easily regardless of the lighting and environmental conditions. The operation is so simple and straight-to-the-point. You just have to select the function that you want using the buttons on the left side of the matrix, then turn the corresponding dial in the corresponding vertical column to affect thee function. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!
Waldorf Blofeld is a desktop synthesizer with 3 oscillators and 25 voices. It incorporates the Virtual Analogue and Wavetable synthesis. With 1024 program slots that are all user-writeable, you can store as many programs as you wish on the device. That’s an enormous capacity. You can then call these programs for use later. There is also a 16-part multitimbral mode. In the normal “Play Sound” mode, Waldorf Blofeld features two independent effect units. In the Multi mode, there is one independent effect unit per part. There is one global effect, too.
| Price | Features |
|---|---|
| The Waldorf Blofeld synthesizer module combines incredible-sounding analog-modeled circuitry with the power, convenience, and accessibility of modern digital features. The elegant chassis is uncluttered and simple to use, with solid aluminum control knobs and well-placed buttons for accessing parameters and functions in the Blofeld. The large, easy-to-read display lets you navigate through the Blofeld's 1,000-plus sounds and settings. In addition to its incredible tweakability, you get really simple USB connectivity for editing and management functions on the Blofeld. |
Unfortunately, the connectivity is rather limited. Waldorf Blofeld has a MIDI input, but there is no dedicated MIDI output, except for the USB port that also supports MIDI I/O. There is just one stereo output in addition to the one headphone output. Apparently, the connectivity has been kept at the minimum in order to press the price down, but the MIDI I/O via USB is already good enough to keep things going.
Waldorf Blofeld features 66 wavetables, with 128 waves in each wavetable. Every wavetable has been designed to deliver different sound character, and you can enhance the harmonics within a wavetable using the Brilliance control. Waldorf Blofeld includes the wavetables from the Microwave II, XT, XTk, also Q and Micro Q models. With the sophisticated oscillator features, Waldorf Blofeld is suitable not just for pads, leads, and basses, but also for warped and twisted sound effects and punchy drum sounds. The arpeggiator is very powerful and versatile. Without a doubt, Waldorf Blofeld is one of the most feature-packed synths. You can get all of its features in a small, compact box, and for a relatively tiny price.
Specifications of Waldorf Blofeld
• Sturdy, durablemetal enclosure
• 5 Buttons
• 7 stainless steel dials
• Graphic Display 128 x 64 pixels, B/W, white background LED
• More than 1000 Sounds
• 3 Oscillators per voice
• All Q Oscillator Models
• Frequency Modulation between the Oscillators
• All Microwave II/XT/XTk Wavetables
• 2 Multi Mode Filters per voice
• Filter FM
• 2 Drive stages per voice, selectable Drive Curves
• 3 LFOs per voice
• 4 Envelopes per voice
• Powerful Arpeggiator
• Freely Programmable Arpeggiator Pattern, up to 16 steps per sound
• 16-part multi timbral
• Volume Control
• Headphone Output
• Stereo Output
• MIDI In
• USB Connector for MIDI I/O
– requires standard USB MIDI Driver provided by the host computer’s OS
– Windows XP / newer recommended
– Mac OS X 10.3 / newer recommended
• External Power Supply
Pros of Waldorf Blofeld
– Compact and intuitive design
– Great sound quality!
– Enormous, detailed sound output
– An awesome collection of sound shaping options and capabilities
– Excellent value for the money
Price of Waldorf Blofeld
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