microwave xt vs virus ti

[Array]

Originally Posted by Threlly

However,
Wavetables are a 20 year old cul-de-sac in synthesis.
A closed finite synthesis method, unable to approach the true complexity of pure synthesis.
If you are looking for new horizons fourier-source granular synthesis is the natural sucessor to steam-driven wavetable synths.

At the end of the day, if you like what your ears hear, go with it, all methods justify the end result in this case.

I dont think that people buy the XT series because they think that wavetables are the bee's knees. Instead, many buy it for the shear flexibility, and oftentimes the grittiness, of the beast. You can do all sorts of crazy stuff with it that most other digital synths cant even touch.

Think of sweeping a wavetable which is acting as an FM source for a carrier oscillator, or doing the same with synced oscillators, or FM filter, or Waveshaper, using a ring mod on your wavetables, etc. Then there's the crazy boolean operators which are found in the modulation matrix. To top it all off, you get full control of oscillator quality (aliasing, tuning, time quant), two saturation modes, bit reduction filter, etc.

Anyhow, this article does a good job assessing the XT's capabilities:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Jan0...rowavetips.asp

[host]

MW XT is a killer, really unique great sounding synth..I bought one with voice expansion for 400eur last Summer just slightly used from a guy who was urgently selling his whole studio and love it more with every minute which I can`t say for most other synths..textures you get out of those wavetables are fascinating, also really lo-fi sounding synth..warm as hell, great for darker industrial material..goes well together with Virus as it`s more like an old-school kind of synth..it`s definately underpriced for what you get, best digital thingy I played on so far [muuuch better than Q]

p.s. It has 44 knobs!

[F5D]

Originally Posted by host

MW XT is a killer, really unique great sounding synth..I bought one with voice expansion for 400eur last Summer just slightly used from a guy who was urgently selling his whole studio and love it more with every minute which I can`t say for most other synths..textures you get out of those wavetables are fascinating, also really lo-fi sounding synth..warm as hell, great for darker industrial material..goes well together with Virus as it`s more like an old-school kind of synth..it`s definately underpriced for what you get, best digital thingy I played on so far [muuuch better than Q]

p.s. It has 44 knobs!

I agree with you about the sound. I got my XTk about 3 months ago and was quite surprised by the sound it makes. I have the 10 voice keyboard version but I don't play any of my synths in multimode so the polyphony is not a problem. I also like the microwave sound more than microQ. XT(k) is easily the best and most inspiring digital synth, I've ownded and I have had lots of different synths. It's just so different compared to VA synths but it still can do VA-sounds too because it has saw, square and triangle waves. PWM is a little hard to do because you have to use a wavetable for it and the resolution is low so it doesn't sound as good as it could with a good VA but hey, this synth is for lo-fi sounds and I like it! Not all of the sounds are lo-fi. You can do some very bright and smooth sounds and nobody could guess that the oscillators are only 8 bit. And I don't know many synths which look as sexy as the XTk! I decided already 5 years ago that some day I will get an XTk, just because of it's looks.

[jasedee]

Yeah, the Waldorfs are indeed sexy! So much colour....it makes for a great change to the standard black. I have too many plain black synths!

[Array]

Originally Posted by jasedee

Yeah, the Waldorfs are indeed sexy! So much colour....it makes for a great change to the standard black. I have too many plain black synths!

Sell them

Seriously though, the guy behind the Waldorf designs is a man named Axel Hartmann. He also designed the look of the Little Phatty, Hartmann Neuron (his own synth), as well as the new Moog Little Phatty.

[F5D]

Originally Posted by Array

the guy behind the Waldorf designs is a man named Axel Hartmann. He also designed the look of the Little Phatty, Hartmann Neuron (his own synth), as well as the new Moog Little Phatty.

and ...Alesis Andromeda, which is also one of my favourite synths.

[Onkel Dunkel]

Originally Posted by Array

He also designed the look of the Little Phatty, Hartmann Neuron (his own synth), as well as the new Moog Little Phatty

How many times did he design it
Sorry, couldn?t help it

[jasedee]

Originally Posted by Onkel Dunkel

How many times did he design it
Sorry, couldn?t help it

Ha...you smart arse!!!

A Waldorf of some flavor is definately on my wish list....but I dont think I could sell my CS-10/D-50/Juno-60 for one though. In any case, even if I sold all those I still wouldnt have enough for a Q or XTk

[Array]

Originally Posted by F5D

and ...Alesis Andromeda, which is also one of my favourite synths.

D'oh! I knew that, but didnt include it for some reason

[Smag]

I've got a MW XT shadow version which looks pretty cool but does the same stuff as the orange version. I'd say the wavetables on the XT can do much more stuff than their counterparts on the Ti. The wavetables on both sound different though and they each have their own sound - the XT is gritty, lo-fi and harsh whereas the Ti is smoother and prettier. There is stepping when you scan through some of the wavetables on the XT but not on the Ti which scans very smoothly. I do find it easier to come up with usable sounds on the XT but that's down to the nature of the tunes I make, I'd say the XT were more suited to techno and industrial but the Ti leans more toward trance and film scoring.