This video, via TheManWithTheSynth, follows up his Waldorf Rocket synthesizer review, focusing on audio demos of the new synth’s sound:
Following the feature rundown I am now giving you a sound demo of the Waldorf Rocket with some commentary on how I produced the sounds. The signal path is synthesizer going directly into the audio interface with the exception of lead sounds where I use Boss Space Echo (the modern emulated version) for delay.
If you’ve tried the Waldorf Rocket, let us know what you think of it!
This is not a good move by Waldorf. This synth sounds weaker that most $5 apps. It has no effects and limited waveforms. It sounds thin, digitial and fairly lifeless in the demo. if the brought out a wavetables synth in a small box for about $300-$500 depending on features it would most likely work but as it stands I see this having limited appeal in a modern project studio and no appeal at all in a professional studio. For live work there are better options such as the Minitaur or one of the little Korgs.
I root for as I have enjoyed their synths in the past – pulse, microwave xt and the Q – but their offerings lately have been a bit off the mark. The incredibly priced Rhodes emulator, the okay but hardly exciting repacking of the Q in Blofeld and now this. Analogue, wavetables or granular. Nobody in there right mind wants a limited virtual analogue synth anymore.
“if the brought out a wavetables synth in a small box for about $300-$500 depending on features it would most likely work”
It’s called Blofeld, they already did it
It’s an interesting move. Seems like they’re trying to take note of Korg’s recent successes. I like the Waldorf sound a lot. I’m not sure this Rocket will work out for them though. I did hear another demo that sounded great and definitely has the Waldorf sound which has a cold metallic presence (not a negative to me). I think however that more time spent on Pulse 2 and and iPad / iPhone app would have been more productive. Contrary to the opinion above, I have a Waldorf Blofeld and I absolutely love it. The sound is wonderful and it’s a very versatile synth. I’m not in the market for a Rocket right now, as I’ve blown my budget lately on Ableton and NI as well as some instruments on eBay. But, a used Rocket I could see picking one up for fun!!!
I have a MicroQ which is a repackaged Blofeld and I like it (menu diving can be annoying). Still, repacking is not incredibly inspiring. Even you admit that this synth is not a great move for them.
$500 for wavetables, analogue filters and iPad control with sequencers, drawable waveforms envelopes etc… and I’ll get it. This I won’t.
Is this Waldorf’s TeeBee 303? If I wanted a 303, I’d rather get this as it’s cheaper and more versatile. 🙂 However, I had 303 and I didn’t find it useful.
It would be nice if Waldorf made something a little bigger, with more oscillators, 2 filters, mod matrix, and a little LCD screen… but keep the design, I love it.
It looks as if this one only has mono out? One TRS-out in the back. Is this true?
Amazing how many posts here are quick to bash this little synth, yet are basing their opinions on the audio output they’re hearing from a heavily compressed/encoded video. Perhaps do as many others (like myself) have done and actually listen to this little beast in a proper environment and, most importantly, in person. Rocket packs quite a punch and you would be amazed how quickly you can create a wide variety of sounds with varying timbre. Add in the additional iPad app that allows the user to save their patches in addition to third party support from monstrum (which has stand alone software with a AU/VST plugin control in Beta) and I’d say you’ve got quite a bit of potential for an inexpensive, monster sounding synth that will surprise the hell out of you once you get to tweaking its parameters.
Then again, you can just believe everything you read on the internet or in comment sections of blogs and social media sites because, ya know, they’re extremely reliable and authored by nothing but experts in their respective field.
And by the way: a mono synth will always have a mono out…the keyword here being MONO. And you can also route and exterior signal through the Rocket’s input so that it runs through the juicy analog (yes, analog) filter. But of course, you all probably already knew this because you’re experts in your field and always read over all the details of a product prior to posting about it, right?