thanks. I found this to be helpful. - KRIS - wrote:
> This was a email sent to my by Mark Pulver in response to a question I had > about the Q. Thought you all might enjoy reading this.... > > - Access Virus > Great machine, all of them are. This machine has _THEY_ best sounding > digital filter of anything else on the market. Now, "best sounding" is > pretty vague and personal. The thing about this filter that everyone loves > is that it's the closest to the ballsy Minimoog sound. if you like that > sound, then this is the digital synth that has it. > > The downside of the Virus is the user interface. There are plenty of knobs > and buttons to twiddle, but there is a LOT of machine underneath the panel. > And, you will find yourself there a lot - *80%* of the modulation is buried > in the UI. The display isn't very large, and a lot of knobs have multiple > functions based on what page in the display that you're on or even _which > way_ you turn the knob. > > If you're looking to maybe use a computer as an editor at some point (like, > with the SoundDiver application, then this may not be a big thing for you. > The other "down" about this box is that it tends to sound big all the time. > It's kinda' hard to get it to settle down and not be all over a mix. It's a > wonderful sounding machine, but it's just hard to get to settle down into > something like softer timbres. > > ----- > - Waldorf Q > Wow... Okay, this machine is BY FAR the deepest machine of any of the VA's > that are on the market. There is a LOT here. The Q family is pretty big, > with the Q keyboard, Q rack, microQ and microQ Lite. The Q and Q rack are > the same hardware and only differ in the missing keyboard and the number of > knobs/switches. > > The microQ and the microQ-Lite are totally different machines, but are > running basically the same operating system and sound generation code. > That's a good thing and a bad thing. > > The good side is that as Waldorf produces new features for the Q (and Q > rack) then it's "easier" to get them into the microQ. The bad side is that > the microQ doesn't have the horsepower that the Q does and may _never_ get > some features, or the features that it does get may be scaled back to be > able to run. For example, at this last OS run, the Q grew a gorgeous reverb > and a way cool 5.1 surround delay line. The microQ got the reverb about 3 > months later, and I don't think it's getting the delay. > > Sound wise... yeow. (I'll talk about things common to both the Q and microQ > then note anything specifically different) > > The machine is huge... You can have up to 5 osc's per voice (you asked what > a voice was and I'll get to that in a minute), and route them through two > filters - each filter can be any of 7 different types (6 on the microQ) - > then run that through an overdrive section, through the dual effects and > then out to your ears. :) > > The filters sound great, but they have a specific "Waldorf Sound" to them. > That's not bad, it's just a character. The machine can't get as close to a > Minimoog as the Virus can, but damn it can shake the walls. > > Modulation has always been Waldorf's strong suite and it shows on this > machine. You can pretty much modulate anything from anywhere, and do it a > number of times. > > Programming wise, this is where the "classes" of the Q start to split > apart... > > The Q keyboard is a dream. Tons of dedicated knobs and buttons, and there's > very little buried in the UI. > > The Q rack is a bit different in that to save cost and panel space, the > logical groups of the machine share knobs. For example, there are 3 main > oscillators on the machine. On the Q, each OSC as it's own set of 5 knobs. > On the Q rack, there is one set of 5 knobs and a button that selects which > OSCs the knobs affect. > > The microQ is of course the smallest of the three, and the UI changes > again. What Waldorf did here is to have a single row of knobs at the bottom > of a matrix of functions. You select a "row" that has a parameter that you > want to change, and then spin the knob that matches the column of the param. > Other Waldorf machines have used this method in the past, and it's not bad > to get used to. > > ----------------- > > Okay, that's specific babble... > > You had asked what a voice was... > > The easiest way to look at this is that a voice is a single note that you > want the machine to play. If you hold down a 3 note chord, then you're > asking the machine to user 3 voices in order to play those notes. > > Now, this gets weird. :) > > On both the Virus and the Q, you can program a patch in the machine to use > multiple voices to play ONE note. You would do this to when working on > getting a bigger, stronger, harder sound. When you do this, then the > machine will use up multiple voices at once. So, if you had a patch that > used 2 voices per note, then hold down that 3 note chord will now use 6 > voices from the machine. > > Another way to use up voices is to use the machine in a "multitimbral" > mode. Multitimbral (Many Timbres - sounds) is where you have the machine > playing back multiple parts at once. Say, a pad sound as well as a lead and > bassline. Both the Virus and the Q can handle this very well and it's a > common thing to do. > > When you do this though, then voices are being eaten up. If you hold that 3 > note chord with the 2 voices per note patch, then put a 2 voice bassline > under it, and a single voice lead on top, then you're using 11 voices. > > I say all this because when you look at today's machines, then you have to > spend some time thinking about how you'll be using them. If you're looking > for a complete cure-all in that you want everything to come from one box, at > the same time the you have to be worried about voice count. > > The alternative is to record multiple tracks to disk or tape, and then play > back new tracks live - in sync with the playback. > > Voice count in the Q world can be tricky to work through. > > On the Q (and Q rack) you can get either machine in either 16 or 32 voice > versions. On the microQ, things are different. > > The microQ doesn't have a static number of voices to give you. If you run a > simple patch (two oscillators, one filter, no effects) then the microQ can > give you 25 (or 12 for the Lite) voices. If you add in the second filter and > turn on the effects, then the patch becomes more complex and the number of > available voices goes down. Waldorf states that the minimum number of voices > on the microQ is _6_, and you won't get any less than that. (I think this is > true for the -Lite as well, but Waldorf hasn't explicitly said). > > But, remember that will also cut into any multitimbral uses. > > There is a "voice expansion" coming for the microQ which will kick the > top-end to 75 voices. That's huge! But, the price or real availability > hasn't been announced yet, so I can't recommend that you buy _based_ on tha > coming out. > > whew. my fingers are sore. :) > > Okay... reading back through this, I'm obviously Q biased. :) > > I had a Virus for about a year, I liked it, but I came away from the > machine as being frustrated with the UI and I felt that I kept looking for a > sound that I couldn't get from it. Clearly though, that doesn't mean that > you wouldn't love it. I also have a lot of gear, and I had The Sound Of The > Virus pretty well covered in other things. > > My bottom line for these conversations is that the Q (all of 'em) is a > monster, and it will provide you a LOT of places to explore. > > By the way Mark may be lurking around this list for a while if you have any > ?'s for him... > > Kris > > _________________________________________________________________ > Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com > > --- > Drum&Bass Arena Producers Discussion List http://www.breakbeat.co.uk > You are currently subscribed to dnb-prod as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- +++pleiadian aka larzmarz+++ http://www.mp3.com/djpleiadian --- Drum&Bass Arena Producers Discussion List http://www.breakbeat.co.uk You are currently subscribed to dnb-prod as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
