What are those Wave "flaws" which keep getting mentioned?

[purusha]

Can anyone give me a quick run-down on what the main shortcomings are?

I'm half-considering buying a Wave as replacement for my Korg Triton. I don't need the work-station side of things. I'm more interested in the on-stage useful-ness of the machine.

Any thoughts/opinions!?

Thanks!


Chris

[Oli]

[purusha]

Thanks for the input.

Guess I'm after finding out what the non-obvious niggles are.

[gearaholic]

2 slots instead of 4
wheel and pedal morph tied together
no unison detune
no split
after touch only for vibrato
not enuff memory for entire mellotron library
no inversion of filter env,mod env or lfo amount

other than that im happy

[ark]

When you turn a knob, the corresponding parameter jumps immediately to the knob setting, which might cause an abrupt change in sound.

No way to change the contents of patch memory without a computer, which, when coupled with the fact that patch memory isn't big enough to contain the whole factory library, means that you cannot escape from using a computer if you want the full flexibility of the synth.

But I don't think there's a patch editor, just a sample editor--which means that you still have to use the knobs for patch editing, despite the jump behavior mentioned earlier.

When people were selling the Wave for $2700, I thought it was way overpriced.

Now that they are selling it for $1700, I've given it a lot of thought but still decided not to buy one.

If they came out with a new Wave with a real modulation matrix, G2-style rotary encoders, and the ability to load samples from a CF card without using a computer, I'd pay $3,000 for it in a heartbeat.

[redkey]

All of the above comments are valid. To have two slots and not be able to split the keyboard is a real pain. The onboard effects are limited, but sound beautiful. The Chorus (3 types) and Delay are individual per slot. Tube overdrive and Reverb are at the Program level. This means that you can't have slot A with OD and B without.

A big thing is that Programs and Samples are not tied together. If you moves samples to a new location, replace them, or delete them, the Program will not know. It will flash if the sample slot is empty and the program was expecting one. But if you replace a piano sample with a horn sample, your Programs that used the piano sample will now sound like horns.


All this aside.....

The Wave is one of the most expressive and beautiful sounding synths I've had the pleasure to use. I use it live and it cuts through a mix so well. At the same time, the pads, vocals, and strings can compete with software like Atmosphere. Every complaint about the lack of endless encoders is handled (for me) through setting up Morphs which are brilliant. It is fast, responsive, expressive, inspiring, motivating, etc.

I love mine so much I want another. I also let an artist have his way with it last month.

http://web.me.com/danielpatten/NordWave

Feel free to ask any additional questions.
Best,
RedKey

[Ivan]

there's no velocity layering of samples.

[purusha]

Thanks for the comments guys.

I guess that's put me on the fence for a while.

[Wout Blommers]

[purusha]

Yellow through and through.

[Oli]

[purusha]

Hmmm.

I've been giving this some serious consideration and am starting to feel the tug of this bit of kit.

Looking at the way things have been and are going for me musically, it's possible that it might actually be very useful for me.

I could get those old Mellotron sounds etc. via M-Tron Pro or a sample-set for my Triton (Mellotron sound is definitely something I'm interested in). However, I've recently found myself spending more time playing on-stage as an add-on for other acts (guitar and synths), so a keyboard with the Wave's feature set is more appealing that a bunch of soft-synths.

It is very expensive though, which is the factor that's putting me off...

[redkey]

Worth every penny of $2500US I paid a year ago.
Now you can get new ones for $1699 at novamusik.com.

I own both a wave & M-tron pro. The wave is far more musical and expressive. And the ease of grabbing your board and going out compared to programming your laptop for hours (exaggerating) bringing out your laptop, audio interface, MIDI interface, USB keyboard, and hope it doesn't crash........

Enjoy the hunt.

[purusha]

I'm in the UK though, where pretty-much everyone wants £1600 for a Wave.

Gulp!

[purusha]

Well - I've now got a Wave in my setup.



There's a few disappointments, but it's so easy to program.

It's great how easy it is to get a sample set in there.

It'd be nice if the sample editor would convert sample rates though. I'm having to batch process stuff via Wavelab, which isn't too bad, but it's an extra arguably un-necessary step.

The effects are surprisinly limited in terms of parameters, but they do the job and sound good.

It's a shame Nord don't use their USB ports for MIDI too. Means more un-necessary cabling.

[Carbon111]

The only really annoying limitation is the aftertouch being hardwired to vibrato.

Other than that niggle, I absolutely love mine for its weird other-worldly timbres and ease of programming.

This demo I did is all Nord Wave: http://www.carbon111.com/nord_wave/wave_demo.mp3

[blue hell]

[purusha]