Bonjour mon Capitain. Q, What Are You Doing Here?

January 28, 1999 -- My apologies to non-Star Trek fans everywhere, but that title made sense to me. All right, so this article is not about some multi-dimensional super being that has come to test the human race, but could it be about some multi-dimensional super synthesizer that has come to test your creativity? Perhaps.

The Q synthesizer is the latest creation from the sound engineering minds at Waldorf. This German based company has brought you great synth products in the past such as the Wave and the Microwave not to mention a host of others. Not as popular here in the US, Waldorf has made some real waves (pun intended) in Europe. The forte of Waldorf has always been the analog or fat sounds of their synths. The Wave synthesizer was quite the talk of the town for some time. The new Q synth should have people talking as well.

The first thing that you will notice as you approach the Q synthesizer is that it's YELLOW! I mean like radioactive banana yellow (although it also comes in blue). At first glance this struck me as very strange. However, in a keyboard world dominated by dull, background colors such as black, yellow was a refreshing change of pace.

The next thing that is noteworthy is when you press down a key and the room fills with vibrations that lift the wallpaper off the walls. Big, fat, Mini-Moog/Prophet Five kinds of vibrations fill the air. Nothing radically new here (with a few minor exceptions), the Q just does what it does very well. Don't expect great pianos or hip/hop sequence loops, but if you like that great analog sound from the 70's and early 80's with a few new twists as well, this is one important out. With the retro thing in full swing and people paying $2000+ for old, difficult to control Mini-Moogs, I think that Waldorf has a winner here.

Listen to the Q!

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The Q synth has done a good job with the analog physical model. When you listen to this keyboard you will think it's a new generation analog synth, I know I did.

Let talk tech:

The standard Q is a 16 voice synth expandable to 32 voice with the optional upgrade ($599 US)
3 Oscillators per voice
Pulse with Pulse Width Modulation
Triangle/Sine/Waves table/Noise generator/Ring modulator as well as new oscillator algorithms (the latter is new technology)
Low pass/High pass/Band pass/Notch/Comb 12dB/24dB filters
Advanced routing functions
Advanced Modulations functions
Advanced Arpeggiator
3 LFO's with an audio range in excess of 2000 Hz syncable to MIDI clock or keytrack
32 step sequencer
Multiple envelope generators
4 part multi mode
2 effects per sound including in multi mode
Effects include: Chorus, flanger, phaser, overdrive, AM, delay, reverb, and more.

In conclusion, I believe that the Q is the current mark for other companies to match their product against in the analog reproduction world. However, with a list price of $3495 US it's a serious bite in the pocket book. But . . . then again . . . considering that it would replace several older analog synths in your rig and goes beyond what they could do, maybe it isn't such a bad deal after all. Good luck Big Yellow.

To contact Waldorf: Phone +49-2636-9746 0, EMAIL:mc@tsi-gmbh.de, or their web address is www.waldorf-gmbh.de.