Ingo Weidner's Analog vs. Digital Soundset for Waldorf Blofeld
Written in 2014.
- The soundset reviewed: Ingo Weidner's “Analog vs. Digital” Soundset for Waldorf Blofeld synthesizer
- Sounds: 128 (one Blofeld bank)
- Price: 30 € including VAT
This soundset contains very realistic representations of sounds of many classic synthesizers. Waldorf Blofeld's natural sound is brighter than most classic synths and some purists might say that some of these sounds are too clean. But I think that most synth players and music listeners will find these sounds to be just perfect.
If you are looking for new radical sounds then this is not the soundset for you. These are classic sounds. This soundset shines on synth brasses and synth strings. Now having this soundset I have plenty of those and with some minor parameter tweaks it is easy to create unique new versions out of them.
There is ARP 2600 stuff that I found mostly to be too simple for my taste. There are faithful representations of FM sounds and PPG synth sounds that are realistic but in my opinnion hollow and thin and so I found them to be outdated. There is just one bass sound, a two or three arps, no drum sounds, no sound effects.
Here is a table of some notable sounds in this soundset.
| Sound number | Sound category | Sound name | My comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 003 | Poly | APR2600 Brass | a clean and minimalistic polyphonic synth brass sound, a mother of all synth brasses |
| 012 | Poly | Black Moon 1 | classic analog-sounding thick polyphonic synth brass |
| 018 | Pad | Comb Strings | bright polyphonic strings sound that really takes mind back to the good old times |
| 026 | Keys | FM Harpsi | this is an example how faitful this sound library is, I personally found this sound and many FM sounds to be just outdated and hardly usable today |
| 030 | Poly | Horny P5 | yet another very simple but beautiful synth pad sound, sounds realistically old |
| 034 | Poly | Hyperpoly | a thick and powerful synth sound , one of the biggest sounds on this soundset |
| 036 | Poly | JP8 Brs 2 | a nice analog sounding Roland Jupiter 8 synth brass |
| 037 | Pad | JP8 Strings 1 | perhaps the best synth strings sound in Roland Jupiter 8 style, bright and very convincing |
| 038 | Pad | JP8 Strings 2 | a slow attack version of synth strings |
| 041 | Poly | Juno Saws 2 | brass-style minimalistic synth sound that can be heard on many early 80's soundtracks |
| 047 | Lead | Mama 2010 | synthetic choir aahs |
| 048 | Lead | Mini Arkaos | check this out if you are looking for a basic synth lead sound |
| 049 | Lead | Mini Lead | check this out if you are looking for a basic synth lead sound |
| 063 | Poly | OB-X Brass | another good synth brass contestant, filter opens nicely on attack phase |
| 064 | Poly | OB-X Jump | Van Halen's Jump, do I need to say more? |
| 070 | Poly | P5 Budokan | for playing classic synthesizer themes with a synth brass sound |
| 078 | Pad | SawStrings | a classic synth strings sound |
| 082 | Lead | P5 Sync Ld 2 | reminds me of Jarre's laser harp |
| 085 | Pad | Phaser Sweep | synth pad with nice phaser effect (play long notes or long chords) |
| 090 | Keys | PPG A.T. 037 | a synthetic xylophone sound |
| 094 | Poly | PPG Brass | a little bit lo-fi sounding synth brass sound, one of the good PPG sounds in this soundset |
| 102 | Pad | PPGFactory073 | an example of PPG sounds that are outdated and hardly usable today |
| 109 | Pad | PPGFactory110 | lo-fi sounding synth pad with strong attack and long release |
| 114 | Poly | SchillOutBell | synth bell sound with delay, can be used to create rythmic synth patterns |
| 116 | Lead | Simple Saw Ld | toyish sounding monohonic saw lead, too simple for any real use |
| 119 | Pad | Synthex Strgs | if you are looking for very synthetic synth strings, this might be it |
| 123 | Lead | Uni Saw Lead | the grand standard of monophonic saw lead sounds |
| 128 | Pad | Big Bad Pad | synth pad that reacts strongly to velocity (the harder you hit the keys the brighter sound you get) and remember to test the modulation wheel |