KORG wavestate 🧻🧻🧻🧻

Cherubic goatee guy’s revenge.

Yet another refresh – August 2022

Since the wavestate was first hatched a number of significant changes have taken place. The first version was limited by its hardware interface which was an enormous advance on the original WaveStation, but still requires dedication and skill to learn. A second version completely redefined the machine – a software interface made wave sequencing possible for the average user (like myself) and 4Gb of sound storage turned it into a instant library of your own ideas. At that point I hoped to make it a primary tool in my own creation. I spent a lot of time building sound libraries to use on it.

Then we were given a fully software version and much debate. My angle at the time was this – the physical hardware became completely optional in creating the sound. If I had known that this was going to happen I would not have bought the hardware at all. I’m not a performer but a composer, and I don’t collect objects but sounds. If I wanted to tour with these sounds it might make sense but if not it then had become something I could sell with no regret.

When I picked up the modwave I thought I might move my sound library to that but it turned out to be the weakest of the three Korg princesses. I sold it, decided to just ignore the software wavestate and all is good. Given the failings of the Roland MC-707 I think it’s the become best choice for a live keyboard. Phew – such drama!

My advice to Korg – let people know your plans if you have confidence in them.

wavestate 1.0

I once described a cult in Japan led by the only man that could program a KORG Wavestation. That didn’t seem to hurt Wavestation sales at all – most of mankind was quite happy to use the Pharaoh’s Jig preset and run it through pedals (made me a very rich man for a while too). KORG are keen for similar sales of their new wavestate (all lower case) and have made an earnest attempt to put the programming within reach of The Average Enthusiast.

The signs are not good. My machine was first bought by somebody who used it for only a few hours before exchanging it for something more humane. My love is for the freak show (good or bad) and this is could very well be my Bearded Lady. And it’s cheap ‘as new’! Let’s give it the right home!

There are plenty of places that will give you a sensible review.

Here’s one.

It’s small, light – seems good to me, but others weep because it’s not a plank. It’s just the right form for a twiddly box. There are many twiddles, 6 white custom knobs and quite a few of the traditional ADSR and filter sort. If you quickly want to pump a sound through an MS20 filter on stage then hallelujah there it is.

There’s no lack of samples on this thing, everything from bassoon to bowling ball. So many that it’s an arcade game to scroll to the right one. Oops, the one you wanted was a couple of hundred listings back. If you get the VS waveforms loaded into voices A, B, C, and D you can twiddle the joystick to fade between them — that’s all the Prophet VS ever did and it’s a ‘legendary classic’.

At some point you will want to do some wave sequencing. Breathe, take your time. The wavestate can do many wonderful things but you don’t have to use all of them. I’ve spent most of my time with the Initial Program, which loops between two simple waveforms (strangely a sine to a more complex wave, why?). First step is to swap out different samples, then try changing their timing, then try stop them from looping so you just get a wave that fades into another on each note. Good job! Try for three waves in a row. Try pitching them. Little steps lead to sounds that you could use more than once in your music. Let’s be honest complex patches can be just as hokey as the old ones. Pharaoh’s Jig.

Things you cannot do – cross modulate two oscillators, bend the shape of a waveform, FM – all of this belongs to the other KORGs. They tried all singing all dancing before and it didn’t work out – you have to pick and mix your little keyboards. The wavestate has its own voice just as much as the wavestation did, a far more versatile one due to decent filters with resonance and some chunky overdrives and distortions.

wavestate 2 – goatee guy be damned

Here is quite the update that leaves you wondering if the machine was ready at launch. It’s a messy business seeing as the wavestate is a raspberry pi wrapped up in a big knobby case. For one thing my machine needed an earlier update before it could do the 2.0 update – but I could only find the 2.0 update on KORG’s site. A google search finally found it, then much techy mucking around and hair loss with networking protocols blah blah ANYWAY…

We have a visual editor! Akin to the software wavestation on the iPad. What was utterly mysterious is revealed in a big fat AHA moment where the goatee guy is finally banished up his mountain. I respected the wavestate, but now I feel warmth, we can be friends, drink beers go fishing together. I had seen the machine as a nice-to-have-for-some-stuff but it just became do-a-fuckload.

And look – Merry Christmas here is 4Gb of RAM for your own samples. Up to 4000 samples on tap. I’d only thought about the synthesis in terms of segues of small waves. But the extent of sample memory suddenly changes the story… the machine can hold enough for a live show set, it could be a touring keyboard, or the sample library you keep on your desk. All the crazy samples I’ve shoved into the Blofeld, Fantom et al. could easily fit in here and … hmmmm … joystick. No cross modulation or anything synthetic apart from filters, but hmmmm.