Waldorf Streichfett
£199, waldorfmusic.de
To say Waldorf know a thing or two about digital synths is the understatement of the century. The company’s digital roots stretch back to the 80s and their history includes stone-cold digital classics like the Microwave and ultra-pricey WAVE.
The Streichfett is something a little different: a dedicated string synth module. String synths were relatively popular back in the 70s, with the likes of the ARP Solina and Omni, ELKA Rhapsody and Roland RS-202 offering a unique, if not particularly realistic, impression of orchestral string sounds. Unlike some of Waldorf’s other recent synths such as the fully analogue Pulse 2 or hybrid Rocket, the Streichfett is also 100% digital.
The Streichfett doesn’t sound like real strings, but hat’s not the point (if that’s what you’re looking for you’d be much better served by a string sample library). Instead, it recreates the gloriously fake sound of those 70s analogue classics incredibly accurately. An insanely rich ensemble effect thickens the entire sound and adds to the truly retro sounds on offer.
It’s definitely not the most versatile synth around, but again that’s only in keeping with the limited range of the original 70s models it’s based on. An all-rounder? Probably not. A unique synth with bags of character? Most definitely.
09.50 PM
Ploytec is on the table behind the Bass Station 2… What do I win?
03.34 AM
Is that it behind his monitor controller??? or ai or whatev
05.56 PM
My next synth is definitly in that list!
12.21 AM
i think it not good the MICROGRANNY 2.1 . is supper
als the The Critter & Guitari Bolsa Bass is dupper
more supper synth,s on http://www.errorinstruments.com
04.50 AM
Was the Elektron Monomachine just too expensive to be included, or too old?
09.44 AM
@Clay – I’d personally say that’s it too old to make the list, the Monomachine MK2 came out 5-ish years ago now. That said, I just bought a new one from Elektron and it’s probably my favourite digital synth EVER (though the Machinedrum is probably parallel to that as well, yeh I’m a fanboy)
09.55 AM
We love the Monomachine but here we’re just focusing on more recent releases.
08.03 PM
I highly recommend the Audiothingies P6, it sounds more ‘analogue’ than modern analogue synths I’ve used, I’d take it over a load of more expensive synths any day.
Strong filter with lovely sqidgy resonance, snappy envelopes and a good mod matrix, this is a very flexible instrument with a very wide sweet spot.
Here’s a demo I made recently showing a wide range of sounds, I’ll be posting another one soon as well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glZbjmJMHNU