Waldorf Blofeld

Never ending story

I bought this as my first synthesizer and of course I wouldn't recommend it as a beginners choice due to it's complexity I suppose but this is a marvelous piece of gear, I mean you can do so much with this little one, every patch is it's own Frankenstein monster or at least it becomes one when you start messing around with the it's matrix. Love it, can't rly be objective about it as it was my first piece of gear haha.

Decent poly power for the price

Decent multitimbral polyphonic VA synth. Bit menu-divey but that's to be expected given how much it's packing into it's synth engine.

Some unusual modulation options and the ability to load your own wavetables. Sounds good, given some time to to craft the patches. Internal fx are not the best, but I'd normally process any synth with external fx anyway so not a biggie to me.

Huge nice collection of sounds

Really a good sound library in a solid build. I was eager to try this module for its waldorf tone that hopefully will still last long. Liked the white but didn't want to buy the keyboard version because I got many others I wanted to use with the blofeld; nevertheless I haven't so much room available to place another 49-keys.

In terms of connections, well ...usb, stereo out and midi are enough to let a good setup work fine although in a few years connections flexibility would require a minor update. Anyway many usable full sounds that makes me forget it's a 2008-born device...

Still Very Good after 13 Years... However...

So why, you'd wanna buy a 13 year old synth module? First because you're after the Waldorf digital sound at an affordable price. Second, the device has matured and probable issues with the firmware have been fixed. And third the community has matured, meaning there are thousands of sounds and utilities for it, and you won't get stuck with just the support files from the vendor.

Blofeld, sounds AMAZING! Some people compare it with Largo VST, and although the later sounds excellent too, they DO NOT sound the same. This is a device which carries out the legacy of Waldorf's rich sound, and you'll reckon that as soon as you start to test the presets.

It's built like a tank, inside a metal housing. However there are sacrifices to the quality. The DSP is not too powerful, so polyphony may drop significantly depending on what features you use. Also many people have reported that the rotary encoders, do not work properly after years of use.

Speaking of encoders, this is NOT a hands on device! It would be great if you could assign the 4 knobs to the W, X, Y, Z controllers, but I haven't found such option. Also a big absence in my opinion is a confirmation dialog when you try to switch sounds. You can easily lose the sound you created if you're not careful.

Would I recommend it? Yes, more or less, but it may be time for Waldorf to upgrade their design to 2020 standards.

Old one but still a goodie

Love the form factor, can get amazing sounds even some analog like ones, features for the price are second to none. The pots can get tricky after some years of use and it is a shame you have to pay extra for the License SL. Run it through some warm preamp of guitar pedal to smooth the hi end and it sounds pretty analog, run it straight to get the classic waldorf sound.

best synth for this money

totally happy with my Blofeld desktop combine with arturia keystep its just perfect combo, unlimited options to modulate and patching sounds, heavy duty corpus, nice knobs, quick processing. Its one of those that u have great feeling when u holding in your hands

the best synth at that price range

Blofeld's desktop version is the best thing you can add to your studio at that price. The blend of wavetable synthesis and analogue modelling is something that can provide absolutely endless possibilities.

Downside is the lack of direct interface. Sometimes you would spend hours drowning in its parameters menu but its totally worth it. Another cons is that the original presets are very mediocre thus you should spend months on learning its synthesis.

Once you learn how to control that beast you enter a whole new world of weird sounds.

My main use of it is for pad sounds but its also perfect for making some classic chord/rhodes/piano type of sounds. Filters, oscillators, envelopes, all done very well, not really impressed with the effects though, except the overdrive.

Overall, its a solid, versatile, powerful and feature-rich synth.

Great synth, but hard to work with.

The title says it all ? amazing synth engine with great sound and countless features. Unfortunately it is almost impossible to edit patches easily with the few available knobs. Inexperienced users will lose unsaved data far too frequently due to the complicated structure of the operating system.

A software editor for Mac & PC is an absolute must, but there are only paid ones offered by other companies and none from Waldorf (unlike Korg or Novation, whose editors are awesome and free.).

If you are buying this synth, bring a lot of time for learning and don't expect to start making music with it in the first months, unless you just want to use the built-in presets.

I love it

My favourite synth by far. Great organic sounds, very flexible, great variety, very responsive and cleverly programmed.

Unfortunately this model has suffered some bugs over the years, mostly on multimode. I believe they have all been solved by firmware updates. Visiting a user forum is very helpful on the matter.

Also the rotary encoders lose their accuracy over the years, but they still work ok, just not perfectly. I use a midi keyboard with rotary controllers so I have assigned most useful parameters to that anyway, so it doesn't bother me.

So there are some technical weaknesses, but they can be solved and the sound is realy worth it. I am really glad I bought it, and it would be my last synth to sell if I needed money.

great little beast.

Built to last. Nice set up. Really versatile sounds. Straight forward matrix style programming. Easily controlled with external keyboard. Endless options of different types of synthesis great fm and wave tables. Would love the keyboard version but just not rich enough.