Looking for people of color or non-Americans with an eye towards becoming moderators. Revolution Oscillators needs racial, ethnic and geographic diversity.
Are you synthesizer or electronic music savvy and not a white American?
Do your politics fall between Democratic Socialist and Revolutionary?
Do you have time to be more than an administrator, and be a near daily participant, sharing your gear, music and local politics?
If so, Revolution Oscillators wants you.
We are looking to build a world of equals. If you are a POC anywhere in the world, including the United States OR any race/ethnicity outside of the United States in Central or South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, or Oceania, Revolution Oscillators needs your fellowship and guiding participation.
Join our Facebook group today and let me know you want to help us grow together.
Looking for people of color or non-Americans with an eye towards becoming moderators. Revolution Oscillators needs racial, ethnic and geographic diversity.
Are you synthesizer or electronic music savvy and not a white American?
Do your politics fall between Democratic Socialist and Revolutionary?
Do you have time to be more than an administrator, and be a near daily participant, sharing your gear, music and local politics?
If so, Revolution Oscillators wants you.
We are looking to build a world of equals. If you are a POC anywhere in the world, including the United States OR any race/ethnicity outside of the United States in Central or South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, or Oceania, Revolution Oscillators needs your fellowship and guiding participation.
Join our Facebook group today and let me know you want to help us grow together.
Like any synthesizer addict, I’d love to have hundreds of all synth persuasions, but space is at a premium, as is time to effectively learn and use the synths.
The Waldorf Quantum and the Sequential Prophet X are like the Gibson Les Paul and Fender Stratocaster of the synthesizer world. It’s a BIG deal for an all digital desktop version of the Quantum to be released.
Removing and/or replacing the keybed on the Sequential Prophet X synthesizer is a relatively simple process involving nothing more than a screwdriver.
***Thanks to Tom Fabinski for his keybed sacrifices and sharing the info and images for this post!
WoodRightSide.jpg
WoodLeftSide.jpg
WheelToMetalScrews.jpg
ScrewsRightSide.jpg
ScrewsLeftSide.jpg
KeybedScrews.jpg
To start, unplug all power/audio/MIDI/USB cables
Instructions for replacing the key bed are as follows.
Unscrew the screws in the wood ends (see WoodRightSide.jpg and WoodLeftSide.jpg above)
Flip the instrument over and place it face down on a soft material.
Unscrew the two screws which hold the wheel assembly to the bottom metal work (see WheelToMetalScrews.jpg above)
Flip the instrument back over and remove the screws in the sides of the metal housing (see ScrewsRightSide.jpg and ScrewLeftSide.jpg above)
The front panel can now be opened, it is hinged at its rear.
Remove the key bed connectors and aftertouch cable connector from the main PC board (see MainBoard.jpg above, the cables outlined in red)
Close the front panel and flip the instrument face down again.
Remove the 10 screws which hold the key bed to the bottom metal work (see KeybedScrews.jpg above)
While holding the front panel closed, and the key bed to the bottom metal work, carefully flip the instrument front side up. Open the front panel, and remove the key bed.
Remove the aftertouch extension cable from the old key bed to install on the new key bed. It is taped in place.
Install the new key bed and reassemble the synth in the reverse order of disassembly. Take care when re-installing the key bed screws as they can strip the key bed standoffs if they are overly tightened.
IMPORTANT: The keybed standoffs are plastic. To avoid over-tightening and stripping standoffs when installing the keybed, DO NOT use an electric or powered screwdriver.
Yay, my Quantum is back from “repair”. It was gone one day shy of 2 months, which was faster than expected, especially with COVID-19 virus world in full bang…
Waldorf service (via Sweetwater, then Korg the USA service center) gave me a completely new synthesizer. The screen is a beauty. It has the touch sensitivity I would expect, the XY pad will blow your mind. There is no bubble in the middle or dead spot on the right edge. The keyboard has quiet keys, and the panel has all the right buttons, even the Komplex Modulator has a printed line under it.
This Waldorf Quantum rocks. It looks and feels like all $4000 of it should.
I want to stress that I believe all currently manufactured Quantums are at this same level of high quality control. I would not hesitate to buy a new Quantum today. Waldorf is a top notch company, I have nothing but high marks for them. Even more so, kudos to Sweetwater.
I’m retired now, but most of my pre-retirement career was in technology related industries. It’s a fact that 1% of technology products are going to arrive DOA, with some elemental flaw or go down in the 1st 30 days. It is so important to choose who you buy technology from wisely. Most of the time your dealer is going to take your money, ship you the product and that’s that. It’s that rare moment when something goes wrong that resellers really show what they are made of.
I’ve never had a defective musical product in my life before, but my first Quantum was in that 1% experience, as I documented in First 48 hours – Waldorf Quantum joins “Studio”. It had a non-functional key, other keys were unacceptably noisy and one of the oscillators had 2 Resonator buttons instead of Particle and Resonator buttons. This was just past a time period where people were waiting months for Quantum preorders to fill. Immediately Sweetwater shipped out a replacement with prepaid shipping back for the old one.
A month later as I documented in Some first month thoughts about Waldorf Quantum I was very happy with my 2nd Quantum. In time I did become more aware of some screen characteristics, a bubble in the middle of the screen, a dead zone on the right edge and a general lack of the touch sensitivity I would expect.
My bubble wasn’t that bad, I didn’t even blog about it and I have seen more significant bubbles online. And though it didn’t impact use of the synth, the bubble was kind of like a coin sized dent on the hood of a brand new Ferrari. It sullied the shine of a state of the art machine just a bit. As I blogged about in 6th month thoughts about the Waldorf Quantum, the pain of the dead zone on the right edge and a general lack of the touch sensitivity was reduced by OS 2.0 beta redesigns, but it was still an issue I wanted resolved.
There is little doubt in my mind that the Quantum is so amazing and so unique that I could have lived with these ‘quirks’. Some luster was missing though, and I didn’t have that I want to buy another Waldorf product feeling like I do with Sequential products.
A couple friends of mine on the Sweetwater slide during our visit
As 2020 arrived, two unrelated events cemented my decision to send Quantum #2 for repair. For one, at the beginning of February I was planning to buy a Sequential Prophet X, so I knew the pain of the Quantum gone bye-bye for 2-4 months would be less. For second, for ministry business reasons in the middle of February, a few of us were making the 3 hour drive from Chicago to Sweetwater to take a tour of their operation.
Advice: Never visit Sweetwater. No wonder that place sold $850 million dollars worth of gear in 2019. What an amazing place, what great people. You will never want to buy musical equipment anywhere else after you visit there. Stay far far away.
Anyhoo, I missed the final stages of the Quantum OS 2.0 beta so I was anxious to see what the release version was like. So far so good! The sound packs are nice too.
My corner of the Waldorf Quantum world is better today, amen.
Behringer music products removed from revolutionOSC and boycotted for foreseeable future
It has to be said and acted upon. We may live in an age of out-of-control self-entitled billionaires and mega-millionaires like Donald Trump and Uli Behringer, but we don’t have to passively tolerate and encourage it.
It’s sad and potentially messy. Like wannabe fascist dictator Trump and his MAGA cult, in the online synthesizer world, Behringer has a great deal of mindless cult followers ready to rationalize, excuse and support any abuse Uli and his companies can dish out, as well as add some of their own bullying to the mix. Sigh.
I’ve never been fond enough of Behringer synths to actually buy one but I have tried to share in the joy that many feel brings synths at reasonable prices to the masses. Though there are some debatable and controversial aspects to Behringer products, the products themselves are not what the revolutionOSC boycott is about.
The hype about bringing synthesis to the masses is quite ironic, because Uli Behringer is the type of arrogant uber-wealthy person, that in past ages revolutionary guillotines were made for.
In typical right-wing conservative fashions, Behringer has used his power and money to war against free speech and corrupt legal processes to punish those journalists and even online users, who dare speak criticism of the mighty. All Behringer’s actions, going back years are documented and factual, there can be no rational debate about the actions themselves. I won’t repeat the history of Behringer’s abuse, Google will reveal a treasure trove of verifiable facts.
At this point it is safe to say Behringer is not likely to grow up and stop having his immature rich boy temper tantrums. His products have as much yuck factor as living in a Trump Tower or wearing Ivanka Trump clothes.
Effective immediately all Behringer product pages have been disabled. There are better alternatives to Behringer products, the physical products themselves and ethically.
Thanks! -Yehuda
Trying to make sense out of all the wave* variant synthesizers out there today in 2020? Read the Uptown Oscillators Wavetable Synth Comparisons.
I think in my future synthesizer purchases, I will wait until a synth has been available for a year. Most of the time, issues will be firmware, but sometimes there are hardware revisions. That may be common knowledge but I’m an experience learner, ha! That said, critiques in this post should be properly weighted; the Waldorf Quantum is an amazing machine. Under my new 1 year policy, I would not hesitate to pull out my credit card and buy the Quantum today, and I have little to no regrets about having bought one 6 months ago.
The Quantum is definitely my stranded on an island with only one synthesizer (and electricity) choice. Even analog purists would be well advised to open their minds. Those without $4k to spend would be well advised to move mountains to get one. Those who are not ready to appreciate the value of a $4k synth yet, need to spend time with a Quantum. The Quantum is one of the few pinnacles of synthesis on the market today.
I think there are a few resolvable hardware issues in some 1st year Quantums. Aside from miscellaneous defects or QC issues which all new electronics are likely to have a 1% rate of, here are a few to be aware of.
Squeaky keys – This one is the easiest to fix. You don’t have to tolerate it or take pass on a used machine with the issue. This condition is common to many brands which use Fatar keybeds. The keybed just needs lubrication, check with Waldorf support or your dealer.
Touch screen sensitivity and/or dead zone – Most of the issues with this are firmware design, fixed in the 2.0 beta 9. You may notice in the image at top of this post, the 6 control areas on the left and right sides of the screen are redesigned to reflect more accurately that there are no buttons for selections like normal and mod; the whole rectangular area is a touch area/button, which once you understand that, makes selection a snap. The middle selector knob between save and previous has been programmed to scroll through selection choices much more accurately and easier than previous touch only selections. You could get a new screen through warranty that is purported to be more sensitive, however the firmware changes make a world of difference and you may not care. Likewise, many Quantums have a dead spot on the right 1/4″ of the screen that can be fixed with a screen firmware update (not to be confused with the OS firmware, this is completely distinct and not currently upgradable from SD or USB. A user upgradable screen firmware may become available in the future, but there is no guarantee at this point). I think most people will not bother to deal with repair of these screen issues since the beta take almost all the pain away. To replace the screen or update the screen firmware, you will need to ship the synth to a warranty center.
Voices with inconsistent resonance – See image at top of this post. I wouldn’t have even noticed this if I hadn’t read about it. Thanks to Paul Cotton, who provided these issue confirmation instructions and .wav files: Boot, load a patch > Init the patch > Turn off OSC1 in the OSC MIX (so audio will be just filter self resonance) > Left of the screen, change analog filter 1 cutoff to 67 and resonance to 85.5 , then repeatedly play middle c to cycle the voices. Before fix .wav / After fix .wav To fix this, you will need to ship the synth to a warranty center.
So I’m trying to decide if it’s even worth the bother to send my Quantum off to fix the 2nd and 3rd issues in February 2020, when I am buying a Sequential Prophet X and will be busy with that new synth for a bit and will have a fresh outer box to ship it in.
What happens in the beta stays in the beta. I will say this though, the current 2.0 beta 9 firmware is more stable and polished than the the non-beta 1.3.0 firmware release. Don’t be shy or paranoid, get the beta, you won’t regret it!
The Waldorf Quantum factory patches
Like most Quantum owners I would imagine, I didn’t buy the Quantum to use presets primarily. I bought it for sound design so I didn’t really spend much time cruising the presets. After 5 months, I did start checking out the presets in more detail. I was pleasantly surprised, there are some amazing presets. Like all synths, some are basic and they could be expanded. There is more than meets the eyes initially though.
1-88 are “best” of selections from the rest of the 100-1529 presets.
100-199 are Richard Devine presets and those are mind-blowing!
A great support experience and better than new wood
One day I was being lazy, and I leaned my bicycle up against my synths and wouldn’t you know it, somehow I scratched the front strip of my beloved Sequential Pro 2 synthesizer. Yeah, I know it was a fairly insignificant scratch but it just bugged me, so I decided to order replacement parts from Sequential. I ordered the end pieces too, just to be sure the wood stain/finish all matched since I was already going full on OCD, ha! I’m glad I did too, because the replacements looked a lot better than the originals. Darker and a little more sheen to them. Anyhoo, it was a great support experience from Mark Kono at Sequential Support. $75 total including freight for the left+right end pieces and the front strip (including Pro 2 badge) and now, better than new.
The wood ends are a snap to replace, but the front strip is a tad more complicated – fortunately Mark gave me instructions, which follows these images of my parts replacement.
Note: This would be essentially the same procedure to replace the keybed.
Sequential instructions:
You’ll need to remove the keybed as there are screws holding the front wood strip from the bottom of the keyboard as well as from the inside (you’ll see them under the lip of the front once the keybed is removed).
Removing and/or replacing the keybed on the Pro 2 is a relatively simple process involving nothing more than a screwdriver. Here are instructions for replacing the keybed:
To start, unplug all power/audio/MIDI/USB cables.
Unscrew the two screws in each of the wooden sides.
Once the wooden sides are removed, 3 additional screws on the left and 2 additional screws on the right side will be revealed. Remove these as well.
Next, lay down some padding like a towel or a pillow and flip the Pro 2 over. Remove the 2 black screws to the right of the left front rubber foot. They are smaller than the other black screws, they have no flanges, and will be slightly lower than the foot, not directly inline.
Flip the Pro 2 back over and with it facing you place your hands on the sides, on top half of the metalwork, and lift up and away from you. The lid will hinge open and stay open resting on the attached lanyard. You will be looking at the main board in the tray above the keybed.
Remove the 2-wire aftertouch connector from the main board, it is located in the lower left corner. Pull straight up on the connector, DO NOT pull the wires themselves.
Remove the keybed’s ribbon connector, it is located in the lower right of the main board. There are locking tabs holding the ribbon cable in but they are easily opened by prying the tabs away from each other in a horizontal motion with your thumbs or fingers; the cable will just pop out. Only medium force is required.
When reinstalling the ribbon with the tabs open, just push the connector straight down and the tabs will close behind it. Push the tabs together to make sure the cable is firmly seated.
With the two connectors detached, close the lid and flip the unit over, face down, and rest the keys on a soft surface.
Remove the 10 screws holding the keybed in from the bottom of the Pro 2. The screws are aligned in 2 horizontal rows of 5 black screws each, located just above the lower rubber feet. The keybed is now detached. Hold the keybed in place and flip the unit back over. The keybed can now be removed.
Reassemble the Pro 2 in the reverse order.
IMPORTANT: The keybed standoffs are plastic. To avoid over-tightening and stripping standoffs when installing the keybed, DO NOT use an electric or powered screwdriver.
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