By NearTao
Fri Jul 16, 2010 11:30 am
What's up fam, picked up a Korg WD-X recently and thought some of ya might be up for some impressions.
The Wavedrum is a physical modeling instrument for percussion sounds and beyond. It has microphones/sensors on the rim and snare head that constantly sample the acoustics that are applied to these areas and then generates a sound based off of that. It also has the capability of play sounds from it's internal ROM bank to help thicken/accentuate or just add another instrument into the mix when you trigger the WD-X. There is also a pressure sensor in the middle of the snare drum head that can be used to trigger sounds or effectively pitch bend notes. On paper it doesn't really look like a lot, but the interactions of all these things are were it gets interesting.
If you like percussion or tapping out beats with pens/pencils and pretty much enjoy to use the world around you to just make sound then I dare you to try to put it down after playing with it for a minute. Even if you ultimately don't like the sound that much it is just so hands on and inviting that I bet it'll at least get you to crack a smile. The physical models definitely make all the difference here and you can really hear the difference it makes with the sound that the WD-X generates. Using your fingers sounds quite different than using drum sticks, mallets, throwing pennies at it, etc... I've got a few ideas on non conventional ways to excite the snare drum head to see about making exotic sounds.
I really have to say though that this is a hybrid instrument in the truest sense. Obviously a sampler will be able to play any sound that this generates, but you'll never be able to get the variances/nuances in the performance that the WD-X can generate. Sure you can fake it, but it's not quite the same and usually requires for more work and effort than is reasonable. Playing the Conga on the WD-X is what I always dream I want to do on the MPC with enough samples/chops. I think a professional percussionist would likely have the same complaint that the WD-X isn't quite as 'playable' as the real instrument it is emulating but I also don't have a lot of extra space/money to have 30+ different drums and have to worry about tuning them all of the time. Huh... sounds like the same excuse I use as a samplist, so take it as you will
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Enough praise though, here's where I think Korg fell short... it's a long detailed list but the 'issues' are really not a big deal and for me at least weren't a deal breaker as I knew what I was getting in to for the most part going in.
There is no midi, which is fine for internal trigger purposes, because there are not enough CC values in the world for the WD-X to be able to accurately reproduce one drum hit that you make. What I would have liked it for though would have been to have the option to use the WD-X as an external controller. At least generate a note on event or two, and we've got the pressure sensitive middle of the snare drum to send pitch bend or mod data. It just could've been a nice way to thicken up a sound we may have wanted with an external sampler/instrument. Probably the most offending issue though is that the on board patch editing is rather painful and with no way to import/export patches it will quickly make your WD-X unique if you start making a lot of your own patches. Cool on the one hand, a bummer if you want a patch somebody else has since you'll have to use the tiny LCD to read/parse parameters. Good luck getting them all to match on your first try.
No sampling. Fine it isn't the bread and butter of this instrument, far from it... but it has the ability to play the (100?) on board samples which are okay, however it would have been nice to be able to layer in our own sounds to a specific patch/preset. I know it opens up a whole can of worms, but to take it further it'd be really cool to have a few wacky algorithms or physical models that can morph your samples. Maybe WD-X2... all I know is it'd push this instrument into that much more interesting territory.
No tempo control for on board loops. There are loops in various genres/styles, but I can only assume that they are loops and not made up of individual hits because you cannot change the tempo to suit your needs, you play to them not them playing to you. I can kind of care less about this feature as it stands, but if it was able to sample/import sounds can you imagine how dope it would be to bring in your own loops? So the existing loops take them or leave them, I prefer to leave them as is. Just a superfluous feature right now.
There are a fair number of presets that sound great by themselves, but don't really fit in a mix. This has a lot to do with the programmers tweaking the sound to be thick and full bodied on it's own with the effects (delay, reverb or whatever) but can mean you need to roll up your sleeves to turn off the effects or otherwise tweak it to settle it down. I don't have so much of a problem with it as I don't mind tweaking, but it is a general problem I tend to experience with Korg products and I know a lot of people who can't be bothered to tweak. So for me it's not an issue but for those of you who aren't tweak heads it may make a fair portion of the presets a bit more difficult for you to use in a mix.
It definitely screams for a better interface. As it stands it is functional, but if you really want to tweak it then start memorizing the manual or be prepared to lug it around and reference it a lot. If you can't be bothered to read the manual or memorize the options you'll be stuck with the on board presets or fumbling around trying to figure out what just happened to your sound you accidentally borked. The signal flow chart is nice, but I don't know who's going to help you if you just don't get it. There are plenty of curve graphs in there too, and some of those I'm not quite sure what they are trying to represent yet other than their curviness.
So how about I wrap this post up eh?
Here's my final thoughts on the Korg WD-X. If you're looking for a sample set or a sample source you'll probably be disappointed. If you want a conga hit or a snare crash or whatever there are plenty of better places to sample from. Sure you can get a lot of different sampled congas/snares/... out of this instrument but it would be kind of missing the point. On the other hand though if you like to playing conga samples on your MPC but you always felt even playing the chops wasn't quite as expressive as you wanted it to be then definitely give this a try. There are more than enough presets in this box to keep you busy for a long time and there are plenty more that you can create on your own. The WD-X gets my thumb up, now I just need to keep my eyes open in a few years for a WD-X2 to see where they go with this technology.
I'm actually going to try and get some sampling of one shots/loops done over the weekend (possibly beyond) for you guys to do with as you please. If you don't see me post anything feel free to PM me if you are interested in something in particular.
The Wavedrum is a physical modeling instrument for percussion sounds and beyond. It has microphones/sensors on the rim and snare head that constantly sample the acoustics that are applied to these areas and then generates a sound based off of that. It also has the capability of play sounds from it's internal ROM bank to help thicken/accentuate or just add another instrument into the mix when you trigger the WD-X. There is also a pressure sensor in the middle of the snare drum head that can be used to trigger sounds or effectively pitch bend notes. On paper it doesn't really look like a lot, but the interactions of all these things are were it gets interesting.
If you like percussion or tapping out beats with pens/pencils and pretty much enjoy to use the world around you to just make sound then I dare you to try to put it down after playing with it for a minute. Even if you ultimately don't like the sound that much it is just so hands on and inviting that I bet it'll at least get you to crack a smile. The physical models definitely make all the difference here and you can really hear the difference it makes with the sound that the WD-X generates. Using your fingers sounds quite different than using drum sticks, mallets, throwing pennies at it, etc... I've got a few ideas on non conventional ways to excite the snare drum head to see about making exotic sounds.
I really have to say though that this is a hybrid instrument in the truest sense. Obviously a sampler will be able to play any sound that this generates, but you'll never be able to get the variances/nuances in the performance that the WD-X can generate. Sure you can fake it, but it's not quite the same and usually requires for more work and effort than is reasonable. Playing the Conga on the WD-X is what I always dream I want to do on the MPC with enough samples/chops. I think a professional percussionist would likely have the same complaint that the WD-X isn't quite as 'playable' as the real instrument it is emulating but I also don't have a lot of extra space/money to have 30+ different drums and have to worry about tuning them all of the time. Huh... sounds like the same excuse I use as a samplist, so take it as you will
.Enough praise though, here's where I think Korg fell short... it's a long detailed list but the 'issues' are really not a big deal and for me at least weren't a deal breaker as I knew what I was getting in to for the most part going in.
There is no midi, which is fine for internal trigger purposes, because there are not enough CC values in the world for the WD-X to be able to accurately reproduce one drum hit that you make. What I would have liked it for though would have been to have the option to use the WD-X as an external controller. At least generate a note on event or two, and we've got the pressure sensitive middle of the snare drum to send pitch bend or mod data. It just could've been a nice way to thicken up a sound we may have wanted with an external sampler/instrument. Probably the most offending issue though is that the on board patch editing is rather painful and with no way to import/export patches it will quickly make your WD-X unique if you start making a lot of your own patches. Cool on the one hand, a bummer if you want a patch somebody else has since you'll have to use the tiny LCD to read/parse parameters. Good luck getting them all to match on your first try.
No sampling. Fine it isn't the bread and butter of this instrument, far from it... but it has the ability to play the (100?) on board samples which are okay, however it would have been nice to be able to layer in our own sounds to a specific patch/preset. I know it opens up a whole can of worms, but to take it further it'd be really cool to have a few wacky algorithms or physical models that can morph your samples. Maybe WD-X2... all I know is it'd push this instrument into that much more interesting territory.
No tempo control for on board loops. There are loops in various genres/styles, but I can only assume that they are loops and not made up of individual hits because you cannot change the tempo to suit your needs, you play to them not them playing to you. I can kind of care less about this feature as it stands, but if it was able to sample/import sounds can you imagine how dope it would be to bring in your own loops? So the existing loops take them or leave them, I prefer to leave them as is. Just a superfluous feature right now.
There are a fair number of presets that sound great by themselves, but don't really fit in a mix. This has a lot to do with the programmers tweaking the sound to be thick and full bodied on it's own with the effects (delay, reverb or whatever) but can mean you need to roll up your sleeves to turn off the effects or otherwise tweak it to settle it down. I don't have so much of a problem with it as I don't mind tweaking, but it is a general problem I tend to experience with Korg products and I know a lot of people who can't be bothered to tweak. So for me it's not an issue but for those of you who aren't tweak heads it may make a fair portion of the presets a bit more difficult for you to use in a mix.
It definitely screams for a better interface. As it stands it is functional, but if you really want to tweak it then start memorizing the manual or be prepared to lug it around and reference it a lot. If you can't be bothered to read the manual or memorize the options you'll be stuck with the on board presets or fumbling around trying to figure out what just happened to your sound you accidentally borked. The signal flow chart is nice, but I don't know who's going to help you if you just don't get it. There are plenty of curve graphs in there too, and some of those I'm not quite sure what they are trying to represent yet other than their curviness.
So how about I wrap this post up eh?
Here's my final thoughts on the Korg WD-X. If you're looking for a sample set or a sample source you'll probably be disappointed. If you want a conga hit or a snare crash or whatever there are plenty of better places to sample from. Sure you can get a lot of different sampled congas/snares/... out of this instrument but it would be kind of missing the point. On the other hand though if you like to playing conga samples on your MPC but you always felt even playing the chops wasn't quite as expressive as you wanted it to be then definitely give this a try. There are more than enough presets in this box to keep you busy for a long time and there are plenty more that you can create on your own. The WD-X gets my thumb up, now I just need to keep my eyes open in a few years for a WD-X2 to see where they go with this technology.
I'm actually going to try and get some sampling of one shots/loops done over the weekend (possibly beyond) for you guys to do with as you please. If you don't see me post anything feel free to PM me if you are interested in something in particular.
