EMUSIC-L Digest Volume 39, Issue 07 This issue's topics: Waldorf Wave kbd: Valve-driven Filter upgrade (10 messages) Your EMUSIC-L Digest moderator is Joe McMahon . You may subscribe to EMUSIC-L by sending mail to listserv@american.edu with the line "SUB EMUSIC-L your name" as the text. The EMUSIC-L archive is a service of SunSite (sunsite.unc.edu) at the University of North Carolina. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Apr 1992 15:37:28 +0000 From: Nick Rothwell Subject: Waldorf Wave kbd: Valve-driven Filter upgrade Interesting flyer I got from TSI/Waldorf this morning, talking about the new Waldorf Wave keyboard. The beast is apparently hardware-upgradable, and one of the upgrades is a valve filter section. The flyer starts out by explaining how valve-driven amps (both consumer and professional) are generally considered to have better tonal characteristics and general sound than solid-state ones, and how the big appeal of the MicroWave rack and Wave keyboard is the high-quality analogue filters. So, the logical progression for a truly classic analogue sound is a replacement of the solid-state analogue filter components with a valve-based upgrade. There's a daughterboard, measuring some 20cm x 6cm, that fits into the Wave keyboard (nothing mentioned about the MicroWave, alas) which is a 16-channel filter replacement, featuring a set of subminiature audio valves (1.5cm high) and driving circuitry. When installed, it selectively disables the transistorised filter circuits (which are still in place). What is mondo cool about this is that (i) transistor or valve filtering is selectable per patch (I don't know how dynamic voice allocation works here) and (ii) there's a global parameter (and corresponding SysEx) to switch all voices back to transistor filtering in case of any damaged valves - good move, Waldorf, and (iii) part of the long edge of the board (where the valves are mounted, for proper heatsink characteristics) is visible through the lower part of the display window on the Wave keyboard, just under the panel of sliders, so you can see the valves glowing as voices get gated through the filters. This is giving me severe techno-lust... Nick. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Apr 1992 12:40:59 -0500 From: Eirmkur Hallgrmmsson 01-Apr-1992 1242 Subject: RE: Waldorf Wave kbd: Valve-driven Filter upgrade Nick, Nick, I WANT to believe, but it is April Fool's day over here. Tell me this is real. BTW, I have seen micro valves. They got vacuum tubes down to that size just at about the point where transistors were pulling ahead on the price curve. Just try to replace a NuVistor tiny tube that's solderd-into a 1965 TV. I assume that the tubes are current microwave communications stuff, if this announcement is real. That should mean that they will be replaceable. Gee, maybe they are former Soviet avionics :-) Eirikur ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Apr 1992 13:01:42 EST From: metlay Subject: RE: Waldorf Wave kbd: Valve-driven Filter upgrade > Nick, Nick, > > I WANT to believe, but it is April Fool's day over here. Tell me this > is real. BTW, I have seen micro valves. They got vacuum tubes down to that > size just at about the point where transistors were pulling ahead on the price > curve. Just try to replace a NuVistor tiny tube that's solderd-into a 1965 TV. > I assume that the tubes are current microwave communications stuff, if this > announcement is real. That should mean that they will be replaceable. Gee, > maybe they are former Soviet avionics :-) I never saw the post this was in reference to. Could someone send it to me? Even if it IS a joke, I'd like to see it. -- Mike Metlay metlay@minerva.phyast.pitt.edu Atomic City, P.O. Box 81175, Pittsburgh, PA 15217-0675 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Apr 1992 13:04:39 EST From: metlay Subject: Re: Waldorf Wave kbd: Valve-driven Filter upgrade CANCEL my previous request-- the message got here late, for some reason. Nick, this HAS to be an April Fools' joke. Right? ....RIGHT?! Actually, Nick, I'd appreciate private EMail from you with ALL of the specs for the Wave keyboard that you have handy...Georg Muller's post was too vague on many items.... -- Mike Metlay metlay@minerva.phyast.pitt.edu Atomic City, P.O. Box 81175, Pittsburgh, PA 15217-0675 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Apr 1992 13:19:16 EST From: "Patrick Robinson" Subject: Re: Waldorf Wave kbd: Valve-driven Filter upgrade >Actually, Nick, I'd appreciate private EMail from you with ALL of the >specs for the Wave keyboard that you have handy... Actually, so would I. May as well post 'em... perhaps to r.m.s? Might not be deemed fit for EMUSIC-L... -Patrick pgr@vtvm1.cc.vt.edu ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1992 11:53:34 +0000 From: Nick Rothwell Subject: Waldorf Wave kbd: Valve-driven Filter upgrade >Nick, this HAS to be an April Fools' joke. Right? ....RIGHT?! Of course. I made the whole thing up as I typed it in, although I had the idea of a valve synthesiser for April 1st ages ago and was just waiting for the day to roll round again... Well, my in-box is full of messages with this subject line...! What's really scarey is that the stuff I invented (subminiature valves and the like) seems to actually exist... Regarding non-fictional information: all I have is what Georg has sent me, that's it. Nick. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1992 17:30:21 EST From: metlay Subject: The Waldorf Wave Tube-Filter Joke.... > >Nick, this HAS to be an April Fools' joke. Right? ....RIGHT?! > > Of course. I made the whole thing up as I typed it in, although I had the > idea of a valve synthesiser for April 1st ages ago and was just waiting for > the day to roll round again... Well, my in-box is full of messages with > this subject line...! What's really scarey is that the stuff I invented > (subminiature valves and the like) seems to actually exist... I don't regard myself as gullible, normally, but having recently done some reading on the subject of PCB-mounted tubes, it was just enough inside the ballpark to make me doubt my first impression. Congrats on a particularly successful hoodwink, dude. As a reward, you now get to answer all the mail demanding more details. |-> > Regarding non-fictional information: all I have is what Georg has sent me, > that's it. I plan to call Waldorf in California and see if they can tell me anything; I ALSO plan to contact Wolfgang Palm and suggest a tube-driven card for the Wave. If not for a filter (snicker), then maybe for the output stage.... -- Mike Metlay metlay@minerva.phyast.pitt.edu Atomic City, P.O. Box 81175, Pittsburgh, PA 15217-0675 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1992 14:39:00 CST From: greg@IHLPM.ATT.COM Subject: Re: Waldorf Wave kbd: Valve-driven Filter upgrade > this subject line...! What's really scarey is that the stuff I invented > (subminiature valves and the like) seems to actually exist... Unless someone was turning it around on you and fooling you back (and it looks like you bit :-)! -- Greg Youngdahl AT&T Bell Laboratories Naperville, IL greg@ihlpm.att.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1992 17:44:47 EST From: metlay Subject: Re: Waldorf Wave kbd: Valve-driven Filter upgrade > Unless someone was turning it around on you and fooling you back > (and it looks like you bit :-)! I'm not convinced of this. There ARE systems for modularizing small tubes for use within otherwise solid-state devices. A prime example of this, musicwise, is the Seymour Duncan guitar amp with its plug-in circuit modules featuring various tubes and support circuitry. Now, SUBMINI tubes are a bit harder to swallow....|-> -- Mike Metlay metlay@minerva.phyast.pitt.edu Atomic City, P.O. Box 81175, Pittsburgh, PA 15217-0675 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1992 11:49:27 +0000 From: Nick Rothwell Subject: Re: Waldorf Wave kbd: Valve-driven Filter upgrade > Unless someone was turning it around on you and fooling you back >(and it looks like you bit :-)! Sh*t. Naahh... I have heard of miniature valves from elsewhere. Honest. I have. Nick. ------------------------------ End of the EMUSIC-L Digest ******************************