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paugui
Joined: Jun 28, 2008
Posts: 555
Location: Marinha Grande, Portugal / Oslo, Norway
Audio files: 4
G2 patch files: 37
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 Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 10:08 am Post subject:
Any point in getting a Q having a Micro Q Omega? |
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Hi
I have a Micro Q Omega (rack version) that I bought recently and I quite like it.
I might have the chance of getting a Q keyboard in a trade (unexpanded, unfortunately...).
Would it be worth getting one since I already have a Micro Q Omega (which I definitely don't want to sell cause it doesn't occupy to much space and is expanded)?
Or are the differences almost none in terms of sound (filter routing and PPG filter emulation?)?
The one I'd quite like to have would be the Q+, due to the analog filters, but that one is really hard to find, so I guess it's almost impossible to get one in a trade... |
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nobody
Joined: Mar 09, 2008
Posts: 1687
Location: Not here
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| Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 7:15 am Post subject:
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| I'd try to demo one and hear the difference. Usually, there isn't supposed to be a difference between keyboard and rack versions except for the presence or absence of a keyboard, but some people say there are. It may well be subjective. |
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paugui
Joined: Jun 28, 2008
Posts: 555
Location: Marinha Grande, Portugal / Oslo, Norway
Audio files: 4
G2 patch files: 37
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| Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 7:25 am Post subject:
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I mean the Micro Q and the Q, not between a Q (or Micro Q) keyboard and Q (or micro Q) rack.
From your reply, I'm not sure if you meant those two...
I know there are some differences in terms of specifications between the two.
The Q has a PPG filter emulation and there are 127 between serial and parallel routing of the filters.
But apart from that, is there any other differences in terms of capabilities?
And is there any difference in terms of sound quality?
And in terms of the interface (of the keyboard version), is it really much better than the Micro Q one to worth getting one?
The step sequencers would be nice, but I already have that in my Nord Modular G2X, so it's not a huge plus.
Anyone here has used both and have an opinion about that? |
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fky
Joined: Jun 25, 2005
Posts: 156
Location: P.R.China
Audio files: 23
G2 patch files: 3
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| Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 1:06 am Post subject:
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Hi,
Personenelly I dont think it worth.
Remeber it is digital sound only. PPG filter doesnt mean everything.
For me blofeld desktop possibly sounds more spacy and glassy than the old Q version. As a digital synth, Q is too cloudy for me.
But micro q(or q rack) is a solid rack, if you wont go for more poly equipment and a standalone keyboard to play. Micro q is enough.
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http://soundcloud.com/fkyfkyfky |
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hrastprogrammer
Joined: Oct 16, 2008
Posts: 261
Location: CPU
Audio files: 103
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| Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 1:51 am Post subject:
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| paugui wrote: | | Anyone here has used both and have an opinion about that? |
Hello paugui,
Currently I own 4 (four!) Q racks (2x yellow + 2x blue, all with 32-voice expansions) and those, together with 2 Alesis Andromeda (for real analog duties), are my workhorses and I don't really need any other synthesizer for my music, although I have a few of them. I also own two MicroQ racks (yellow and blue), so I think I am pretty much qualified to compare them all.
To my ears, Q sounds much better overall than MicroQ, it is hard to describe but somehow it sounds more "full", "wide", "fat", "warm", "classy" and "aristocratic". MicroQ always sounded more "lo-fi" to me, compared to Q. Not to speak about all missing features, much lower polyphony, lower multitimbrality, etc. And the fact that Q interface beats MicroQ in every way is not to forget, as well.
I also had Blofeld in my studio for a few weeks, for the sake of trying to port a few Q patches to Blofeld, but I didn't succeed, unfortunately. Although I worked really hard to get those patches into Blofeld, something was missing all the time and they just didn't sound as good as on Q, so I gave up. Maybe some Blofeld master could do much better job then I did, but for me it simply didn't work. Not to speak about the difference in user interface because, despite the larger LCD on Blofeld, Q is light years ahead in terms of flexibility and practicality. I don't need Blofeld wavetables because Q alone has enough waves on board, and I have Microwave 2 and XT for real wavetable duties, so I cannot recommend Blofeld over Q in any case. I am not alone in this regard, because some other Q users came to the same conclusion. For example, there is one post about Q vs. Blofeld from a long time Q owner on Waldorf mailing list here http://www.waldorf-forum.com/pipermail/user-forum/2010-June/024636.html, and I pretty much agree with everything he said there.
I wouldn't recommend a Q+, though, because I owned Q+ Phoenix Edition from the new 2009 batch for a few months. Unfortunately, it had so many hardware/software problems with analog filter modules and other things, that in the end I had to return it to the dealer and got a refund, because Waldorf simply couldn't fix the damn thing! And those 16 analog filters don't justify the price difference you have to pay for Q+ because you can get close to them with digital filters in 99% of cases, with a little adjusting. Only the use of analog drive combined with high resonance settings can produce a fairly noticeable difference in sound around the cutoff frequency, so I was rather disappointed. And I actually prefer the regular Q (and those digital modeled filters) because it has much better punch which I somehow missed on many patches I converted from Q to Q+ ... I don't really know what is the reason for this, like they attenuated the internal signal path in some way 
Disclaimer: All of the above is just my personal opinion, based on my experience of using all those synthesizers. If anyone think that MicroQ or Blofeld are better than Q then I respect this opinion and surely won't argue about that 
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https://www.hrastprogrammer.com/hrastwood/
https://hrastprogrammer.bandcamp.com/ |
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