Wavestation
A/D
Advanced Vector Synthesis / Wave Sequencing
synthesizer
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The Korg Wavestation A/D was an improved version of the classic Wavestation and Wavestation EX. It features XLR inputs and it's possible to run external signals through the synth fx engine. The Wavestation is perfect for sound design: it is capable of producing absolutely gorgeous digital and analog sounds. Korg's "Advanced Vector Synthesis" is itself an improvement on the classic Sequential Circuits Prophet VS: you assign up to four waveforms and using the joystick it's possible to combine the resulting patches in every way imaginable. "Wave Sequencing" allows the user to combine up to 256 waveforms, and change the harmonic structure continuously - |
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Add to this a modulation matrix, LFOs, aftertouch, and high-quality effects - and many more among the numerous features of this machine, and the result is a very expressive, characteristic synthesizer. The Wavestation is typically used for lush pads and sound fx, but it's really a versatile module - and the SR, the last hardware incarnation of this synth, features a large amount of sound banks that show off this versatility. Here below are all factory examples from the ROM, RAM1, 2 and 3 of this fantastic synthesizer module. |
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Korg Wavestation Performance audio demos
| RAM1 | |
| Performance name with audio demo | My comments |
| 00 Ski Jam | Quintessential Wave Sequencing, with a soaring synth lead on the right hand |
| 01 Entropy | Beautiful voxy pad, breathy and mysterious. |
| 02 Pinger | Classic vector action string pad. |
| 03 Reswacker | Nice percussive digital synth |
| 04 LeadRockGuitar | '80s heavy metal guitar |
| 05 Softwaves | Superb wave sequenced fluffy mallet |
| 06 Cascade Falls | Beautiful vectoring, evolving combi |
| 07 Blow The Bottle | '80s style comp synth |
| 08 Magic Guitar | Delicate steel guitar with background syn vox pad. |
| 09 Will I Dream | Gorgeous fx noisepad, dramatic and mysterious. |
| 10 Fire Dance | Jumpy wave sequences and plucky synth |
| 11 AnalogLoveThang | The ubiquitous Oberheim OB-Xa inspired synth brass from Van Halen' "Jump". |
| 12 Panned Waves | Different |
| 13 Super Res | Nice Clavinet through envelope filter/ wha-wha. |
| 14 Ballerina Bells | Beautiful, hypnotic bell combi - especially with the modulation wheel engaged |
| 15 Soft Analog | Classic analog brass, soft. |
| 16 Mod Wheel Air | Vaguely Asian |
| 17 Bowed Strings | Solid orchestral ensemble strings. |
| 18 Pluckrimba | Cute and useful |
| 19 Vector Guitar | Nice Stratocaster + vectored string pad |
| 20 Midnight Run | Incredible rhythmic pattern and analog synth |
| 21 African Sunset | Ok |
| 22 Harmonic Motion | Catchy wave sequences and warm, resonant pad |
| 23 Air Chorus&Bell | Beautiful bell + vox pad |
| 24 SunGlasses Kid | Classic '80s FM split |
| 25 Stabby Horns | Nice analog stab brass |
| 26 Soft EP w-Tine | Perfect ballad material |
| 27 Artificial Strg | Enchanting, delicate analog strings |
| 28 The Pied Piper | Happy flutists |
| 29 Vox Concrete | Outstanding soft evolving pad |
| 30 Snake Charmer | Great Middle-Eastern wave sequence + violin performance |
| 31 Rock Tine Piano | Perfect for MOR rock |
| 32 Pressure Glass | Nice evolving "gassy" pad |
| 33 Vox Arpeggios | Nice programming. |
| 34 Struck Bell | Crystal bells. |
| 35 Upright & Oboe | Yep |
| 36 Refinery | Mallet on metal and synth pad |
| 37 Kick up da Bass | Fat synth bass |
| 38 Syn Vox | Beautiful hollow pad |
| 39 Kingdom Come | Full of motion |
| 40 Cat's Eye | Plucky |
| 41 Jazz Mutes | Respectable jazzy horns |
| 42 VS Bell Pad | Beautiful, classic VS sounds |
| 43 Spectra | Full, digital |
| 44 New Sparkle | More bells |
| 45 Vektor Organ | Awesome Hammond organ with Leslie speaker fast/slow via modulation wheel. |
| 46 Alien Dreams | Spectacular science fiction sound effects |
| 47 End Of Voltare | Nice, evolving |
| 48 Kilimanjaro | Nice |
| 49 DebussyOnWheels | Ravishing vector pad - lots of independent sonic entities coming in and out |
| RAM2 | |
| Performance name with audio demo | My comments |
| 00 Pharoah's Jig | Great setup |
| 01 CityOfTomorrow | Beautiful vector synthesis patch, the perfect moving pad. |
| 02 Spectrumize | Digi |
| 03 Fuzzy Pop Clav | '80s style |
| 04 ZZ Lead | ZZ Top style overdriven electric guitar |
| 05 Wack Flute | Yep |
| 06 Glitter Vox | Enchanting soft pad |
| 07 Bee Hive | Ok |
| 08 Waves On Wheels | Different. |
| 09 21st Century | Phenomenal vector pad, ever-evolving |
| 10 SustainPedalJam | F U N :-) |
| 11 Nasty Harmonics | More '80s goodness |
| 12 Glider | Very, very nice raising synth fx pad |
| 13 Mr.Wave Table | Vibrant |
| 14 Alpine Bells | Stupendous, hypnotic fluffy syn-bell pad |
| 15 The Big Brass | Different brass sounds acting on the joystick. |
| 16 Gentle Winds | Ok |
| 17 String&Woodwind | Realistic enough. |
| 18 Rain Chiffs | Cool. |
| 19 Guitar Rez | Nice electric guitar, very '80s sounding. |
| 20 ScrittiFunk | Cool! Perhaps inspired by the band Scritti Politti? |
| 21 SonarBellString | Beautiful bell pad |
| 22 NewZealand Vice | Cinematic sound |
| 23 Sunday Morning | Nice organ + choir |
| 24 Split on Sunset | More "Miami Vice" '80s style FM split |
| 25 Brass Orchestra | Tuba action |
| 26 Digipno&Breath | Classic '80s pop/rock ballad sound |
| 27 LassieComeHome | Very nice soft pad |
| 28 MellowSquarePad | Nice square waveforms |
| 29 Antarctica | Cool evolving sound |
| 30 Echo Hunters | Quintessential Korg patch with echoed percussion release |
| 31 Organomics | Super cool 1960s lounge organ |
| 32 Trans Atlantic | Ok |
| 33 The Wave Guitar | Digital guitar sound |
| 34 Bell Tree | Spooky bell pad |
| 35 Palo Alto Pad | Nice alto saxophone with pad |
| 36 Thick Pick | Fat picked bass |
| 37 Skip's BoomBass | Funky digisound |
| 38 Folk Guitar | Transparent guitar |
| 39 Ivesian Split | Fantastic synth + flute split - great for writing soundtrack music |
| 40 Saturn Rings | Superb vectoring and fx |
| 41 Rotary Organ | Amazing Leslie emulation - speed controllable by mod wheel |
| 43 Pop Box | The power of the box |
| 43 Star Bell Sweep | Lovely bells on a fire bed |
| 44 Xnaos Split | Melancholic split patch - breathy pad and bell synth |
| 45 Rock Steady | Superb reggae organ! |
| 46 20Sec. Invasion | Awesome sound design - sci fi |
| 47 Chronos | Great ambient noise patch |
| 48 Mambo Marimba! | Exquisite marimba patch! |
| 49 The Big Pad | Contemporary moving pad, warm and interesting |
| RAM3 | |
| Performance name with audio demo | My comments |
| 00 Grand Piano 16' | Well sampled grand piano |
| 01 Cello Ensemble | For film |
| 02 Alto Sax | Realistic and expressive |
| 03 Acoustic Guitar | Warm acoustic |
| 04 Dyno Slap Bass | Nice chorused bass |
| 05 Mono Synth Lead | Screaming digi lead |
| 06 African Kalimba | Excellent version |
| 07 Drum Kit | Well produced drum kit - includes percussion and cool vocal noises! |
| 08 Snap Synth | F o n k |
| 09 The Wave Police | Miami Vice in a box! |
| 10 Piano Layers | Ballad material |
| 11 Harp & Strings | Pensive and sweet combo |
| 12 CuCu Flute | Curious world flute |
| 13 Nylon Guitar | Realistic |
| 14 Sweet Fretless | Elegant fretless bass |
| 15 Synth Stabs | Classic '80s syn-brass |
| 16 Attack Bell | Glassy perfection :-) |
| 17 Dream of Java | Nice percussion |
| 18 Funkanette | Yep |
| 19 A Touch of Rain | Quintessential Wavestation feel |
| 20 Grand Piano 8' | Optimal for classical |
| 21 Analog Strings | Ravishing, melancholic string ensemble - very cinematic |
| 22 Breath Horns | Cool! |
| 23 12-StringGuitar | ;-) |
| 24 SynthBass Split | Typical 1980s analog bass + synth brass split |
| 25 Accordion | Realistic! |
| 26 Soft Kalimba | Yes |
| 27 Vel.DrumVocoder | Excellent vocoded beat |
| 28 Fire & Ice | More '80s influence |
| 29 Dr | Uber cool beat and slap bass!!! |
| 30 The Piano Pad | Other classic mix sound - piano plus pad. |
| 31 Fr.Horn&Strings | Excellent, cinematic and realistic mix! |
| 32 Pan Flute | Dry version |
| 33 Solo Harp | Gorgeous harp |
| 34 Maxi Synth Bass | Massive synth bass |
| 35 Wide Open Synth | Cutting! |
| 36 Flash Pad | Classic '90s synth type |
| 37 Tropical Forest | Good recreation of the rain forest |
| 38 Brass Stabs | Nice |
| 39 Rain Dance | Incredibly good and inspiring patch!!! Superb loop, pad and soaring synth |
| 40 Bass&PianoSplit | Classic split, always useful for gigs and recording |
| 41 Piano&Strings8' | Useful combination - every keyboard player knows this |
| 42 OrchestralSplit | Delicate, charming classical setup |
| 43 Catalina Island | Excellent South-American/Caribbean atmospheres |
| 44 Resonant Waves | Digi wave |
| Audio input patches (I used a Roland V-Synth to provide raw waves fed into the Wavestation A/D) - The signal is first shown unprocessed, then processed throught the Wavestation A/D's inputs. | |
| 45 PITCHSHIFT DOWN | Funky transposition + efx |
| 46 STACCATO GATE | Excellent use of gating, internally using a drum loop's transients to shape the rhythm |
| 47 STEREO VOCODER | classic, warm vocoder sound |
| 48 VOCODER&FLANGER | crazy vocoder + flanger |
| 49 INPUTS->JOYSTIK | High quality effects on the Wavestation A/D |
| ROM | |
| Performance name with audio demo | My comments |
| 00 The Wave Song | Another great sound |
| 01 Deep Atmosphere | Magnificent, stupendous, ever-evolving soundtrack pad |
| 02 Sting Waves | Digi voxy |
| 03 Metropolitan | Cool synth |
| 04 Mini Lead | Classic Korg emulation of a Minimoog lead |
| 05 Tack Horns | Funny |
| 06 Guardians | Alien watchers |
| 07 DigitalResWave | Nice |
| 08 Sandman | Inspired by the movie "Logan's Run" perhaps? |
| 09 Time Traveler | Perfect for soundtrack work. |
| 10 Song Bells | Beautiful and delicate bells |
| 11 Analog Punch | Analog brass |
| 12 Cosmic Zone | Curiously FM digital |
| 13 Super Clav | Wide Clav |
| 14 Toy Box | Beautiful carillon |
| 15 Analog Brass | Classic '80s syn-brass |
| 16 Modernesque | Classical feel |
| 17 Octave Strings | Realistic and majestic |
| 18 Glass Tambu | Cool children sound |
| 19 Vektar | Cyclical |
| 20 Whisper Voices | Beautiful hollow voice pad |
| 21 Vulcan Harp | Nice effects |
| 22 Quarks | Ominous |
| 23 Vocalise | Beautiful syn vox patch |
| 24 Gig Split | Classic bass + el. piano split |
| 25 Touch Brass | Analog '80s |
| 26 Tine Piano | Soft and delicate FM piano |
| 27 Warm Strings | Warm analog string ensemble |
| 28 Chiffy Kalimba | Cool |
| 29 Northern Lights | Beautiful evolving synth pad |
| 30 Bottled Air | Typical Korg breathy sound |
| 31 Rock Stack | Great for '80s pop/rock |
| 32 Excalibur | In a forest... |
| 33 Wave Tables | Crazy sounds |
| 34 Bells | Clean bells |
| 35 Prophet Horn | Inspired by one of the Sequential Circuits Prophets perhaps? |
| 36 Mahogany | Another good soft pad |
| 37 Round Wound | Excellent Jaco Pastorius style fusion bass, clean sound and round-wound strings. |
| 38 Digi Harp | Ok |
| 39 Motion Mix | Supremely pop sound |
| 40 Stereo Waves | Moving |
| 41 Screamer | Huge analog mono |
| 42 Paradise | Classic Wavestation patch - lots of moving parts |
| 43 Digital Touch | Digi lead |
| 44 Voice & Bell | Yep |
| 45 Resonant Synth | Korg at the max |
| 46 RhythmOfTheWave | Classic Korg percussion effect |
| 47 Introspective | A mind full of thoughts... |
| 48 Wave Mallet | Playful |
| 49 StationPlatform | Excellent sci-fi sound |
| Features at a glance | |
| Year of release: | 199_ |
| Polyphony: | 32 |
| Presets: | 3 banks of 50 performances |
| Rhythms: | loops in ROM |
| Keyboard: | n/a |
| Responds to velocity: | yes |
| Responds to aftertouch: | yes |
| Sound generation method: | Advanced Vectory synthesis (AV) |
| MIDI: | in, out, thru |
| Sound expansion capabilities: | PCM and Data cards |
| Effects: | yes |
| Controls: | buttons, joystick |
| Outputs: | |
| Display: | backlit |
| Misc: | |
Korg Wavestation A/D pictures
(click on thumbnails to enlarge)
Korg Wavestation A/D manual
Links
| SITE | Type of resource | DESCRIPTION |
| home page | ||
Korg Wavestation A/D review with audio demo