When Sequential Circuits finally went belly-up, their research and development into vector synthesis was picked up at Korg. This led to the hugely successful Wavestation Synthesizer which was based on Sequential's ProphetVS. The Wavestation incorporated the 2-dimensional vector joystick of the ProphetVS which allowed the user to alter and animate sounds.

Korg added to this a second break-through form of synthesis: wave sequencing, by which short segments of sampled audio waveforms could be played one after the other and cross-faded into each other for some complex and unusual tones, pads, textures and rhythms. The Wavestation had 2MB of ROM based samples at your disposal. Programming is not exactly easy but this great digital synth is capable of lush ambient sounds and strange effects. It has the obligatory lowpass filter, though it is non-resonant and digital sounding. Also on-board are some multi-effects which are pretty nice. This synth is easily upgraded and expandable with PCM cards too.

In 1991 the Wavestation EX, also called EXK-WS, was released (pictured above). The EX added 150 more waveforms (4MB) including acoustic instruments and drums. The EX also adds 8 multi-effects including: Mod Pitch Shift-Delay, Stereo Compressor-Limiter/Gate, Vocoder, Overdrive and Distortion effects, transposable keyboard and added MIDI implementation and control. Wavestations are used by Orbital, The Future Sound of London, Genesis, Jan Hammer, Depeche Mode, Toto, Vangelis, Legendary Pink Dots, Biosphere and Sin.

Daniel Fletcher

March 31, 2012 @ 7:51 am

Can Wavestation EX take midi clock from external midi sources, like a daw?

///Daniel Fletcher of D a z z - S y n t h

Richard

March 9, 2012 @ 6:33 am

My first 'serious' digital synth, the Wavestation blew me away on release: its looks, its sound and its lovely screen. When I got it the effects blew my mind with their sheen and versatality, and I loved making my own sounds on it, including wavesequences, and I found the interface to be not too hard to grasp. In 2012, I can't really think of a reason to get another one, except to just run through the reams of great presets on an SR. A classic which might shine again one day.

Jon (SWE)

March 3, 2012 @ 1:26 am

@chris
The keyboard version has that joystick you might want for proper contol.
But otherwise the software version is easier to work with.
If you dont have a decent master keyboard, then the hardware version has that for you.
and you need not to fear that the software synth wont be compatible with your next daw or OS.
and in live situations hardware is often prefferred.
But for me, I have neither, I would go for the software if I cant get the hardware dirty cheap.

Jon (SWE)

March 3, 2012 @ 1:22 am

@median
The software version is a lot easier to work with.
about the op-amps, I would suggest to anyone using a computer to get some outboard gear, with good sound (for example run the sound thru a mixer, or nice eq, or effects unit, compressor, or other)... with good outboard gear you can even warm up the tone of hardware digital synths.
I dont think chris cares about the collectible value, or the sleak look.

median

November 17, 2011 @ 8:48 am

~chris there's a few reasons many will still prefer the hardware wavestation (esp the keyboard)
1. It's a 'classic' synth and means a lot to some collector types
2. the op-amps and outputs (on pretty much any 'real' synth) help add dimension to a song when mixed in with other sources, VSTs can sound 'flat'
3. Good keys on the keybed and slick looks on the real wavestation synth.
4. While some prefer vst workflow many still like to PLAY an instrument INTO a recorder/DAW - switch on + play - no pc needed :)

Classic Synth - stiill sounds great

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