Quantum Wave announced

johnbowen · Post by **johnbowen** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 1:25 pm

Hi All,

I'd like to announce the release of my latest synth project, called Quantum Wave (or Q-Wave for short). Originally a custom project for Hans Zimmer, it is based on the functional design of the Waldorf Wave, using the Creamware Waldorf oscillators and the LP filter from the Pro One emulation (with an additional 12 dB HP filter). It is structured as a 4-part synth, meaning there are 4 individual synths inside the device (this being my first multi-timbre synth project).

It is not meant to be a 1:1 emulation of the Waldorf Wave, though I was able to get most of the Wave's functions implemented, adding or removing some things as necessary with a softsynth design. (For example, there was no need to emulate the way the Wave's display screen showed the parameter values; rather, I organised the surface to have parameter displays close to each knob.)

Other additional features:

1) you can use any RD compatible oscillators or filters with the Q-Wave to expand sonic capability. (These include my RD modules II, and the full line of satellite modules by SpaceF).

2) Both oscillators can be used as audio rate modulation sources, and also appear processed through a ring modulator in the mixer section.

3) Stereo Flanger and Delay effects have been added.

4) Each of the 4 parts are available at separate aux outputs.

There are two caveats - one, the amount of DSP usage can be very high, especially if all 4 synths are enabled; two, the surface is not as 'paged' as I usually would make it, as I wanted to have more information visible at once, so the surface is large, making it optimal for only higher resolution settings (1280 x 1024 is recommended).

For this version, no user-editable waveshapes or tables are possible, however, a future update could provide this, depending on sales and user demand. This is also true for other factors of the original Wave's sound, such as the extreme amount of 'stepping' found in LFO frequency modulation or the envelope generator outputs, which was not implemented as a matter of choice.

The Quantum Wave is available for an introductory price of 159 Euros, good through midnight, Sept. 30th. After that, the regular price will be 179 Euros.

To purchase, or for further information, please see my Web site. If you'd like to receive a Demo version to try out, just send me an e-mail request.

My thanks to all those who participated in the development of this product: Stephen Hummel, Benoist Guitton, Carl Löfgren, Celmar Engel, Brent Garlow, Christian Schellschmidt, and Paul Kuchar.
_________________
john bowen
zarg music

P.S. This first version does not run on a Mac-based system. If you are a Mac owner, and would like to purchase the Quantum Wave, please let me know.

[ This Message was edited by: johnbowen on 2005-09-13 23:24 ]

decimator · Post by **decimator** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 1:51 pm

Some presets sound demos ... unfortunately ogg vorbis only since I don't know how but the option " delete file after encoding " was checked so bye bye wav files !

You can open those files on your sound editor, if you can't you haven't updated since a while !

Otherwise Winamp and Foobar2000 on PC read those file since version... ? I know there's at least a Mac reader but OSX ...

Recorded : 1 voice all the time, absolutely DRY, and only at 48 Khz / 16 bit only + further encoding so the real thing is sounding better.

Those are performance presets ( multi parts )more demanding in DSP but depending on what's turned on : 2-3 voices to 1 to none on 6 DSP at 44.1 / 48 KHz.

Bowen - Lofgren - Celmo
6 min 30 - 9,5 MB

Wavelength
7 min 50 - 11.7 MB

Guitton
9 min 20 - 18.8 MB

Note : on some presets some slight distortion because of levels, my fault, oh well ...

At least you will figure it's rather far from a one trick pony !

Tomorrow, I'll try to post both ogg and mp3s of instruments presets.

Overall 300 + presets I would say to start with ...

[ This Message was edited by: decimator on 2005-09-15 15:38 ]

decimator · Post by **decimator** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 9:07 am

And the continuation : instruments presets showdown ! this time my mistake was to forget an "s" on files so they are "intruments" but they work fine.

I preferred to record at 96 KHz since it sounds more expensive, on some presets I can play 2 voices but it's near the margin all the time or sligthly above.
At 44.1 / 48 KHz you can play around 4-6 voices.

Kuchar-Bowen-Wavelength.mp3
Kuchar-Bowen-Wavelength.ogg
2 min 50 , roughly 4 MB for ogg, 5 for mp3.

Lofgren.mp3
Lofgren.ogg
8 min 20, 13 MB for ogg and 16 for mp3.

Guitton.mp3
Guitton.ogg
9 min 50, 19 MB for each file

So you have around 100 presets just for the instruments so you can figure what Quantum Wave is capable of and with further work certainly a lot more to discover !

decimator · Post by **decimator** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 2:35 pm

A little thing : on few presets you may encounter individual DSP overloads but with the classic " global " DSP overload message we know all, click yes ( sometimes 2 times ) to spread the load evenly between the DSP, on the third message on the other hand it's a global overload.
I'am still on SFP 3.1c and have 6 DSP as indication, maybe it's just me but I prefer to warn so that some presets may not be declared falsely " off limit " by some of you.

If you are new to wavetables, I would recommend a full sweep of each with a saw up LFO at around 0.20 Hz to know them better.

Some are predictable, some not, some louder than others, some ... etc

Changing wavetables, startpoint, mod amount of sweep ... etc alter quicky a preset to start with !

Shroomz~> · Post by **Shroomz~>** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 2:54 am

John, the demo of Quantum Wave sounds amazing & i love the synth. !!

I need more DSP power to run it comfortably tho, which is a good thing, right ?

Shroomz~> · Post by **Shroomz~>** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 4:42 am

Stardust, we've got 12 dsps, 5/6 used up with our basic SFP studio project & we we're *just* getting the Quantum demo to load 'instruments' with 2 voices on 1 multi part. It's a hungry bugger

decimator · Post by **decimator** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 6:05 am

Yep 6 DSP is a minimum to be able to play performance presets that starts minimum at around 3-4 DSP.
Sum up ...
Intruments presets : 4 to 6 voices at 44.1 / 48 KHz
Performance presets : depends ... 1, 2 or no voice on 6 DSP ( same samplerate as above ) but more than 95 % in the banks are playable.
The Celmo and Wavelength performance presets are the hottest ones in DSP use.
And read above my comment above potential "fake" DSP overload you could meet.
Nearly 1200 parameters to load in a performance preset that could explain that I guess ...

[ This Message was edited by: decimator on 2005-09-17 07:05 ]

[ This Message was edited by: decimator on 2005-09-17 07:06 ]

Kermit Jagger · Post by **Kermit Jagger** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 11:42 am

Can we see a screenshot at Zarg Music ?

Oops ! I've just seen you can via the 'screenshot' menu at your website (sic...).

Perhaps a link is needed on the "what's new" page ?

[ This Message was edited by: Kermit Jagger on 2005-09-20 12:45 ]

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 12:30 pm

I swear I really have enough synths, I DO NOT need any further, not even this one...
why is it so bloody tempting ???

my credit card's aching, Tom

[ This Message was edited by: astroman on 2005-09-20 13:31 ]

Nebukadneser · Post by **Nebukadneser** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 10:56 pm

Quantum Wave for NOAH sounds like a good idea! There is sufficient processing power in the EX version (11 dsp)for polyphonic presets.

Neb

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 2:00 am

Neb, true, but how about DSP management? Lack thereof prevented anything remotely modular to run on Noah...

Shroomz~> · Post by **Shroomz~>** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 5:43 am

Atom, could you give a more in-depth explanation of how exactly the Noah's DSP management system funtions & why it's DSP management functionality is lacking the requirements for modular routing. I'm really interested in this, so if you can give me some more specific details in a PM or new Noah thread maybe? i'd appreciate it very much. I do remember John mentioning a host issue, so i assume that's what you're getting at. More info would be stunning.

Hey, btw, we can't Hijack John's Quantum Wave thread. That's not the respect deserved for this beast.

johnbowen · Post by **johnbowen** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 9:57 am

On 2005-09-20 12:42, Kermit Jagger wrote:
Can we see a screenshot at Zarg Music ?

Oops ! I've just seen you can via the 'screenshot' menu at your website (sic...).

Perhaps a link is needed on the "what's new" page?

There is a link to the screenshot on the "What's New" page. Just read the introductory text for the Q-Wave ("here is the final look...").

cheers,
john b.

braincell · Post by **braincell** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 5:19 am

I'm in the same situation. I have enough hardware and software for a lifetime, not much money to spare and I worry that the market maybe fully saturated. Meanwhile I feel obligated to upgrade other software.

For a period in the 90's I didn't upgrade Cubase for so long that they almost lost my registration. It was finally found on a physical card in a box in the back of their office!

On 2005-09-20 13:30, astroman wrote:
I swear I really have enough synths, I DO NOT need any further, not even this one...
why is it so bloody tempting ???

my credit card's aching, Tom

[ This Message was edited by: astroman on 2005-09-20 13:31 ]

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 6:10 am

hmmm, I better had written the 'card is itching...'
I surrendered as John made me an offer I couldn't refuse... and as usual he didn't even need 24 hours for the registration

become a Zarg customer and there may be a special now and then for you, too

ok, that's a bit kidding
John's stuff is outstanding on it's own, it's incredible how he got the Quantum beast sorted - maybe that Hendix quote but first of all, are you experienced ? hits it.
The impression of deep movie scores is indeed very obvious - but one should be prepared to be challenged by a certain degree of complexity, it's not for the faint of heart

cheers, Tom

braincell · Post by **braincell** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 8:21 pm

I think Hendrix wrote a song about John Bowen. Everyone thinks he was saying "Excuse me while I kiss the sky" but actually it was "Excuse me while I kiss this guy".

Post by **hubird** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 11:55 pm

Post by **irrelevance** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 12:17 pm

I've never heard a real Wave but this sounds HUGE. Compared to Concrete Fx's Kubik...well there isn't much comparison on the upfrontness of sound but Kubik does offer a nice intelligent way of waveform editing. I can't imagine how this would be implemented in scope? Mabye an external editor with the QWave loading the ready cut samples...but then what about interpolation?

ScofieldKid · Post by **ScofieldKid** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 9:15 pm

Looks/sounds like a nice one. Hmmm... maybe the next ASB should be this?

[ This Message was edited by: ScofieldKid on 2005-10-01 14:34 ]

MD69 · Post by **MD69** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 8:28 am

This one is tooo good... Nicely complement my sound palette!

Awesome job as usual!

Michel