Two things happened recently, (a) I got my Waldorf Iridium back from the factory, freshly upgraded to the 🌐 SOM2 hardware extension board, (b) I went to the Enter Shikari concert in Munich and loved it. Which got me thinking: How do you make brutal, guitar-shredding-type sounds with that synth? Can I make it sound hardcore?
That’s certainly not something that you would expect from a highbrow, high-end synthesizer in a meticulously-designed 🌎 Axel Hartmann dress. And there’s the suspicion that the synth may actually be too complex. (🌎 r/synthesizers echoing this.) I’ve explored maybe 10 percent of that machine – and about 5 percent of the presets – and I admit, I tend to get lost. Not that it doesn’t invite immediate access. Hands-on dials and encoders, a large touch display, and a very thought-out user interface – and yet, the Iridium is deep, so deep.
Come on, do sound like the underdog!
To sum up the most damning verdicts: The Iridium is a DAW plugin in a dedicated box. It tends towards cinematic digital soundscapes. It can do so much. Can it sound simple?
While the Iridium was in the shop, I put the butt-ugly old Korg R3 synth in its place – an underdog synth that has taken a beating or two for being too digital, and for sounding nothing like a Microkorg (while basically sharing the engine). I fell in love again instantly. Many R3 sounds have a very unique character – these sounds are rough. Although the R3 is a very digital synth.
Now there’s a hint: I used to own a Korg Radias, the top model of the Microkorg/R3 family at that time; it’s basically two R3s and an Electribe combined. And I had that very same getting-lost-while-trying-to-reach-immediate-sounds feeling. After a while, I realised that the Radias could read R3 sounds – and that these sounded as great on the Radias. They were the sounds I liked best.
Brothers in arms: Waldorf Blofeld expander and its descendant, the Iridium
Taking a hint or two from the Blofeld
Similar story: I have been owning Waldorf Blofelds for ages, another synthesizer that has been accused of being “tin behind glass” (see 🌎 Jexus’ review from back then – it gets much better though). Yet I do know for a fact that the Blofeld can sound quite in-your-face. If you don’t believe it, go and hunt for a Studiologic Sledge 2. (🌎 GreatSynthesizers) Nobody has ever accused that synth of sounding too tinny.
Tell you what: It’s a stripped-down Blofeld with knobs. Exactly the same engine.
So I have started a small project to create a Blofeld-to-Iridium preset conversion tool, with some success – more on that in a week.
And I realised that I may have been using the Iridium the wrong way.
Rediscovering sound design
Right now, I’m deeply into sync sounds, of which the Iridium offers several flavours, and it’s all very fast. Either: Dial in a classic VA wave to one(!) oscillator, and turn up the dedicated Sync parameter: voilá, brutal hard sync. Or select a sync wavetable from the Microwave era with its very own characteristics.
The one thing I learned after all: do not try to make the synth go harder. Refrain from dialling in Kernels – actually a Supersaw-style fattening mode. Pretend, for a moment, that the synth is, in essence, a Jenny – or any other of those simple one-knob-per-voltage-controlled-parameter sound machines. When dialling in a second or third oscillator, make it do something different, like providing a bell-like attack or overtone tail, using the Resonator synthesis method (which is a secret favourite of mine). Keep it straightforward.
And that is also SO much fun.
After all, the secret to making a sound hardcore-style brutal is: Keep it simple. Even simpler. And then, use a dirty filter and liberally add bitcrusher, reverb, drive, and compression.
Afterthought. Re-reading the “Axel Hartmann Dress” line I am reminded by a slightly sexist quote by famous director Alfred Hitchcock from the book where Truffault interviewed him. In my German edition, it’s on page 220 – he states that, when intending to create sexual tension on-screen, he preferred to use reserved, sophisticated actresses to straightforward Bardot/Monroe “sexy” actresses – “she may look like an English school teacher, but when you’re in the taxi, she grabs for your fly”. So yes, the sophistication of the Iridium is actually an additional incentive.