(This YouTube user, HALmotohashi, has some more interesting videos with the Wavedrum, check them out)
KORG has just introduced the KORG Wavedrum WD-X, described as a “Dynamic Percussion Synthesizer”. It’s a much more affordable evolution of the original Wavedrum (1994), which in the meantime has become a collector’s item.
An AudioNewsRoom’s reader, Rob DeLancey, has bought one in Japan (the Wavedrum has been launched there first) and has spent the latest three weeks beating, striking and tweaking it.
Here’s his Wavedrum WD-X review (by the way, this is the first KORG Wavedrum review on the web at the time of writing – at least in English -, so thanks for being an early bird, Rob!)…
Construction:
it looks like a toy in all the pictures I’ve seen, but the rim is made of metal and is actually really solid. They obviously payed attention to rim’s acoustic qualities as well as its structural qualities. The bottom is plastic, but the whole thing feels really solid.
Playing:
it responds enough like a real drum that different playing styles can elicit radically different sounds from it, and I would imagine that that would apply even more to different players.
Different programs can also completely change its response. Some are suited to playing with sticks, and others to playing with your hands.
I’m not a drummer, so my hands aren’t tough enough to get a good range of sounds out of the rim, but that’s the case with real hand drums, too. If your hands are tough enough to get a good range of rimshots on a conga, I’m sure you won’t have any trouble doing the same with a Wavedrum.
The playing style I’ve found works best for me is using my left hand on the head and holding a long chopstick in my right hand to play both the rim and the head. That allows me to damp the head effectively with my hand, and still get a good range of sounds out of the rim with the stick. I’m sure anyone who gets one will be able to figure out a style that works for them.
Presets:
a lot of the presets are actually really good, but there’s a significant chunk where they apparently decided to show off what it can do, and wound up with something way too busy to ever be useful.
I also wish that there was a way to save edits to the presets, so I could go through them and turn off the delay on all the ones that have it.
MIDI (or the lack thereof):
the first thing everyone starts yelping about when they see the specs is “OMGWTFLOLWUT……. There’s NO MIDI?!? In 2009!?!”
I think these folks are missing the point. For one thing, it uses the acoustic sound from the head and rim pickups as its basic input, so there would be no way to drive it with MIDI even if it did have it.
The only only thing I can think of that MIDI input would be useful for would be controlling the pitch of the pitched algorithms.
Even if they did put MIDI outs on it, the only MIDI data you could get out of it would be note on/velocity for the head and the rim, and one channel of CC from the pressure sensor. If you’re trying to integrate it with external effects, note on and velocity are pretty easy to simulate with an envelope trigger or an envelope follower anyway.
Personally, I have a lot of respect for their decision to make it an integrated whole instead of trying to throw in every feature that people are conditioned to expect.
If you want a MIDI controller, get the Roland Handsonic. It’s a great MIDI controller. If you want an instrument, get a Wavedrum.
There is, however, one thing I wish it did have some kind of I/O for, which I’ll get to in the next section.
Programming/patches:
It’s much easier to program than you would assume from the minimalist interface. Each sound consists of one algorithm, which has the actual sound from the pickup as its input, and one PCM sound, which is essentially a triggered sample. Each of these can be chosen separately for the head and the rim (there are also a few completely integrated sets, to simulate real instruments, where you can’t mix and match).
It’s possible to control the mix between the two, so you can use only the algo or only the PCM if you want to.
The algorithms have eight controllable parameters, but the parameters are different for each one. They generally seem to be really well chosen. It’s possible to make most of them sound remarkably like real instruments, but tweaking the parameters to extreme values can make any of them sound strange and electronic. The PCM sounds all have the same basic set of parameters available to control them.
The algorithms are all incredibly expressive, but it sometimes takes a whole lot of tweaking to get the PCM sounds to integrate with them without losing that expressiveness, so I tend to just turn the PCM sounds off when I’m programming it. I’m not saying it’s impossible to get it right. Some of the presets are really well integrated. It’s just kind of a fiddly process. Even in the best integrated patches, I find that the scraping surfaces tend to sound better with just the algorithm sound.
This leads me to the one thing I would actually consider a weakness: there’s no way to load patches. The only redeeming factor is that the patches are simple enough that it would be feasible to just enter a whole patch by hand, but it would only be worth it if you were sure you wanted it. There’s no way to share patches on the internet so you can learn from what other people have done with it. It would be really nice if it had some kind of I/O.
This is honestly the only thing about the Wavedrum that I don’t think is incredibly great, so it’s not even close to a dealbreaker, but it would have been nice if they’d thought of it.
Conclusions:
this is, hands down, the most expressive and subtle electronic instrument I’ve played. That title previously went to the Akai EWI 4000, but this one has it beat. It actually feels, and plays, like a real instrument (at least with the right settings, anyway. Some of the presets don’t strike me as particularly useful).
Considering that it uses the actual sound from the head and rim pickups as the input for its algorithms, I think it should really be thought of more as an electric instrument like an electric guitar or bass than as an electronic instrument like a synth or a set of sample trigger pads.
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thanks for the review. I am a DJ and considering between this and HPD-15, I want to use it to produce effects (eletronic sounding) or to play it more like a drum. Can you please advice which one will be more appropriate?
well, it’s always hard to say what’s best for another person. If I were you I’d wait until the Wavedrum is available in the shops (it’s a matter of days probably), and try both units.
Anyway, if you don’t need to use external sound modules (or your laptop) to generate sounds, I’d say go with the Wavedrum. It has some impressive on-board sounds. Check also the other youtube videos linked at the top of the review.
I’ve had a Handsonic since they came out, and I’ve never been impressed with it’s onboard sounds. I’d say, if you want a MIDI controller, go with the HS, and if you want to use the onboard sounds, go with the WD. Also, the WD is much easier to program than the HS. For one thing, there’s a lot less parameters, and for another, while the HS is a great piece of hardware, it’s OS and programming interface are appallingly poorly thought out.
I disagree with Robert. In my opinion he’s got it backwards. I would say that the Handsonic is easier to program.
Reason – It has MIDI in & out, and there is software available that can be used to set everything up in a patch/program then just squirt it across to the HPD.
So far (two days) I have found the WaveDrum almost impossible to program due to all the double function knobs and buttons, and the antiquated 7 segment display.
Interesting. You’re probably right. I got the HS right when they came out, and I didn’t have a computer or internet access then, so I guess I must have learned to program it the hard way. I did address the lack o ability to load patches from a computer in the review, though.
I should change that to say that the HS is more difficult to program manually. This is basically just because the WD has a LOT less parameters available for any given patch, and because the parameters are arranged reasonably in the edit menus.
As a hand drum player, and an electronic musician – I have been waiting for the Wavedrum with bated breath. However I may not go that route now that I got a Yamaha DTX Multi 12.
It’s like an Octapad, but can be played with your hands. It has some good sounds, but you can load samples using USB. It can be programmed to be very expressive.
There is a Sound On Sound review here
http://www.soundonsound.com/news?NewsID=12221
I have had the WD for a couple of weeks and have already used it on gigs. It’s really fun to play. In fact, it’s kind of addictive:)
As others have pointed out, it’s apples and oranges with the HS. Ideally you’d have both. I completely agree about the lack of ability to share patches, though. A USB port would have been great for programming on a computer. I’m no engineer but I imagine that would have added a lot to the price.
I am impressed and infuriated by the wavedrum in equal measure.
A few of the patches sound great and play really well. As with any instrument you would wish to select the good stuff and create your own sounds. This happens all the time with electronic gear for the simple reason that the programmers can never meet everyone’s idea of ‘usable’ patches.
Imagine a wavedrum with a three way split head, a USB, midi in and out and a sound expansion and memory storage slot. Twenty bass drums, thirty modern snares, toms, hats and percussion. Now that would be a pro instrument. Flexible and playable. Readily customised to suit. Use live or to create loops.
As it is, you either buy the Wavedrum and live with Korg’s unusual selection of sounds or curse about the lack of flexibility in such a potentially great piece of gear and stick with less playable sample triggers.
So a note to Korg. As well as the percussionists there are those of us who would buy an all singing and dancing version of the wavedrum to be able to program rhythms using bass drum, snare, hats, toms, bhodruns and the like. And industrial samples mangled into playable instruments…..
“Sorry for my English”
I bought my WD a week ago. I’m a bit frustrated because i can’t use WD with my Shure SRH840 headphones(44 Ω). WD have not enough volume.
With Korg M50 i just use 25% of volume, but with WD i put it maximum but is stili quiet.
I don’t know if the problem it’s my unit or all are like this?
Dj Sport – Barcelona
have you adjusted the factory-set volume level? there are two options – 1 and 2, and it comes set to one. 2 is appreciably louder. there is a separate piece of paper which tells you how to adjust the volume level.