Those missing factors are HUGE missing factors. I was sure I was going to have to upgrade my Handsonic but now I think I'll wait for Wavedrum XI. Shame really.

20-Nov-09 12:36 PM

Yes there are expectations that may not have been met here, but it is still a brilliant instrument. I think the only real problem is the no data port of any kind - either via MIDI or USB. If you lose/break it, all your hard editing work is lost, no backup at all.

20-Nov-09 03:40 PM

I am a synthesist and I play some percussion. I am intrigued by the programming capability's but without an external editor and not being able to trigger external sounds,I wouldn't be interested.

20-Nov-09 08:11 PM

How could they have left off midi? Those are HUGE missing factors indeed... I think the only people who might be into this are actual acoustic percussionists... I'll be sticking with my Handsonic.

21-Nov-09 04:05 PM

To be fair, MIDI would be wholly inadequate to handle the expressivity of this instrument, but for patch management or editor hookup, or indeed, sync - it is surprising that it was not included

21-Nov-09 04:57 PM

One thing he said was a bit misleading. You CAN save your sounds, there are 100 user locations. You can't export them for backup, but there's on board storage for your edit - fo sho'!

23-Nov-09 07:34 AM

Yeah for sure, if that's the impression given - you CAN STORE ON BOARD, just cant get them in or out of the machine.

23-Nov-09 09:35 AM

Great review, also a very good idea to get the professional percussionists on board for this one! I agree with the previous posters that the lack of midi and the resulting absence of possibilities of remote editing and even using it as a controller even is a pity. Still, sound wise and flexibility-wise it is amazing!

24-Nov-09 12:33 PM

How great to hear the insights of real professional musicians! They make me feel less stupid for having a hopeless time with manuals (the adage of the techless: "I'm only a musician!"). It's basically a synth - I don't understand why Korg don't include a software editor like all their other recent synths? On the other hand, I'm sure most professionals wouldn't bother to program or edit their own sounds, so if it keeps the price down, it's probably for the best?

30-Nov-09 07:01 AM

Out of all the synthesizers ever sold, what proportion of users create their own sounds Vs the users that use the factory sounds? My guess is that majority use factory sounds. I agree with the points that having a means of backing up is required but most likely was omitted down to cost and research of who actually ever edits the sounds. I suspect you guys are the few that really get into a product and why it's so important for you. Lastly, you can't compare Wavedrum to handsonic, select a snare drum on both product and play each with brushes- that's the difference just for starters

01-Dec-09 08:28 AM

I got my wavedrum last week. And there are my first impressions.

Programming is really like working with the first digital synthesizers. It is not very comfortable at all. Maybe some kind of Retro-Style, back to the 80s?

Unfortunately or luckily I have to do it, because I want to change the tune of a bass sound or put another sample on the rim to make a program fit better to our songs.

Nice, you can change the hit sensitivity for head and rim separately (hand or stick) and combine them as you want.

Programming is not fun, but the results are worth the pain.

Bad in my opinion: The max headphone output is too low. Quite high noise from the outputs. Maybe ok on stage, but very annoying in the studio.

No MIDI? That´s no problem for me. The MIDI bus is too limited for the range of expressions the WD-X offers. The Wavedrum is an instrument and no controller!

28-Jan-10 11:20 PM