There are a lot more of these than before and they occupy a memory that Korg describes as 'a thousand times larger' than the Wavestation's. To answer this, let's start by returning to the Waves from which sounds are built. But it's still able to produce an incredible range of superb sounds - indeed, I would suggest a wider range than before, so how does it do it? Consequently, it can't recreate the monumental textures and 'songs under a single note' produced by its ancestor. Whereas the earlier synth allowed you to allocate one Wave or Wave Sequence within a Voice, four Voices to a Patch, one Patch to a Part, and then eight Parts to a Performance for a total of up to 32 sound sources per note, the Wavestate allows you to allocate one Wave or Wave Sequence within a Voice, one Voice to a Program, one Program to a Layer, and then four Layers to a Performance, which means that it offers a maximum of just four sound sources per note. But if you're tempted to believe that the Wavestate is a 'bigger' Wavestation you would be wrong in one important respect. The Wavestate's synthesis engine is based upon samples and multi-samples called Waves, and you can play these individually or string them together to create all manner of rhythmic sequences and evolving sounds. Is it an update of the original Wavestation, a completely new beastie, or does it lie somewhere between? Wave Sequencing 2.0 But now, a quarter of a century since the last Wavestation was discontinued, there's a new kid on the block. Happily, its Wave Sequencing technology didn't disappear entirely, resurfacing as a soft synth in 2004, and in limited form in the OASYS and the Kronos. I thought that that was a great shame, but the huge amount of resources that Korg poured into the Prophecy, the Trinity, the original OASYS and the Z1 in the mid-'90s meant that the company never returned to the Wavestation. Wave Sequencing is back - and this time it's got knobs on!įrom the WS‑1 keyboard in 1990 to the SR rack released in 1992, the Wavestation family remained in production for only five years or so before being discontinued.

Korg wavestate case