Wavestation patterns were originally not very easy to edit and modify, but the new Wavestate changes all that by offering no fewer than 25 variable controls as well as a joystick and pitchbend/modulation wheels, all in a compact, plastic chassis instrument weighing only a few pounds.ġ6 buttons (times four banks) allow favorite sounds to be organized, while an endless dial and a luminescent display offer many more. On these instruments the plan is to choose very dissimilar waves and play them in an endless cycle, creating something between a melodic sequence and a drum pattern. The original early 1990s Wavestation, and now the Wavestate, differ slightly from either of these ideas. It swept through different waves by recording the movements of a joystick as it mixed between four different waveforms. The Prophet VS from Sequential introduced Vector Synthesis. Choose fairly similar waveforms and you get a smooth sound, maybe resembling an analog filter closing down (though the PPG offered real analog filters too).

The PPG Wave keyboards from Germany introduced wavetable synthesis, sweeping through a bunch of digital waveforms during the course of a note. “Wave Sequencing Synthesis” as found on the Wavestate is fairly rare. Yet to come is the Modwave (featured in this year’s Believe in Music report), based on sound creation techniques of the DW8000 synth from the 1980s, while opsix is derived from the Yamaha DX7’s FM synthesis design, and Wavestate from that of the original Korg Wavestation and its two module versions. The Wavestate is one of a pair of lightweight, compact 3-octave synths launched by Korg, the other being the opsix (review published here earlier this week).

Korg’s compact reissue of the ’90s classic packs a powerful punch.

Korg wavestate 2.0 update