Inside the Waldorf - Q+(Customized; Wood & OLED :) + pics & chip specs...)

Miscellaneous
1

I recently acquired a waldorf q+ phoenix edition synth & decided to strip it down for mine & and everyone elses curiosity..

and goodness its a sturdy sod & er.. ive never seen quite so many dsps & microcontrollers working in tandem ..its rather bizarre.

In general very happy with it; however waldorf failed to include a UK power lead (but had usa & eur !) for a synth distributed by a uk supplier. also as pictured… for a synth that cost nearly afew grand, it was abit of a shock to get a laser printed manual (rather than a properly bound one) & the extras cd came with a laser printed label on it ! …they also used the center cd label bit to close the paper sleve …thrifty i guess ..but leaves a mixed impression.

also the pictures on their site (rendered) where abit misleading ..one would think that the display was an oled …nope quite different variety of lcd ..ah well at least it matches my mbfm project :wink: ..also it was insinuated that the pitch/mod wheels would be perspex like on the dsi poly evolver keys …not so; however they are pretty sturdy.

also i miss the wooden ends that some of the q’s had; these are metal; but nice ..however i will be making some of my own for this out of some beautiful light red mahogany offcuts :wink: :slight_smile: (…pimp my synth :wink: )

sounds fat mind ..and ive been through all the va’ish synths demoing them ..and with the added bonus of the real analog filters ..this one really cleans the floor with them :wink: :slight_smile:

btw the analog filter stack is made with ca3080 (transconductance opamps) & ca3046 (matched transistor arrays).. which are also seen in the moog filters & vcas + those of the venerable, fat little waldorf pulse :slight_smile:

The slightly misleading product render (tut, tut..):

The Q now …made some wooden end cheeks from a mystery hardwood & got the result below :slight_smile: (see further down the listing for more photos of this mod):

After OLED:

(more pictures further down the post…)

Before OLED:

Heres a quick patch i threw togeather with the q.. it uses a couple of oscillators the analog & digital filters and about 6 modifyers :slight_smile: …first one i did & liked it so much i kept it :slight_smile:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/nausicaa.valley/ucapps/q/Q99-rec.mp3

Before Mods:

filter boards:

AFMFM 1.1:

(2x) analog devices - ad8403 (4ch digital pot./resistor; 256 step)

(EACH SIDE)

(4x) intersil - ca3046 (transistor array)

(3x) vishay - sst404 (dual monolithic n-channel j-fets)

(1x) st - 061c (ez533)(presumably tl061 jfet opamp)

(2x) intersil - ca3080 (transconductance amp)

dac board:

AFMDA 1.0 COMP:

(one sided)

(2x) akm - AK4529 (audio codec adc/dac - 2ch/8ch, 64x/128x oversampling, 96/96khz, 102/109db snr)

(8x) akm - ak5353 (adc - 2ch, 96db snr, 24bit 96khz, 128x oversampling)

multiplexer:

AFMSH 1.1:

(12x) ti - tl064c (j-fet quad opamp)

(6x) ti - 4051m (8-ch analog multiplexer - 74hc4051)

(6x) fuji - 74hc4053 ((3x) 2ch analog multiplexer/demulti.)

Q To filter bridge board:

WALDORF AFM:

(2x) analog devices - ad711 (single high speed bifet opamp)

(2x) analog devices - ad7545 (cmos 12bit dac single ch)

(6x) issi - is61lv2568l-10tl (256k 8bit 10ns cmos static ram)

(2x) freescale - dspb56367ag150 (150mip 150mhz dsp)

see: http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=DSP56367&fsrch=1

q board:

QMB REV. v4.0

(3x) motorola/freescale - DSPH56362PV120 (120mhz audio dsp (discontinued at curr time))

(6x) samsung k681008v10 (memory)

(1x) toshiba - tc551001cf-70l (SILICON GATE CMOS 131072 WORD x 8 BIT STATIC RAM)

(1x) samsung - k6t1008c2e-gb70 (128Kx8 bit Low Power CMOS Static RAM)

(1x) freecale - MC68331CAG20 (20mhz 32bit microcontroller)

(1x) amd - Am29F400BB-70eo (4 Megabit (512 K x 8-Bit/256 K x 16-Bit) CMOS 5.0 Volt-only, Boot Sector Flash Memory)

(1x) mk1492 (opl3/4 codec clock source ! ..eh !)

(xx) ne5532 (bipolar opamps on i/o’s)

(1x) akm - ak4527vq (6ch i/o audio codec, adc/dac, 24bit/96khz, 64/128x oversamp. 106db snr)

2

as much the original q+ was a heavenly sight for me years ago when i was noob, as much I am scared now when I read all this CODEC… oversampling… ieh ieh.  :o

3

Artesia - big up to you…

As soon as I read the the title I knew it was going to be you…

Stuff like this people don’t understand how useful it will be till then need it and find it via a search…

Thanks for being our synth archive man!

4

That’s a hot new toy dude!!

Stuff like this people don’t understand how useful it will be till then need it and find it via a search…

My oath. Thanks man!

5

ta…

well heres another one then :slight_smile:

see the next post for Waldorf - Microwave I rack (the one with the real cem filters :slight_smile: )

6

As soon as I read the the title I knew it was going to be you…

Stuff like this people don’t understand how useful it will be till then need it and find it via a search…

Yes! Always much appreciated, and great photos. We should get a “The Guts” forum or sticky over here like they have at Gearslutz for such things. ;D

Keep up the good work!

7

the ‘pimp my synth’ mission…

i decided that those metal end panels just weren’t cool enough …so out with some mystery hardwood (oak ?) reclaimed from scrap some time ago. …and side panels for synth it becomes :slight_smile:

will be dyeing them the offcut mahogany color as seen ..or possibly a little darker ..as needed to suit the synth.

also will be giving it the thicknesser treatment & dropping its thickness from 28mm to the 22mm of the waldorf ends …which looks better to me.

give it a week and some new photos of the synth modded will be up :slight_smile:

also ordered an green on jet black OLED screen for it ..still in two minds about wether to install that …tho for some reason i think it should have a display that looks more like the one in the promo shot :slight_smile:

8

Q-Tari Stick ? :slight_smile:

See JS post for details..

9

more of the Q mod …its a disgrace for a synth like this to not include some nice lumps of wood …so i made some :wink:

aaaah… Much better ?

10

The final mod, the addition of a far easier to read OLED display :slight_smile:

VS:

I prefer the turquoise/mauve tints of the lcd up against the colour of the wood.. tho its just so damn unreadable ! ..ack weil :slight_smile:

Maybe i’ll put one of those turquoise VFD displays in one day ..tho this will do for now :wink:

11

Nice job - especially the wood work :smiley:

12

That OLED matches much better with rest of synth than blue one. I think negative red from Orient Display would look even better.

I love the mistery wood sides! Very nice.

Ive always feel If I get the Waldorf, the first thing I would do is to take off that cheap looking red data wheel off and rather put my oven knob on than leave it like that. That knob looks like made in china from 10 meters. …I know it`s Albs ::slight_smile:

13

Hey Artesia, great pics!

I’ve recently thought about buying the Q+. Unfortunately, there are no places that demo them (not suprisingly!), and the manual on the website is… for Q. Would you be able to tell me if the Q+ allows both the analog and digital filters? I always thought so, but now I’m having second thoughts about this. Also, is the ‘5 effects’ thing per-voice or just global? ???

Finally - is it possible to get a scan of the manual? :smiley:

Thanks a  lot!

14

Ive always feel If I get the Waldorf, the first thing I would do is to take off that cheap looking red data wheel off and rather put my oven knob on than leave it like that. That knob looks like made in china from 10 meters. …I know it`s Albs ::slight_smile:

The jogs are actually rather nice… Thick plastic with a nice matte finish and texture, not too big not too small… I like them anyway :slight_smile:

15

red display.. all one monochromatic colour scheme isnt always the way to make things look best ..ask women about colour co-ordination :wink: the display is like the eyes of a person, a central definining feature which is rarely matched to their clothes (a nono in ‘fashion’ terms…) ..having green/blue contrasting against the reds & blacks works quite well for my tastes ..just prefer the vfd looks.

I dont mind the jog wheel, it is plastiky …but of a high enough quality dimpled finish & with a deep enough tint to be attractive ..rather than tacky ..i prefer brushed metal & black plastic knobs ..but thats a different game :slight_smile: ..i feel they missed out on the oppertunity to illuminate the knobs on this synth …they are made of transparent perspex with a rubber sleeve.. maybe ill see to this when the warrantys truely over :wink:

the q+ allows simultaneous use of both digital and analog filters; they can be ganged in serial, parallel ..or an inbetween mix of both.

ive not looked to see if effects can be applyed sepperately in multi mode.. however given that this stacks patches which save individual effects ..i would expect so ..will check soon.

The q manual also details the q+ features ..check waldorfs file server.

i have a disc here with the q+ manual on ..i dont see why this file shouldnt be on thier server as well..

otherwise ..ask and ill send.

no demo places :confused: ..if theres any particular things you want to hear let me know and ill knock something together :slight_smile:

..btw folks ..keep an eye out for the blofeld …its awesome (and cheap :wink: )

16

btw the only difference between the q kbd and q+ ..is the addition of analog filters …and instead of 25 (?) max voices ..it has the dsp grunt for 100 :slight_smile: …although only 16 all analog filtered voice polyphony.

17

hi! nice..

i love waldorf sound from ever. absolutly not like ‘standard’. at now all MEGA synths are going to be too similar in sounds, they have no original timbre, 1000 voices, 2000 LFO, 3000 OSC etc. wft i don’t need an orchestra.

waldorf synths have many but not excessive module, but instead extreme matrix and stuff like that.

my favourite XT rack, and Micro Q rack (the yellow!).

so, had you make a photo of that little button under the panel? it seems like the MQ ones. i haven’t now a MQ under my hans, but they seems cool and much little to use for DIY.

thankyou!

p.s. i’ve an XT, will make some photos but i know there are’t much things inside. :stuck_out_tongue:

18

Artesia do you have a D-50 ?

19

no d50 …tho thanks for reminding me ..will be keeping an eye out for a racked one at a reasonable price sometime…

They offer a significantly different enough approach & nice enough sound to warrant adding to the collection :slight_smile:

XT pics …search the forum ..i documented it on here sometime ago.