With the 3rd Wave, Groove Synthesis presents a synthesizer with hybrid sound architecture that knows how to impress both visually and functionally. Big, blue, the huge buttons; one immediately thinks of the PPG Wave 2.2 from the 80s. The main focus of the 3rd Wave is the wavetable synthesis, which was implemented comprehensively and convincingly in every respect. The three oscillators are also capable of reproducing classic analogue waveforms and the original 8-bit waveforms ofWave 2. A special feature is the extra large knob WaveSurfer with which you can shift the wave offset of all three oscillators at the same time. It is one detail of many where you can see how much heart and soul went into this instrument. The 61-key keyboard with aftertouch is of course from Fatar and is very pleasant to play.
Sound architecture
Each of the 3rd Wave's 24 voices has three oscillators, offering a choice of access to 64 modern wavetables, 32 original 8-bit PPG 2 series wavetables, or seven high-resolution modelled analogue waveforms including white and pink noise. If this impressive selection is not enough for you, you can create your own Wavetables with the integrated WaveMaker tool. The overtone-rich drone sound from your modular system inspired you? Turn it into a wavetable! 32 memory locations are available for this purpose, swapping and exchanging with the computer is possible at any time. Hardsync is switchable between the tone generators, furthermore, the sound palette is extended by linear FM. The carefully constructed and (if desired) modulated sound spectrum leads into two analogue filters connected in series. The first is a 24dB Lowpass filter based on a classic SSI 2140 circuit by Dave Rossum. The second is a State Variable Filter, which is astonishingly close to the SEM filter in terms of sound and especially function. The end of the signal path is marked by an analogue stereo VCA with panning capability. The final polish is given to the sounds by two effect blocks that generate various delays, phasers, chorus, Distortion and reverb effects, among others, and can even be synchronized to Clock.
In seventh modulation heaven
No less than four synchronizable LFOs with nine waveforms each, four ADSR envelopes and three wave envelopes give the sounds in 3rd Wave the necessary movement. Thanks to the extensive modulation matrix, which includes a full 16 entries, 27 sources with 114 destinations can be connected at will. In this way, despite a fixed signal path, the 3rd Wave achieves flexibility in modulations that could otherwise only be found in a modular system. Two ADSR envelopes are permanently assigned to the filters and the VCA, two more are freely addressable. Especially for the modulation of the Wavetables there is a separate 12-stage envelope for each oscillator, which consists of six time and level elements each. The control times of the envelopes range from crisp and percussive to floating and ambient.
Four 3rd Wave in one!
Since the 3rd Wave is quadruple multitimbral playable, you can play four sounds on different MIDI channels polyphonically at the same time depending on the available voices. For each multipart there is a separate stereo output. For combinations with four sounds, there are several multiprograms additive to the 500 memory locations for single sounds. Likewise, the programmable arpeggiator, the polyphonic step sequencer and the voice mode, which allows the choice between poly, mono, legato, unison and chord, belong to each sound.
A Fistful of 3rd Wave Presets
3rd Wave Virtual Analog Sounds - Part 1
Meet The 3rd Wave - Advanced Wavetable Synthesizer
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