The Blofeld has been described as “the little synthesizer with the big and evil sound.” That’s what Waldorf itself said about its “offspring from a noble house” — the first Waldorf synth in years to make the same impact as the company’s seminal Pulse, Q and Waldorf Wave. The Blofeld has become the go-to synth for a lot of producers — the first thing they reach for when sketching out an idea and a workhorse versatile enough to be used for almost everything. Musically rich and adventurous albums have been made with the Blofeld used exclusively.
Like the Microwave, the Blofeld has now been emulated in software by Waldorf itself. Their Blofeld plugin offers both compatibility with existing Blofeld soundsets and fidelity to the classic fat and rich sound. The Blofeld synth featured a lot of deep menu navigation, something much easier to do in software and which Waldorf aces in the plugin emulation.
Many of the high points of the synth are present here too. Like the Blofeld synth, the plugin features a 16 part multimode, allowing you to set the MIDI channel, velocity and keyboard zone individually for each part. The plugin has every preset option from the original synth here.
Sound design is the hallmark of the Blofeld and you can see why producers love this machine. Waldorf used to claim that the Blofeld’s arpeggiator was among the best, and it’s available here. There has also been a great deal of thought put into management of sound inside the plugin, with a sample browser and tools to easily manage waveforms.
Also like the Microwave, the Blofeld plugin is not cheap by the standards of most VSTs today — €149. In hardware, Waldorf has set impeccable standards and they’re living up to them in software as well.
⚪️ more music making apps and plugins /
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⚙ Waldorf takes the Microwave into the DAW
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