One of the first questions readers had when Waldorf introduced the Iridium synthesizer module was how it sounds – especially the filters – compared to their flagship Quantum keyboard synthesizer.
In this video, synth guru and developer Tim Shoebridge compares the Waldorf Iridium to the Quantum. The patches he plays are from his sound libraries, but tweaked to showcase the Iridium’s filter.
What do you think about the Waldorf Quantum and Iridium synths and their differences? Share your thoughts in the comments!
I cannot afford either, but truly love Waldorf instruments. From a design perspective, the Quantum has a wonderful understated elegance while the Iridium is more crowded and somehow less satisfying. Would have to spend a few hours with both to see how that translates to real world use.
Tim is very handsome and the kind of man women find the most sexy.
good username-post combo
Pathological much?
Very good indeph compare. Thank you very much. I think I will go for the Iridium.
The Quantum is a grand-piano-level synth. The Iridium is the compact version for those who don’t need the keys, or who are more production-minded. I think that’s part of why it has more voices and non-analog filters. I much prefer softsynths now, but I encourage you to sweat your way up to the $ for a serious hardware flagship or two over time. Laying hands to a central ‘real deal’ teaches you all sorts of transferable things you don’t get with other approaches. It doesn’t hurt that both of these have displays that are like a mini acid trip.
There is not much sense in making a (somewhat) cheaper version of the Quantum for the (somewhat more widespread) masses if it does not have as good a sound as the Quantum. It’s as if the Micro Q had not sounded nearly as good as the Q or Q rack, so why bother buying it? With the Q series you are only paying for the form factor and number of voices. The Quantum/Iridium problem is not merely a diminution of size and controls, but a reduction of sound as well. That seems like too much of a trade-off. Iridium is a different synthesizer, not merely a more convenient one.
I got a Micro Q for $285. Is the Iridium $2300 better?
Can things be so high-end that they are considered boring?
imo it’s about the music that’s made with it. I personally neither love or hate synths.. I can’t really understand why people treat them like a girlfriend or a sworn enemy. I don’t think a synth itself is boring inherently. But I’m not impressed with 99% of youtube demos which seems to be where these instruments are mostly used. The music itself seems like an afterthought when it comes to synths now. Oh yeah that annoyingly emotional difficult stuff to do, fuck it lets just make some meaningless proof of concept demo of pointless noodling and get caught up in pointless trivia about timbres so I can keep on buying/selling synths to have some new toy to play with. That’s what is boring to me.
I didn’t like the computer feel of the quantum with the slow boot and the change of presets. I hope this is better here.
Hi Tim,
Thanks for the great video, I’m going for the Iridium.
Have the Hydrasynth for keyboard so I don’t need another.
Which VESA arm are you using?
Thanks for the info on a normal level comparison of the 2 Waldorf Synths
all other comment’s are always about someones personal taste