Sounds for KORG wavestate, Part 2

The KORG wavestate was released in January 2020, and became actually available in March, although strong demand meant that it was out of stock at many dealers until June–July. However, during this year many sound designers already got their hands on a wavestate in the first wave (pun intended), and it resulted in many great sound sets.

I covered the first batch of KORG wavestate sounds from various sound designers sounds last August, and it's now time for Part 2. If there is something missing, let me know by e-mail (details are on the About DigitalSynth.net page).

If you haven't already gotten the grasp of the wavestate to make your own sounds, purchasing a third-party sound set and reverse engineering the sounds can teach you a lot about how patches for the KORG wavestate are put together.

Loading and auditioning sounds

As you probably know by now, you need the Wavestate Sound Librarian application on macOS or Windows to import the patches into your Wavestate. Most of the patch sets contain instructions for that. Importing is usually done as one big bundle or by selecting all the patches you want. Unfortunately it is still the case that if you use Windows 10 and have already updated to Build 2004, you won't be able to use the Wavestate Librarian application (or update the Wavestate firmware, for that matter) until either KORG or Microsoft provides a solution for the RNDIS connectivity problem introduced by that version of Windows. The RNDIS-over-USB connection seems to be something of an Achilles heel of the Wavestate, but let's hope it gets fixed in any way necessary.

All of the sound designers have taken the trouble to record demonstration videos, and some of them almost work as ambient albums or performances in their own right. If you want to watch and listen through all of the demos for the patches in these banks, it will take you well over an hour.

Many of the demo videos don't have patch labels, so if you hear a nice patch, it will probably take you some time trawling through the patches and listening to them to find it in the Wavestate's large memory space.

XU Sounddesign: Ambient Performances

The first sound set in this round-up comes from a sound designer we haven't featured before. The XU Sounddesign Ambient Performances sound pack has 90 ambient and chill performance patches for the KORG wavestate, and they really are easily the most ambient and chilled of this lot.

Also, we get three quite lovely demo videos that can really put you in an ambient frame of mind. Be sure to visit the XU Sounddesign channel and leave your likes if you are into these vibes.

Demo part 1:

Demo part 2:

Demo part 3:

App Sound: Layers of Chill and Technoid Flow

App Sound's Matthias Sauer has followed up the Recreation and Recreation 2 sound sets (see the first part of the KORG wavestate sound set roundup) with the Layers of Chill pack, containing 64 new performances that are filed under "ambient and chill".

There are two demo videos for this sound set:

Demo 1:

Demo 2:

While this post was in preparation, he released another sound set called Technoid Flow, with yet another 64 new performances, for a little more upbeat music. Here's the demo video:

Co5ma: e-Motion Pads Vol. 2

Co5ma has a follow-up for the e-Motion Pads Vol. 1 sound set (again, see first part). Volume 2 has 100 presets and 32 performances, very atmospheric and very spacey and ambient.

The demo videos for the Co5ma sound sets are short and focus on individual sounds. Here is "Edges":

And this is "R.evolution":

Just remember that buying from Gumroad and paying with PayPal sets you up for repeating payments. I don't know if that is the merchan't choice, or if that's just how Gumroad works, but if that makes you a bit uncomfortable, log in to your PayPal account and turn repeating payments off for Gumroad.

LFO.store: Stratosphere Vol. 2

LFO.store follows their Cinematica and Stratosphere sound sets with another part in the Stratosphere series. Full points go to LFO.store for the most trippy visuals in a patch demo video:

Marc Barnes: KORG wavestate Vol. 6

Last but definitely not least, we have Marc Barnes, a towering figure over the indie third-party sound designers for the KORG wavestate (and also the KORG minilogue xd).

He offers the sixth volume of KORG wavestate sounds, which you don't want to miss. Listen to the demo:

I did a profile of Marc Barnes some time ago on this site, as he was kind enough to take some time to answer my questions. (Thanks again Marc!)

Support Independent Sound Designers

KORG has not (at least yet) released any additional sound sets for the Wavestate. There is a lot of material shipped with the synth, so you could argue there is less need for them to do that, unlike for the original minilogue, which so far has seven sound packs commissioned by KORG. That leaves more room for independent sound designers to create interesting stuff and try to build their own fan base. The fact that the Wavestate has been on the market for under a year, and already has a healthy sound design ecosystem, speaks volumes for the versatility of this synth.

I've bought and used almost all of these sounds on my Wavestate. None of them are expensive, so support independent work and buy them if you like them!

Please note that I'm not quoting any prices here, because they vary, and the sound designers may have special deals or bundle prices that change all the time. Check the ones you are interested in from the original sites linked to above.

Buy KORG wavestate from Musikhaus Thomann

Here are direct links to Musikhaus Thomann for the KORG wavestate. If you follow them, they set up a cookie in your browser, and if you then end up buying something from them, I earn a small commission, which helps to keep this site up and running with no ads. Select your country if applicable.