Sounds for KORG wavestate, Part 3

Published: 2021-07-02

In just 18 months on the market, the KORG wavestate has attracted a huge amount of sound design talent. Apart from the factory sounds, there is now a healthy ecosystem of sound designers who consistently provide new and interesting sounds; some more abstract, some a little retro, some ambient and some less so, but all a testimony of the versatility of the wavestate and its capability to inspire.

The KORG wavestate is complex (and also somewhat complicated), but the time allocated to exploring its depths is time well spent, judging on the sound packs in this round-up. This is not a review, just a public service announcement that these sounds and their designers are your go-to sources when you want new sounds just to use them, or tweak them to your own purposes, or just for learning what makes them tick.

Loading sounds with the Sound Librarian

As you probably know, you need the Wavestate Sound Librarian application on macOS or Windows to import the patches into your Wavestate. Many of the sound packs contain instructions for that. Importing is usually done as one big bundle or by selecting all the patches you want in the Librarian.

There have been a lot of communication troubles between the wavestate and its Sound Librarian. Some of them have been alleviated by KORG with recent updates since the last round-up. For example, in the latest sotware version 1.0.6 the wavestate can be set to use the Network Control Model or NCM instead the earlier RNDIS which changed from underneath in some Windows and macOS updates.

You may need to use USB Boot Mode to update your wavestate, depending on your conmputer's operating system. Please read carefully the instructions provided with the wavestate software updates, since they contain vital information.

Auditioning sounds

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 several hours.

Some 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. The Sound Librarian will help you narrow down the search by listing them based on various attributes.

Waveformer: Berlin School and Ambient Construction Kit

The two Berlin School and Ambient Construction Kits (BACK) by Waveformer can only be described as epic. If you are at all into the "Berlin School" of electronic music, with its arpeggiated and slowly shifting, evolving synth lines, you are in for a treat.

The capabilities of the KORG wavestate in this area were already hinted at by the factory performance called "Train to Berlin", but Waveformer takes it to the next level. These performances are filled with possibility, using the Mod Knobs on the wavestate.

Waveformer has also released the Alexanderplatz album on Bandcamp, composed with patches in these sound packs and performed live on the Wavestate.

Co5ma: E-Motion Pads Volume 3

The first two parts in the Co5ma E-Motion Pads series were featured earlier in this round-up, and Part 3 continues in the same vein. These patches are perhaps a little more abstract and moody than others.

Some presets:

Some presets, part 2:

Some presets, part 3:

LFO.store Cinematica Vol. 2 and Analog Dreams

Prolific soundmakers LFO.store have released the second volume of their Cinematica sound set, and continue to present widescreen soundscapes suitable for soundtrack work but also much more.

The other new soundset from LFO.store mines another vein altogether. "Analog Dreams" focuses on more traditional synth sounds that work well in synthwave (also very apparent in the visuals of the demo video) but why not also Berlin school (see BACK by Waveformer detailed above). Think Juno, Moog, and OB-X.

App Sound Cinescape and Elysion

There is definitely something about the wavestate that lends it especially well to rendering cinematic ambiences, and it is no wonder that so many sound designers have produced sound packs that offer sounds well suited for movies and TV series.

App Sound does their share of the cinematic wavestate sounds with "Cinescape", containing 64 new performances with the concept "Soundscapes but playable":

Another new sound pack from App Sound is "Elysion", with the kind of performances that the original Wavestation became notorious for: long, slowly evolving sounds that fly through the ether.

Support Independent Sound Designers

KORG still hasn't 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. It also leaves more room for independent sound designers to create interesting stuff and try to build their own fan bases. The fact that the Wavestate has been on the market for only 18 months, but already has dozens of third-party sound packs available, is proof of the versatility of this synth.

I've bought and used almost all of these sounds on my Wavestate. None of them are that expensive anyway, so support independent work and buy them if you like them and think you can find use for them in your music. They are all excellent value for money, and it has taken a huge effort to make them all.

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.