Deep Blue Deluxe/Bassman III?

MeloManiac · Post by **MeloManiac** » Mon Sep 03, 2001 5:59 am

I am pretty impressed by both of these synths from Celmo. However the word 'digital' gives me doubts about Deep Blue - should it? Since it has sampled waves instead of oscillators, but it seems to me you can achieve quite a lot with it anyway, still sounding pretty analogue. Anyone who tried both of these extensively? I wouldnt mind getting a synth that can do more than basses (which Deep Blue) obviously can, but will I be missing out on the sound in the basses department compared to the Bassman III?

Spirit · Post by **Spirit** » Mon Sep 03, 2001 6:17 am

This is EXACTLY what I've been debating for the past three weeks.

I'm not much of a fan of the Waldorf wave samples, to me they have a certain digital coldness to them. They also seem to be pretty distinctive - which is bad when you're after a unique sound.

So I was initally leaning toward the BassmanIII. As the name says it sure does get good bass. Nothing like basic waveforms in my book ! And if you pump up the release, lay on the effects and carefully tweak the waves and EGs then you can get a very sweet pad.

But then I'd switch to Deep Blue again. With just a slight click on the waveform (use the keyboard arrow key to cycle through the choices) the tone of the pad or bass can shift ever so subtlely to something new and sweet. Maybe the basses aren't quite so smooth and deep, but the range of other sounds certainly seems better - and the Deep Blue is just $10 more, so the price isn't really a factor.

Then after wrestling with both I'd say to myself: "nothing that a good ModV2 patch couldn't get". And I think I was almost right. The ModV2 can get most of these sounds, but not all. And it can't emulate the effects. And if you spend hours, days and years analysing sound then those little differences can seem pretty big.

So I reloaded BassmanIII. Then Deep Blue.

My heart says "Go with BassmanIII, go with traditional waveforms". My brain says "The Deep Blue is more versatile".

See, I'm all confused too.

I suppose Celmo would be happy if we just bought both.

Peezahj · Post by **Peezahj** » Mon Sep 03, 2001 4:42 pm

The secret to using the Waldorf Oscillators is to modulate them *heavily*, otherwise you're just looping a short waveform (like an SQ-80 or DW-8000) & not getting the full depth of what's available. If you ever look at the best patches on a Microwave XT, you'll notice that they're not at all timid about the way they use them.

subhuman · Post by **subhuman** » Tue Sep 04, 2001 11:32 am

Also the Waldorf WaveTables on the Pulsar OSC version are only half as large as the real XT's WaveTables. That was smart of Waldorf, but still it gives you SO MUCH of the XT's sound that I sold my Waldorf XT once I got the Pulsar modular...

Now I'm kinda missing it since it was so portable and 44 knobs yummmm

Spirit · Post by **Spirit** » Mon Sep 17, 2001 8:23 am

Good tips, thanks.

I ended up ordering the Deep Blue. I also asked Celmo about a discount if you wanted to buy both and they suggested ordering two BassmanIIIs ie $10 discount.

What a beautiful synth!