Waldorf Iridium Keyboard: Like Quantum, only more Iridium
4,8 / 5,0 | 
Waldorf Iridium Keyboard · Source: Waldorf
Waldorf Iridium Keyboard · Source: Waldorf
Waldorf Iridium Keyboard · Source: Waldorf
Waldorf Music’s hints at a new synthesizer are revealed to be a keyboard version of their Iridium synthesizer which is a desktop version of the Quantum. Is this evolution?
Iridium Keyboard
I’m a little bit confused but I’m sure it will pass. Iridium is Waldorf’s smaller and more compact version of their massive Quantum keyboard synthesizer. So with the Iridium keyboard, Waldorf is sort of coming up with a cheaper Quantum. However, Iridium and Quantum are not the same, exactly, at least I don’t think so.
The main difference between the two is that the Quantum has analogue filters. The Iridium has all digital filters but also gets twice the polyphony. The loss of keyboard, modulation and glide controls is one difference between the two that the keyboard version will be bringing back. However, in the return to keyboard form, you lose the 4 x 4 pads that gave you things like one button chords, sequences and arpeggio launching as well as being able to ham-fistedly play some notes.
The other big new feature is in the keyboard itself and that’s polyphonic aftertouch. This allows you to effect a single note through aftertouch expression rather than the whole channel making for much more expressive playing. It uses the 49-key FATAR TP/8SK semi-weighted polyphonic aftertouch pressure-providing keyboard which is the first of its kind in the world.
Waldorf Iridium Keyboard · Source: Waldorf
Otherwise, this is an expansive 16-voice, 3 oscillator digital synthesizer with multiple synthesizer engines and 2GB of internal samples. There’s particle and granular sampling, virtual analogue, wavetable, Resonator modes and Kernals that allow for up to 6-sub oscillators and some superb FM action. The digital filters offer something different to their analogue counterparts. You have Comb, classic Waldorf high- and band-pass, and notch filters from the Largo and Nave software synthesizers, plus PPG models, alongside signal enhancer effects, such as Drive and Bit Crusher, and more; six envelopes, six LFOs, and a Mod Matrix, routable to almost any parameter in the machine.
I imagine people have been asking for a smaller Quantum keyboard or a more instrument-like Iridium and this does the job. At €2899 it’s a fair bit more expensive than the Iridium at €2463 but still a way off the Quantum at €4336.
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One response to “Waldorf Iridium Keyboard: Like Quantum, only more Iridium”
This is now a synth i never should use . This metal digital ice sounds brrrrr .