IS Groove Synthesis 3rd Wave brother of Super 6?

The Lounge Other Gear
1

https://sonicstate.com/news/2022/05/30/advanced-wavetable-synthesizer/

Question to U.D.O.: as this product somehow is a brother of the Super 6, is it designed by UDO?

2

Well itā€™s from a different company so no.

Sounds great though.

3

Whoa that patch at 2:42 is beautiful. Wavescanning is the one additional feature Iā€™d want on the Super 6.

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4

I tried remaking this patch here at 2:42

This is as close as I could get
https://whyp.it/t/super-6-3rd-wave-ppg-preset-attempt-aAODp/

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5

I love the patch he plays starting at 3:10, it sounds very warm. You can reproduce this on S6?

6

https://www.gearnews.de/3-wave-advanced-wavetable-synthesizer/

Here they say, that Geoff Farr is the man behind Groove Synthesis. And he is also somehow related to UDO as they point out. I think he is not a designer of synths, but we will se at NAMM.
At the end, many features and ideas of this synth are very near to Super 6 but on a higher level:

  • 24 voices (2 x Super 6)
  • 61 keys
  • 3 oscillators (wavetable or waveform incl. analog waves)
  • 4 EGs
  • 4 LFOs
  • Display
  • 2 filters with morphing between HP and LP
  • sequencer
  • multitimbrality (4)
  • Wavetables with travel knob
  • create wavetables via the audio input
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7

Yeah the S6 can do this sound.

Itā€™s those complex/multitimbral wavescanning sounds that are troublesome to get close enough to.

I like these features and enjoyed what I was hearing in the video so this synth will go on my shortlist.

However, the dev team at UDO has made me hesitant to get any other synth because theyā€™re still adding useful features (freeze) as well as enabling features that havenā€™t been unlocked yet (MPE, mixer mod destination).

If they do decide to add wavescanning/wavetables, I likely wonā€™t need to look at any other digital/wavetable synth either.

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8

Combined with Super mode this would give S6 a distinguishing feature.
Vote for the feature request Wave scanning.

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9

Geoff is the distributor. Heā€™s not part of the design team.

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10

But who designed this synth? I doesnt look like a beginners product.

11

New information on Gearspace given by GrooveSynthesis:
0. Pricing: 3795.- for preorders

  1. 3rd Wave is production ready. Building up units for August ship now.
  2. We are pros and have been directly involved in the design and manufacturing of over a dozen synths for others. The 3rd Wave is already in the hands of a few heavy hitters in LA who seem to like it very much.
  3. Pre-orders will be filled in the order taken and are on target for late August.
  4. Testing has been ongoing for well over a year.
  5. All features described in the specs are in place for launch.
  6. Like the responsible pros that we are, we donā€™t make forward-looking statements about future features. : )
  7. On Friday our website will go live with full specs and more demos.
    Also a very short demo will drop today on YouTube and another tomorrow with 6 minutes of demos of some of our presets.
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12

Sorry but I donā€™t like the sounds in the video. Hope the synth could sound better. Sterile music for mediocre sound designers ā€¦

13

So I was looking at the 3rd wave lately because it seems like it have all the things which I miss from super 6. However Iā€™m not so sure if the 3rd wave can replace super 6 in terms of sounds. Couldnā€™t find enough listening demo to confirm that is the case.

So the question is, does anyone have two? Can 3rd wave sound as S6? Somehow I feel like S6 is more warm can not that glassy (but it can be).

Seems like this might be the ā€˜get bothā€ scenario.

14

I realize this is kind of old, but to answer: Bob Coover is the primary person behind the 3rd Wave (though he has several collaborators). Bob works at Apple doing DSP coding, but also has been involved with the design of several of the Sequential synths over the years. Heā€™s an old hand at synth design, and 3rd Wave is apparently a kind of passion project for him.

15

(Iā€™m lucky enough to own both a 3rd Wave and a Super 6. Though there are some similarities, there are a ton of differences. Not least of which is that the 3rd Wave has 24 voices with 3 oscillators each, as well as 4 LFOs, not counting the special wave LFOs. Itā€™s a beast. It is sadly also quite expensive.)

16

I donā€™t think they sound anything alike - which is a green light to own both :grin:

17

Iā€™ve played the 3rd wave now at a friendā€™s place for a couple of hours. It is a unique thing.

However, if I were only to have one, Iā€™d take the Udo over the 3rd wave. I prefer the direct connection and simplicity of the Udo. I also prefer the sounds Iā€™m able to dial up on the Udo quickly. Iā€™m sure, with time, the 3rd Wave would become more intuitive to work with but it lacked that immediate playfulness that I felt when I first sat down to the Super 6 which continues to this day.

Another thing, aesthetically and kinesthetically the Udo is a more pleasurable and desirable thing. The 3rd is well-made, no doubt, but its overall presentation to the eye and hand is a bit clunky and lacks the finesse and design flair that the Udo has. I donā€™t think the team at Groove had aesthetics/kinesthetics top-of-mind when they designed it like George and team did with the Udo.

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