Iridium Desktop MK2

The brand Waldorf

The Waldorf Iridium Desktop MK2 is aimed at producers, sound designers and musicians looking for a high-end synthesizer capable of creating virtually any sound texture. This new generation benefits from a more powerful hardware platform, significantly increased memory and new advanced synthesis features. More flexible, more powerful and even more creative, it pushes the boundaries of modern sound design. It’s the reference choice for demanding studios and creators of electronic, experimental or visual music.

Features

Extremely versatile multi-engine architecture

The Iridium Desktop MK2 is based on the synthesis architecture that has made the Quantum and Iridium series so successful. Several synthesis engines are available to cover analog, digital, evolutionary or experimental sounds. This flexibility means you can create unique textures without multiplying the number of instruments in your studio.

A new, more powerful hardware platform

The upgraded processor, combined with vastly increased RAM and flash storage, means you can load more samples and handle more complex setups. You benefit from a more responsive instrument, capable of fully exploiting the most ambitious sound creations.

Up to four simultaneous multitimbral layers

Thanks to the increased resources available, the Iridium Desktop MK2 can now handle up to four independent layers simultaneously. Layer and Split modes are complemented by new Round-Robin and Random-Robin modes that naturally enrich textures. The result is livelier, more complex and particularly suited to soundtracks, immersive atmospheres and advanced sound design.

The new Seeds synthesis engine

The Seeds engine introduces a totally new approach to sound creation. Inspired by the workings of wavetables, it dynamically generates timbral evolutions from sub-oscillators called « Seeds ». This technology produces organic, shifting and constantly renewed sounds, difficult to achieve with traditional synthesis methods.

Flavour function for more organic sounds

The Flavour function adds slight variations to various parameters such as timing, timbre and pitch. These micro-variations reproduce the natural behavior of acoustic and analog instruments. Your sounds gain in realism, movement and expressiveness without complex programming.

New-generation mutator and polyphonic arpeggiator

System Update 4.0 brings the Mutator random patch generator, capable of quickly creating new sound ideas from your existing presets. The new polyphonic arpeggiator also opens up new compositional and performance possibilities for complex, evolving sequences.

Unique note-by-note programming

Developed with the participation of Aphex Twin, the note-by-note parameter locking function lets you assign up to 16 different variations to each of the 128 MIDI notes. Synthesis, effects, modulations or specific settings can thus evolve individually according to the note played. This approach opens up unprecedented possibilities for experimental composition and advanced performance.

Advanced microtonal features

Iridium Desktop MK2 integrates comprehensive microtonal tools that can be stored directly in presets. You can explore alternative tuning systems and develop original sound worlds suited to contemporary, experimental or traditional music.

What we like / What we need to know

• Modernized hardware platform with more power and memory.
• Up to four simultaneous multi-timbral layers for extremely rich textures.
• New Seeds engine capable of generating unprecedented sonic evolutions.
• Flavor function brings more realism and movement to sounds.
• Note-based parameter locking developed with Aphex Twin for unique programming.
• Particularly suited to advanced sound design, composition and professional production.

Who is it for?

• Sound designers looking for an extremely deep and flexible sound creation platform.
• Electronic music producers who want to create original textures impossible to achieve with conventional synthesizers.
• Composers of music for images needing complex, evolving and immersive sound layers.
• Experimental musicians interested in advanced synthesis technologies and microtonal tuning.
• Professional studios looking for a high-end synthesizer capable of covering a very broad spectrum of sound creations.