skinmechanic wrote:The Studiosledge isn't this basically the Waldorf Blofeld in a different casing with more real time control, even now with the sample option in V2.0 which is the same design and spec as the one offered in the Blofeld keyboards.
The Blofeld came about because Joachim Flor who was one of Waldorf's former sales representatives invested money to build a new company with the same name and most of the important people involved with the previous Waldorf company. The Studiologic Sledge and Slege V2 came about from Studiologic getting involved with the 2nd Waldorf company to create the Sledge and there seems to be some agreements to keep the Blofeld marketable and not put out of business by the Sledge. To upgrade the original Sledge to match the V2 it costs $100 that goes to Waldorf. The Blofeld has a weighted synth action that’s a better feeling keybed than the the original unweighted keybed of the Sledge and I’m sure Fatar/Studiologic makes both. Sweetwater says it uses the Fatar TP-9 keybed but it must be the TP-9S (synth) that comes weighted or non-weighted. Key weights make a big difference but add weight too and personally I like the 18.3lb weight of the Sledge that’s only 3.3 lbs more than my much smaller M50.
The first thing I noticed is the Sledge has balanced ¼ outputs based on package deals sold with balanced cables for the Sledge where the same company includes non-balanced cables for the Blofeld. If it really has balanced outputs then I’m inclined to think it’s newer generation audio out section is of higher quality. To see if it was a typo (and the pictures of the balanced 1/4in cables wrong too) I looked up the Sledge V2 specs on Studiologics website and was surprised to see all it says is “Stereo line output” and fails to even mention it has two sets of outputs vs the Blofeld’s single stereo unbalanced output. Such an omission seems deliberate. Looking around I noticed other omissions not mentioned. The V2 is already on V2.1 and reading posts its obvious Studiologic is putting a lot of energy into improving the Sledge, one of the advantages of having few instruments in development.
The Sledge has a built in power supply and a host of better features than the Blofeld like midi out which for me is a basic need. I see some people sold their Blofelds to get the original Sledge and it seems to be a one way street, and with the Sledge V2 the improvements have taken the Sledge to another level. It’s sound quality based on peoples statements is generally appreciated as much as the Blofeld with some refinement some will appreciate and some won’t and some describe as being more articulate. I’ve never played either but listening to them via the Internet the preset sounds on the older Blofeld to my ears sound better than the Sledge’s, but listening to people create new sounds on both it seems like the Sledge V2 gets “there” quicker and easier.
Whatever perceived differences there are regarding the “sound” difference between the two, the interface of the Sledge V2 IMO floors the Blofeld and that preference is made evident by the high prices Roland JD 800’s are selling for on E Bay. It’s controls use potentiometers rather than rotary encoders and everything is in the right place.
The Sledge V2 can load XML: Sample Sets in human and machine readable XML format, the format used to save sample sets, KMP: sample programs in Korg format, and WPC: Waldorf Preset Content, but these files cannot be edited…..LOL
I hate to say it…. but IMO Studiologic can’t hide enough features on the improved Sledge V2 to save the Blofeld that was designed to save money by leaving out what the Sledge V2 has. For the cost of what I paid for my M50…. I try not to think about it and the Sledge V2 has a feature some buying keyboards in this price range may have forgotten even exists: aftertouch.
Think Peace...
