The more anonymous wavetable synth of the ’80s, the Korg’s DW8000, is still waiting on its call-up to the hall of fame, but remains very influential. The legendary synth of the early ’90s, the Korg Wavestation has already guaranteed its position in the immortal synth pantheon for its wave sequencing sounds.

Wavestate’s sweetspot is in those heavily sequenced sounds (like a one-note soundtrack) while ModWave’s sweetspot is in more evolving/morphing sounds (although it can switch abruptly as well). A wavetable uses waveforms (which could be a sawtooth, sinewave etc, or a slice of a sample) and can dynamically switch ’n’ slide between a number of those waveforms to create complex sounds. A wave sequence is a series of different samples end to end - you can alter each sample’s length, pitch etc but the sequence stays the same.

Gosh, it’s tedious… I’d really rather get back to messing around with the synth. So how does ModWave differ from WaveState? It sticks in my craw to do so, but I’ve got to take a stab at explaining the difference between Wave Sequencing and Wavetable synthesis. They’re ‘use ’em now’ synths rather than collectors’ items. But they are lightweight and the chassis is plastic. I like the feel and feedback from the knobs and buttons the small screen is sufficient thanks to the plethora of other controls and it feels sturdy. They all share the same chassis, look and feel, and are all similarly priced. Wavestate made wave sequencing accessible the OP6 (mostly) demystified FM synthesis and now the ModWave aims to lift the lid on wavetable synthesis.

Korg wavestate review