Certainly not a requirement. No one will mind at all if you stay with software instruments only, but this is basically the Next Big Thing for synthesizers now that the price has become more palatable. Waldorf has already released such models as Largo and Blofeld, and reports are highly positive, though the price for these is through the roof for your average non-keyboardist such as myself.
The game has just been changed. Enter Rocket. Initial listing is $250 USD, which brings it down to the affordability of the better softsynths. I already wrote in to criticise what I feel is a rather poor layout. The head phones vol knob gets 25% of the real estate on the face of this cute ‘block’, while various other controls must do double duty. It ought to give a good headache to work this thing in live performance.
I give them loads of credit and appreciation nonetheless. We now have the option of buying our synth as an affordable little hardware block. Give it a year, maybe two. You’ll have a good dozen of these from various firms to choose from. Waldorf is starting this game because they have been the leader in this for the last couple of years, and they are about as smart a bunch as you can find.
Here’s their entry into what will become a viable option for owning a synth now and in years to come. http://m.matrixsynth.com/2013/02/new-waldorf-rocket-synthesizer-video.html Cute, huh? (Yes, I know, the goofy demo audio sucks but use your imagination and, yes, all 8 OSCs are full DIGITAL due to space limitations.)
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