I did try the ‘sampling’ option on the M too, and while it’s really idiosyncratic (or it’s just being 80s), it’s an interesting option that I’d have explored more if I didn’t have to sell the synth. Loved the sound though, gorgeous.
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That looks (and sounds) great!
Very classy update! I recently played one and was amazed at both the sound and premium feel. As others state, the M is really not far behind at all, especially soundwise, IMHO. I’m holding on to the M for now
I love the M. I could easily have both. Since I can’t though due to major space constraints (I’d have to ditch something else, but don’t want to as I’ve spent a lot of time acquiring some key things to be permanent studio items.) I do want the keys version, but even in that case I’ll have to do some construction to allow it to sit in the studio. 
I wouldn’t put the M and the 3rd Wave into an either or scenario though. Just because they both do wavetable synthesis doesn’t make them the same. They both do plenty of unique things. Both sound excellent doing them too. I’d give the 3rd Wave the edge for interface though. Nothing in it requires a second thought.
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More examples/details of the new sampling capabilities:
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Thanks that was fun. I love these guys and this company. Bob Coover shows so much joy and enthusiasm for the 3rd Wave.
I’m looking forward to use sampling in sound design like on the Prophet X. Funny how we were just talking about this here not that long ago.
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I think this will be a lot of fun! I was already having fun just sampling in waves into tables. Setting up some kind of cyclical backing sample to play over like in this video would be a lot of fun.
Also, this makes me want the keyboard version more again.
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Yeah, their enthusiasm is infectious!
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Any demos of this synth getting dirty? Or people making a drum kit out of it? I keep finding videos that all seem to hit kind of the same spot but I’m sure it can get crazy. Probably at the price point it’s gonna be harder for a ton of the weirdos to get their hands on it.
I miss my Peak from time to time but this thing looks like a very big improvement over what the Peak was.
The distortion effect is great and adds a nice distorted crunch to synths. Also you can turn up the filter saturation which will add a mild (to medium) overdrive to your patch.
Yes I think you can get real dirty with the 3rd wave
Oscillator pitch can go very low and this is a great way to add dirt and weird noises to your patch. Then take that oscillator and use it as a modulation source for e.g. the filter. Each oscillator (including samples in the next firmware update) can FM the next oscillator so there’s really a lot of options for experimental sound design.
I might be talking biscuits here, but would thru zero FM ever be possible on the 3rd Wave?
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Theoretically yes, since the 3rd Wave has digital oscillators.
However, TZFM is a pretty niche feature for a polysynth – however, the new Oberheim TEO-5 does have it (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1W2K4IrOTQ)
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Yep, thats what got me thinking. TZFM is so useful, for non-clangerous FM sounds…
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The linear FM already sounds quite nice for doing 2-3 op stuff. TZ would be a welcome upgrade, but it wouldn’t drastically change things I don’t think. I say this as a huge fan of TZFM and TZPM having designed some TZPM oscillators myself. It would extend the FM timbres a bit though, which would be cool. Being a flexible hybrid wavetable synth that can sample, the fact that it can also do really nice linear FM between the three oscillators, is already icing IMO. In no way am I saying that it shouldn’t be added. I’m just not sure it would push this synth anymore over the top than it already is!
As to the question above about can it get a bit more crazy/dirty/raw? Yes, it certainly can. Next time I have some time in the studio I could whip up some nuttier patches, and post some audio. Still working on the house(s) right now though, so I haven’t touched a synth in a couple of weeks for more than maybe 30 minutes. (just long enough to participate in making pseudo-Latin percussion sounds on the Syntakt 
)
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Yeah I’d really appreciate to hear something else other 80s sounding plucks, pads, and leads. The demos are really good and I’m liking what Im hearing for sure but there’s no way this thing only does the type of stuff I’m hearing.
Also, I’ve been reading through the thread, now that you’ve owned it for what looks to be about 6ish months are you still finding the reverb to be mediocre? I mean, at the end of the day I’m kinda with you I’d probably end up using VST reverbs and I’d probably rather dedicate that effect slot to something else in most patches if I ever got this.
Unfortunately this is one of the few synths my local shop doesn’t carry currently so I won’t be able to demo it ahead of time if I ever pull the trigger.
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Oh, I think the reverb actually sounds quite nice! It has its limitations as far as settings of course (most built-in effects are this way with some exceptions of course) However the actual tone and quality of the effects are great. I would say if heavier use of effects is your thing (say ambient type things) then you’d probably want a bit more as one example. As far as just quality of audio that every part of this synth produces though, it’s excellent.
There are a ton of tables in it. So if you stick to the PPG bank, you’ll get a lot of 80s PPG type sounds. This isn’t a bad thing, as that’s what it’s intended for. You can still really make it cut though if you want, even with these. Turning up the filter drive alone can add a nice edge. It’s still a smooth and “warm” (sorry) edge, but it will make the sounds pop quite a bit more. Then turning off table smoothing, adding some effects, doing some shaping with the second filter, modulating at audio rates, will get you some more grit. There are more tables in the non-PPG bank(s) that will get you even further into different territory. If you start getting all the modulation and wave envelopes going you can get things to sound pretty crazy.
That’s just with what they give you though. It takes like two to three minutes (or less) to sample in a custom wavetable trim it, and save it. 
So if you have a synth that has a particularly biting sound that you want to give the 3rd Wave treatment, plug it into the input, hit (I think) two button presses, record the sound, tweak the start and end points that you want for the table, and save it. I have never seen a wavetable synth that was this easy to get waves into before.
Plus, it also samples soon. I would suggest that anyone with both this and a Waldorf, or this and a Hydra get some of those really nice gritty waves into a bank.
I’ll still make some sounds soon. I just figured I could elaborate a bit more in the meantime.
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OS Version 1.8, with support for samples, is now available. Below is from the email they sent out announcing this. Check out the Groove Synthesis website for more details:
From the email announcing the availability of OS 1.8
Dear Members of the 3rd Wave Community,
We are pleased to announce that today we are releasing the next firmware update for the 3rd Wave: version 1.8. As many of you already know, this update includes a powerful new enhancement to the sonic capabilities of the synth, giving it the ability to support sampling! With this, we believe we have added the missing piece to its PPG heritage enabling you to achieve the sampled sounds you could get with a PPG Waveterm System. Thank you all for your enlightening feedback and requests after we announced the new feature a few weeks ago at Superbooth. Overwhelmingly, we heard how important it is to support low resolution samples, which we were able to incorporate since returning from Berlin. Overall, we think the sampling is an exciting and fun new update that opens up so many new possibilities with the synth. We know you are going to enjoy it.
Sampling features:
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Just over 3.3MB of sample memory, which corresponds to 35 seconds of samples at 48KHz, or more time if you use samples at a lower sample rate
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Each oscillator can be assigned to play a multi-sample with up to 8 samples spread across the keyboard. The samples run through the same audio processing path as the wavetables and analog waveforms.
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Sample looping with 2 types of crossfading for smooth transitions
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Sample tuning each multi-sample can be tuned independently
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Support for low resolution sample recording with varying bit depth: 16bit, 12bit, and 8bit
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Support for varied sample rate playback. Record or import samples at different sample rates and they will be played back at the correct pitch.
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Support for FM with samples, can be either carrier or modulator
We are accompanying this update with a video tutorial you can watch here to learn about how to get started, we will also be updating the manual with more info about the sampling.
In addition we are including a zip download with example samples and patches. You may have seen some of these in the videos we made to announce the sampling feature. We explain how to load them into the synth in our video.
… other text clipped…
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3rd Wave glitch patch
(Uploaded a refined version)
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Note that Groove Synthesis just released a FW 1.8a that gives more options for how samples loop.
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I had a question on the multimode. It looks like it’s basically just always on but you toggle how many parts are active with the on off buttons for the parts (which cuts polyphony down depending on how many of the 4 are active). Does this mean that there is basically one save-able set of four parts or does each program have the ability to load it’s own multi with it’s own 4 programs it is referencing? If there are seperate multi configurations that can be saved with programs are the parts a copy of a program that can be edited/saved independently or are they referencing a stored sound program (like on the M or the Poly Evolver)? The manual is a little vague on this and I couldn’t find a specific video referencing how this works.