nice demo, technicaly very complete, musically ,,,,,, he leaves it up to us. yeah smart demo, dan made no attempt to show off how it CAN sound like but was very proffessional on the features. this wolf does not knock at your door, it rings the doorbell, if you have a doorbell & let it in then the wolf lets you in. how did they think up this synth, my fav. edit: think each voice individual tuning harmonic series with 32 note sequencer, guitar tuner and fx pedals,,,, Enjoy.
AKAI has turned into that friend that comes over and plays you his demos. You know they're shit, and it's uncomfortable and embarrassing to listen to, so you just nod and smile politely.
DIRECTIONS FOR USE OF THE TIMBREWOLFE: Remove from packaging, remove power supply. Place in one (1) bucket of 20/90 mix of salt water at 17 degrees Celsius. Leave until it doesn't work anymore. Use Power supply on Korg Minilogue.
The synth looks a little bit interesting, but I need a more in-depth demo to make a decision as to whether I'd consider buying it or not. Not too interested in the drum machines at all. Diggin' on the volca sample though.
"AKAI Professional" used to mean something. This thing should say "AKAI Amateur" on the label. And what's up with the two-octave keyboard? Who wants a polysynth with a 2-octave keyboard? That's fine for a basic monosynth like the Sub Phatty or the Mini/Micro Brute, but c'mon...That's ridiculous! This could have been like a newfangled Mono/Poly if they'd tried a bit harder. Oh well. Better luck next time AKAI!
To be fair, I cannot think of anyone who could make this gear sound good. I feel bad for Dan… he was assigned a task that simply could not be achieved. Akai failed miserably with this line. Some people try to salvage these units but theres really no point. These units were so limited, its actually comical that Akai released these.
I had a Rhythm Wolf home for demo (video coming soon), and must say i was very disappointed! Relevant to this synth; the bass synth sections filter was very weak, and all resonance did was to suck the bottom and warmth out of the sound. He calls it "nice and squelchy" @ 2:20 - that filter doesn't do squelchy! It has zero power, warmth or character! The only possible redemption is the fact that the Howl on the Rhythm Wolf only affects the drum sounds - not the bass. Though i doubt it'll help as all Howl actually does is raise the noise floor. Incidently, the Howl in the Rhythm Wolf does more to the high-mid and high frequencies than (the next to nothing) it does to the bass frequencies, which compounds the problem that the kick is very weak, and though it has some sub (which can't be properly tuned to your track), it has zero smack or power! It's also lower than the rest of the sounds altogether. Personally i think the only way to interpret the Tom Cat, is they know Rhythm Wolf was a failure. Despite changes they're too similar to justify the 2 products at the same time. Time will tell if the changes have made the Tom Cat worthwhile. Judging from my experience, and what little you can hear in this video. Despite an excellent concept, physical build quality and branding, the Wolf series is a prime example of taking advantage of the analogue bandwagon with substance-devoid rubbish!
I got one and sent it back. It sounded decent throug a digital effects unit. lol They really make themselfs look like cheap tricksters here. But I never had a good Akai product anyway and I don't do MPC.
I have a RW and I completely ignore the bass part altogether. It is just not nice enough to use it if you have more bass options in your studio.. The rhythm part of the RW is in my view not bad at all, maybe limited but you cannot have everything.... This TW here, I will not buy.
Guy In Background: 3:12 **What is making that horrible noise?** 3:17 **I can't stand it anymore, I am out of here....are you really recording this synth and this guy presenting it?**
Jeez. What a bunch of haters! You may criticize the demo, but Akai just made 2 new cheap analog synths! What more do you want? I am sure it's a perfectly capable monosynth.
It doesn't really impress on the first look. It sounds really crappy. Akai this is how to not succeed on the analog synth market. It may be 4 voice poly, but you have to tweak each voice independently. So you'll never get exact the same sound on all voices. The filter doesnt sound good either... I hope a second look will be better, but i doubt it...
The tuning issue pops up again, such a shame. Brilliant idea for the 4 voice. Synth into Memory man into a guitar amp would sound great if it was close to in-tune.
That Akai Timber Wolf sounds so out of tune I can't stop laughing. I feel sorry for Dan having to try and sell this product, as I am sure he knows himself the product sounds so bad. However the Tom Cat shows some promise, but it is very limited for a hardware drum machine. It would have been better if it had separate audio outs for each drum part, maybe a built in Reverb or Delay unit. I think the "Meaoow" knob should be dropped, it isn't a distortion effect, but a nasty gain control.
I used to make VST drum machines with the Synth Edit program which sounded very similar to the Tom Cat. So I guess the drum machine is analoge in nature. I noticed there isn't much difference between the Bassdrum and the Toms, they almost sound the same. This is because a simple Sinewave is used for both sounds, with a simple envelope attached to the pitch. I used to combine a Triangle wave with a Sinewave to try and fatten up the Bassdrum in Synth Edit, and try and make a difference in sound between the Toms and Bassdrum. If you were going to used the Bassdrum and Toms with this instrument, you would need to carefully tune the Bassdrum and Toms so that they would sit right in the mix.
Nice looking little box, plenty of knobs, looks fun to play around with. Not sure about the sounds though. It wasn't a very good demo. Sounded positively awful when he first started playing it. Need to see more. It's a shame so many of these demos do so little to 'demo' the product. I know they're very short and off the cuff. But if you can't pull this off without making your product sound half decent ...... Well, you can see people's responses on here. Not a good starting point is it. Maybe Akai should have kept this secret a bit longer.
Why oh why is every NAMM demo a drunken mess? I don't care that it's a sequencer, I want a polysynth!!! Play a fucking chord please, my god what a shit demo.... I so want to be sold on this, especally for the price, if I heard a proper demo I'd be $500 poorer right now. People of Sonicstate, please instruct these people to do proper demos and if they don't, do them yourself. Yes, I know, the heavy booze stands are everywhere but that's no excuse... It's a polysynth for crying out loud, let's hear some polyphony! Why does everyone throw on a mindless arpeggiator playing out of tune nonsense?
Oscillators drift, the cheaper the unit the less stable the oscillators (typically). These are cheap instruments that sound cheap. Might be fun, but that is about all.
I have no opinion if this machine could be usefull or sound even interesting, if they didn't have ANY presentation video... seriously guys: if you get some gear together, learn how to present its features and present how it can play (no marketing shit, just present its features for fuck sake!)
Free A4/AK patches here: www.floppydiskpirates.com/free-patches/ Download over 230 Analog Four/Keys patches here: sellfy.com/p/GEUz/ Visit my website for more information: www.floppydiskpirates.com
Who guessed this was coming? arturia mini brute, then micro brute, now this one looks A LOT like the micro brute... yeah... who would´ve guess? maybe SOMEBODY WHO WORKS IN THIS AREA LIKE SONICSTATE??? btw this sounds like shit...
Yeah ok, like you would buy this over a novation bass station 2 or a minibrute, I love my AKAI samplers but come on.... And for that price you can keep it Akai, sorry, sounds crap
'We didn't tell anybody about it because we were desperate to release something sort of analog-ish because everyone else is and only decided to let this one out (like a wet fart) at the last minute'.
Reminds me the three parts (!) review of the mighty Andromeda synth here on youtube. Whatever this thing sounds like, the guy demoing could hardly make it sound worse
Wow he's basically aphex twin incredible
This is still my fave product demo ever.
I now realize that this video alone is probably responsible for a lot of the hate
"It can get a little extreme" Whoa! Thanks for warning me!
+ArtFluids Extremely shit
nice demo, technicaly very complete, musically ,,,,,, he leaves it up to us.
yeah smart demo, dan made no attempt to show off how it CAN sound like but was very proffessional on the features. this wolf does not knock at your door, it rings the doorbell,
if you have a doorbell & let it in then the wolf lets you in. how did they think up this synth, my fav.
edit: think each voice individual tuning harmonic series with 32 note sequencer, guitar tuner and fx pedals,,,, Enjoy.
AKAI has turned into that friend that comes over and plays you his demos. You know they're shit, and it's uncomfortable and embarrassing to listen to, so you just nod and smile politely.
Dude, it has full-size keys, so give it some credit wouldya? :) And these polished side-panels??? Mmmmmm...
***** Yup! But ANALOG!
theeltea They sure know how to Akai a dead horse sorry analog doesn't always sound great or even good this sounds like a 80s toy Casio.
theeltea There's analog and then there is anal log, this one is the latter.
Evan J Most probably is... Now, someone needs to circuit-bend this thing!
Nick: "So this was a bit of a surprise then."
Demo guy: "Yeah we knew it was shit so we didn't tell anybody"
That bizzaro sequence running as he talks is maybe the perfect soundtrack to this
That, and the nervous laugh at 2:50 ... LOL, what the hell is going on here?!?! WOW LOL
I actually like the sequence tbh. I have a hard time making stuff like that.
DIRECTIONS FOR USE OF THE TIMBREWOLFE: Remove from packaging, remove power supply. Place in one (1) bucket of 20/90 mix of salt water at 17 degrees Celsius. Leave until it doesn't work anymore. Use Power supply on Korg Minilogue.
That sequence made me laugh so hard that I had tears in my eyes!
This demo is ticking all the boxes ❤
He compared it to a oberheim four voice
Well, it DOES consume electricity like an Oberheim.
@@MongoSynth and it is mostly white
"It's essentially the same synthesis engine as the rhythm wolf."
I hope it doesn't have the same tuning issue...
it does
The synth looks a little bit interesting, but I need a more in-depth demo to make a decision as to whether I'd consider buying it or not. Not too interested in the drum machines at all. Diggin' on the volca sample though.
I reckon this is set to be just as big a hit as the Rhythm Wolf..
LMAO the guy at 3:10 is like "wtf is this shit"
"Like a 4 voice Oberheim". He didn't even chuckle.
I sure did!
"AKAI Professional" used to mean something. This thing should say "AKAI Amateur" on the label. And what's up with the two-octave keyboard? Who wants a polysynth with a 2-octave keyboard? That's fine for a basic monosynth like the Sub Phatty or the Mini/Micro Brute, but c'mon...That's ridiculous! This could have been like a newfangled Mono/Poly if they'd tried a bit harder. Oh well. Better luck next time AKAI!
That's a real good point actually... The Timbre Wolf really is a strange machine..
Lookign forward to some real demo's
It's far bigger than needed for most EDM.
Dear Akai, if you want to sell any of your products, please get somebody to represent them well, thank you.
To be fair, I cannot think of anyone who could make this gear sound good. I feel bad for Dan… he was assigned a task that simply could not be achieved. Akai failed miserably with this line. Some people try to salvage these units but theres really no point. These units were so limited, its actually comical that Akai released these.
I had a Rhythm Wolf home for demo (video coming soon), and must say i was very disappointed! Relevant to this synth; the bass synth sections filter was very weak, and all resonance did was to suck the bottom and warmth out of the sound. He calls it "nice and squelchy" @ 2:20 - that filter doesn't do squelchy! It has zero power, warmth or character! The only possible redemption is the fact that the Howl on the Rhythm Wolf only affects the drum sounds - not the bass.
Though i doubt it'll help as all Howl actually does is raise the noise floor.
Incidently, the Howl in the Rhythm Wolf does more to the high-mid and high frequencies than (the next to nothing) it does to the bass frequencies, which compounds the problem that the kick is very weak, and though it has some sub (which can't be properly tuned to your track), it has zero smack or power! It's also lower than the rest of the sounds altogether.
Personally i think the only way to interpret the Tom Cat, is they know Rhythm Wolf was a failure. Despite changes they're too similar to justify the 2 products at the same time. Time will tell if the changes have made the Tom Cat worthwhile.
Judging from my experience, and what little you can hear in this video. Despite an excellent concept, physical build quality and branding, the Wolf series is a prime example of taking advantage of the analogue bandwagon with substance-devoid rubbish!
I got one and sent it back. It sounded decent throug a digital effects unit. lol
They really make themselfs look like cheap tricksters here. But I never had a good Akai product anyway and I don't do MPC.
I have a RW and I completely ignore the bass part altogether. It is just not nice enough to use it if you have more bass options in your studio..
The rhythm part of the RW is in my view not bad at all, maybe limited but you cannot have everything....
This TW here, I will not buy.
You said you take requests? Build a good MPC again!
Now that's how you launch a product
I can picture Nick Batt trying not to laugh in the background, whilst pulling a special needs face 🤣🤣
Guy In Background:
3:12 **What is making that horrible noise?**
3:17 **I can't stand it anymore, I am out of here....are you really recording this synth and this guy presenting it?**
Does this look like an Arturia keyboard or what
He keeps saying something is going to happen and nothing happens!
"It just gets nasty" What did?
His "cat claws" action was the highlight here... not saying much is it?
not the most interesting programming but i think this sounds pretty capable of some interesting stuff especially with the separate outs per part.
not sure if they know its pronounced tamber....
or they're not going for the timber wolf pun.
Is this a 555 timer?
Jeez. What a bunch of haters! You may criticize the demo, but Akai just made 2 new cheap analog synths! What more do you want? I am sure it's a perfectly capable monosynth.
+orazdow mini and microbrutes destroy this piece of garbage and cost less
My bottom makes more musical sounding farts than this crap.
Monsieur Le Pétomane, is that you?
albedo0point39 Non, je suis son Fils.
...and what an ass! (Fart sound)
But it is monophonic....
...and I probably not as cheap.
Rauno Araneva
So is the Microbrute! And that sounds as powerful as John Barry's Brass section!!
Why does it sound so out of tune?
I don't know if the sound or the color scheme is worse.
Whatever happened to this? Looks like it never saw the light of day, which is probably a good thing.
It doesn't really impress on the first look.
It sounds really crappy.
Akai this is how to not succeed on the analog synth market.
It may be 4 voice poly, but you have to tweak each voice independently. So you'll never get exact the same sound on all voices.
The filter doesnt sound good either...
I hope a second look will be better, but i doubt it...
The tuning issue pops up again, such a shame. Brilliant idea for the 4 voice.
Synth into Memory man into a guitar amp would sound great if it was close to in-tune.
The thing is first impressions last you should be blown away by the demo...
Give it to guys at sonicstate....
I'm still not won over buy it...
there is something squelchy about this
looks very early...hope they get the tuning sorted out..the drum machine looks more promising though
Make a new mpc all in one standalone machine with vst support
It's nice to see some good humor at Namm.
Disappointed that I've never seen this been used on Friday Fun, Nick.
Never had one....
You can down load an App too of this synth for your phone :)
Quagmire strikes out again lol....giggity
They steal parts from Arturia?
For twenty dollars, I'd certainly buy this.
Haha!
can we do overdub ?
Why are you guys downvoting his video?
It's not his fault that this sounds like shit...
If he's the product guy then course it's part his fault
It's not sonicstates fault...
Tune it man! Perhaps it's solely designed for detuned unison DNB basses?
Why would anyone with a Rhythm wolf buy the same Kick, SN and HH again?
That Akai Timber Wolf sounds so out of tune I can't stop laughing. I feel sorry for Dan having to try and sell this product, as I am sure he knows himself the product sounds so bad.
However the Tom Cat shows some promise, but it is very limited for a hardware drum machine. It would have been better if it had separate audio outs for each drum part, maybe a built in Reverb or Delay unit. I think the "Meaoow" knob should be dropped, it isn't a distortion effect, but a nasty gain control.
I used to make VST drum machines with the Synth Edit program which sounded very similar to the Tom Cat. So I guess the drum machine is analoge in nature. I noticed there isn't much difference between the Bassdrum and the Toms, they almost sound the same. This is because a simple Sinewave is used for both sounds, with a simple envelope attached to the pitch. I used to combine a Triangle wave with a Sinewave to try and fatten up the Bassdrum in Synth Edit, and try and make a difference in sound between the Toms and Bassdrum. If you were going to used the Bassdrum and Toms with this instrument, you would need to carefully tune the Bassdrum and Toms so that they would sit right in the mix.
Nice looking little box, plenty of knobs, looks fun to play around with. Not sure about the sounds though. It wasn't a very good demo. Sounded positively awful when he first started playing it. Need to see more.
It's a shame so many of these demos do so little to 'demo' the product. I know they're very short and off the cuff. But if you can't pull this off without making your product sound half decent ...... Well, you can see people's responses on here. Not a good starting point is it. Maybe Akai should have kept this secret a bit longer.
They don't play chords, because it sounds out of tune the whole time! This is what the sixties looked like if you went for polyphony.
Available in all good toy stores now.
Well, it's September 2015....anyone see one on the shelves? No. Thought not......
+blipblip88 sweetwater is saying spring 2016. on the plus side, that'll give "akai" some time to turn this catastrophe into a train wreck.
terrormech ha!
$499 ?! Someone has a rich fantasy life.
Why oh why is every NAMM demo a drunken mess? I don't care that it's a sequencer, I want a polysynth!!! Play a fucking chord please, my god what a shit demo.... I so want to be sold on this, especally for the price, if I heard a proper demo I'd be $500 poorer right now. People of Sonicstate, please instruct these people to do proper demos and if they don't, do them yourself. Yes, I know, the heavy booze stands are everywhere but that's no excuse... It's a polysynth for crying out loud, let's hear some polyphony! Why does everyone throw on a mindless arpeggiator playing out of tune nonsense?
gonna start a genre called akai core. just shitty generic sounds
+Meat eating Plant Dude sounds like a great idea! :D
Laughing at the hate while listening to a guy "show off" a band-pass filter.
Ahh yes, a true classic as far as product demo's go.... Lmfao
I sent my Wolf back after 2 days, I won't be getting this either.
I hope they have new hardware for NAMM 2018 :)
How, in Christs' name, has this 'Dan' character still got a job?
Oscillators drift, the cheaper the unit the less stable the oscillators (typically). These are cheap instruments that sound cheap. Might be fun, but that is about all.
Still here in 2025
is this some kind of joke ?
sounds like a Russian rap
Are Akai trolling?! Looks cheap, sounds weak, that filter was a joke. Akai, please do yourselves a favour and redesign these before you release them.
at least the tom cat is a bit better than the rhythm wolf...
It is? Really? Seriously?
key words: "a bit"
KelleyBates Yes it marginally sucks less they are really making progress towards innovating at a snails pace.
I like it.... Give it 6 months and you'll pick these up for under 200 ££'s - and that's when I'll strike ;)
Oh dear, multiply crap by 4 and it is still crap.
Robots farting
I have no opinion if this machine could be usefull or sound even interesting, if they didn't have ANY presentation video... seriously guys: if you get some gear together, learn how to present its features and present how it can play (no marketing shit, just present its features for fuck sake!)
Is this pre-alpha hardware or something? This demo was pretty bad and the guy makes it sound like a toy! Come on Akai!
Here is a composite of all the demos: th-cam.com/video/4vLCalVEtm0/w-d-xo.html
It's sad that this killed off the analog wing at Akai.
it sounds cool
Here's a request akai, make instruments that sound good
Free A4/AK patches here: www.floppydiskpirates.com/free-patches/
Download over 230 Analog Four/Keys patches here: sellfy.com/p/GEUz/
Visit my website for more information: www.floppydiskpirates.com
1:00
>_
Ooof
WTF is wrong with Akai now ?People want Standalone MPC's
kinda like live programming a 303 - okay!
i think korg minologue still has a edge on this
The filter on my roll up sounds better than this.
Who guessed this was coming? arturia mini brute, then micro brute, now this one looks A LOT like the micro brute... yeah... who would´ve guess? maybe SOMEBODY WHO WORKS IN THIS AREA LIKE SONICSTATE??? btw this sounds like shit...
That filter sounds horrible...
$150. No more.
Please people, stop talking and play, we want to hear the beast not the man
Yeah ok, like you would buy this over a novation bass station 2 or a minibrute, I love my AKAI samplers but come on.... And for that price you can keep it Akai, sorry, sounds crap
it sounds sad.
6:39 the laugh
I would pay to see our host's face during this disastrous demo Lol
Ive got a timber wolf - but its not for playing music with ladies...
i mean i could just buy for volca keys, have more voices, more flexibility, and more fun for almost the same price.
no, you wont get that terrible synth sound from four volcas like you will with this...
ha true.
This is a new level of shit, its awesome!
3:40 so he programmed it or not? hahahaha
Ummmmmmmm nope
I just can't 😂😂😂
'We didn't tell anybody about it because we were desperate to release something sort of analog-ish because everyone else is and only decided to let this one out (like a wet fart) at the last minute'.
...nice clap???
Reminds me the three parts (!) review of the mighty Andromeda synth here on youtube. Whatever this thing sounds like, the guy demoing could hardly make it sound worse