I had a Wave years ago and I agree it's a great instrument.
Great sound by itself, even before you start using samples.
Great filter options (much better IMHO than any other synth by Clavia, which tend to get a little boring with the usual LP/HP/BP thing)
Small but powerful effect section, actually better than the Lead 4 or A1 (you have 4 simultaneaous effects: Chorus, Delay, Reverb and Drive, plus a basic but useful EQ. On the other Leads you can use max 2 or 3 effects at the same time, and no EQ). And the Comb and Vocal filters can be used as additional effects, you can get great flanger-phaser-formant-like sounds.
It's not a real FM synth, but you have some nice pre-determined FM algorythms. And wavetables. And "Sampled waves" (single-cycle waves with the sampled attack transients of acoustic instruments).
On top of this, you have samples and yes, I found it more useful to use my own samples and/or sample other synth sounds, than to use it as a standard ROMpler for acoustic sounds.
And hey, it has a decent keybed, proper display and aftertouch! Hello Clavia!!!

So yeah, as far as sonic possibilities it still easily holds its own, can't see anything currently produced that carries the same package of features.
There's really lots and lots of sound in this pretty red box, it does subtractive synthesis very well but can go far beyond, you can create sounds that would normally require several different synths and/or effect boxes.

Just beware that there are also some downsides, and they are pretty big ones.
Only 2-part multitimbral, not 4-part like all other Clavia synths.
You can layer, but not split (?!?!)
Aftertouch is quite crippled (hard-wired to vibrato, no way to assign it to anything else).
No ring modulation, no filter drive.
No USB-MIDI or USB-audio.
No sequencer, no arpeggiator, no master clock, no unison, no "hold" function.

I sold it because I couldn't find a real role for it in my setup and I couldn't justify keeping such an expensive piece of gear underutilized. But I can perfectly see getting another in the future if I find a great deal.
Just be conscious of its limits: it forces you to do things its own way, that will probably disrupt your usual workflow; it's not a "do-it-all" synth, and obviously not a ROMpler.
It's "only" an excellent performance instrument: just create great and unusual sounds and play away.

Sure!
Here's a quick patch, only 1 sample slot is used (prophet '08 sample), no other osc's.
Waves filter and effects. 2nd take is with chorus set to max.
Sorry for bad playing

I picked one up this summer and I love it. As usual with sampling, a lot of the things I plan out and create intentionally wind up sounding a bit dull, while other things that I accidentally stumble across sound great.

One feature I've found surprisingly useful is the "skip sample start" button, which lets you set up an alternate start point within the waveform. Old ROMplers that needed to conserve memory would generally use the attack portion of a sample to define the instrument, then have a very short loop for the sustain portion of the sound. With the Wave I sometimes do the opposite - I'll set that "skip sample start" so the attack is more synth-like, but the sustain is a much longer, more evolving loop.

I do miss having a built-in arp/sequencer, but I have a Keystep laying around that will work just fine for that. If they ever make a Wave 2 (wishful thinking) I'd like to see real-time sliders for Start/End/Reverse like my old Akai s612.

So the filters don't have Clavia's typical sound? Was always curious but was put off by the price and the prospect of Clavia's filter (didn't jell with the sound of my OG Nord Modular back in the day).

Another question: Why go for the Wave instead of the Blofeld, which has a third oscillator, mod matrix, programmable arp, user wavetables and has up to 8 slots?

Thanks JemenJ that sounded pretty impressive!

The lowpass filter is still Nord-ish, but different from what I remember on my Lead 1. To me the Wave's filter sounds like a cross between a Nord and a Roland Juno. The Nord Lead would get really thin when I turned up the resonance, while the Wave remains a little thicker and the resonance just adds a sheen that blends with the sound.

Regarding the Blofeld, I'll always trade off extra features for having a better interface, and all the knobs on the Wave make it fun to work with.

Thanks for that description.

I totally get that. I'll hang on to the Blofeld's versatility and its well-done UI, though it can't compete with the Wave on that point. These posts, however, are getting me interested in at least exploring a Wave, if I could ever find one in person to dabble with.

I have both - the similarities between Wave & Blofeld end on paper. Completely different experience in use. Suffice to say the Wave, despite it's obvious limitations, is a joy to program and having the Nord sample library on hand (not to mention the excellent Sound Manager & Sample Editor tools) is quite the advantage.

Agree with all of the above.
Blofeld is deeper for sure, but the Wave has ZERO menu diving (only for setting global parameters such as MIDI channel etc, sound design and performance is 100% done on the front panel).

As for the sample side of things, the Wave is a much more powerful sampler/ROMpler. It has about 3 times the sample memory of the Blofeld, and Nord's compression algorythm is very efficient (saves a lot of memory with little loss of quality, so you can store many more samples), and maybe most important, there's no loss of polyphony when using samples (huge difference with the Blofeld, where using large samples totally cripples polyphony).

I was trying to sell my Wave a few months ago but it didn’t shift, possibly down to one of the pots (OSC 2 sample selector) skipping occasionally or not registering the turn. You always got there but it didn’t quite feel right.

Anyway I tried to replace it but long story short it didn’t quite work out and I ended up buying a whole new control surface board which includes the pitch bend stick and the display. It now works like a charm

Having played with it for the past week or so I have to say it’s starting to grow on me and I won’t be trying to sell it again any time soon.

Have to say though I had forgotten how bad most of the default patches are.

I love the strings on the Wave, that Chorus is brilliant. Really nice on the A1 too

I have a problem. I briefly owned a Wave years ago, which I sold because I needed money and space, and wasn't really using it much.

But lately I've been thinking more and more about getting another one... I try to think of all the stupid limitations (no splits, no arp etc) to fight the GAS, but the memory of how good it sounded is just too much!
Somebody help me!!!

There's no help to be had, your memory of it is correct. Get hunting

I sold mine last year, not looked back.

I thought the synth engine was pretty weak although the samples sounded really nice - choirs especially.

Hope I’m not breaking any forum rules, but I’ve got one which I’ve been meaning to sell.

Where are you from?

Just got a Nord Wave and am really enjoying working with the front panel interface. So well thought out especially the effects section. The low pass filter seems to do a nice job of helping to remove the digital sheen you can get although the resonance is so so. But it has some other interesting filters. Interesting morphing capabilities too. Anyways, just some initial quick thoughts and curios if others are still using theirs.

Wave owner here, I’ve started having a problem where my unit won’t recognise individual MIDI IN messages for the separate layers. Anyone else had this?

Absolutely still love mine.
Had one, sold it, regretted it, bought another one, will never sell it again.
It still sounds great, it's a nice self-contained package that still does some pretty unique things even compared to modern offerings, and most of all it's a joy to use.