Waldorf Microwave 1: The Rebirth of Waldorf’s Fantastic First Synth… in Software Form
Relive the artifact-laden days of 1989 with this "painstakingly recreated" plugin.
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The Waldorf Microwave 1 plugin models the quirks of the original rackmount wavetable synth down to its DACs and digital noise.
Waldorf Microwave 1
In 1989, Waldorf released its first synth, the Microwave. A descendent of the PPG Wave series, Waldorf’s rackmount debut featured wavetables from the Wave 2.3, a custom integrated circuit – the Waldorf ASIC – co-developed with Wolfgang Palm, analog Curtis filter chips and unique 68k CPU-based controller software. All of this resulted in a characterful and much-loved digital/analog hybrid synthesizer.
Waldorf has been teasing a return of the Microwave for a few weeks now. While many were undoubtedly hoping for a hardware re-release, the company has instead gone the plugin route. The result is Microwave 1, which was “painstakingly recreated from the original hardware with all its distinctive features and singularities,” in the words of Waldorf.
Waldorf Microwave 1: Bring the (Digital) Noise
The result of many years of development, Microwave 1 features emulations of many aspects of the original hardware, including the ultra-high 250kHz sampling rate, 100% identically recreated digital waveforms and even the digital noise, “rebuilt with all its wonderful artifacts,” according to Waldorf.
Additional emulated characteristics include the digital-to-analog converters plus both Curtis filter chip variants used in revisions A and B of the original hardware. The plugin also lets you detune and recalibrate the analog components.
Waldorf Microwave 1: New GUI
While many loved the sound of the original Microwave hardware, few had favorable things to say about the interface. Restricted to a small LCD screen and single parameter adjustment knob, editing was a rather laborious process. Waldorf has addressed this on the plugin with a fully scalable modern interface that includes graphical representations of the wavetables, envelopes and filter response curves plus animations for modulation and playing positions.
Waldorf Microwave 1: Catch the Wave
Waldorf Microwave 1 features all of the original wavetables with their control structures plus the full original waveform catalogue. You can edit and create user wavetables as well as user waveforms. Waldorf has added randomization modes to assist in wavetable editing. There’s also a multi-mode page with a mixer.
Fans and owners of the hardware, take note. The plugin features all of the original factory single and multi-mode sounds, as well as new and modern sounds and presets. You can import original MIDI and Sys-Ex dump files and the plugin can even control the original hardware.
Price and Availability
Waldorf Microwave 1 is available now as VST, VST3, AU and AAX for macOS and Windows for an introductory price of €115 for 10 days, after which it will rise to an SRP of €149.
If you really want Microwave sounds in hardware form, there’s always the Waldorf M, which has classic Microwave and Microwave II wavetables plus a 24dB/Oct lowpass filter.
More Information
- Waldorf Microwave 1 product page
- All about Waldorf
- All about synthesizers
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One response to “Waldorf Microwave 1: The Rebirth of Waldorf’s Fantastic First Synth… in Software Form”
Tip; if a plugin is an emulation of a digital device, they’re nearly always as good as the orginal, and this one probably is too.
However, if a plugin is an emulation of an analogue device, buy the analogue device instead.
😎