Waldorf Micro-Q

The parameter matrix is not so easy to handle, and when you want to make a patch from the scratch is very difficult. Unless you have to much experience in sound synthesis, the parameter matrix will be a problem. The other side of the parameter matrix is that you can handle a lot of parameters with only a few knobs, what makes the device cheaper.
The user manual is good.

The Micro Q has some unique features, like three oscillators, what makes it different from others synths. It has a good arpeggiator. You can edit everything with the MQedit software.

The overall impression is that the sounds is metallic and very heavy, with a very good and precise high and low end, and beautiful, beautiful filters; I could listen those filters all day. Sometimes it is heavy in a very good way, sometimes it is metallic in a bad way.
Good: the arpeggios, the bells and the plucked shine, CS80 emulations are OK, some brasses are beautiful, some basses are useful but not cool, some pads are useful if you change them in drones. Bad: everything else; the sustainable sounds (strings and pads) are horrible and almost unusable, the leads are weird in a bad way, the organs, electric pianos, acoustic emulations and the especial effects (UFOs, wind, rain, etc) aren???t good also. I know this is a virtual analog, but the problem is the sustainable sounds. It can???t emulate 303 and 808 well.
It produces a lot of noise, you must use eq to handle the noise. The effects (reverb, flange, phaser) sucks. Do not expect a Virus or a Nord..

It stopped working four months after I bought it, what can I say?! It couldn???t be repaired because the chips couldn???t be replaced! If someone take off a broken part, you may damage the Micro Q for good.

It doesn???t exist in Brazil, and this is an old synth.

It doesn???t sync very well with the recording software (!?!), it gets slightly out of phase, then in phase again; I was handling this problem recording with a very low buffer latency (5 ms) in my software.
It???s good if it???s your third or fourth synth, and if you like different (out of the mainstream) sounds. You must buy it cheap, or buy a Blofeld (Blofeld can read Micro Q banks).
Despite this problems it can make a beautiful contrast in mix with wavetable, or FM tipe sounds. This thing can produce a very unique sound.
Since my Micro Q is broken, I intend to buy a Blofeld someday.

at first is a bit much but overall it is simple and gets pretty intuitive. not a slider and knob ladden beast but not a burden either.
the presets are not my thing but it is a very nice sounding synth.
manual is ok but kind of stilted in its translation.

well it is a pretty basic layout allthough capable of very complex sounds. enough polyphony for me for part muti timbral.
this box has a good arpeggiator well excellent actual and you can even get some nice slides out of it.
endless rotary encoders adequate screen and nice metal chasis. effects arent the best but not the worst either.

the sound engine on this synth is amazing.

i cannot stress enough if it was just the sounds you were basing this unit on it should get a ten.
it is its own thing and i can say after owning a micron nord and ms2000 as well as a an1x this is a amazingly good sounding synth.
it can sound extremely analog and big warm and pumping. it can also shimmer with the most mettalic noise as well.
fm is nice some people say it sounds tinny and crappy well it can and its not a bad thing.
programmed properly tho this synth just gets so deep.
it can layer sounds nicely. fits with so many different genres even some of the current nintendo glitchy stuff can be had out of this box.

so far so good.
the powersupply looks sketchville tho dont know about that to much

dunno

it bloody slays. i mean get to programming it and you can do lots no other synth can do with this one.
that being said if you still are hauling tons of boards to do your live set if you program this properly you can probably slim down your live set.
one of the best synths i have ever owned.

Prety easy to use. Mq's manual is good for beginner & some good tricks...

Apr is prety good, mod matrix can be firt odd to use.

Sounds are just unbelievable! Only problem is external signal to vocoder

10 really solid work. Knobs can be only hard to find.

Waldorf as a company isn't dead, just chance of owner right now. Really heplfull e-mail forum.

I would buy new one if this been stolen. Makes fine sounds & easy to update sounds. Can be expaded to up to 75 notes poly beast as mine is!

I'm using OS 2.14. I like the interface. It's way better than Pulse if you've ever used that. I hear a lot of people $%^&* about having to go through menus, but if you know how to program you don't need 500 knobs, and if you do get the full size Q :) At least it has a nice lcd compared to the crappy 3 digit display on the Pulse. I like the endless rotaries too, and they added an on/off switch! Wish it had an internal p/s though. Presets are somewhat lackluster, but presets shouldn't be the be-all and end-all of a synth's features anyway.

I have the blue rack version (the yellow ones are hideous, lol), so I can't comment on key action. Mine's the standard 25 voice poly version, which is plenty for me. MIDI implementation is good. Plenty of i/o options. Built in fx are decent, but outboard are far superior, as they are with most synths. Tons of routing options and envelopes make it very versatile. Plenty of memory locations too. Vocoder is good but i prefer my MS2000 for live use.

The Micro Q, as well as the Microwave series, have a sort of love-it or hate-it sound. I personally love it. This is a very unique sounding instrument and is really an inspiration to play. I get bored playing synths that all try to sound the same. If you want your synth to sound like a moog, prophet, or jupiter, then go buy the real thing. The Micro Q can do mostly any type of sound, and do it well. It's great for leads, bass, pads, sweeps and wierd bleepy bloopy noises and fx. Great for industrial, dance, or pretty much any electro-style. The filters are especially awesome, (try the comb filter) and there are LOTS of them. The fx aren't really that good, but thats what we have outboard processors for. A lot of people say it has a 'clinical' sound, and it's true it's not as warm as some of my other gear such as the JP-8080, but it's flexibility and unique sound more than makes up for any shortcomings.

I've never had a problem with OS 2.14, but I've heard Waldorf are notorious for their unstable early operating systems. I've also heard that some units overheat, but I've never had that problem with mine. Knobs and buttons feel sturdy. I'd use it live without hesitation.

Waldorf no longer exists, but there are plenty of user forums online.

If it were lost or stolen I'd get another one for sure. They are easy to find on ebay and an excellent value. I wouldn't use it as my only piece of gear, but if you are just starting out it makes an excellent choice for a 1st synth. I mostly play industrial, and it's right at home in that style of music. I've got a lot of other rack gear, including a K2500RS, Microwave XT, Jp-8080, Pulse and Virus XL, and this synth compliments them quite well.

I would not say the unit is easy to use - contraire, just need to
take the learning curve into consideration.

The criterion is of only 3 areas; number of ocillators, types of filters and quality of waveforms. Most of the other features are
secondary or tertiary.

This is why I bought the unit - twice. The sound is really high end
in terms of complexity and texture. I would say it sounds digital
and/or analog. It also sounds unique. I mainly use it for lead via
a Yamaha KX-5 but use it for ambient shading as well.

Seems to work fine - both units.

n/a

I did replace the unit so there you go. In a subjective sense
I do favor Waldorf. It's a sort of liquid quality through which
I can really express. Coooooooool!!

Not bad. The routing system on the front is a bit confusing at first, but when you are used to it - it's a big help.

Good set of features. The arpeggiator is... heaven. No doubt. If anyone thought the Virus C arpeggiator is cool, wait until you've tried the Micro-Q arpeggiator. The downside, it looks a bit frightening at first, but it's both easy to use and to program.

Absolutely terrible. I can't understand what people see in the MicroQ. The sounds are lifeless and metallic in some unpleasant way. Believe me, I've programmed many synthesizers and I'm used to make sounds myself - the MicroQ may look like a beast on the paper, but it's not. Take a look at eBay and ask yourself... why is so many people selling their MQs if they are so good as they say?

Avoid.

The latest OS is OK, but has to reorganize every now and then when loading new sounds to it. Can bve pretty annoying if you're trying to clean out all the presets you don't use.

Well. Waldorf are gone, but the community isn't that bad. It's easy to get proper help.

Sold it, will never replace it. A shame though... the MQ keyboard looks so nice...

V2.14

Presets sound awesome... fat, thin, random... everything has some level of 'warmth' to it. There's many options, I know, but even compared to the nicer workstations (Triton, Motif, Phantom), these MicroQ had a 'richer' quality.

This is where it's quicker than the workstations. Doesn't have the same extent of knobs but very quick to edit on the fly.

Looking for a manual.

Keyboard action is awesome considering its not weighted. It's quick and dynamic enough to do some interesting rhythmical grooves. Please refer to the other reviews for technical details... it's got it, so move on.

Let's just say that's it a deal for all the features that's offered by the Micro Q.

Since this is a VA (not a workstation), yes, it's realistic in emulating FAT analog synth tones. Don't expect it to do great grand pianos.

Look, its great for rock, trance, pop... but it's awesome for kick ass R&B, funk. You can do some updating and sick on some ol' Parliament tunes.

For digital / analog tones, it's definitely dynamic.

Built like a tank.

Unfortunately, Waldorf went under due to severe competition from soft synth. The only problem with those soft synth is that there a main in the butt.

Micro Q is immediate.

If you factor the size, it's absolutely the best value out there for a sweet VA synth. I looked at the rack version but the keybaord is worth it.

Using OS 2.14, I found this to be rather more easy and intuitive to use than I expected going through 4 or 5 knobs and buttons! The only part I had some confusion with (and for which the manual isn't as helpful) is navigating through the main Global settings and OS menus with the red knob; tweaking all patches is easy and straightforward, though (now made easier through my Oxygen 8 controller)

For the money, I couldn't ask for more. I looked around at a lot of other VAs and small synths ... microKorg, Micron, K-Station, X-Station, you name it... something was ALWAYS missing. microKorg has a decent vocoder (a plus for me), but the keys are too small and polyphony low; Micron has great sounds and full-sized keys, but more geared for classic-rock style leads and such... plus, the vocoder sucks, and it only has 3 KNOBS for tweaking sounds! K-station seemed the best bet for the money, but its monotimbral and low polyphony, X-station fixed some of this and has USB interface... but dropped the vocoder!

SO, with 16 part multitimbral, 25 voices, sweet vocoder, virtual analog capabilities AND nice digital filters, this synth has everything I wanted other than a keyboard (but at $80 used, my Oxygen 8 easily solved that problem)

I have not had a chance to use the onboard effects yet, so that may be a drawback from what I hear, but the arpeggiator, preset soundbank patches, and variety are incredible. I would say it sounds best for lush basses, thin/airy/fuzzy sweeping pads and strings, and watery-sounding modulator transformations... if you're looking to make trance, this thing is awesome. I personally am trying to use it for some glitchy rock stuff, so it may not be the best for that, but I feel confident that with as many filters, oscillators, etc. that this thing has, I can make it achieve any sound I am going to want.

It feels dependable. To be honest, this is my first rack synth, so I'm not really sure how these things hold up... plus I will be taking it on the road and gigging with it. I'm only a little concerned about the jacks in the back, which are apparently connected straight to the motherboard but not secured to the case at all! But that's okay, because I ended up buying two of them (used)! I considered reselling the second one since I don't need it... BUT I would have a heart attack if the one I'm using suddenly gave out.

So I foresee having two of these, one of which will be stowed away as a safe and reliable backup, just "in case" Even if I never need it, I'm willing to bet these babies will be hard to come by in the near future since Waldorf went kaput and they are still in high demand.

Company is dead.

Maybe if I'd spend the original $800-1000 on this baby I wouldn't give it a 10, but for what you can get out of it at a little over $300 used, it blows my mind. Between this and a sampler keyboard for more realistic sounds (I use the Alesis QS6.1), I feel like I will never need to buy another keyboard again (unless it's a better controller board)

Like I said, I have two of them, and I'm now thinking of holding on to the second one because I think I would literally break down and cry if mine broke and somehow I couldn't replace it.

Good manual. Preset editing difficulty is average; the matrix editing is fairly efficient but of course, not as good as having dedicated knobs for all parameters...an OK trade-off though since that would increase the size and price considerably.

The Wavetables and Bass/Lead/Pad template initial patches are nice touches. Very well spec'd. in terms of LFOs, envelopes, and filters.

When I first got the Micro-Q about two years ago i thought it had an overall digital quality to it (...not necessarily a bad thing as some would imply) but I've since changed my mind and think that the Micro-Q can also have a pleasing analog quality to it e.g. smoooooooth pads.

I agree with the last reviewer in that the build quality seems good but the AC cord has a loose fit in the socket.

When Waldorf was still in business they were great but now....well, I haven't had occcasion to even try to contact them but you can't expect support from a defunct company.

I agree with pretty much everything the previous reviewer said. MO the Micro-Q is a very worthwhile synth for electronic/synthetic sounds; it can sound digital or analog.

Easier than I expected for such a small rack-mount synth. OS 2.22, "25-voice" version (see below). The editing matrix is not as easy as one-knob-per-function, of course, but it's not really hard. Just a little slower. I've never used a patch editor. Presets are absolutely fantastic. Mind-blowing. The manual is pretty good...it even contains a couple examples of German humor.

You only get 25 voices if you have a simple sound, like maybe one oscillator and one filter. A complex sound can bring polyphony down to 10 voices or so, but so what? The Jupiter 8 only had 8 voices, and people still lust after it. No keyboard, effects are good but not as good as multi-thousand dollar Lexicons (that's OK with me), no expansion, MIDI functions are great. The Q's step sequencer has been dropped, as has the ability to morph patches and filter settings. Morphing patches on the Q never amounted to much for me (only continuously controlled parameters morphed, not selectible parameters), and the filter thing is no big deal. There are still two filters per voice here, and they still sound great.

The synth engine here is one of the best ever made. 3 oscillators (with smooth, smooth, smooth wavetables), 2 sub-oscillators, 3 LFOs, 2 filters, ring mod, FM, overdrive, gobs of envelopes, a genuine mod matrix, arpeggiators, etc. etc. A programmers dream.

Can I have a witness!? This thing is amazing. I play synthesizer, not oboe, so I don't care about acoustic instrument replication. The MicroQ is a fantastic synthesizer. Most of the time you can tell it's digital, but digital is just as exciting as analog to me. Plus, in a dense orchestration or a live band, it could easily pass for analog. Very expressive. There's a hard edge to many of the sounds that give this synth a definite, unique character that I truly love, but there's huge variety so it doesn't always stand out like a sore thumb. Between its fantastically complex sounds and its straightforward, punchy ones, it would work perfectly for any music that called for a synthesizer or for unconventional sounds. A real classic, and much more than a simple "virtual analog."

Seems great. The plug for the external power supply feels a little loose to me, but Waldorf stuff seems to be rock-solid and to hold up very well. They're German, after all.

Tragically, Waldorf is gone. I've heard that Access has hired some former Waldorf employees, so even if Waldorf resurfaces, it probably won't be the same. I live in a small town--trying to get the service manual for the Q keyboard was pretty hard, and the only synth repair place nearby had never even heard of Waldorf (in 2003). I basically consider myself to be without tech support for this synth. If it ever malfunctions, I'll have to drive hours and hours to a major city, then hope for the best. If you live in a big city and use Waldorf synths, you might be better off.

Easily, EASILY, the best $350 I've every spent. It's worth over $1,000. I would definitely replace it if I had to (with the blue one, not the ugly yellow one). If money were no obstacle, I'd get the Q Rack instead, but the few extra esoteric features are not worth doubling or tripling the price. I'm a serious amateur who's been playing for 8 years or so. I've owned a ton of different synths, and I currently use a K2661, a Supernova II, and a Microwave XT. No soft synths! They're too demanding of computer power, too tempramental, and they'll all get flushed down the toilet eventually by computer OS upgrades. I play synths that will be around for decades and will reward all the effort I put into programming them. The K2661 is capable of cool sample mangling, but it's difficult to use; the Supernova is a breeze and a pleasure to program, and it sound more analog but also more limited; the Microwave has deeper wavetable synthesis and some weird and cool filters, but it doesn't sound as lush and enormous as the MicroQ. If the MicroQ allowed me to make my own wavetables, I'd sell the XT. Overall, the MicroQ is as close as I've seen to the perfect synthesizer. Tomorrow's Minimoog. If you see one for sale, get it.

Latest software as of this review date.
Manual is good.
Editing is parameter-based intensive but workable.

See other reviews.

I really like the sonics of this unit. I've been a rompler and analog and digital synth guy for a while, but this this baby has sent me in new directions. I always thought these thypes of units were for dance, trance, industrial etc. I was wrong! It has a strong bottom end, rich middle, and a crisp high end.

It's worked for the last three weeks:-)

They're defunct or close to it. Yes, very sad. I finally get on board and the bus has broken down. Alesis managed to get through bankrupcy, but they were in CA during DotCom boom - good luck W.
Lots of good support on the web from Fans and ex-employees.

It's only been 3 weeks, but I'm pretty sure I'd buy another even 5 years from now. It's a swiss army knife of sound. Currently (XV88, QS8, DX7IIFD, Juno106, HPD15, DM5, CZ1, Wavestation EX, S550 (x2), D70, lots more blah, blah, blah. A friend bought one and raved about it. Most of the knobs protrude an inch or so, and I'm worried that someone will snag one, but they are great to grab and twist and it's hard to have your cake and eat it too.

The August 2002 issue of Electronic Musician has a good comparison chart and article on analog modeling synths that includes the MicroQ. That's what I used to decide...along with a trip to the music store to listen.

I wish it had a bigger display. Small displays are dumb and unforgiveable. Even a free phone with a cellular plan has a bigger display. A synth with an original retail price of 1K should have a decent size TFT. I'm not much of a tweeker anymore, but it's important for setting global parameters and creating multi-timbral setups - this is a minor gripe and there are plenty of synths that cost more and have equally small displays.

BOTTOM LINE: Swiss Army Knife of sound for less than four bills used.

simple to use except for the different modulation grade system

lots of features for the price.
nice mod matrix
ample supply of filter types, lfo's, looping envelopes, and a couple wavetable type oscillators in addition to the standard types.

would be a 10 except for the effects, which i don't care for.
most sounds are better dry.

no problems.

never had to use - currently the company is out of business - better hope you don't need support.

i no longer own it, but would buy it again if the company can get back on it's feet.
i've got enough other gear that i don't really miss it.

OS 2.20
the factory-presets are ok in a way. they show you how 'clean' the oscs work even in the higher registers and hint at the depth hidden in this deceivingly small synth.
the real fun starts when tweaking the patches, tho. i got used to the matrix-style editing (as in Pulse, not Neo) pretty quickly and i now can work with it w/o probs. good choice of controls, and , man, i LOVE the encoders and the way they feel. expensive, precise, classy.
on top of that there are a few patch editors available, and one proggie that is unique in its concept, i believe.

it is the mQ/Q Patch Scrambler, what it does is this :

you load up to 16 patches into it and then mix up the 19 sonic modules (better word?). for exsample, Osc1 from patch #2, Osc2 from patch #6, Filter 1 from patch #11... and so on.
the selection of these modules can be randomized, but since the modules themselves already have useful settings the results are WAY better than with a patch-randomizer per se.
its on the waldorf ftp-site and freeware, so go get it.

the manual is excellent.

i'll give it a 9, since the QRack and the 'big' Q are even easier to work with.

25 voices max.
uses a dynamic voice allocation method.
have't run out of voices or into voice stealing yet.
great VA Oscs modeled from the Pulse, plus two Wavetables each one twice the size of the 'standard' wavetables from the MW.
2 Filters, serial or parallel, awesome!
combfilters, holy sh*t!
a lot of FM possibilities!
Modulation Matrix and the Modifiers put every other VA to shame.
(the only exception being the Nord Modulars, but that's not a fair comparison)
FX do exactly what they should and fit very well to this synth.
upgradable to 75 voices... wow...
and the arpeggiator is a dream come true. very musical results, great programming depth, reacts nicely to playing nuances.

AWESOME!
every sound has a classy touch, sits well in the mix, and makes it a joy to use.
anyone who can't get a very good or great sound out of this box should go back to roland JV romplers. no offense, but if you don't program this puppy yourself, you miss out on A LOT!
I wonder why a lot of ppl complain about the fx. maybe years of zoom and cheap alesis multifx boxes have changed the way fx are perceived.
the chorus isn't spectacular, i agree. but it is clean, thickens the sound without going whoosh and warble. its a clinical fx section, i give you that, but thankfully the mQ doesn't need fx to shine, although the 'unique' reverb (think old cubase wunderverb, hehe - nah its better...) has a sound on its own and i sometime record the mQ with it.
it does basses so thick, evil, and funky its nor even funny.
the pads and leads are expressive and offer a really wide sonic spectrum, and to my amazement i could program some beautiful kicks and snares (even hihats...) electronic perc is no prob.

so far everything's fine (knock on wood), its build like a tank and i don't see any points of critisism contruction-wise.

i would never use MIDI on a gig.

waldorf guys are present in the forum and answer questions politely.

1st thing i did was to dl a OS update from the waldorf site. i don't *expect* a new OS since i'm very happy with this one, but i'm sure Waldorf will release few more...

Waldorf being a small company deserves respect for releasing the Q in this form alone, therefore a '10'

I'd buy it again in a sec.
the price i paid was a joke, its worth more than twice that easily.
i'm making music for 15 years now, studied in Boston and Vienna and make a living these days from music. and this little blue synth boosted my creativity (synth-wise), output and production standard quite a bit.
compared it to the virus, which is too boringly old-school analog for me, and the novation, which is to awfully 80s synth pop. : )
i love the FM, the Wavetables, the combfilters, but also the very raw and fat sound it can produce with just 1 Osc and a LP.
I wish I wish it had the ability to change smoothly between the serial and parallel filter routings, as the 'big' Qs can.
but having used this synth in a few productions i'm seriously thinking about getting the Q keyboard, or even the Q+.

OS 2.18
Most original factory presets are really great. I haven't tried the 2001 version of factory presets though...
I would not call Micro-Q user-friendly - it takes time to get used to its user interface. The manual is well-written and very helpful.

Polyphony is up to 25 voices!!! I have the keyboard version and the keys quality is very high, keyboard action is very nice as well. It does have built-in effects which are OK. OS 2.x added some interesting new effects like reverb and surround delays.

The sounds are AMAZING!!!!!!! This thing is really DEEP!!!! I have for only several days and I am still drowning in its sound. There is something special about Waldorf synthesizers... The sound is so unique and SOOO GOOD.... Oh... I would give it 11 just for the sounds.

Built like a tank.

n/a

If it were lost or stolen, I would definitely buy another one. I bought by chance at a local Guitar Center. I think I would pay twice as much just to buy another one if it were lost or stolen...

OS 2.14
Editing sounds takes time but it's not too hard.

25 Voice is enough for me. I like the effects and for the price it has enough features to keep me busy.

Some of the best VA sounds I've heard, fat and thick to agressive and bright, I love it!!

Built great with love and care, go Waldorf.

Never need them.

For the price these are going for used these days only a fool would pass it up!!

I currently own and use daily:

Akai MPC 4000 w/ about 100 CD ROM's
Akai MPC 2000XL
Ensoniq ASR X Pro w/Urban card
Korg Triton w/Moss & Vintage ROM
Korg MS 2000R
Novation Super Bass Station
JP 8080
Waldorf Pulse
Waldorf Micro Q
Roland XV 5080
Korg M1R
E-mu Proteus 2000
E-mu Virtuoso
E-mu XL 1 w/ Techno con. Yard ROM
E-mu Mo Phatt w/B-3 ROM

Currently I am using 1.34 and I have an editor on PC, but never need to use it. The hardest thing to get your head around is the Mod Matrix with 16 slots divided into 8 for fast and slow modulations.(Make a Template e.g 3LFO's, 2Env, Velocity, Key Follow, Aftertouch).
The Manual is concise. Can get tedious.

Mine is the lite version, and has ample amount of polyphony for the way I use it (Tweak it to perfection, and convert it to audio ASAP). I am considering upgrading to 25, but unsure. It goes to an unprecedented 75. The Effects are reasonable, but given my methodology, they function only as a guide to what the full production will sound like and in the case of delay, to preserve timing. The Presets sadly give a diminished account of his little squelchers possibility.

You can make good of this synth for any form of electronic music, but of course it cannot be the only colour of paint used. That mentioned, with Sampling covered via whatever means you deem adequate, this is the only V-A Synth you'd need, bar Absynth. The Filter on the Virus is better from memory, but I still love filter, lots of Simon Posford double filtered fun to be had. The possibilities the modulation matrix affords you, bar the unfair comparison of the Nord Modular (Nord is More of a component rather than a centerpiece), is unprecedented. Those who want to rearrange neurons without surgery would know that the Mod Matrix has the X factor required. Example; I have assigned velocity to LFO Speed w/ a square wave chopping the amplitude and reduced it's effect on dynamics to preserve the chopping on lighter key presses via Mod Matrix. I can now, with the precision of a surgeon, make the most warped rhythmic sequences. Furthermore, I have another LFO on the pitch, it sounds like your 3rd eye rolling uncontrollably inside your pineal gland, it took 2 seconds to do it. This is why you'd buy this synth over a Nova or whatever. The only gripe is that the outputs are a little low, but not low enough to render this synth an inferior choice.

It crashes & freezes occasionally, an update of OS should rectify this. It also suffers from hung notes as well albeit is rectified in the stroke of a key, but I have found all synthesizers can.

Joerg has been good, and has also been prompt. They desperately need to upgrade the OS to allow for these bugs, which I am marking down for as it has been a few months and I am starting to get a bit upset.

If it were lost/stolen, I'd Claim everything and hopefully get close to affording an Andromeda :) Otherwise, I'd spend a little more and get a Nord Modular, and get Linplug's Delta III, which is similar, and if key follow & velocity/aftertouch were implemented into the design, look out. I only wish it did osc sync like the Nova did, which is the Nova's strength. My advice to would be purchasers is a) Use another synth first to get the basics down and b) Get a template re: Mod Matrix. It has been amazing to watch the development over the last 4 years from Nord Lead 2 to Nova to mQlite in terms of features/possibilities. Nord & Waldorf are the rulers of neo-analog. I mostly make what can vaguely be described as Psychedelic Trance, with a focus on timbral complexity, having a deep quality; what I would imagine aliens would sound like in interaction with each other, But I digress. It was a hindrance at the start, but now, It is accomodating to my more creative moments (of which there always could be more).

I've been at this game for 5 years & my Studio consists of;

HARDWARE
Pentium 4 1.5Ghz/512 Mb Ram/9gb & 20gb H/D (Will get D/P AMD 2k+, Double the Ram and triple the 20gb b4 Xmas)
Motu 828
Waldorf MicroQlite
Evolution Mk-249c (14 Assignable knobs, best budget keyboard :)

SOFTWARE
Cubase VST 5.1 (Soon to be SX, yay. VST 5.1 is shit for surgical precision, get SX to avoid disappointment)
Halion (soon I'll cross to Kontakt as there is a good rate available, I use Halion because it came with Cubase when I bought it)
Absynth

The only three things on my desk are the computer and associated peripherals, the rack containing the synth and 828 (Brilliant BTW) and my controller keyboard and I have so many options.

it seems to me pretty easy to use.
anyway i don't like so muck matrix concept (i prefer Novation interfaces full of knobs also on rack models as the A-Station, ONLY for the knobs, not for the sounds).
you slaughter sounds acting on filters, so the usability is at high levels.

mine is the 'lite' version, so i have 12 voices.
i don't care about 75 voices, i'll never use a synth in that way; 12 are more that enought; they seems to decrease a bit if you act hard on DSPs etc....who cares, they'll go to 11 or 10;
i use mostly 2 or 3 parts max, i'm not into the 16 part thing.
FM is great; 128 x 2 wavetables oscillators too; the filters are the best digital ones i ever listend, they cut of the sounds adding not wanted noises and sub self oscillations that are great to fix new strange sounds.
really powerful, i changed my opinion on this synth: first i thought it was a sort of toy; now that i program it a bit i can say it's one of the most powerful things i ever had in my hands.
arpeggiator is great, with patterns etc, but i'm not into this thing, so i almost use preset arpeggios.

GREAT!!!
the sonic range is impressive, you can do really thousands of things with this synth;
definitely a personal character in the sounds, very Waldorfish, from digital metallic noises, to drone sounds of every form (ambient, sperimental), to screaming leads, pads, all....
all sounds in waldorf way, not realistic but pure synthtetizer.
the strangiest v-analogue on the market cause it doesn't sound as a normal v-analogue...: too much digital wavetables reminds, too much aggressive, too distinctive.
it's pure heaven for people into industrial music, tekno, sperimental, ambient drone, and also commercial stuff, the range of sounds it can reach is enormous.
it reminds me many times to NIN.

yes, now i'm addicted.
i use it in all my new tracks.

good, great.
a have to admit: Waldorf is a great company; you send a mail and the day after you have a response.

i pair it with my Nord Modular.
great couple of synths: the Nord sounds PURE, Waldorf no, but it can reach some frequencies that the Nord is not capable of.
for my music it's great; i owned an FS1-R and i still think it's better respect MicroQ, but it's pretty impossible to program, so i sold it and i'm really satisfied with this new one.
i repeat: the randomic sub self oscillation and noises that come out sometimes are the main reason why i think this is so powerful, so i suggest it to everyone cause the features/sounds/price.
peace, and make some fucking NOIZE.

Pretty easy, but you will want the manual for reference into some details that are hidden.

This baby is packed with features that only way more expensive synths have. Amazing!!

oh my God!! This thing sounds like however you want it to. Its really a blast to sport around with and you can really impress yourself with what you can creat sonically.

Very heavy duty --tank type of constuction. Ive never seen another board like this in this price range. SOLID as a ROCK!! Does not crash or glitch up at all.

Im sold on waldorf cuz they are some of the coolest dudes around. I have dealt with many mfrs who treat you like a stranger, but these guys are BROS!! Waldorf is 110% in the customer support realm. They make others look SICK!

This is a real cool keyboard that I will never ever sell. i love how small the footprint is and yet it can really scream and growl. You just have to get one and see. The rack version is cool too, but the keys are a yummy delight for me and well-worth the extra $

O/S Version 2.14

Very Easy to use. From what I understand, the Micro Q is like a Q, only with less knobs and no step sequencer. I was able to familiarize myself with the matrix styled editing panel in no time.

The Micro Q Keyboard impressed me from the first time I saw and touched it. Kudos to Waldorf for the user-friendly controls, the nice rubber wheels, the INTERNAL power supply, and nice feeling keyboard. More importantly, this unit is built like a tank. Good design all around, everything on the Micro Q screams quality, including the sounds.

What?s really interesting here is that you have a basic Minimoog style layout in terms of components, but thanks to the built-in modulation matrix, you can create the kind of patches you would normally expect out of a well-featured FM synth, or even classic Oberheim machines such as the X-Pander etc. The sounds are loud and deep, and have incredible range, from short aggressive percs to lush endless clouds of drones. Furthermore I really enjoyed tweaking the arpeggiator, which gives you more options than usual, including rhythmic structuring, and programmable glide.

I was quite impressed with the onboard polyphony. 25 voices is a lot, way more than the Q from what info I could find, and the unit is expandable to 75 voices via a firmware upgrade. Very nice indeed.

I'm taking away one point solely for the fact that a step sequencer would have been a nice add-on, even using the four knobs, or the arpeggiator edit menu.

The effects in O/S 2.14 are a vast improvement over those found on the previous incarnation on the Micro Q. The reverb is good enough to add dimension to the sound, and I?m sure I?ll enjoy the 5.1 delay if I ever make my studio a real film post production facility. The search engine is a nice addition, although most of the sounds I have made using the Micro Q are in the ??? category.

As far as preset sounds are concerned, I?ve never been a fan of them, but there are exceptions to this rule, and Waldorf?s factory patches are the exception. They were right to add the initials of the programmers next to the sound names, as each sound reflects that a great amount of care has been taken in creating it. As a huge John Carpenter fan, I was pleasantly surprised to find a patch called ?The Fog?. Although I may not end up using the presets, most of them are great staring points to create my own sounds, and they have been a great help in figuring out the machine?s possibility.

Another really interesting feature is ?Random Sound?, which, as the name implies, allows you to randomly generate patches, which do not follow any kind of logic, so therefore yield interesting, and sometimes inspiring results. I use this feature instead of initializing a patch, and while that may seem like cheating, it?s actually a great way of unlearning what has now become part of my synth programming routine. One thing to keep in mind though is the unusual amount of times the glide parameter is "on" in a random sound. I stand by and disable the glide every time to hear what the sound is really like when played from the keyboard, or arpeggiator; otherwise you'll get a lot of patches that sound like they are coming from a slide whistle.

I've never been a true keyboardist, but I'm quite satisfied with the feel of the Micro Q's keyboard. I do not think the keys will break off, and I find the placement of the pitch and mod wheels to be ideal for a synth of this size. It's nice to see this type of build quality in a small synth.

One of the key factors other than the sound of the unit itself for my purchasing the Micro Q keyboard was its construction. Compared to Novations' great sounding but badly built K-Station keyboard, I found the Micro Q Keyboard's build quality to be refreshing, and I will definitely take it out of the studio.

Waldorf have a very good website, which I believe is important in this day and age. I was able to download the new O/S, and the English manual in no time, and got a very prompt reply to an email I sent the company, which did not even have anything to do with a technical question. They have also set up a mailing list so you can exchange info with other users, the programmers, and whoever else runs Waldorf. Judging from the number of revisions of the Micro Q's O/S, and the accompanying support material, I'm inclined to think this is one company that cares about its customers.

If this unit were lost, or stolen, or broken beyond repair, I would save my beans for a new one, or may two of them. Yeah, that's right, I think I'll start saving for a backup now, after all, you can get two Micro Qs for what would be the price of a Nord Lead 3. (Sorry Clavia) Waldorf have proven that you can make a high quality great sounding and intelligent synth and keep it affordable.

Most sound creation parameters are easily accessable on the front panel. It's not difficult at all to navigate and get it to do what you want. I rated it an 8 here because it really needs to be able to double as a desktop module as well to be easy to edit. The fact that it has to stand horizontal makes it difficult to see what you are doing unless you have it rack mounted at eye level. I'm going to build a slanted desktop case for mine though.

This thing is incredible. It doesn't have the multitude of waveforms that the Access Virus has, but it has so many other sound sculpting capabilities, modulation routings, and it has two wavetables that can be modulated via the "pulse width" setting. It's FM capabilities - excellent. It's dual filter with comb +/- filtering is also very very cool.

Of course having more effects capability would be nice, but at the price point, it's unimportant.

I really love the sound of this. It's not for everyone though, it has a very distinctive sound. Filtering and FM and other modulation can be harsh and a bit over the top, but that just means you can make it do what you want. It can be harsh, but it can also be soft. You just have to tune your settings accordingly :)

OS Reliability is Good. The metal casing and nice buttons/dials are of very high quality. Where it lacks is in the outputs. They are made of plastic and mounted directly to an I/O board inside the case.... not mounted to the case itself. I broke the main mono out the third day I had this thing because I was editing it in my lap (as it's difficult to edit stuff in any other position). It dropeed (less than 2 feet mind you), some pressure was put on the cord I had plugged into the output and the plastic casing of the output basically shattered. I wouldn't have minded paying the extra $2 it wouldn've taken to put metal outputs mounted to the case in this thing. It's poor design as far as I'm concerned.

Overall, I love the sound of this module, and that is what is important to me. Try it out at the store of check out the sound samples at Waldorf's website.

I really like to use this machine because of the parameter matrix which helps You to reach most funktions very fast. Some preset sounds are useful but they are getting more interesting if You start to tweak the parameters. I never felt the need for a patch editor with this device.

I use it as a solo synth and therefore the polyphony is enough but it can also be expanded by a special card. The onboard effects are ok and easy to use if You play only the first four multi instruments which have their own effects (I personally don't use more instruments). Otherways You have to rout the additional sounds through the first four effect blocks. Full midi capabilities in both directions.

This instrument can play very strange sounds but also nice arpeggio themes. I can really recommend it for all kinds of electronic music.

I never had a problem with it.

I never needed support.

I would buy it again because it is not too expensive and it really a Q synth in a little box but with a very intelligent user interface.

Its not the best, but then I would have got the Q if I wanted more nobs and stuff. It does however have enough controls to do a good job on budget

I like the Mod matrix, its very versatile. There is a certain lack of data input, I don't think that using MIDI SyEx data does the trick very well, also it might just be me but it loses synch on transfer sometimes. But for the price I paid I got more than I expected.

Unsurprisingly it does a german house style very well, but then Waldorf do do good hard sounds. It can produce very good sounds when you work at it and find all the little things in the menus.

Mine has a tendancy to throw loads of Delay on everything from time to time, this can be solved by turning the delay to bypass and touch the power then restore the original sound. It only does it when I have been editing, and only once in a while.

Sorry, never used it.

I use OS 2.14 (latest at the moment) and the menu and knob matrix makes it easy to handle even with those view knobs. The presets are very mixed styles but there are quite some nice soundsets downloadable at the Waldorf page. Creating or editing patches needs some synth knowledge and for newbies (but also pro's) I recommend the very good mQknobs editor from www.mixedmodemusic.de - it makes editing much better and provides a great overview of all settings. The mQ manual provides lots of infos also for newbies and there are addendums available for later OS versions.

The polyphony is enough for everyday use. At least 5-7 sounds can be played at the same time (using a normal song). When using unisono sounds or thick pads you rather go for the 75 voice upgrade which should be available soon (hopefully). The FX section is georgious! Chorus, Phasers, Overdrive, Delay and a great sounding reverb. Unfortunately only available on one FX routing (the mQ has 2 FX routings). The mQ is expandable to 75 voices and OS uprages are available frequently. The overall features are very good imo.

Dont expect realistic sounds from the microQ! But the synth sounds are very, very fat and it goes perfectly for dance! (maybe check out the dance soundset at the Waldorf page) But the factory sets show that it can do lots of other styles as well. (hiphop, jazz, pop, rnb, etc.) The modulation sources are very sophisticated and lots of expression aids are available (aftertouch, modwheel, and many more)

The overall sound is great! It is comparable with SuperNova, Virus, JP8080 and other VA synths but imo the microQ is a little beast that can do very fat sounds.

Absoulutely reliable, never let me down.
> Would you use it on a gig without a backup?
Would you drive a formular 1 racecar without a helmet?

Their user forum is unique! People help out quickly and there is even help available from Waldorf staff.

Upgrades are available online.

If I would lose my whole studio the microQ and my sampler would be the first things I would buy at the first day. My studio exists for a few years and I own SuperNova, Virus, microQ, JV1080, Oberheim Matrix 1000, Waldorf Pulse, BassStation, some other synths and drummachines and lots of FX.

Facit: If you have an editor like mQknobs it makes the fattest sound you can imagine.

Hello gang. I'd just like to say, this micro Q is fairly easy to use once you get a grip on it. It's not the mindless pleasure of twisting knobs on a nord lead or jp 8080 though, it requires some thought.
I wonder if this is due not because of the interface but the deep architecture?
Once you find where all the functions lay you can get quite artful in integrating FM and Wavbetable's and Combfilters with traditional analog subtractive sounds. Figuring out how to do this effectively requires a slightly steeper learning curve of course.
Beyond that the matrix editing is a snap. Though its one more thing to think about that in the heat of the moment can be a drag.

The synthesis offered here is unbeatable at this price currently.
This synth has 25 voices, but if your like me you used the comb filter and FM a lot and that amount of voices can get dynamically allocated into a more humble 12, or the lowest possible amount...6.
It is 16 parts multi timbral, that is excellent
Its architecture, with all those cool filters, lfo's, modulation matrix, Analog modeled and wavetable oscilators, fm, 3 oscilators and 2 sub oscilator, 4 envelopes, 3 lfo's yada yada on and on...
This is the big daddy. Its modulation capabilities are beyond both Novations and Accesses synths.
What this thing sorely lacks though are quality effects. if you want that all in the same box you might want to check out Novations synths wich are very nice as well.

This can certainly sound like an analog synth. It was modeled on waldorfs pulse, and if you build up a patch just using the low pass filter and analog modeled oscilators doing a garden variety bass or lead it will sound analog.
But many of the presets, and my own patches as well make use of some of its other things, namely the comb filter and FM.
Subtly integrating these and messing with the mod. matrix you work your way to more digital sounds.
The effects are there, they are disapointing and I never use them.
If you want a synth with effects look elsewhere.
And also if your buying this without trying it extensively first(shame on you ;-)
Make sure its what you really want. It has its own unique identity and some people may not like it.
personally I prefer the Q over most synths.
To me its oscilators are lively, its filter is silky smooth with a liquidic sheen.
As has been mentioned it can sound uncannily like a waldorf pulse...though this synths sounds are more clean then an analog sound.
Its sonic integrity really cant be touched, you wont find any aliasing here.

Its certainly a sturdy piece of gear. I havent really had much trouble with bugs either. I would use this anytime anywhere any place.
But as far as the voices dynamic allocation goes, that can be a pain.
Its nice to know no matter what sound you use that you have 16 notes like on the big q, so you dont have to worry about that when working out an arrangement.
But I really havent had any problems with it overall. I cant complain.

Waldorf has support with a human touch. Check out their mailing list on the waldorf homepage. They seem like a great group of fellows, and have a positive presence on the list.
Os updates are frequent, and they are not some evil corporation that abandons their product line of crappy groovebox's, these guys care about quality synthesis.

I love this synth. I only wich I would have waited and gotten a Q rack instead.
If you think your going to fall in love with the Q wait and get a Q rack.
But personally I am not rich, and this was the best bargain I could find for a great sounding instrument.
if you want a synth thats the heart and soul of your set up... the Q is it. The micro Q offers much of what the Q does, at a fraction of the price.
And sometimes I am lazy and wish I had a synth with built in efx, this has them, But theyre not even worth using.
Overall I'd buy this again, sure, but as a Q rack...

0S 1.0: This was my very first hardware synth and I barely new much of anything about the VA's when I first picked one up. Havingspent some time with it, and learning a great deal about synthesis all the while, I can honestly say its very easy to program even with the 4 knobs. The layout on the front panel (parameter matrix) is contructed very intuitively, so as the user can access any parameter he or she wants with just a touch of scrolling. Editing is fun once you spend a couple days with it and figure what button does what, and the manual is detailed and VERY well written. Programming is definetly NOT a concern for this synth.

25 voices soon to be expanded to 75 but why? 25 is most certainly enough for even the most complex of patches. The effects are a little dull and OK at best, best to have an onboard effects proccessor with this if you really want them...Flanger isn't to bad though, the chorus doesnt have enough kick to it though, very dull, but this makes no difference as a good effects processor will probably be your best choice for any of the analogue synths. Arpeggiator functions seem fantastic although I have barely used them. 16 part multi timbrality is all you'll need, midi in out thru is pretty much standard...Built in 25 band Vocoder just makes some other synth users who didn't get this jealous! Haven't delved into that yet as well but here its top quality. If the effects were somewhat powerful I would have definetly given this a ten but.

Don't buy this machine trying to emulate a real piano or anything even semi real for that matter. The presets on this baby are a delight to the ear, some are probably very useful as well. 20 drum kits provide VERY NICE electro/trance drums, good hi hats, bass drum, etc. etc. Bass can get very fat and very very punchy indeed. Soaring darkwave pads, warm sweeps, filters are just a delight to work with on this as well...Can get cold, dark, strange,bright, chimey, whatever you want it to be...the modulating capabilities are virtually endless, great sounds for techno/industrial darkwave...sound quality is top notch...

Very solid synthesizer, haven't had a problem, very reliable.

Haven't dealt with any Waldorf people yet but judging from there web site and Manual they seem very down to earth and customer oriented people.

I sold mine because I'm a synth newbie and needed something with a sequencer, I miss it very much so and plan on buying another one in the relatively near future. The word here is Versatile, and this synth is just one quality beast in providing you with everything you could possibly want at a low low price...The wavetable synthesis it introduces is quite amazing and very respectable, if your a VA kid like me you can't afford to not have this in your line up... A very inspiring synth, if you have trouble with its lack of knobs just get a knob box...

OS 1.17. The OS is not bugfree, I had the machine crash on me once, and could not shut it off without pulling the plug. Apart from that, the machine is very easy and intuitive to use.

It is quite a feature rich machine, with it's dual filters, many filtertypes, arpeggiators that are very cool, usable effects and the very very cool randomize sound function..

This machine sounds great. It can sound warm. It can sound cold. It can sound fat. It can sound thin. It can sound weird. The spectrum of sounds you can make with this thing is amazing, it is a machine which can sound analogue, but also can sound digital or hybrid if you wan it to.

The machine is with it's current OS not 100% reliable, although I had only one crash and some minor glitches when doing programme changes. I thing I would use it on a gig.

The forum on their website is quite helpfull, and they are quite cool: in the manual they state:" we recommend you to read this manual in your favourite bathroom... we recommend 5 pages per sitting.."

Love the machine. Very versatile. Unlike many virtual analog synthesizers, you're not stuck with "only" analogue sounds. A pleasure to use, full of sonic surprises, this machine is so full of possibilities.

I've had this thing for a couple of months now, so I figured now would be a good time to review. It's software version 1.17, and I must say that the Factory 2000 soundset is killer! There are so many thick, fat sounds you'll be beside yourself. And the sub-bass is excellent--much better than a Virus. Now for the tough part... editing sounds. Having owned a Pulse in the past, I was already used to Waldorf's Matrix editing, so this wasn't extremely confusing to me. Most everything you need to tweak is right there; you just have to arrow down to the parameter you want. However, hidden within each parameter group are additional parameters which can only be accessed by hitting the "edit" menu. Now this may seem like a drag, but it's no better on the big Q... you still have to use edit menus, so in my opinion, the Micro-Q really isn't that much more difficult to program than the big Q, plus you save a TON of money for the same sounds. After reading the manual, everything became clear as it's very well written.

25-voice polyphony, though you won't always get it depending on how complex the patches are you're using. But I didn't really buy this thing expecting to play 16 parts, so for me this is not a drawback. You can buy a 75-voice expansion later if you really need it. The onboard effects are OK. The first FX is retained with each Patch, even in Multi mode which is cool. Unfortunately, the second FX (which is Global) is the only one with delay. Delays can be synced to MIDI using note values or BPM, plus they can swing. Cool. No onboard sequencer (you'll have to get a big Q) but there is Waldorf's killer arpeggiator. Everyone knows this is the best arpeggiator out there, so it's great that even the Micro-Q gets the full editing.

The sounds of the MIcro-Q, like its big brother are top-notch. Very "German" sounding and great for trance/progressive house. The bass sounds have plenty of low end, the strings and pads are H-U-G-E, and the leads and arpeggiated sounds have plenty of grit and motion. There's also a Drum Map with some cheesy-sounding electronic drums, but some of the hi-hats and kicks might be useful.

Seems like it's well-built, except for the noisey headphone output and the wall-wart power cord. That's why it gets a "7".

Waldorf support is the best. Visit the Forum or send in a question, and you'll get a personal response the next day. Updating the Micro's system software is extremely simple. Jus download and play it in from a sequencer.

If my Micro was lost or stolen, I would most definitely get another. It's good the fat Q sound at a minimal price, and you really don't have to sacrifice much. Personally, I see no reason to buy a Q-Rack as it's twice the money and only gives you a Step Sequencer, memory card slot, and now Reverb/PPG filter. Yeah, it has more knobs, but like I said, you still don't get a knob for everything so you're still gonna be pushing extra buttons and using Edit menus to tweak all the parameters. At that point, you might as well just get a Micro-Q and use the money you saved to buy another synth like a Virus!

Using version 1.17, just released as of this writing.

Preset are mostly just awesome, though some sound simillar to each other. Most are of the holy s*#@! variety.

Patch editor can help you get started if you're new to the editing matrix Waldorf throws at you. Once you get your mind around it though, it's go dog go.

25 note polyphony looks good on paper. In practice though, expect that number to drop drastically depending upon the DSP load your patch puts on the synth. Not a bad thing, just one of the rules of the road you have to adhere to.

This is a rack synth, and best used in the studio with outboard effects. Internal effects range from the passable to the god-awful. Most are god-awful. I like the reviewer who said that they gave the synth sound a metallic wash sound. Very true. Outboard effects needed, as it has no reverb. A lot of the sounds really don't need effects anyway.

Expansion is supposed to be available "real soon now" to bring the voicing up to 75 notes. This will no doubt mean you'll have to ship it back to Germany for the upgrade. No biggie, though, as the present voicing is fine for most use.

No on-board sequencer really (for that you'll have to get it's big brother), but the on-board apeggiator is to die for. Very musical.

Hey, it's a Q, and it sounds unlike anything else other than what it is. It CAN be warm (in that German Electronica kind of way), but it sounds best the more you tweak it. And you can spend hours tweaking...

Audio output from this thing just sounds incredible. It can tear you speakers to shreds (not to mention your ears), so you have to be easy on the resonance. Comb filters are just too cool, as are the wavetables.

Drum Maps are also a very neat feature, and it has some really great sounds.

Seems reliable. Just put it in the rack and forget about it. Wall wart doesn't fit well in the back, and all of the inputs/outputs are not connected to the case, so you'll need to exercise some caution.

Good user support forum has just released an additional 300 sound set for the MicroQ with more bread & butter sounds.

Waldorf support good through their forum, and they've been pretty regular in updating the tempermental OS.

If it were lost or stolen, I'd cry a tear or two and then go out and get another one. Worth every penny I paid for it.

The used market for this little baby is coming down, so you should expect to pay around $600 USD for this little yellow monster.

I'm currently using the MicroQ controlled by a CS6x, with a PLG-150AN Virtual Analog and DR-770 drum machine.

Ugh, this is not the easiest synth in the world. After reading some of the earlier comments, I figured this would be an easy synth to setup, program, etc... but its not easy at all. The manual is certainly the best manual I have ever seen and its a good thing too. Just doing multi-timbral work is a pain in the butt as you have to setup instruments for ALL the channels in advance. That just seems like an archaic method and not very intuitive. Sound editing is weird if you have ever programmed another analog or VA synth. It just does not respond with expected results and thats fine, but I guess i was expecting traditional results from this "VA". More on that later. Using Sound Diver is a nicity and there are some other decent editors out there. Maybe I just need to get the hang of sound design on this thing because my AN1X is MUCH easier to program than this beast. The modulation matrix is a great tool but SO HARD to use for anything but mundane tasks. Great feature, difficult use.

Some pretty good features here. 16 channel, 25 Poly, cheesy effects, 4 assignable knobs, Drum map... Pretty much what you'd expect. There are some things here that separate it from other synths in its class though, thus the high score. 3 oscillators (with 2 subs), 6 outputs, 2 inputs, 2 assignable filters, vocoder, 4 envelopes, 2 Wavetables (128 waves) and of course, the ubiquitous modulation matrix. There are a TON of sound mangling tools here and that is why I bought it. To me, THATS the best feature. I feel like I'll be able to make ANY sound I want... After I figure out how to program the %&@# thing...

Brilliant Arpeggiator. I rarely use it but its pretty good. Not as good as on the An1X IMO but lots of good options... Plus it can use Q sounds which is VERY nice.

One strange thing, there is no factory reset on the synth. You can only re-upload the original set via midi. No huge deal, it just seems like an odd thing to leave out. BTW, mine is blue not yellow (a GREAT feature. That yellow is AWFUL!)

The range of sounds this synth produces is AMAZING! Very smooth sound with a grittiness when you want it. The filters are probably the best I ever heard on a VA. The presets are great for auditioning just what the ?Q can do, but they are nothing to write home about but its GREAT to hear something that doesn't just cater to the house/techno crowd in its presets. Even with the presets, just play with one for awhile and you'll hear the stunning range of sounds it produces. It just blew me away. So far, I have only really modified existing sounds and I can't wait to really create sounds from scratch but so far, this is easily the best sounding I've heard in quite some time.

Using real time controls on this synth REALLY makes it shine and also makes it perfect for the industrial/darkwave music I write, though it would be good for most any electronica. The effects are generally cheesy but the flange and delay are decent. The ring mod, is more part of the synth engine than a stand alone effect which is how it should be... The chorus and phaser just plain suck.

Following what most everyone else here has said, the bass sounds really thunder, the pads are huge and beautiful and the oddities are great. The drums are sort of weak but they are just presets. There are some good sound sets out there that have better drums but they are hard to find. Some of the oddities on this synth exist because of the wave table sounds and mostly due to the comb filters. I have never used comb filters before but they create some GREAT weirdness as they create a very "tubey" or hollow metal type sound. No other synth I have tried out has been able to produce sounds like this.

As far as the analog vs. digital debate goes, I think it truly has its own sound. It sounds like no other VA I have used and sounds nothing like any digital synth I have used (and thats alot). It just has its own character and thats a big plus to me.

So far so good (only for a month and half though). It has given me a divide by zero error a time or two when using the patch randomizer and it required a re-boot. No big deal, but sort of silly.

Well they are producing new O/S's and hopefully adding features as they go ala the Q and Q-Rack. Plus they were very responsive to some questions I asked. The real downer is that there are still some bugs and while they aren't deal breakers, they are annoying. Waldorf seems more interested in supporting the Q's rather than the ?Q's and that makes sense as they must make more money on those. You never know, they may add all those cool features they added to the Q (PPG filter, reverb, etc...). Eventually, a 75 polyphony update will be available according to Waldorf's website. When and how much remains to be seen.

i keep hearing how great the user community is and I have no idea why. The community is VERY small and there are not very many sounds being shared or many discussions either. The AN1X community is FAR more active and that synth is 4 years old. I have yet to find free sounds away from Waldorfs website and the only ones there are factory sets. The Yahoo group is ok but not very active at all.

The ?Q fits in perfectly with my AN1X, MU100R, TX81Z (Too much Yamaha), and Akai S2000. It blew away every other synth I tried out. Especially the Roland JP8080. How Future Music called that the "best synth ever" with out a little kickback from Roland is beyond me. That aside, it was really hard to compare it with the Nova, Virus, Nord, etc... because it just sounds different. Feature wise they were all pretty good but this one sounded unique, the others just sounded alot like my AN1X. The ?Q with my AN1X sounds great though and any other VA would probably play great with the ?Q too. So its really difficut to compare this with other synths, therer doesn't seem to be any other synth like it.

If I lost my ?Q, I'd probably bite the bullet and buy the Q-Rack instead, which seems to get better support and has better features.

It really is an inspiring instrument and just mangling some of the presets gave me MANY musical ideas. I love when an instrument just inspires you in that way. Few have for me but this has repeatedly.

I wish there was more of an online presence for this synth. It would be great to share ideas on programming and of course to share sounds, but the community seems very weak IMO.

Overall, a great synth at an incredible price. I really hope Waldorf pursues improving it as these type of products could really be the future of synth music. A great sounding synth with multiple synth techniques wrapped up in an affordable box. Who could ask for much more?

i'm using the OS 1.14 and must say that it works superb! the manual is outstanding! they dive into every little corner of this beast! they give hints about HOW to make those phat leads etc.! impressive!

This song has a polyphony of 25. There'll soon be an upgrade available for 75 voices and soon you come to realize that it whoops ass when it competes with synths like th Korg Ms2000 which has 4 polyphony. The microQ has an outstanding 16 multitimbrality and 6 analogue outputs!

The presets has the width from the nice pads from any analogue synth to the phat leads that the Roland Jp-series is so famous for.

Yes.
yes.
YES!!!

I asked some question per e-mail, got answers/ help that made me come ron the right track again! Very friendly!

For what you get it's VERY cheap! But then again, if there is 5000 in polyphony, 1000 analogue outputs it doesn't matter to me unless it sounds great! This syntheziser might give a wrong picture just looking at this little yellow synth, but try it out, listen to the onboard demos and realize that it is truly an amazing piece of equipment!

Using the latest o.s. (as at 6/7/01)
Ease of use, as with anything, depends on the situation it is used in. I'm using the micro-Q predominantly in a studio setting and I find it pretty easy to get around. I'm not using a patch editor, instead using the matrix/edit screens to change all parameters. In all honesty, I don't find this any more time consuming than having a dedicated knob for each parameter. It makes the approach to sound creation a different process though. I feel that I think out patches step by step on the micro-Q wheras with an analogue piece of kit there seems to be more "twiddle a knob, twiddle another knob- oh THAT sounds nice".
Presets are OK, I have kept a couple for use, but I'm really more into making patches from scratch.
Manual is fine- even amusing at times. Everything is covered.
Some parameters seemed to be located places that I wouldn't have expected but within a week that was not an issue. My only quip with the interface is that to enter an edit screen, you must (in the matrix) be in the right section and then press 'edit'. To go to another edit screen you must once again move in the matrix and press 'edit' again. I would have found it easier if the edit screen changed without having to press 'edit' a second time.

I originally thought I would be hanging for the poly expansion (25 dynamic voices to 75) but have since decided that I will not buy the expansion. My reasons are that
(a) the micro-Q has a very distinct sound. To many parts will characature this distinctiveness.
(b) the micro-Q is better suited to monophonic sounds
Even using four quite complex monophonic parts I have not yet run out of poly. I really don't think I am going to use more than four parts in the future.
Best Feature? the modulation matrix. The possibilities are virtually endless. You have 16 slots (divided into 8 standard modulations and 8 fast modulations) where you can choose a source modifier (LFO, EG etc...), amount and destination. Using just four slots you culd therefore have LFO 1 modulating the speed of LFO 2, LFO 2 modulating the pitch of OSC 1, OSc 1 modulating the frequency of OSC 3 and LFO 1 also modulating the cutoff frequency of a filter. Just an example off the top of my head, but the possibilites are endless.
Comb filter is pretty usefull. Other filters are pretty smooth. Generally not too steppy. There are two non-allocated EGs with multiple modes. These are fantastic to have in a synth. Use the mod matrix t allocate them to pitch (of the whole sound or just one oscilator) or anything else you want to.
I have a slight quip with the midi. When sending/receiving midi cc messages in multimode and while receiving midi note data, the parameter values can jump dramatically. eg: switch a filter type from comb- (last in list) through to LPF12 (first in list) and the machine will not stop on LPF12, it will flick right back to comb-??? just a bug. I can live with it.

I think this synth sounds great. Not analogue, but if I'd wanted an analogue sounding synth I would have bought an analogue synth. The micro-Q does digital sounds fantastically. From bright pads to basses that literally make my speakers move, the micro-Q can cover a lot of ground. The only onboard effect I use is the delay as the others are kind of weak. The modulation matrix makes this one of the most expressive synths I've used. Responds to velocity, aftertouch, modwheel etc... You could use this synth in almost any type of music.

Seems reliable. Hasn't crashed on me. I wouldn't ever use anything at a gig without some sort of backup. I always have a pre-recorded song ready to be played in case anything goes wrong, although I've very rarely have to actually press that play button.

Haven't had to deal with Waldorf

Using with a an MPC 2000xl, Yamaha AN1X, Korg N1R, Ensonique Mirage, Korg Mono/Poly. Fits well into the mix. Gives me sounds the other things can't. I don't think that the micro-Q is going to suit if you want to sit down and make a track, but if you have your sequences ready, being able to sculpt a sound to suit your riffs is incredibly rewarding. Endless fun from sitting creating patches as well.

OS 1.14. The presets are fine, I guess, if you're into making techno or trance, which I'm not, so they are starting points for me in programming my own sounds. Several of the sounds are useable though and are quite creative.

Editing patches isn't that difficult once you learn your way around the interface. After that, it's pretty simple, really. Nothing to pull your hair out over. A patch editor would probably make it easier.

The manual is decent. Better than anything Roland published after the JP-8 or JX-8P. Filled with corny humor, at least it's not overly technical.

25-note polyphony is quickly used up when you add f/x or layers. The f/x are ok, but I really would have liked to have seen a couple of basic reverbs as I don't want to haul my reverb unit around to shows with me.


I'm hoping the next software rev includes reverb.

This is always the most debatable part of any review. Yes it does have what some have described as a digital edginess IF YOU PROGRAM IT THAT WAY. However, since digging deeper, I'm replicating my old analog and VA sounds with ease and am finding lush textures everywhere as well as some classic PPG emulations. I really like the sounds and am very happy with it. I can't think of an area which I can't cover with it. It covers a lot of sonic ground for a small bit of cash. What more could you want?

I use mine with my band, which is next-wave, so it's perfect as it captures the essence of a lot of the sounds I've always wanted very well. I think it could really be used for almost any style whether it be rock, experimental, electronic, etc.

I will be using it once my band starts gigging (in Dallas) this summer. I hate the power cord, but that's my only real bitch. It hasn't given me one spot of trouble.

I haven't had to deal with Waldorf so far, but since being on their e-mail list, I've seen them respond fairly quickly to questions as well as be very helpful to Waldorf newbies like myself.

I would miss the MicroQ, but I am in need of another keyboard for live gigs, so I might go with a NordLead 2 or Yammie An1x if my mQ were stolen. I'm not selling it anytime soon, though.

I'm currently controlling it from a JX-8P and am also using a K2VXs, which covers my samples and other textures as.

I love the sound, but hate that there are no reverbs. However, I just run it through my MPX-100 and I'm good to go. More knobs would have been nice, but the price would have been jacked up as well. That's why it's called a "Micro Q."

I chose this over an Access Virus A and have no regrets. I have to say I prefer it over the M2K and JP8K as well. Those are nice synths, but I just prefer the sounds of my mQ. I miss the ribbon controller of my An1x, but prefer the sounds overall of my MicroQ.

During the first few months I had it, I was frustrated by the interface, but I'm now used to it, and consider the mQ to be a useful tool in creating not only sounds with my expressions in them, but in writing actual music as well as I've been inspired by several sounds I've tweaked.

I think this really is an underrated synth that people have overlooked (because of hasty first impressions and lack of knobs). Oh well, it's their loss.

Software Version 1.14
The unit is fairly easy to navigate, the functions are not as quick
to access as a Nord lead rack or Novation Nova laptop (which
I compared this unit to) since the space is limited to a 2U rack.

Essentially, there is a column of buttons on the left that activate
a particular collection of parameters. The user selects either
the oscillator or filter or envelope or LFO (etc) button on the left
which activates the row of knobs to manipulate the parameters.
(for example, if the user would activate the "filter" button, then
the knobs would control the filter frequency, resonance, filter
type, etc)

This is not as quick as having dedicated knobs for filter/env/lfo
like the Nova or Nord Lead II Rack, but the unit is also $300 to
$400 cheaper (at the time of writing)

The operating system is easy to upgrade (using a sequencer
to upload the file) as is the Novation Nova.

The drawback to the Nord Lead II was that the operating system
is on EEPROM and cannot be upgraded without getting a new
EEPROM chip.

Also, using the micro-Q with a sequencer (Cakewalk) was
fairly easy as well (but I personally had to read throgh the
manual since it was not very intuitive going into multi mode)

The display was the average two line LCD display as with the
Novation Nova. The Nord Lead II rack has a pitifull
two digit LED display.

I have not tested the extremes of the polyphony in depth, but
there is definitely some note stealing if you start to stack too
many voices.

The unit has the basic two effects at one time combination.
I believe there is one global effect that is applied to all patches
in a multitimbral setup and one program effect that is applied
individually. I have not tested this as I don't remember being
terribly impressed by the effects.

And I don't believe there is any reverb on the unit which I find
a little odd.

The Novation Nova has an impressive 7 effects at once for
each patch in a multitimbral setup. I haven't seen that on too
many other samplers/synths. The quality of the effects are
probably around the same as the micro-q which is not saying
much. The Nord lead II Rack has no effects.

Depending on the budget, I would recommend an external
effects processor for any serious recording. The internal
effects on these units can sometimes really kill the dynamic
range of the sounds.

So, the Novation Nova has more effects but is only 6 part
multi-timbral while the Micro-Q is 16. The Micro-Q is 25
voices (supposedly) while the Novation is 16 (with the new OS)

The routing capabilites are pretty nice and you have FM and PWM and Ring Modulation (as like the other VA's)
There are three LFO's and they are
syncable to MIDI (as like the Novation Nova, didn't test
with the Nord) the Novation Nova has only 2 LFO's. Sometimes
it's convenient having an extra LFO (for additional modulation
capabilities)

The arp. is better than the Nord Lead Rack, but not as extensive
as the Novation Nova. I have to give it to Novation for having
the most comprehensive and flexible arp. out there. Still,
you can define user patterns on the arp. for the micro-q.

In conclusion, they features are very abundant for a module
in this price range. However, the effects are mediocre and there
is no reverb. (the delay is syncable to Midi, though)

It is difficult to be objective in something that is really a matter
of personal taste. However, I will try to be as neutral as I can
on the subject.

The dynamic range of this unit did not seem to be as good as
that of the Novation Nova or Nord. However, this could also be
due to the fact that the Novation may have more of a bottom
end to it's sounds.

The unit is very gritty. It is actually quite similar to the Waldorf
Microwave II/XT, even if it uses digital oscillators (primarily)
instead of wavetables. There is a characteristic non-linear
souding periodicity to the oscillators that can be especially
heard on the pads. This could be good or bad. Bad in the
sense that one could say that the oscillators are not very
smooth and rather digital sounding. Good in the sense that
this non-linearity, this built in 'imperfection' gives the micro-q
it's own character.

Personally, I noticed that this sonic characteristic of the micro-q
inspired me and I found myself spending more time with the
micro-q than with the Novation and the Nord (I was evaluating
all three for an entire week)

The Novation sounds very cold and sublime. The Nord sounds
pretty smooth, but is very outdated (the Nord Lead II) with
respect to it's LED display, 99 patches, no midi through, no
flash upgrade of the operating system, etc.

All the VA's sound basically the same, not as good as the real
thing, but more advanced in the midi/lfo/modulation department
which attempts to make up for the fact that the basic
oscillators/envelopes/filters cannot (as of yet) reproduce their
analog counterparts.

Having said that, if you will agree that Waldorf's unique sonic
color differentiates itself from the rest in a positive manner,
then you will come to the same conclusion as I did. In the
virtual analog world, Waldorf's sound stands out above the rest.

I don't believe I have had the unit long enough to evaluate this.
The unit is very small in dimension. It is almost a 2 unit
cube having a depth of almost the same size as it's heigth.

Never had to deal with customer support. The manuals and
OS upgrades are easily downloadable from the web.

The micro-q is a very good buy for the money with many
great features and a unique sound. It is a matter of personal
taste, but the micro-q has a sound that differentiates itself from
the rest of the virtual analogs. (which I would suggest someone
listening to first hand)

If virtual analog is the way you wish to go and you can get your
hands on a decent effects processor, seriously consider the
micro-q

Do not know the software version. Tested it at the store.

I have been testing and evaluating VA synthesizers
for 2 months now, seeking an instrument to replace my
Roland JP-8000. I have evaluated the Virus Indigo,
the Nord Lead 3, the Novation 2, and the Waldorf Q.
The Nord Lead 3 has no effects and a mediocre arppegiator-
no interest. The Novation 2, although has the best specs
on paper, the combo sounds reveal this machine as
having the inablity to produce sound programs with
sufficient variety and harmonics. Too many of the multi's
sound the same, and I listened to ALL of them. No interest.
The Virus Indigo has virtually no distribution in the
Midwest of the USA; I am unable to play or hear a decent
demo of its capabilities; however I have not heard
a consistent chorus of bragging about the sound producing
abilities of this synthesizer. So my final evaluation
came down to the Waldorf Q and the Xtreme Lead 1.
Guess what? Oh, I forgot to say that the JP-8000 p[roduces
only shrill sounds with little depth (only two layers).
If you want your ears reamed out, buy the JP-8000.

The uQ tested excellently at the store. It does have the
capability to produce a wide variety of sounds. It can
produce sounds which are analog and have uniqueness.
Since it has a vocoder, arpeggiator, relatively good
sound Fx's, it, in my opinion has to be at the top of the
list for people like myself who have the constant
need to create new, imaginative, captivating sounds.
After saying all this, I have to be a little bit
critical of Waldorf for only programming 100 multisounds
on this machine. They should have put it on the market
with al least 1000 sound programs and 500 multiprograms.
That would blow everybody away. Because the available
multiprograms are so low, I have to purchase the
Xtreme Lead 1 for film work. I can't spend days
programming just a few stunning multilayered programs.
I need an arsenal. Composing for film requires
a huge, humongus variety a sound with depth and
imagination.

I can't give it a 10 because of the low number of
onboard sound programs and multi-layered programs.
However, that does not take away from the excellent
sounds on the MicroQ. However, this VA synthesizer
is probably one of the best, if not the best sounding
machines on the market, with a relatively low price. I
know I can make this thing sing if I had the time.

software: 1.14
A truly awesome synth worth far more than the $740.00 I paid for it. The presets are great, and are excellent starting points for bringing the growl out of this little yellow beast.
Patch editing is fairly easy through the front panel, but for deeper programming I recomend using mQknobs from Mixed Mode Music ....url:http://www.mixedmodemusic.de/index.htm

Polyphony is supposedly 25, but that quicly dimminishes with how much DSP power you eat up with effects, etc. To get the realy phat sounds I've come up with, I'll still have to multitrack it.
The built in effects are decent. Fortunatly most sounds are good enought that they require few effects. Definitly make use of the 5fx option as much as possible to reduce DSP drain.
A 75 voice expansion should be offered soon. The expansion will make this THE definitive module to own.
MIDI implimentation is good...no problems yet
By far the most flexible, best sounding synth I've ever owned.

Not the synth for realism, but that's not what it's for.
It could easily enhance anyones's rig, no matter what genre they're in.
I use it for Dark Glam Rock, Industrial, and sythpop. It easily provides all the sounds I need from aggressive-in-your-face-leads and basses to the most lush, rich pads I've ever heard.
Expression is amazing. You're only limited by your imagination.

So far it's been very reliable, and I've had only one bug show up (hanging notes). This should be remedied in the next OS revision.
I plan to gig with only my CS1X (used as controller anyway) and sampler as backups.

Waldorf seems to respond well to customer issues and has a decent user forum on their website.

If my uQ were ever lost, stolen, or dammaged, I'd first bawl my eyes out, then slaughter anyone responsible, then work 4 jobs if necessary to buy another.
I looked at all of the similarly priced VA's including the Waldorf Microwave XT, Virus Rack, Novation Nova, Korg MS2000, Roland 8080, and Nord Lead. Though all those synths rocked in their own way, the uQ had the best sound, versatility, and features for the money.
It's been the shot-in-the-arm my rig and sound needed.

OS 1.14 (latest one at the moment)
This little yellow beast was a dream come true.
I always dreamed about that yellow sound...
The presets sound good, and with a little work they can sound excellent!
About editing... It's a simple but powerful machine, anyway it's hard to edit on a little lcd screen.The freeware editor makes the difference!
The manual is good

Poliphony declare: 25, but it will go less and less if you use complex sounds...
The built in effects aren't that great, except the vocoder, that works better if you use a compressed and hi-eqed line signal.
Midi is really powerful: every sound control correspond to a midi control message.
The modulation matrix is fantastic!
It has a great arpeggiator too, with lot of features, and with the possibilty to use chords too in the arp line (not only single notes... useful for trance music).

It's powerful, and with the latest os, stable.
Really German sound (compared to the "american" Virus)
It reakts really well to playing, and has one of the best modulation matrix I have ever seen!
I'm using it both for rock and electronic music.

Had some problems with the previous os.
Now it works perfectly!

I can't say nothing about...

It's great, worth buying!
It integrates perfectly with my system, and with my sounds:
Pulsar/Scope (with sts 4000), Virus Indigo, Tx81z & Akai s900, Fruityloops Reason & Logic Audio Platinum.
I compared it with some novation stuff: they are great but costs too much. And I was searching for that sound to complete the "rainbow" of my sounds
It helps a lot in my music, Xpecially for sound design!
Fantastic machine!

Os 1.14. I'd guess this one is better than the previous version that elicited such complaints. There are still a couple of small bugs Ive been told, but I have not had any problems really.
Despite its pared down knobbage I have found this synth extremely simple to comprehend and edit. The manual is well written, and its just a very easy to operate system. Obviously there heave been some compromises made in the interface department compared to the q rack, nonethess less a fun unit.

Looking at the boom for buck continuum this unit has eclipsed my expectations.The presets hardly hint at all thats in this thing. Program like theres no tomorrow.

Well, this has been well explained. It seems whats missing between this and Q sr. are a few filter routings, and an onboard sequencer. I think since the q costs so much less you could take the money you saved and get another va, or analog filter or sequencer or whatever. The features are very generous for a synth this price.

Dont expect analog out of this machine. It has spectacular sounds that behave similarly to an analog synth, but it has its own distinct sound. Theres a digital character to it. I think it sounds incredible. Just start programming and omfg you will enjoy. I mean it sounds REALLY good....I mean REALLY good.

If at first you doubt this machine and simply start programming it and see what it can do, i wasnt dissapointed. It does have a digital sound though due mainly to its filters. This unit I give a 9, if it had the analog sounding ppg filter thats been aded to the Q in os 3.0 Id give it a 10. STill for the price difference between this and the big q I could just as easily find a real analog synth to do analog.

I mean besides the oscilators modeled off of the pulse theres also the wavetables...that makes this baby a fully bonafide monster. And if you ever got bored with that there's a modulation matrix to keep you occupied.

Been good for me so far.

never had a problem.

This has been a great addition to my small studio. Its a blast playing this with my gr 33 and guitar. It does have a distinct character however. The sound whatever it is, its not "earthy"...its shimering and liquidic. Even programmed to be raunchy theres still not that dirt of analog in there. This is a beutiful synth, even when it tries to be ugly beutiful. When programmed to be ugly more like an incredibly attractive woman making an ugly face, its just not ugly. Ugly is the wrong word, theres a silkyness to it. This is not an "earthy" machine.

How this instrument works for you depends on how you'd use it obviously. For me I have to be careful and not over use it. There is a slickness to it, it can make quite the bubble bath, however its not quite an analog bubble bath. Id still like to get something like a korg mono/poly to really get the analog bass...this has phat bass as well though, but again it doesnt have THAT sound of other synths..its a Q sound.

I wish this thing had like modeled efx of analog delays and spring reverb( I dont think any synth has this), also the ppg filter that with 3.0 the big q has would be nice. Even without these things Im not complaining.It is a great musical instrument. Its versatile enough to be used for anything from percussion to noise to smooth as silk pads and bass with a bounce. Its inspiring.

If the ?Q were lost or stolen I would surely replace the unit.

OS 1.14 hardware 1.10 - Unless you're a moron you won't have any problems. Plugged it in, routed some MIDI and was playing in about 2 minutes. Editing patches is not as easyas on the biq Q with all the knowbs and buttons but I'm will to live with that considering it's $2,000 US less. The freeware/shareware patch editor helps. Havn't had to look at the manual yet.

25 voices - a little less in real world terms - all depends on CPU load. Don't look for this unit to do it all in one pass. It can handle 2 maybe 3 parts nicly. 75 voice expansion board will help with this although I would still rather just get a second unit.

The built in apreggiator is one of the best I have played with. Much better than E-mu's line up - Audity/Xtreme. It's very usable even when you have key changes.

Sounds are out of this world. Everything you would expect from the big Q. Basses so deep and punchy that my Alesis M2 monitors were ready to jump off their shelves and start dancing -- all with no distortion! Very rich, wide pads. Expressive leads and those filters are wonderful smooth. It's been a while since I have had a synth inspire me as much as this. If you like electronic, and you know how to play (not you mp3.com Acid freaks) you'll love the Q.

Seems solid enough. It will only sit in my rack so as the saying goes... if it doesn't break in the first two weeks it won't.

I havn't had to deal with Waldorf directly. Their web site is kept up-to-date. No complaints

The latest crop of VA machines is really exciting. I personally like the European machines over US or Japanese ones. They seem to have a better handle on my style of music (Delerium, Enigma, Jarre) and create more musical machines out of the box.

OS1.12
The Micro Q is a breeze to use, the matrix setup is excellent and very intuitive once one gets used to it - usually in about an hour or 2. Occasionally patch editing can be confusing, hence the 9 rating, but overall not a problem. The manual does a good job explaining the ins and outs of the uQ as well, an excellent reference.

The cost to benefit ratio is quite high, but I reserve the right to change my opinion. The polyphony is 25, the effects are beter than average given the cost of the unit, but one VERY bad thing in my book is the vocoder is useless. Each of my vocoder patches pop and crackle, even without any signal into the unit. I even exchanged my uQ thinking it was defective, but the second one did the same thing, I can't use it at all. I tried a few times and what should normally have been a simple take with the vocoder, i.e. a one-liner, took 30 minutes because I had to keep re-recording the phrase and edit out the pops and cracks in my wave editor on the computer. It would be useless live.
The arpeggiator is very flexible, no sequencer though, but for the money not a big loss.

The sounds on this thing are great! I enjoy the wavetables and the odd sounds this unit can create. I create ambient/experimental music, and this is a great machine for this kind of music. I could give this unit a 10 on this if it weren't for all of the bugs.

Here's where it gets sticky for me. I really love this thing, but I am contemplating selling it. There are just way too many bugs that drive me crazy. On top of the vocoder being virtually useless, patch saving doesn't always work, there has been some complaints by others about midi timing, a lot of the patches have distortion that has to be edited out, notes stick, and more.

As someone else mentioned before there is a lot of interaction on the Waldorf users group e-list, but I definitely don't feel the concerns regarding bugs, OS updates, etc. posted to the list are adequately addressed by Waldorf techs, nor are they fixed in subsequent OS releases! It seems to me a lot of people are frustrated with the promises of upgrades and bug fixes, but never get any potential release date or even update note to the e-list of what has been fixed so far while in their development of the new OS to at least tide over some of the anxious yet patient folks. I really didn't want to say anything bad here, but this is my view on this.

If it were lost or stolen, I'd call up my insurance company and get the money and buy something else. I like the overall sound and design of the Micro Q, but it has caused endless amounts of frustration and inconvenience that I would pass on replacing the unit.
I own a lot of gear, been playing for about 15 years and while it's not the worst piece of gear, it has a LOT of way to go before it can be truly reliable in my eyes (and ears).
I chose the uQ because it is a diverse sounding unit, and I own an XT. The XT has its bugs too, but overall is far more solid than the uQ.
The only thing I wish the uQ had was reliability.
I will admit it definitely helped me create some great tunes, but only in its most simple form of use.

I think a lot of people would love this unit and be quite happy. It seems some of the bugs might vary between machines, in other words a bug I have may not be the same someone else with a uQ has. Not sure how that could be, but some have not had the same complaints as I and vice versa, so I am presumptive of this conclusion. The bang for the buck isn't bad, but again, given the bug-dollar ratio I would say it would be worth more like $400.00 NEW.

OS 1.12. The interface is cumbersome. A lot of button pressings to do one little thing. The endless rotaries are useful in editing, but they come with great trade-off because if you tweak your knobs in real time, you will have to practise a lot to get the same result as normal rotaries. If you are a live/real time knob tweaker, I'd say use something else to tweak this synth in real time.

The minimum guarantee is 6, but usually you don't run the most complex patches at the same time so you will have more polyphony than 6 most of the time. Built in effects are useless. Chorus, Flanger and ever Phaser sound the same on this thing and they don't sound like conventional ones either. The Phaser is especially horrible. If you were in a blind fold test, you wouldn't have guessed it was phaser. The delay is horrible as well because it's not true stereo. The delay wet/dry value of 1/127 is like 32/127 on other synths. I mean it's just like other parameter ranges on this synth. They are so coarse that you can't get any fine programming with delicate subtle difference. (This is also why most people think this synth sounds digital.) Most parameter values have to almost no effect at low levels and the effects jump badly between +/-1 value in high levels.

Expansion is to 75 voice, but not available yet as of now. According to Waldorf's history of getting things done. Do not expect it to release in 2-3 years.

MIDI capabilities are less than standard. In OS 1.12-1.14 (current), the freely assignable MIDI CCs won't work. Panning works on part 1-4 only. CC10 for panning won't work. No complete sysex document for this synth available.

No sequener, but there is a very programmable arpeggiator. This is the only thing that I see it as superior than most VAs in the market right now. Cumbersome to program though.

Because of the bad jumps of value/effect mentioned above, this synth sounds very digital and unhumanized. The Low pass filters can't give any warm effects. The overdrive sounds very cold and digital. Don't touch that resonance knob too often. Micro Q will distort inside its signal path and headroom (with out distortion FX on).

I think the Micro Q is great for robotic, classic rock and weird self-indulged experimental music, considering how coarse, harsh and overly bright the sounds it produce. Even when you use its flexible modulation matrix to try to modulate things to sound less robotic and digital, you run into the value jumping thing again, so the mod matrix doesn't humanize the sound much.

Do not buy this synth if you are expecting to use any of its built-in effect. Only its vocoder that works nicely. Chorus, Flanger, Delay, Distortion, Phaser and 5FX are a joke.

Considering a lot of bugs and their possibilities to get fixed, I won't depend on it. There are note hanging in OS 1.14 as well. You don't wanna to rely on this synth in live situation.

Their supoort forum is pretty active. They can help you fix your silly goofy mistakes, but not the synths'. I think it's ridiculous sometimes that they would say I had to wait for this thing's bugs to be fixed because they are now working on other synths in their product line. Why do I have to care about their other products? I don't even own one share at Waldorf. I bought one synth and expect to at least work averagely (I can't pan on every part of this synth!!!).

I have owned this things for 6 months and I already feel like it were lost or stolen. It doesn't really work. Subjectively I don't like the robotic nature of its sounds either. I would move on to other synths if I lost this box.
I thought I'd wait for the Virus Rack to come out, but I chose this one because it had phaser. But the truth is the Micro Q's phaser sounds crappy. At least if I got the Virus Rack, I knew that it would work like a normal chorus, not like the Micro Q's so called Chorus.
If you aren't a huge fan of overly bright or distorted sounds, I'd suggest you pass this synth no matter how fabulous the word of mouth on this synth is. (I've been there.)

Man, oh man. Where do I begin? I am using software v 1.12, updated with relative ease using cubase (cakewalk 8.xx doesn't support the update because the sysex file is too huge, but I hear that v9 does). Updating to v1.12 is a must - if you don't notes will drop, stuff will be poppy when you switch instruments, and various important parameters won't function.

The presets sound like someone carved them from jade then embellished them with gold (mainly). Of course some suck, but the ones that kick ass do it most seriously. All I can say is that if you have access to one to play with, go to B067, hit a note, then the pitch bend wheel. I bought this because of that preset. Anything that can warp a note that smoothly and wildly is, well, IMHO worth more than 800 bucks. The oscillators on this puppy are the smooooothest VA's that I have heard, but more about that in a bit.

There is a sound diver thingy available for it, but I think it is more complex than using the hardware interface. Editing is so, so easy when you balance it out against the complexity of this synth, that I feel guilty giving it a "9." It would earn a ten, but for that I think you'd need a real layout like the full blown Q. It has been argued on the mailing list, however, that all the knobs of the bigger version are a tad bit more confusing...

The manual is well written and covers everything. It gives a primer on synthesis and explains how to use additive synthesis to get certain waveforms (although this technically isn't an additive synth). I think the best thing about it is that it includes tips on how to achieve certain sounds, or what might happen if you tweek a parameter a certain way. The best thing to do is to read it a couple of times, then get to it, man!

The microQ (uQ) has 25 voice polyphony using a dynamic dsp engine. That is: the greater complexity of the sound, the fewer voices. A very good feature is that the user can literally shut parts of the sound engine off when not in use to maximize polyphony. Eventually, there are plans to release a voice expansion, to 75 max. My guess: 400 more bucks will yield 50 more potential voices.

Effects are pretty good for built in. As usual for onboard, don't expect t.c. electronics reverb. As a matter of fact, don't expect reverb at all. There isn't one. Delay, chorus, phazer, flanger, and something else...oh yes, overdrive. Think of this as a modular synth of yore: no reverb as it is a digital creation, not a feature on an analog synth.

Midi is excellent: sends/receives cc's from all parameters, but I think that with the current OS there are some bugs with cc reception in multimode. Don't panic - Waldorf is busy working them out (I hope for my sake). Of course it responds to all of the quintessential stuff, like aftertouch, etc.

No onboard step sequencer or effects morphing. For these things, you need to purchase the Qrack or Q. I played with the full blown Q for quite a while at the store and was amazed at the sound. I bought the micro without playing it first, but only after reassurance from one of the developers at Waldorf that the micro is 99% sound compatable with the larger versions. He wasn't kidding. No effects morphing doesn't change my admiration for the noise this produces. I use cakewalk 9 for sequencing, so I don't miss the (by comparison) limited step sequencer that comes with the Qrack or keyboard.

Buy this synth if you are wanting to experiment with modular synthesis. It is so patchable and modulatable, that it should be called VAM. Virtual Analog Modular. The uQ blows away the MS2000's little pussy four option patch routing thing.

OK, now the fun part. Jesu Cristu, this mutha sounds better than ANY VA that I have laid hands on. I took it to a buddy's house who owns a Virus b, and it won an "oscillator smoothness" contest. The virus does better crunchy leads, but the uQ's sound is more versatile. It does luscious pads and driving leads very, very well.

I have to say, tho, that this is definitely a VA synth. One can hear a world of difference between this and my venerable poly 61. Analog is analog - fat and warm. This synth comes close with a little bass boost from the mixer, but it is still VA.

If you don't have access to a uQ, don't hesitate to travel somewhere far away for a test drive before deciding on a different piece of gear. This machine is that inspiring and worthwhile. It is easily worth 1000. Thankfully, Waldorf likes all musicians, even us relatively poor ones.

Please don't buy this expecting a Kurzweil piano. Purchase this if you want to spend time either learning synthesis or using your knowledge to create something beautiful or something ugly. Regardless of your aim, with this machine, it will be unique.

The only drawback that I have found is just a hair of aliasing on some of the presets (but on nothing that I have programmed, knock on formica) when I use the mod wheel. I could be imagining it tho - it doesn't really happen too much since updating the OS. Because of this, I have to give it a 9 in this category.

The Vocoder is really sharp. Comb filter vocoder with looping envelopes modulating the pulse width. Wow. Pipe in your other synths through the filters. Wow. It breathes new life into old gear.

Well, last week I used it to club the dust out of the couch, then it doubled as a wheel chuck while I jacked my car up to check the... WHAT? It sits in its rack and does what it does. If you like to have trouble with equipment, then keep it uncovered and be sure to drink beer with your buddies around it and smoke a bunch of stuff in the same room.

Yes, it is physically dependable. The "endless rotaries" are sturdy and firm. They feel way better than most of the cheap ass knobs on, say, the MS2000.

Yeah, I'd use it on a gig if I weren't so anal about smoke damage. it seems like a well built unit, but the power adapter plug is a loose fit.

Waldorf is notorious for incomplete operating systems. They have worked ardently to make the uQ work well, but until the system is debugged to a greater degree, I will remain skeptical of 100% error free operation.

The Waldorf crew is about as great as they come. They answered all of my pre-purchase questions, plus tried to help me out of my stupidity when I was having MIDI problems. They didn't even call me trite names like "midiot."

People on the user forum say that it is best to buy the gear with factory installed expansion as post-production expansion may take a while to accomplish.

The user forum (email group) consists of software developers for major corps and regular users like yours truly. Unless you ask the same question about thirty times, the people really try to help one another. The Waldorf support team participates on an almost daily basis.

Before purchacing this, I played the MS2000, Z1, the Oberheim Matrix 12 (whatever their newest VA is), the Roland VA crap thing (jp something so bad that I can't remember), and the Nord Lead 2. The Q series sounds warmer than any of them. It isn't quite as crunchy as the virus (which is barely colder), but still does incredible leads.

This is the Creme da la Creme of my gear list. I have a Wavestation, Poly 61, DX9, and an EX-800 in the hardware synth department. It balances with all of my other gear extremely well. I don't recommend buying it if you own a Nord or Virus (or Novation for that matter). There would be a lot of "overlap" of sound type. But, if you are a gearhead...

I love the yellow color. I can find it with minimal lighting. The superbright red LED's stand out so well that they give an eerie glow about the room when it is on. Perfect ambiance.

For a bit (about a second) after buying it I thought that I would regret it. I have a limited budget that I work with to support a very expensive hobby. Once it arrived and plugged it in, all of my fears and doubts were dispelled. If it were to be stolen, I would buy either this or the Qrack to replace it. Lost? How would I lose it? Forget where I put it one evening?

If you want a VA that is constructed at every step with the premise of modelling an analog synth, instead of showing off how great it is to have digital technology, this is your synth. Other brands, IMHO, spend lots of effort giving you some 40 odd effects per voice or whatever, but one has to ask: can an analog really do that? The more stuff that you cram into a VA, the farther away it goes from it's goal: analog emulation. It is apparent that this synth has been designed to maximize the sound and character by enhancing the basic analog modelling functions instead of lumping together fifteen million effects and ring modulation for every available parameter. Don't get me wrong tho - there is so much to this it'll take you quite a while to get yer head around it. 3 LFO's and 4 looping envelopes... Whew!

Purchased with 1.00 software, downloaded and installed 1.12, it's a beautiful thing being able to download the OS. Presets range from lame to great. You can write over them so it's not a big deal. What is a big deal is the ease of editing on this fairly complex synth. Without cracking the manual the editing matrix made sense.
The presets do not do justice to the Micro-Q's abilities. A patch editor/librarian would be nice but not immediately necessary.
The manual is good, not the greatest but readable and informative.

Polyphony is 25 notes expandable to 75. You have to take into consideration how much DSP power is used but this is still a major breakthrough for a $780 VA module.
The effects are simple but useful. The 5 in 1 is weak, probably a bonus rather than a feature. Reverb is remarkably processor hostile. You get the feeling there was some room left but not enough to do anything substantial. The flange and chorus are good, the delay would be better with more control over it but is useful.
It will be interesting to see what the 75 voice option costs. It will make this synth one hell of a work horse.
It would have been nice to have the step sequencer and extra effects of the Q Rack but at this price it's a good trade off.
The arppegiator is astonishingly good. Because you can animate the sound it is possible to set up rhythmic patches that have a good groove and change a bit over time while keeping the intent of the patch.
A very easy to use synth with what will undoubtably be a great user community if it's populated by anything like the other Waldorf buyers.
For what you pay you get a lot of synth, kind of a drag you get it off the backs of Q and Q Rack users but they wanted their equipment ASAP and here in the Micro-Q everyone else gets to take advantage of the maturing of the Q series in general.

The Micro-Q as stated elsewhere is not going to displace sample playback synths for that perfect sax solo. If you're buying this synth you are looking to create sounds, not imitate them.
And you have a lot of sonic fire power. One thing that was of enormous value to me were the two wavetables. I like the Microwave synths but have had terrible luck with them. Getting a limited but still quite abundant set of tables is a big plus. It's a smoother sound than the Microwaves which may be to some people's likes (it is mine) or dislike.
Good for electronic music of all sorts from wild experimental to the most basic techno. There is a broad sonic pallate here. The most impressive features for me are the arppegiator and signal routing capabilities.

I have a fear of Waldorf but I'm hoping the Micro-Q will change that.
There are some issues such as thumps when changing between certain patches. I do use it at gigs. I'd love a backup but for now that's not happening.

Waldorf has always been a good company to work with. They have a good crew of users and they pay attention to their mailing list. If they did nothing else that would leave me all warm and fuzzy. But they work hard at fixing problems when mentioned, excellent.

I've been using software synths, mostly Reaktor. For the synthesis side of things the Micro-Q reminds me a lot of Reaktor but with more oomph and less hassle.
If lost I'd buy the Micro-Q again without question.
The sound is great, very clean but very powerful, sophisticated but able to screech. I was considering a Nova II tabletop but didn't care for it with FX off. The only VA I liked (and bought) was a Korg MS2000r which is a role player kind of synth.
The Micro-Q should put pressure on the industry from a price and function standpoint which is great for users. Hope Waldorf gets a nice slice of the synth market. They deserve it.
The Micro-Q creams the JP8080, Nova II, et al. It doesn't have all the controllers and for some this will be an issue, but if you have anything that can send midi you should be in luck and this rack should be the ticket. It is that good.
Wish it had the sequencing capabilities but for it's price I can live without it. I'm using it with a SY99, Nord Micro Modular and MS2000r along with softsynths. It is displacing many of the Reaktor synths I've worked on. Consider that a major compliment to the Micro-Q.
Others have said it is an inspiring synth and I agree. When you don't have to wade through menu after menu or convoluted button pushing and terrible manuals it's easy to feel inspired. But the sound is really the most inspiring thing about the Micro-Q. For such a simple interface it's incredible what's beneath it and how easy it is to tap into.

One of the easiest synths to edit. No problems whatsoever to find the tweak you need at the moment.
Updating the OS is a breeze, (i'm using it with a rm1x sequencer), and setting the whole thing up is not a problem either.
Right now i'm using the latest OS 1.12, wich had some bug fixes like with the effects and other stuff. (Check waldorf site for all info on this)
The presets just blew me away. If you're looking for good presets check these out! Killer basslines, phat evolving pads, and screaming leads. This machine does em all and if you're not happy just edit them or layer them as you please. Everything is right on the front so even a total beginner can't go wrong here.
Manual is okay but could have been better on some areas, like setting the device up with cubase and logic for instance. I imagine a novice user could have had use of this.

25 notes!! And the upgrade soon coming will give you 75 voices. Man i'm sure gonna get that one. You could easily make the most advanced sounds out there as it is, but imagine with the 75 notes upgrade!
Effects on the micro q is good. As mentioned by the other reviews here the need for a reverb for instance isn't that important. The sound is that warm and good.
5 fx. isn't really what I'd hoped it to be. Wish it came with a more advanced delay instead. Cuz the current delay works, but would have been better (and more fun) with a multitap delay for instance.
MIDI wise....well i'm using it with a yamaha rm1x and it is a great combination. Have made whole songs directly with this combo and not a problem som far. Rm1x 8 knobs (another 8 if you switch a button off) control a hell uva lot more, wich makes the setup and incredible live setup. You could tweak the knobs and change the sounds until you turn blue!
Arpeggiator is great, very complex indeed.

This is the most fat sounding device i have in my setup. Incredible basses&leads&pads, you name it. With the randomise function you can create the most bizarre, strange noises you can think of so easily.
Sounds can be controlled alot with aftertouch and velocity, filters, effects and more. Haven't done this yet so much so i can't really tell you about it. Read the manual on www.waldorf-music.de for more info on this.
Suited for all kinds of music, but of course if you're an electronic musician it can do it all, ambient/house/techno/trance and so on....perfect!

With the new OS 1.12 i haven't had any problems at all so far. But i'm just beginning to get deeper into the machine. But so far no probs.
Depend on it fully....would use it without hesitation in a live gig, and already have done it.

Free OS updates...
Never really got in touch with the company either by email nor phone. Can't really tell u.

If it was lost i would buy it again without hesitating. This is the most cool sounding and advanced synth for a low amount of money. 25 notes, 16 parts, great sounds, good effects, extern in for some cool vocoder and sound manipulation stuff for this price! Unbeatable!
And it's YELLOW!

Paid: 1649 DM. Now in the stores for the original price of 1789. Just in time.
Software version 1.0, updated ASAP when it was there from the site.

The presets... well. they're quite ok. Do not really show the power in
this little beast. I make trance and techno, the Knurrhahn sound is
EXCELLENT for bass, and the WideWarmWash with the attack put to zero
features the original "Cygnus X - Superstring" sound. Furthermore,
the promised compatibility with the Q and Q rack sounds isn't that great.
Actually, I didn't get them to work at all.

What's neat is that there is a Patch Randomizer. My SY-35 also had one, and
instead of tweaking for ours this thing produces sounds only appearing in
Aphex Twin's wet dreams. Bad thing is the DSP overloads sometimes and you get
you get a 'blast' sound. It blows your speakers apart. Or you scare the hell
out of your pets. For safety reasons, I have the volume low when being on a
randomizing trip.

Editing patches is easy if you get around with say, 4 sliders. Since this is
my first piece of VA, I'm not that bothered about it. Althought the MS 2000
(not counting the extreme lack of poly) has really something to tweak with.
Not really endless dials, but whatever. It's all very easy, and i didn't need
the manual for the Mod Matrix.

Patch editors would be surplus. Totally not necessary, unless you're a
Generator kind of person. Maybe it'd be cool to make a software version
of this one, they did that with the virus too.

The manual I have is printed with a laserprinter. Conventional if you
don't like reading them. It's very replaceable.

25 notes. And I'm sure going for the 75 voice expansion.
The effects are all very ok, but the 'dry' sound of the synth is so
fat and warm you don't need a reverb. The 5-FX is the only effect
I'm not satisfied with. They could've replaced that one with a reverb
for the thin sounds, or a complex delay. Chorus can be simulated with
detune. Distortion with Filter Drive. Flanger with a BPF.

All endless dials can send whole waves of Midi-data. Although I
couldn't get my XP-30 to send controls except for Pbend and ModWhl.

The arpeggiator is a dream. Forget every tedious programming on 16-
step sequencers, the horrid MC-303 and a TB303 that's being a bitch.
You can get things done with this thing... Instant triggering
effects, woozy gliding lines... grrreat.

Sounds: with the randomizer I got the sound in Fatboy Slim's
'Right About Now'. (the rising sound when the song slows down). Wicked.

Suited music : Electronica in general, techno in particular. Could do
miracles with a sampler.

It crashed a few times on me - I'm trusting the patch memory above
all though. I updated the OS and no sounds were lost. Groovy.

You have to program the multies thorough, still. A good gig option
is the Inst. # (# = 1 - 4) for quick switching.

Waldorf's a friendly company to deal with. Free OS updates, and I'll
ask the dealer (Musik Produktiv) to give the 75 voice update.
Great quick feedback.

Due to it's size it could be easily lost. It's a 2U rack, with about
the same depth. I bought it when I wanted a Virus Rack (the RACK, not
the B), but the Micro offered similar and better qualities. Maybe the
effects were better on the Virus rack, I don't know, but the
polyphony offered was only 16 (exp. 24) was noticeably lower on the
Virus. That, plus the great price (1649 DM) made me order it
immediately. I got a letter on 7th December acknowledging that the
Virus Rack was delayed until February 2001. Bad move, Access. It's
worth every cent.

I had several synths. Started in '90 with a Juno-60, then moved on
with plain keyboards (yeuch), had a JW-50, an SY-35, a W5 v2 and
I currently have a modest studio with the W5, an XP-30 (swapped for a
N5ex, lack of techno sounds) the Micro Q, an ESI-4000 sampler, and a
Drumstation.

Only thing I wished was that it had a more complex delay (multi-tap)
and maybe some sort of reverb.

It helps me making music. It adds the warm sounds to the digital
sounds of the W5 and the XP30. It offers the realtime control and
complements my setup.

I'd recommend this one over the Q and the Q rack. Both have 16
voices, exp'd to 32. I don't know if the poly drops when making
FM sounds (the Micro Q does, but it's not that much of a prob).
The step sequencer and more dedicated buttons make the Q(rack) a
better choice again, but the Micro Q: it's small, less expensive
(5000 DM for a Q!!!) and offers the same fat sound.

I am using software version 1.1, it shipped with 1.0 and I upgraded it with my sequencer (Logic), without a hitch. The presets are unbelievable! They offer a very wide range of tones, and the sound quality is spectacular. I was concerned that with the fewer knobs, I would find editing and sound creation a chore, but nothing could be further from the truth. The front panel layout is so logical and intuitive, editing is a breeze. The manual is fine. This is my ninth synth, so I didn't have to read much (yet) but it appears to be more than adequate. It has a substantial section on analog subtractive and FM synthesis basics, so this wouldn't be a problem for a newbie... I can't say enough about the front panel layout. You can actually see where whatever parameter you need is located and get right to it in a second. Brilliant.

The Micro Q has 25 voices of polyphony, upgradeable to 75!!!! It has six outputs (three stereo pairs) and one stereo input for processing of audio throu the terrific filters and EG or for Vocoder use.The effects are excellent. I love the phaser and vocoder. The arpeggiator is very nice, too. Please note: If you need the step sequencer, spring for a Q rack. This one needs an external sequencer (I use Logic, so this isn't a problem for me). Responds to aftertouch. There are obviously features one could want that you wouldn't get in this machine, but I am factoring price into the equation to arrive at the rating I'm giving.

As with any non Rompler/Sampler/PCM playback synth, you don't buy a MicroQ because you want realistic Piano sounds... You buy a Micro Q because the Waldorf Q sound is THE most versatile tone generator on the planet, and with the MicroQ's price point, it's a must have! If you need the digital out and step sequencer, better spring for the Q rack, but I didn't need these (for almost twice the price). I own a fair amount of cool VA, FM and real analog gear (Virus B, Nord Modular, Yamaha FS1R, SCI Pro One, TeeBee 303, etc.) but this unit pretty much delivers an across the board picture of what's available... From the harsher Virus and Nord type of virtual analog tones to the smoother Novation sounds. Don't get me wrong, I love the Nord and you'd have to kill me to get the Virus B, but I just feel that the Q is capable of more diversity. The Micro Q also does FM very well. Not just DX piano sounds, but the really wild stuff. I think this module would provide great tones for just about any musical style where synthesizers are appropriate. The sound pallette is diverse and stunning and I find it to be very inspiring for my music. The onboard effects are excellent, good enough to record with and certainly good enough for live performance.

I have only had this for four days, but it seems pretty solid.

I have had several contacts with Waldorf, just general questions and when they finally shipped from Germany to the U.S. and in every case they were very helpful. The Waldorf egroups mailing list is also a great rescource and several Waldorf employees regularly participate.

I am absolutely convinced that Waldorf has raised the bar for what a sub $1000 synth should offer. As of this writing, no hardware synth even comes close to the sonic excellence and diversity, sheer number of voices (not to mention upgradeability -75 voices, UNREAL!) and features for anywhere near the price. This unit puts a Waldorf within just about anyone's budget.

Software version 1.10

Polyphony is up to 25 voices dependind on the number of filters, oscillators, effects and any DSP-intensive modules.
In practice, this means about 10 to 16 voice polyphony. The built in effects are 24bit with a very high sampling rate so they are very clean...they are not accessible in the mod matrix though :(
The Micro-Q can be expanded to 75 voices but it must be sent in to a service center. The onboard OS resides in flash ram so it can be updated easily. Waldorf has a great record of adding new features and quick bug fixes.
The onboard arpeggiator ix fairly flexible with room for user-defined patterns. I give it a 9 instead of a 10 because the effects should have parameters that are modulatable in the patch...maybe the next OS update?

This machine really shines here! With up to 5 oscillators per voice
this thing can be really FAT sounding. A voice consists of 3 oscillators,
each with a waveform selection of saw, square (w/ ajustable width), triangle,
sine and two complex wavetables consisting of 127 waves each. There are two
filters that can be routed either in a serial or parralell fasion and set
at 12db or 24db lowpass, highpass, bandpass, bandreject or notch. There
is also a comb filter type for physical modeling of plucked strings or
blown tubes! 4 envelopes and 3 lfos , a modulation matrix and a multi-fx
generator round out the sound engine. The Micro-Q can do most analog-style
sounds: sweet strings, spacey pads,thundering bass ect. The sounds this
thing makes are animated and ALIVE!The real power is in the amazingly
deep modulation routings you can get on this synth. The only thing I have
that even comes close to its power and flexibility is my Nord Modular.

As of now, this is my main machine. The construction is real solid and has an amazing finish that seems like it would be hard to scratch. Plus - its yellow!

Waldorf has been very responsive to me with my pre-purchase questions and one small problem I had with set-up.

If you're looking for a VA synth (and much, much more) and you're on a budget, there's nothing else in its class. This is one of the SWEETEST synths I have ever owned!
If it were lost or stolen, I'd replace it in a heartbeat!