Waldorf Microwave XT

I'm using some version of OS 2. The presents sound fantastic! Totally unique. Capable of fat analogish lows, grinding industrial noises, sparkling highs, FM edges, and gutteral speechlike sounds. Or you can start with one and morph to another with the mod wheel. It's very easy to program, with lots of great-feeling knobs to work with and a screen that shows a lot of information. I don't use a patch editor, but I want to try Soundiver so I can make my own wavetables. Manual is great--much better than those Korg or Roland wastes-of-time. It actually explains what the synths features do, how they work, and why you would want to use them. What a concept! The only reason I didn't give a 10 here is because it's sometimes tricky to move the knobs by very small amounts, and because I prefer sliders for envelopes over knobs. (With sliders, you can move more than one at a time.)

10 voices is OK for playing single sounds, and this synth is so good I'd take whatever they offered, but more voices would be great. I haven't looked into the 30-voice expansion, because I've been lead to believe that it's expensive and hard to find. I don't know if that's really true. The built-in effects are OK--not the best, but again, the synth sounds so great on it's own that the effects are reduced to what they should always be: icing on a cake that that tastes great on its own. This cake tastes great! MIDI features are fine, no onboard sequencer (but the arpeggiators are programmable), no keyboard. Wonderful matrix modulation that allows easy realtime sonic mangling. Analog-style detuning, and PPG-style aliasing, both of which can be enabled or disabled. The knobs are "infinite spin," so there's no jump in the sound when you turn one--they're always set to the values stored with the sound. Once you play these, it's very hard to go back to knobs that make the sound jump somewhere unexpected when you turn them. Why aren't all synths made with these knobs? There is a wide range of fantastic-sounding resonant filters. Some are traditional low- band- or high-pass, and there are a number of other more esoteric ones that lend themselves very well to experimentation. They all sound great. I don't miss the analog filters of the original microwave at all. And the wavetables. Aaaahhh. After programming this synth, static waveforms will start to sound so, well, static. My only complaint is the external power supply. Somehow, though, I find myself much more willing to forgive Waldorf of this transgression than Kurzweil or Korg.

No realistic acoustic instrument sounds. That's what acoustic instruments are for, or perhaps romplers. I play synthesizer, so I want something that sounds like a good synthesizer. This one exceeds my expectations. If it had more voices and a 76-note keyboard, it would be the only instrument I play. It can do the VA thing very nicely, and can sound so fat and thick that the pictures might fall off the walls. It can sound bell-like and edgy like a good FM synth, it can do the evolving pad thing like a Wavestation or Prophet VS, and it can practically speak. It's super-expressive, and you can tailor its responses to your playing to the Nth degree. Digital clarity and flexibility with analog warmth and body. To be fair, many VAs have 3 oscillators, not 2, and the Wavestation's wavesequencing was more flexible than this synth's wavetables. But when I play this synth, I couldn't care less. The sound is so rich that I don't miss the third oscillator, and the Wavestation didn't have nearly the range of highs and lows that this one does. With a sampler and a computer program, you can make your own wavetables that sound however you want them to. Since you can get anything from harsh and ugly to subtle and pretty, with analog- or digital-sounding characteristics, I would say that this synth would be perfect for any type of music that called for synthesizer sounds. Bluegrass? Maybe not. Jazz, industrial, trip-hop, classical, ambient, rock, R&B, pop? Absolutely!

Never a single problem. I do gig without a backup (because nothing could fill in for this synth).

What a relief it is to deal with a company like Waldorf instead of ones like Kurzweil, Roland, or Korg! The people at Waldorf get back to you right away, their answers are informative (and they make sure you understand what they tell you), they're polite, and they seem to care that you're getting the most out of their instruments. Contrast that with Roland et al, where the employees don't know anything, give you attitude about it, and respond to your questions with facts lifted from advertising brouchures. Who would you rather give your money to?

Best purchase I've ever made. It would be a serious blow if this one were stolen, since they're not made anymore and since I have the cool black version. I'd buy another from eBay right away, maybe two. The Q would be the only other model worth considering with its (rudimentary) wavetables and endless encoder knobs, but it's not as good--wavetables don't come close, not as many filters. I've played for 9 years or so. I currently own a Kurzweil PC88 (wall wart, great keyboard action), an E-mu Proteus 2500 (nice Z-plane filters and great CP80 sounds), and an Ensoniq ESQ1. The ensoniq was my previous favorite, and it's got some great sounds in it still, but it can't touch the XT. I've owned a big variety of other synths, starting with a Jupiter 6 and ending with a Korg Triton Le that I couldn't sell quickly enough (awful keyboard, me-too corporate sounds, nasty wall wart). I love almost everything about this synth, most importantly the sound. What do I hate? Well, I don't like the lump-in-the-middle power supply, but it's not as bad as it might be because I velcro it to the inside of the rack that the XT lives in, so a regular-style power cord is what sticks out the back. Plus, the synth is so great that such things seem to matter less. I wish there were sliders instead of knobs for the amp envelope, or maybe some assignable sliders. Again, though, it's hard to be too disapointed about this. Overall, I think this could well be the best synth ever made. I'm hoping that Waldorf dicontinued it because they're about to release an even better successor.

Until it croaked, very EZ/intutive, great wavetable sounds than can be manipulated to the Nth degree. Waldorf manuals are generally very good.

Spectral wavetable synthesis at its spine-tingling best. All 44 knobs are continuous except for volume. Neat orange color. Impresses girls.

With tweaking, sounds range from whimisical to terrifying. Tinny and cold at times, yet can rumble a condo complex like nothing else.

Unit quit on me 6 weeks after I bought it new. Has been sitting in repair shop 4 months waiting for replacement circuit board from herr motherland. No word from W on when this might happen (see below)

After repeated runarounds as to the status of my fried XT, I contacted Waldorf's American distributor. I was informed that since the XT line was discontinued and to no longer supported by Waldorf (much like the Nord Modular), the possibility of getting a new board was remote--or lengthy at best. I explained that I had just signed a contract to develop a video-game soundtrack, sold to the client thru the XT's wavetable sonics. The distributor then sent me a Q Rack as a "loaner" until the XT gets repaired (ain't holding my breath.) But what a great move! Thanks GF!!!

Well, the Q rules, and I gave W a 10 for their generousity in loaning me something worth much more. Although the Q is not pure spectral wavetable (although it does have a PPG LP Filter)it still outdoes the XT in so many other ways. However, I miss the big orange beast. So I guess when (if?) it gets repaired I'll have to make a choice. Perhaps I will never see it again.

>>>>>BUYER BEWARE<<<<< If you see one for sale (not from a dealer) it's a definite risk, since support on this product is waning.

It's fairly simple figuring out the machine once you get the hang of the wavs matrix. The manual is very thorough and insightful and explains all the functions very well.

The effects aren't that great, but everything else is rocking. I love the fact that you can have 16 sources and destinations per voice.

The sounds are FANTASTIC!! This thing is psychodelic as fuck, great for really long sounds that morph over time, great bass, stabs, pads. This thing does it all

Never has failed me. I would use it on a gig without a backup.

Haven't had to deal with at all.

I would cry if it got lost or stolen. Well, maybe not cry, but there would definately be some pouting going on. I would probably try to find another deal like the one I got, cause I wouldn't be able to afford a new one.

Software: 2.33. Presets are fairly good and shows what you can do with it. Waldorf has few soundsets and I'm going to check them soon. Editing is easy since you know what you are doing.

I have 10-voice version and that's enough for me since I have some other synths. Built in effects are good since you have outboard reverb. Nothing stunning but very usable effects. There should be at least 6 outputs, 4 is not enough. Well you know all the specs. My only complain is lack of the outputs.

You can do both wavetable and analogue-like sounds(there are all basic waveforms). Quite digital and harsh sounding. Dreammachine for industrial musicians! It can sound very dirty thanks to wavetables, variety of filters and internal overdrive/distortion effect. It can sound very sweet and ethereal if needed. At first, when I got it in 1998, I just sat and pressed one key and really amazed the sound! Just used a bit aftertouch and modwheel to change dramatically sound. Sound started move to other dimension. Cool. Very Wavestation-like(have owned EX and SR). After two years I bought Microwave I but it was pain to program without computer editor or controller(PC1600 etc) so I kept the XT and sold MW I. XT is not ment to be everything. Very unique sound and character.

Very reliable. Knobs are top class and feels very good. I wouldn't ever gig without backup. So far so good, 10.

V-e-r-y good. Couldn't be better.

Never sell it. I make electro-ambient and this is machine for me. My gear: Roland Juno 106, Roland Jupiter 6, Roland XV-3080, Yamaha AN1x, Yamaha FS1r, Kawai K5000R, Novation Nova, Elektron Sidstation, Elektron Machinedrum, Waldorf Microwave XT, Waldorf Pulse. There is something for every electronic musician.

I use software version 2.33. The presets give you a good impression of the XT's overall capabilities, but you'll find yourselves tweaking the presets a lot. Editing the patches is very convenient. All major parameters can be directly accessed via "infinite action" knobs, which are, by the way, very well built (like the rest of the XT). Nonetheless you'll end up using the edit matrix often, as many important parameters are hidden within the various submenues. Personally, I would have liked a dedicated instrument/sound select knob for multimode instead of the glide time knob which isn't so important after all. The two mod amount knobs are pretty useless as well, as you are likely to forget the first two modulation destinations anyway. They should have been replaced by more useful functions. Anyway, the overall ease of use is very good. So is the manual, which gives you a decent first look at subtractive and wavetable synthesis.

Polyphony is 10 voices. There is an upgrade available adding another 20 voices. If you plan to use the XT as your main sound generator, you should buy the 30 voices version. I sometimes experience note stealing, especially with long release rates and dual voice assignments per note (this sounds fatter). You can play up to 8 timbres ("instruments") at once on up to 8 Midi channels. The first 3 instrument have an effects processor. The fx are mediocre. The chorus and flanger are a bit boring, so are the auto filters. The overdrive totally sucks, the signal gets way too low and the sound is crappy. The delay is decent, though. The XT has got an arpeggiator for every instrument which is syncable to midi clock. There's an editible user pattern, which is very cool. I like the arpeggiator a lot, although I got the problem that Logic doesn't send an all notes off command at sequencer stop which means the current arpeggiator note gets stuck and you have to panic your Midi interface or your XT. If anybody could tell me how to force Logic to send an all notes off command at sequencer stop I would greatly appreciate it. There are 3 bugs whith the XT which I find pretty annoying. First, when switching through the presets, sometimes notes get stuck as you select a new preset sound, especially with long amp release rates. Second, some sounds have a randomly occurring click at the beginning even if you increase the amp attack rate. Waldorf states as a workaround that you have to switch the sound to mono mode, which actually does NOT solve the problem. Third, the save all edit command which is supposed to save all edit buffers to their preset destinations DOES NOT WORK. This means that after editing the sounds within a multimode setup you have to manually save EVERY instrument within the multimode, which sucks bad! One more thing: the XT has an "initialize random sound" option which will give you the weirdest sounds you could ever imagine. I sample these a lot. Everybody out there making industrial/noise/ambient might check out the XT for this reason alone! It can do FM as well. You can feed the signal from the external audio input through the synth engine, ah yes, there is an audio input, as well as 4 outputs.

Well, this one is obvious: the XT is a very unique instrument. The 64 wavetables offer you a great amount of different timbres to create sounds never heard before. Fortunately, every wavetable contains the classic "analogue" waveforms triangle, saw and square, so can use the XT as an ordinary VA synth. Sometimes, a soft sounding preset can turn into a nightmare sound with a simple twist of the wavetable knob. The filters are great, too, especially the waveshaper which drastically distorts the input signal and greatly makes up for the poor overdrive in the fx section. I find the standard lowpass / highpass filters a bit boring, and the resonance is a bit too whistly / not dirty enough for my taste. But don't worry, nearly everybody out there seems to love the Waldorf filters, so I guess it's just a matter of my strange taste :-) The envelopes are very good, especially the wave envelope can give a sound a very dynamic quality. There's also a modulation matrix with 16 slots that can have individual modulation sources and destinations as well as 4 modifier slots where you can use boolian operators to logically connect two paramters. E.g. you could use the amp envelope multiplied by aftertouch for filter modulation, or have the negative section of an lfo cycle mirrored to the x-axiy resulting in a camelback-like shape. The mod matrix makes the XT very flexible. There are numerous ways to manipulate the sound forming parameters to your liking. This way, you can create sounds that evolve until forever.
But how does it all fit in your mix? I must admit that I have mixed emotions about this one. I often find myself browsing through the presets looking for just an ordinary sound, like a soft pad or a lead I haven't used yet. I come across the weirdest sounds, but often, they just don't fit. Sometimes I find it too difficult to find just a bread-and-butter sound. I don't think the XT is a "does it all" machine. It's a great addition to a studio which already contains a VA, a sampler and maybe a rompler or sort of that. For instance, if you already got a Virus/Supernova/Nordlead/Q or whatever and you're looking for a nice addition to your setup, go for it. If this is going to be your first synth, you might get a little disappointed by the exotic nature of this instrument. The overall characteristics of the sounds might be described as brittle, harsh, digital and often bell-like. With some tweaking, however, you'll be able to get decent analogue sounds out of it. It's great for all sorts of electronic music. I use it along with a Yamaha A3000, a Quasimidi Polymorph and an Ensoniq DP/4 (which is acually an fx processor, but I regard it as an instrument) and it fits perfectly.

This thing is build like a German Wiesel tank. The knobs are very smooth and sturdy, the case is stable. But wait: wall wart plug! Yuck! I haven't had any problems with it reliability-wise. Deutsche Wertarbeit!

I often look up the user forum at the waldorf homepage. User questions are answered by Joerg Huettner, a friendly costumer support guy at Waldorf. You can download the current OS version, user sound sets, editor software and much more at their website. Excellent support!

I love the XT. It's a great synth, although for the rather extraordinary and exotic sounds. If you want standard electronic sounds, you might be better off with a VA synth. The XT is a challenging box an not for the beginner. Programming it is a lot of fun and can lead to unpredictable, mostly great results. If you wander off the beaten track musically, this might be THE machine for you, as it stands apart from all other sound generators i know.

I consider the XT to be reasonably easy to find my way around except for when dealing with wave envelopes and the modulation matrix, a more visual approach would in my opinion be intuitive. I hope to purchase Sounddiver soon, so hopefully this will help me in these areas.

The only feature is the colour! Your just paying for the sound really, in my opinion u can forget multi mode unless u want a headache! The arpeggiator can be inspiring and the LFO's can easily be sync'd to a midi clock but thats about it. Leave the FX off. Nuff said.

The XT can sound awesome, of that there is no doubt, patience is needed though when trying to create sounds, the various filter modes can sound devastating with certain wavetables and not with others. Experimentation is the key. I try to make funky/trancey/progressive house and it is awesome for this, but I wish I had access to a higher number of good patches as a starting point. The factory patches that shipped with my machine were totally uninspiring. This synth could be the only one you need if you become adept at coaxing those elusive awesome sounds out of it!!

I had an original Microwave a few years ago that caused me alot of trouble but this one seems OK

In the UK the distributors handle everything

The XT is a brilliant synth with tons of character, it has the capability to surprise and inspire, I would like to get a Virus aswell as so many records seem to be being made with them and I would be able to compare, but I am constantly hearing Microwave sounds on alot of deep/prog/trance, to me you can tell them a mile off, they just sit at the front of the speakers right in your face!

Im constantly updating my software,and do not know what version it is.
Anyone with internet access,and a sequenser that plays .mid files,can update easy,check their site.
The presets are useful,and especially the moudulation routes are good to keep intact until you get used to working with them.
Manual is nice and easy,but after a while youll want to know more...
Thats when you start to check the web.

It have a bunch of effects,but no synkable delays.
The effects only works on 3 of 8 sounds in multitimbral mode.
This is a synth where the main thing is the sound,and not a bunch of
limited workstation features.
NO sequenser and such.
But the midifeatures wont let you down.
All knobs sends midi out,and the arpeggio (wich is nice)can be sent out on other midichannels,to other gear.
it got a external signal in,another nice feature.
But the 10 voices version is a bit limited if you keep on doing those big chords in your music.

Ohhh.
This is a synth made not to sound like anyhing else than a synth.
Youll find ways of making the moust personal sounds with this one.
Even though it is not a digianalogmodeling synth,its in that sort of style,but with a chirpy and punchy character....
This synth is for sonic experiments and journeys.

this is a very sturdy unit,and so stylish.very reliable and it will have a good secondhand value,fore long times to come.

They are the best.Ill send them a valentine

This is not a groovebox or such.Stay away from those,they are lots of fun for a start,but youll soon reach its limitations.
This is a synth that is only a synth.But itll grow with your music,and its a pleasure to spend time with it.You will discover new sounds and be creative with it.
Maybe its not so great for a complete biginner.If you are new to making electronic music,get some secondhand gear,and make shure that you wont loose to much money selling your gear in case they dont feel good to you.

The Xt is simply a slightly buffed up Microwave II tacked on to a more user friendly box. It is covered with knobs that control all of the basic functions of a subtractive synthesizer. However the Xt is capable of much more than that so there is also a menu system. The only real complaint i have is that it is difficult to select which patch you want the knobs to affect when in multitembral mode.

the average is 10 voce polyphonic and 8 parts multitembral. Polyphony can be increased to 30, allthough this only seems useful in very complex songs (as a single voice is capable of a very big sound). or when using extensive unison mode (10 voices detuned and stacked on top of each other like a jupiter 8 could do) patches. It has built in effects but they arent that good. They are mostly useful as a scratch pad before using an external effects box (it has two outputs so this is a practical solution in multi mode). Its midi implementation is very well thought out and very easy to use. Almost every parameter has dedicated midi controllers and every knob (save for main volume) sends midi data (it does a good job as a control surface for soft synths)

This is an electronic synth. It has a few wavetables for piano and organ sounds but frankly those tables do better at creating wierd spiky burbles than emulation. In terms of analogue emulation this box does an excellent job with only a few weak points.1 PWM tables only sound good when being rushed through at high speed.2 filter resonance does not effect low end of a sound(in a supernova II the degree to which this occurs can be controlled). In terms of experimental (read Bizzare sounds) this box is second to none. Its modulation matrix is extense enough to compete even with real modular synths.

I have never gigged with it but the only problem it has ever given me in my studio is occasionally it will boot up improperly and have to be restarted it has never failed once started though

ive never needed it.

if it were lost i would probably replace it as soon as i could. unless a real deal came along.
I personally find wavetable sounds great for pads and drones but difficult to work into melodies and percussive sounds (although it is very rewarding when it happens wavetable drums kick ass)

The is the easiest synth I have ever worked with. Most everything is right there in front of you. Takes about an hour to learn the basics. It also has a lot of depth to it, after 2 years I'm still doing new things with it. The manual is decent, if you know about synths you should have no problem. The only difficult part is the mod matrix, but even that's pretty simple to work with.
The presets are good for what they are, but they don't go near showing you what this synth is fully capable of.

Mine has 10 voices, but you can upgrade to more. 30, I think. It has wavetable sound source, many different times of filters, great envelopes, many knobs. No sequencer. A good arpeggiator that you can create your own patterns for. A headphone jack would be nice as this is a real headphone synth. But alas.
Their new q has many more features but also costs more and you don't really get that great wavetable sound.

Speaking of sounds, this is what is so fabulous about the microwave xt. I have heard no other synth make these sounds. It has a strange, analogue digital organic artificial sound, if that helps any. Like a breathing, living computer. Very psychedelic. The wavetables are the key. The filters are pretty too. They sound very analogue. In fact, the xt makes a decent virtual analogue, if you're looking for that. The effects are generic, but since I don't like effects myself I'm probably not the best person to rate them.
The xt is fully expressive. Because of the beautiful mod matrix you can route anything to anything so you could concievebly set velocity to filter res, envelope release, fm amount, lfo speed, panning, and many others all at the same time. But wait it gets worse.

I had a lot of crashes several versions ago. But in these last few versions I have had none. Whatever it was, they must have fixed it.
I trust it to always work, although occasionaly the external inputs won't accept sound and I have to turn it off and back on again. Speaking of turning it off (i never do) you have to hold the off button for a few seconds before it goes off. This seems pretty clever to me. I mean, I don't know about you but it seems pretty clever to me.
I'd give it a higher rating if I didn't have trouble with the external inputs.

Whoah man, they got some kind of customer support. They upgrade over the net, so you can do it yourself. (although the frequency of the upgrades has fallen since the q (which proves they're only human))
They also have a mailing list that they take a personal interest in.
I have never needed a repair, so I can't speak on something like that.

I bought this synth several years ago. It was my first expensive synth. I loved it, but was curious about other supersynths. I sold my xt and got a nord modular, which I returned within my thirty day trial period. I then tested other synths at stores and such. I came to realize how special the xt really was and ended up buying it again.
I just love the sound.
Don't get me wrong though, this is an expensive synth and it is not for everyone. If you are looking for a va you might do better elsewhere. If you are looking for acoustic emulation then you shouldn't even be reading this review. What are you doing here?
But if you are looking for something weird, unique but musical, psychedelic yet familiar, you couldn't do much better than this.

Version 2.33.
The Preset sounds good and can be quite useful as templates for making
other sounds.
The sound editing on this machine is quite good except for hidden
subdirectories which can make things really annoying.
A patch editor would make things a lot easier.

Polyphony 30.
The build are impressive but the parameters are not very flexible.
Example:
The Delay effect go up and down in increment of 2 instead.
On the Roland JV2080, delay can be set in terms of milliseconds.
But that's another story.
MIDI capabilities are user dependent.
I don't use the onboard sequencer but the arpeggiator is wicked.
Overall, it is simple and friendly.
Start tuning the knobs if you don't believe me.

The sound quality is phenomenal compared to other instrument that
I've tried out. The resonance can be either piercing or metalic-like.
This toy is great for all sort of electronic music (House, Techno,...)
I use for Trance and Drum n' Bass. Yes folks, Drum n' Bass: You can
get those wicked distorted or elastic stuff.

Well, this is where I am going to hammer it !!!
The software is still buggy.
I have to restart it 2 or 3 times before it works properly.
For example, the sound will clip if started for the 1st time.
After restarting it for the 3rd time, everything is ok.

Quite helpful.
I was trying to create a TB303 type of setup on it using the four
main knobs.
Got a response within a day.
Got it together within minutes.

Overall, I chose this machine because it can do more than what
either a JP8000 or Nord Lead can. The sound quality is impressive.
I currently own a JV2080, Prophecy, AKAI 2800, and Yamaha SY55.
If you don't believe that the XT can do what I mentioned in the above,
then check out my music site at http://www.mp3.com/tksmusic/
Most the tunes that I have made include sounds made by myself from the XT.
I was to buy another instrument, I would have bought a Korg Electribe
(Rhythm) along with the XT.
They go together perfectly.