Waldorf Microwave XT

Well...44 knobs, what more can I say!? It's very easy to get a basic, great sound out of it. If you want to go deeper (belive me, if you buy this synth, you planned to go deeeep :)).
Personally, I'm not crazy about Mod Matrix'es, but this one is pretty good, and it's easy to find your way in it once you've used it a couple of times.

I've heard that some people doesn't like the 'endless' knobs, well, personally I love them. Next to motorised knobs, this is the best thing (if not better).

I've got the 10 voice version, I might get the 30 voice expansion later...who knows!? Good EFX that can fatten the sounds, but honestly I prefer outboards. I like the chorus though...

I smile just when I think about it. Personally, I LOVE the sounds you can get out of it. Spacey, organic and evolving drones...no problem! That's basicly what I'm using it for, but I think it's also wonderful for basses, leads. I can imagine that industrial musicians might enjoy it too, because you can get some really dirty, mean sounds out of it.
I would like to get and editor and mess around with the wavetables, cause that's pretty much why I got it. I love the sounds you can create with their help...

I bought mine used, but I don't think it was used much, cause I can't find a single scratch on it. The paint is 'crusty', and I don't think you can scratchy it easily, neither does your fingerprints show on it.
If you try really hard, I'm sure you can knock off one of the knobs, but why bother!? The shape is a bit...different. Great for fiddling, but they might get in the way.

They update the OS every now and then. I haven't really had anything to do with them.

I LOVE IT. Honestly, this is one of the best synths I've ever played with. My Nord Modular will get some tough competition in the future.

2.33 OS, Presets ,. Some are unforgettable in my opinion ans some are Lame but good for templates to start tweaking, I think that's more of the philosopy,. and believe it or not it's got one of the most potent Kick drum sounds I've ever heard,. Manual is decent,.. (I like clavia's more,. Roland's SUCK!!),. sometimes the user interface to me seems counter intuative,. but once you get the hang of it it's fast.
Some of the presets are too much alike,. but really it's not a "preset" synth,. but some of the presets are some of the most overused sounds in Modern electronica.

I have 30 voice (GET the 30 voice!!!),. it's a rack so no keyboard,.
One thing I will say is waldorf keep changing the knobs and the knobs I got the tips keep coming off,. some Crazzy Glue(tm) will fix that no problem,. but still,. come on,. the Knobs? it should have NICE knobs,. I don't use the build in effects (maybe delay)... to me the overdrive makes the patch so quiet is makes me mad.
It's not expandable past the 30 voice,.
no on board seq.
Midi capabilities are up to standard.

The microwave is all about sound as far as I can tell,. it's crazzy sounding at times,. not much real stuff,. but you know that,. is's totally modulatable all around,. everything you would expect and a lot more,. but some of the sounds you can get out of this thing blow my mind,. the only gripe that I have with the sound is that some of the Mono patches "click" and it's not an envelop time issue,. it's a bug (waldorf actually said is a bug there fixing now),. when that click issue is gone,. Look out,.. there is a lot of weird stuff that can be happening to make this synth actually sound a bit noisy to me at times,.(just a tiny bit more than a Nord),. but it may be just "intended" noise,. there are so many crazzy things going on in this synth,. with the glithces I still gotta give it a 10 becuase it just sounds so #$^ing good sometimes!

Yip, I would gig with it,. (the little tiny front part of the knobbies might fall off though,.. GRRRR!!),. just for that I give it 7,. but technically it's build like a brick ^&#t house!!

THE VERY BEST EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have to give it a 9.5 really,. it's definaly a 10 out of the synths I've tried (or else I would have ought them instead,.)
I've been playing forever,.
I have all new pro gear,. EMU,. CLAVIA,. LEXICON,. TC,. Roland
I've it got scammed I would be really pissed cause I would have to get another one right away cuase it rulez.

The software version is 2.33, in the beginning it's a little complicated but after a week you can spend hours making sounds

10 voice polyphony it's ok, but I wanted more, the problem is that the expansion is a little expensive and is hard to find someone who can do this if you don't live in europe.
Effects are so nice and easy to use.

This is the best part, the sounds of this device are the best quality I've ever heard

It don't have drums, also you need a keyboard

They are fast and kind people.

I love the great variety of sounds you can make, you never get bored with this super synth

Hi,

I bought an xt yesterday ..... i've used many synths...
and program synths........

The presets apart from a few basses are cats arse......
To edit patches takes alittle getting into but if your able to understand basic synthesis and modulation stuff then you'll do fine.
The manual seems pretty ok...only ok.....would be nice to have alittle more detail..here and there.

Polophony is 10 voice...ok but i wouldn't attempt using it for multi work with that many...get the 30 voice expansion...effects are ok...
nice flanger etc....not convinced though...load of mid capabilities..
modulation possibilities......

Don't expect to get a nice acoustic modelled trumpet out of this one..
and don't take any notice of anyone who says the xt doesn't stand up to the q aetc etc as in some reviews...basically unless you prepared to edit this synth and use your head then you'll not get muchh more out of the xt than good leads and basses...very good though..very rich
sounding...and quite frakley not much different from the q...The xt
is not for commercial studios where people buy gear for presets and
for customers to choose sounds from...it's for editing....and.......

I use z1,jp800,nord2,wavestation a/d rack/and alot of samples and have
bought /samples to death and sold around 30 different analogue synths
and resynthsesied the remains to get some fairout sounds but never
found a synth which at times was so rich and lush sounding as the xt.
When it sounds good..this synth sounds very good...i've owned nothing like it and the possibilities for modulating sounds etc is huge....
Anyone who says this synth is lame compared to the q has basically
never programmed it .......

Don't buy this synth unless you program your own sounds...do dance or
ambient abstract music and want sounds that no other synth can make..
The waldorf sound is a classic sound....rich /lush and expensive and i only wish i had bought this synth when it came out...

who can say.....

who knows

If it were lst or stolen i would get another...no doubt...it's unique,
If i made a fortune i would buy a 'wave'....

O.K. I just used this thing today...but I love wave synthesis. If you are a devoted electronic mmusician, you should have no trouble using the simple matrix, as it is set up rather well to edit your own sounds. Unless you live in on the moon most of the year, where you get screwed on prices on everthing, don't spend more than 1000 bucks on this thing (only cuz you can get it cheaper if you look hard). Anyway, its really neat. The presets should never be used as is ('is' if discussing the presets as a singular group, 'are' if otherwise)in a piece of music requiring a synth...the listeners will generally just jump up and say..."oh. i've heard that before...". SO, editing, and there is much editing on this machine, is handy and at your fingertips. I learned how to do it without the manual, but it seems complete (the manual that is...). If you can, get one. The only problem is the price. All this stuff should be 1/2 as expensive as it is. Good luck.

read the other comments for the polyphony and other info. I just can't understand why any of this stuff is limited to 'so many notes', 'so many voices'. Shame!

sexy soundscapes and groovy too.

I don't do "gigs", so I could care less about its reliability on a tour.

haven't dealt with the company yet.

I still can't get over the price of this shit.

I'm using OS 2.33 which is the latest that I know of. The presets are generally kind of boring aside from a few gems. Editing is so much fun and so easy. There's pratically a knob for everything. A patch editor is neccessary if you want to make your own waves and wavetables, which is what I do and recommend others to do. I believe Intellios has a good editor as well as soundiver. The manual is straightforward and probably has the best tutorial on wavetable synthesis this side of a University sound design paper.

I have the thirty voice version but its standard is ten voices eight part multitimbral. It has two oscillators driving one wavetable. Each oscillator can access different parts of the wavetable or sync up together. There is a noise generator, ring mod, frequency modulation of oscillator one from osc two. Osc two can be synced to one. There is the standard ADSR for amplitude and filter, plus there is an eight stage loopable envelope for wave control, as well a freely assignable envelope. The modulation matrix can hook up almost anything to anything as well as use mathematical procesess to modulate modulators. There are lots of filters including the usually 4 and 2 pole low and band pass, 2 pole high pass, sin shapers, waveshapers, sample and hold, fm and notch filters. There are some basic effects such as delay, amp simulator, flange, chorus, and the like. In multitimbral mode the first three parts use their effects while every part can use the glorious chorus effect. The appregiator is straightforward although I haven't gotten to really using it yet.

This beast sounds absolutely majestic. It is the best sounding synthesizer I've ever played with. It works well for techno, and especially industrial. I do noise and soundscapes and that is what this machine is really used for. Wavetable synthesis is one of the most interesting and useable forms of synthesis.

It can be finicky at times but for the most part it just requires an OS update.

I sent Waldorf an email once with some questions and got a response in ONE HOUR!!! It was the most professional and helpful service I have ever encountered from a synth manufacturer.

I would definetly buy it again if it got stolen. I love wavetable synthesis and Waldorf know how to implement it. I use it alongside a Korg Prophecy and a Yamaha TG77 and I love them all. They really compliment each other. More people should explore different forms of synthesis as opposed to s+s which is quite frankly extremely boring. I bought this for only $12000 Canadian for the thirty voice, from a rich guy who didn't know how to use it. Thank god for bloody idiots who buy really expensive gear and then re-sell for almost half price. I absolutely love it.

softwre version 2.14. Some of the functions are difficult to understand at first but everything is still very accessible and you can always just twiddle and tweak away to figure out what something does. The presets are OK. The thing is laid out pretty well and everything is clearly marked and easy to get your fingers on. plenty of room.

You can check out the features from the waoldorf site. I won't remember them all. 10 voices lots of great filters. Loads of knobs. Good arpegiator...8 part multi. Usable and creative FX. Complex modulation matrix. Very flexible routing. External input to filter (killer), 4 outputs. excellent midi capabilities.

this thing has a distinctive sound...but is capable of doing lots of different things. Really wierd phasey evolving drones/pads, plingy pangy percussive chopped distorted bells...staticy bass throbbing filter sweeping hits...and great bells, bass, bleeps and bloops, sine wavey pads, "pretty" things and aggressive industrial screaming vowel like noises....straight up percussion sounds..good kicks, hats etc, sub basses...and unearthly electronic sounds....i love it...it's sonic abilities are endless and I am always impressed with it.

never had a problem. software updates are a snap.

never had a problem but waldorf is prompt with answering questions.

If someone stole this from me I would definitely buy it again. There are things you can do with this synth that I've never heard anything else do. Someone compared this to a Q...why? I haven't heard the Q but I'm sure the Xt can do things that the Q can't and vice versa. They are diferent machines with different goals. The Xt is not a JV1080 or a supernova or a Q or wavestation..etc. it isn't meant to be. It is a different sounding instrument. Lots of hard edges with the ability to be very subtle. There aren't that many places that have waldorf stuff on the showroom floor. I was lucky enough to be near a place that does. So I played with the XT for a few hours on different occassions and one day I just couldn't leave with out it. I've used it on almost every track I've written since I bought it. If you write hand bag house or disco house the nthis probably won't be of much use to you..but if you write ANY OTHER kind of music the XT would find a nice place in your studio.

Following is a different approach to the other reviews. Yes, the XT has a signature sound. It lacks so much of what makes the Q so great though and, considering that that machine- the Q that is-- is THE Waldorf-- that`s bound to disappoint anyone who thinks to buy this unit via mail order sound (other than having downloaded a few demos)unheard.And since hardly anybody carries the Waldorf line that`s all the more reason for any potential buyer to be certain whatever vendor they purchase from allows returns due to simple customer dissatisfaction. We purchased the XT-with a 30 voice upgrade for in-house use here at our studio. In the end-after 3 weeks of having it sitting around as more or less nothing but than an object for the curious we returned it to the vendor-all boxes, manuals and etc. in the right condition, and got our money back. Perish the thought had we purchased from one of these on-line outfits who take returns only at their discretion, but fail to inform the purchaser of this policy until after the sale (No, that isn`t something that has happened to us, but we have heard several horror stories of late from friends who have been mislead by a few disreputable on-line stores with regards to what their REAL return policy is. Buyer`s beware, right?) By the way, my albeit personal impression of the XT is it doesn`t sound exactly like the real thing, but it`s still quite good nevertheless. If I had to chose though between the XT and the much pricier Q I`d save my bucks and wait for the Q to come out as a rack. The XT can`t touch the Q for flexibility and uniqueness of sound. EVERYBODY who frequents our little concern here loves the Q, even the acoustic mostly crowd tinkers with it and trys to find a place for it`s great sounds. The XT, by comparison, simply gathered dust.

Software 2.17, seems to be bug-free (I think). With 46 knobs on the front panel this ought to be easy to use and it is. However I can't give it a 10 because it's so damned DEEP. Getting a good sound out of this is the easiest thing in the world. However, getting the sound you originally planned to get, well that's a bit harder. Maybe it's just that I haven't conquered the thing yet. Still, you usually find a great sound ON THE WAY to where you were going, if you know what I mean.
Presets are ok. Impressive in the store but difficult to integrate into a song....but with all those controls you just tweak away until it's JUST right. Some very good alternatives available on the web anyway, including very impressive analog emulation patches. Great starting points for your twiddling. This is the tweakers synth.
Manual is iffy...barely touches on the effects of all those loop/retrigger functions.

Polyphony is only 10 notes, which isn't much for a machine of this price. Upgrade is not cheap. FX are good but no reverb...I suppose they reckon if you can afford a top-notch synth like this you've probably got a lexicon around somewhere....
The main feature is the knobs......46 ENDLESS knobs that transmit midi and don't "jump" between settings when recalling.

Well, it's bloody great. This thing can do it all.....stringy things pads drums (electro ones anyway) screaming leads, basses, analog, everything except a 303 although some claim to have achieved it. From good-sounding to out-and-out weird, it's got it covered. I can't imagine anyone NOT being able to use it in their music.

occassionally have to restart it.

A user mail ring with Waldorf techies on it helps a lot with any problems you may have.
Had no problems yet though, so I won't vote.

I've been building a setup for a couple of years now, and this is my first "expensive" synth......and I'm really pleased. It cuts through mixes really well and sounds great. I use it mainly with an Audity and sampled drums and it covers almost everything. Only letdown is polyphony cos you want to use it for everything. I had originally thought I'd be saving up for a Virus to make those really hard sounds, but this thing does those too, so I'll buy some monitors instead(when I can...). Just wish the poly upgrade was cheaper.....hence the 9.

Software v1.17. Presets are OK. This is one of the only synths that I prefer to edit manually rather than with a software editor, probably because of the 44 knobs. Still, there are some menus to navigate, but they're logically laid out. A software editor would give you access to the advanced functions -- like building new wavetables. The manual is adequate.

The standard model has 10-note polyphony, the expanded model has 30. Simple but usable set of effects. Very powerful modulation possibilities (via a matrix). Has an audio input for routing though the filters and effects. The internal software is updateable, and Waldorf occasionally adds new features.

This is a rough, dirty, and heavy sounding synth that is perfectly suited to electronic and industrial music. Very responsive, great for endlessly-morphing pads.

No problems.

There's a lot of interesting synthesizers out there. If my Microwave XT was lost or stolen, I'd consider an Access Virus or a Supernova, but I'd probably end up with the MWXT again since it sounds so unique. I find that each of my synths is good at a particular thing... The Z1 is great at soft pads and strings, as well as zingy electronic sounds. The prophecy is great at synth basses and leads. The Nord modular is great at arpeggiated synth lines. The MWXT is great at hard-edged industrial soundscapes and ripping leads. So, in summary, it's not for the faint-hearted: used properly, it will add some real balls to your music.