Waldorf Microwave XT

I learned it in one night. If you buy this, I assume you are familiar with synthesis. Considering that, the unit is very easy to learn and use. They also have in their website a small essay that explains some of the unique features. The synth engine is pretty basic, except for the wave tables. I am using version 2.17 which seems almost stable. the unit has frozen upon bootup twice on me, and I have had it for one month. So I had to unplugg it and re plug it in. That seems to fix it.
But the OS is user upgradeable via MIDI. with a computer.
Editing the patches is easy if all you want to do excludes modifying wave tables. Which is impossible from the front panel. You can do almost everything very quickly, but to cover all, get an editor.
The manual is concise, very nice. They don't waste time explaining and describing unnecesary things.
Oh, and the user interface reacts quickly when you push any buttons. Which invites me to edit the sounds on it. Not like some of the Korgs and Yamahas out there.
Additionally, when you turn any knobs, they pick up where the parameter was. (they are enless rotary knobs) So you don't hear the sound jumpingt to the current knob position. Nice design style!

10 notes polyphony. I have a module so, there is no keyboard.
Built in effects are very good, but there is no reverb. Of course, since most people buying this thing probably already have a whole studio set up, reverb would not be needed. You can expand the unit to 30 voices. It is a factory modification, so you will have to take it to a dealer. The unit takes no cards, but if you have an editor or librarian, you won't need it.
There seems to be a full MIDI implementation, which includes your choice of sysx or continuous controller for each and every knob.
There is an onboard arpegiator. It can accept user patterns, which I have not yet tried to edit, but it looks very useable. It syncs to incoming clock messages, or you can use an internal clock.
In multi mode, you have up to 8 arpegiators, on each of the 8 possible parts. From the 8 parts, the first 3 have the same effects they have in play mode. Plus there is a chorus effect available from within each program, that does not take any effect processing or voices (NEAT!) so you can have chorus and delay in a sound at the same time. The chorus sounds like it would be using an extra voice (like a detune). It is not adjustable thoug, you either have it on or off.
I would appreciate a category search like some of the new synths (yamaha EX-5, W7 and Korg Z1)
Since it has 256 sounds, it would be nice to find them by category. But on the other hand, the presets are well organized, so, all the basses, are together, all the pads, and so on.

Don't expect any realistic instruments on this unit. But do expect realistic sounding filters.
That's right. This is the only machine I have seen that can do "EVERYTHING" with the filters, just like an analog synth. You can make them oscilate, and you can sweep a very wide frequency range with them.
But most of all, you can sweep very fast with them. Other synths will have a built in "lag" that makes the filter sound smooth, but makes it impossible to make very fast sweeps from MIDI.
In the Microwave, you can choose to have a lag or filter on controller data, to eliminate any quantization caused graininess, or you can remove the lag, to have fast filters. Or anywhere in between. It's your choice.
The onboard effects are good, especially because it has no reverb. It was a good design decision. You will find choruses, flangers, phasers, delays, and other standard stuff. But there is a lot you can do with the synth engine, (ring modulation, simulating lower sampling quality, etc. You don't need a lot of help from the effects.
It is very dynamic on most sounds. Others are static, so you have a wide palete to choose from. Many pads are evolving forever, literally!!
It reacts nicely to velocity and aftertouch. It can reroute any MIDI input to anything in the synth engine.
OH, and the synth engine is the fastest I have in my studio. seriously, Instant response time! Good thing they limited the polyphony. A company like Yamaha would have tried to triple the polyphony with the same synth engine, making response time very poor. The envelopes can track as fast as you want them. When compared to a Korg Z1, the envelopes in the Z1 seem more limited (when creating short cutting sounds)
The Microwave can definately handle short and cutting sounds with ease.
The overall character of this instrument is edgy although easy on the ears, which I love!!

Looks solid. There are many knobs (moving parts) which could fail, but that seems unlikely.

Never dealt with them, rumors are they are great!

If you are looking for something weird, evolving pads, very good analog emulations, grainy textures, wacky distorted stuff, or even a TB-303 emulation, this is your machine.
It has many sounds, you have heard before in hit records, the weird sounds, not the bread and butter ones. For bread and butter, get a Korg N5 or something in the same category.
It is the most inspiring instrument in my rig, even though it is not the most capable one. It actually complements my other instruments (Korg Z1, Yam W7 and EX5 and Emu Orbit). It has the lowest poliphony of all my keyboards, but it is fast, intuitive and gives me a sense of control over the sound no other instrument has given me.
Keep in mind that at $1250 it is a high ticket, so be sure you also look at the Roland JP 8080, Novation Supernova, etc.
I bought it cause I fell in love. You will fall in love too once you try one.

using OS2.14/quite difficult to rate the ease of use because on one hand you have everything at your fingertips (well *almost* everything) while on the other you can easily drown in the amount of interacting parameters and loose the vision of the sound you where about to create... however, if you have some experiences using analog synths tweaking is pretty straight forward -- presets show the power of the machine but are mostly of no use for me; Manual is quite bad especially if you are a beginner / well, this synth isn't for beginners OTOH :-)

Its easily one of the most powerful synths of these days, capable of almost everything -- but, hey: It's a *synth*! That means: no natural sounds, no samples, no drums (well: just a few like a sine-BD). But everything else (and more)! OS is upgradable via MIDI sysex-dump , which seems necessairy since the current version (2.14) is quite buggy. This does mostly not affect the sound engine itself, but the control signals (Modifiers, LFO etc). Since it is based on a wavetable synthesis that allows up to 64 harmonics, almost every sound is possible. With an additional wavetable-editor (which is available for PCs / for Macs in the near future) the possibilities are expanding to infinity...

Now - that is why you buy a synth, right? Well this one is worth a try or two. It is just one of the best sounding synths around, very smooth filter operation, smooth, when distorted, tasty effects, and the most versatile engine for the raw wave material. The basic sound (if you could talk about this since it can change so much) is however, a bit harsh (this is because the waves are stored as 8-bit samples, corresponding to some roughness when xpanded to the D/A-format) and right into your face. Go and see if you like that - if so, it'll be a must.

So far it seems quite sturdy; but: lot's of knobs == lot's of potential hassle. However, it seems to be constructed rock solid and Waldorf has a good reputation for building reliable machines. One thing: the OS is a bit buggy still but they will fix it and continuesly release updates with bug fixes/feature additions. The sound engine stops for a short time when changing a PRG in Multi-Mode.

Best customer support I've ever dealt with. Every question (email) is answered the same day... simply ask Wolfram :) OS updates take care of user requests and known bugs and. Real great support even if you do not own a wave.

8 is just because I can still think of better machines (at unaffordable prices of course). If I should compare with what is on the market (Roland, Access, Novation) I'd give it a ten. The only comparable synth is the NordLead by Clavia - I just decided by taste and versatility. Complements my other sound emmitting gear in a useful manner (Sampler, Rompler, Software based synthesis). I'd buy it again - but it will not get stolen since I am always sitting in front of it, turning these knobs...

The 44 knobs on this synth makes programming much easier than the already easy-to-program Microwave II. There is however, some room for improvement. When setting loops on the multi-segment envelope generators (wave and free EGs), it is still difficult to visualize how the loop is set since this must be set from the data display and not from the knobs. Likewise, there are no physical knobs or matrix switches to program mod routings. This is also done from the data display. Without redesigning the unit, the only way to improve this would be a Mac/PC editor for these functions. Wave and wave table editing,while not available on the XT itself, could also be implemented in a software editor.

The unit has 10 note polyphony, just like the Microwave II. The only difference with the XT are the 44 control knobs and the analog input for processing external sounds. The current OS (2.04) is the same OS used for the Microwave II also. Version 2.04 has a bug when used with the XT in that it powers up in standby mode even if the unit was not shut off by its power switch (ie: power was switched by a power strip instead.) The MW II would come up fully powered in this situation. This brings up another interesting feature. OS software upgrades are easily downloaded from Waldorf's web site as a MIDI file. Waldorf generally is very quick to fix any bugs or add new features. A new OS is only a download away.

This is not the instrument for you if you play in top 40 cover bands, weddings, typical club gigs, etc. Get a typical workstation in this situation. This unit is perfect for experimenting. If you are into ambient electronic experimental music, here's your machine. You can get some of the weirdest, most rich sounding timbres out of this synth, that can't be produced by any other synth.(Not even a Wavestation or modular analog!). The sound is not glass-like smooth as in the average Japanese or American synths. It has the capability to sound grungy in a very good sort of way, even on long sustained patches. Some of the "analog" types of sounds are excellent. Check out the patch "CS-80" for example.

Very reliable so far. It's built pretty solid. It even has a "burnt orange" color textured finish so you can't get finger prints all over it when playing with the controls.

As mentioned before, Waldorf has excellent support. Downloadable OS from their website and a user forum that the company takes an active part in.

I would most definitely purchase this synth again. While not perfect, it's really excellent for the type of music I'm interested in.