Waldorf Microwave 1 - should I keep it?

[Hossegor]

Dude i love my Microwave 1. To me its one of my favorite Synths soundwise. It Sounds totally unique......It is an awesome Bass synth that sound brilliant in the mix. also good for pads and metalic sounds....it is basically a PPG synth...

[lowkey]

I bought a Microwave with an Access controller at the same time as a Studio Electronics ATC1...12 years ago. I kept the microwave for a little while, but the sounds just didnt do it for me [even with the editor]. Though i must admit, i have never heard a Waldorf hardware synth i did like the sound of, so i sold it.

I really like the PPG softsynth and use it alot more than i ever did the microwave. The Studio Electronics on the other hand totally kicks ass. I'd get the SE1 for sure

[cosmos]

i wouls sujest keeping it, deticate a full 2 days of working on it exclusivly, you will fall in love again.
if not .. PM me i will buy it off you thumbsup.

[nofi]

who cares if other people love theirs... if you have had it for 10 years and barely used it, well, there's 2 possibilities - it's too hard for you to drive as is, or you just don't like the sound... now the ease of use may be an issue, but you've gone and said you don't really like the sound... surely if youliked the sound, you would have found presets you enjoyed, and at least tweaked and used them a bit by now??

so... sell. and let someone who likes the sound use it!

[dlmorley]

If you don't use it, sell it.

[d1rtynyc]

I'd keep it myself because I love the sound.
But if you don't use it, give it one more chance and if you don't need it unload it. It's not for everyone.
As far as the broke SH101 if you want to unload it, PM me & let me know.
Good luck!

[cramseur]

It's a hard concept for us slutz to accept but I'll add my voice to the chorus saying "If you don't use it sell it".

BUT be very sure to use the money you get for more music gear.

Don't let you spouse/partner talk you into using music gear money for crap like bills or furniture!

[duvalle]

Originally Posted by dlmorley

If you don't use it, sell it.

if it would been a microwave 2 - yes sell it.
but i would never sell the microwave 1 ...

[cosmos]

Originally Posted by duvalle

if it would been a microwave 2 - yes sell it.
but i would never sell the microwave 1 ...

what are the main differencs btw the two ( besides analog filters) ?

[duvalle]

Originally Posted by cosmos

what are the main differencs btw the two ( besides analog filters) ?

that's the big differents!!!!!!!!!
microwave 1 comes close to PPG WAVE 2.2 imho ...

[e6400ultra]

Originally Posted by duvalle

if it would been a microwave 2 - yes sell it.
but i would never sell the microwave 1 ...

I love the Microwave 2. Anyone want to sell theirs?

[cosmos]

Originally Posted by duvalle

that's the big differents!!!!!!!!!
microwave 1 comes close to PPG WAVE 2.2 imho ...

i know thats a big difference.. i hear it every day with my q/q+... my question was if theres anything else besides that .. or that the only change is the analog filters ...

[Transistor]

The uWave1 deserves use, give it a better home If you regret it, you can always patch up with a Blofeld. The Se1-x is a completely different beast btw. Personally I'm keeping all of the above...

r,
j,

[Haven]

Thanks everyone for your input.

I am going to concentrate on using just the Microwave for the next few days, try to get it to do something that fits with my style. If I can't get it to work for me I will sell it since its too much of a special instrument to go to waste sitting in my studio.

[sizzlemeister]

The Microwave aliases differently and you can overdrive the analog mixer. That makes a huge difference in the sound right there.

IIRC you can adjust the bit depth of the waves on the MWII while you're stuck with 8 bit waves on the MW. Maybe Carbon or someone in the know will drop in and confirm or correct this last point.

I should note the MW uses CEM filters, so the OP may not like the Evolver, either, since it's the same flilter (essentially). You may not like the CEM sound, that's all. If you find nothing special in it, move on. Make sure you let me know when you're ready to sell it.

[Hossegor]

check this link out there is some patches and stuff to download


Waldorf Music | Archiv

[t_d]

i've got a microwave XT for sale (pics in the for sale forum)... also willing to trade it straight up for a microwave 1...

i prefer the sound of the 1 to the XT.. but many people, rightly so, prefer the interface of the XT !

trade me!

[rids]

Love the MW1! Nothing that price will ever sound like that. PPGs will cost you a lot more. Love analogish wavetables. Delicious Had a MW2, but sold it. Cool, but I like the MW1 better because of it's sound.

[Reptil]

absolutely adore my XT. it's such a nice shady black. bad tempered too. tonally I mean.
I understand the need for the grit of the microwave 1. (sorry for this dumb post LOL)

[tomazzzi]

No it sucks, sell it to me

I made the mistake to sell mine 2 years ago

Don t make the same one !

[F5D]

I have both the XT and the mw1 and like them very much. I've had the xt for 3 years now but the mw1 only for ~9 months. I have not used the mw1 much because I don't have it connected right now due to the lack of inputs. I will soon get more i/o to connect all my gear at the same time and will then start using the mw1 more. Anyway, what I have managed to test it, the sound is great but the thing is impossible to tweak with only 1 real knob. To fix this, I will add a mackie c4 later and will program a dedicated layout for the mw1 and then start making my own sounds with it.

In any case, the sound engine is really good. The wavetables sound very powerful with the analog filters. IMO the wavetables are much more interesting than waldorf's virtual analog engines. That I found already when I got my XTk. I also have a blofeld which is also very nice but sounds much cleaner than the XT, not to mention the mw1. There's also this thing about the mw1 that they are quite old now and you don't really know when they will break down, like other vintage analog gear. However, it was not a very expensive synth when I bought it so I will keep mine as long as it works.

[cosmos]

who will be the man and post some samples of MW1 ? .. nothing spacial, some pads, tunning, tweeking knobs, i realy want to hear it, you tube dosent supply much info. Thanks !

[F5D]

Ok, here's one short demo of me testing the new little thing for the first time: F5D MW1 demo

All sounds from MW1 except drums which are Andromeda. I don't know who has made the sounds that I used. They just happened to be in the machine when I got it. Sadly, I lost those sounds when testing some other banks. Lucky me.

[e6400ultra]

Originally Posted by F5D

Ok, here's one short demo of me testing the new little thing for the first time: F5D MW1 demo

thumbsup

[analogbass]

For anything that's not easily replaced, and assuming finances will allow some time, simulate it's sale by putting it away in the closet for a couple of months or more. Forget about it for a while. Then come back to it with fresh ears and decide more objectively then whether it inspires.

If not, sell it; how good it sounds is actually a tease and fairly irrelevant if at the end of the day the thing doesn't evoke use.

[a long]

Have you ever forgotten your first love ? or your first taste of pain ?

If what you believe can be missed with out the feeling of that ' first love ' then dump it like a bag of plastic or better, just sell the fvcking thing.

Originally Posted by Haven

Looking for some advice. I have had a Waldorf Microwave 1 with OS 2 for almost 10 years now, and have barely used it. I mostly edit it from sounddiver. I do have a unused PC1600X I have been thinking of programming to be a Access microwave programmer clone. The thing is I think I like the idea of the synth a lot more than the sound. So my question is should I give this thing another proper chance? Or should I sell it and turn the value it presently has into something I will actually use?

I noticed that a lot of people on this forum seem to have these and rave about them, so I am wondering what do you use it for?

A bit about my music and my gear for perspective. I mostly make ambient music and ambient techno, as well as dark ambient and glitchy pop/neo classical (the term IDM bothers me). I used to be into industrial and free form noise, but that seems to have passed over time. I tend to process all my synths with hardware FX and software FX, so I don't need any more of those.

Synths I presently use a lot, JD800, Z1, K2000R, FS1R, Softsynths for VA, Wavestation and sample playback
Synths I rarely use: Prophecy (love those horns), E4XT Ultra
Synths that need repair: SH101 (no power, was heavily modded, then died) Moog Source (needs to be tuned, one osc waveform is not working)

I am about to get an Elektron Machinedrum UW once Canada gets some stock.

So my question is, will I totally regret selling the microwave? I like analog, and I also really like changing complex synth sounds. It seems I would really like the Microwave, but I can't seem to dig its tone, nor do get inspired by its sound design architecture. I also really like putting lots of layers into a track - one of the things I do not like about the microwave is it sounds too big, it dominates a mix. It feels like I would be better off with something like a MIDI controlled analog - maybe save up for a SE-1X or poly evolver (I would have to sell my Z1 to make room) or pour money into fixing my vintage analogs.


sorry for the long post, hoping someone can give me some perspective on this blue thing that has lived in my rack neglected for so long.

thanks!

[cosmos]

Originally Posted by F5D

Ok, here's one short demo of me testing the new little thing for the first time: F5D MW1 demo

All sounds from MW1 except drums which are Andromeda. I don't know who has made the sounds that I used. They just happened to be in the machine when I got it. Sadly, I lost those sounds when testing some other banks. Lucky me.

definitly diffrent sounding then my XT, thanks for the upload ! thumbs up.

[Haven]

great demo F5D. All sounds I typically don't make on my MW, which says to me I have a lot of territory to explore before passing this thing on.

[Hossegor]

thank for posting this demo, very nice.

if any MW1 owners here is up to trading some patches please let me know