Waldorf Microwave 1 Plugin

A Legend Returns: All the original factory single and multi-mode sounds are contained in the plug-in in combination with new and modern sound presets. VST, VST3, AU and AAX for macOS and Windows.

35 years ago Waldorf Music released its first instrument, the Microwave, which took the hearts of the leading musicians and producers of the nineties by storm.

Now’s the time to bring back this magical instrument in a software form to the digital workstations of producers and musicians world-wide. The Waldorf Microwave 1 Plugin was painstakingly recreated from the original hardware with all its idiosyncrasies and wonderful singularities. A multi-year effort and a labor of love which analyzed and modeled the original instruments down to the finest sonic details of every aspect of the hardware.

Specifications

Faithful recreation of Waldorf’s first generation Microwave Synthesizer based on the famous
Waldorf ASIC chip (Application Specific Integrated Circuit).

Digital Section (ASIC)

• Internally running with 250 kHz sampling rate to match original ASIC sampling rate.
• Modeling of digital-to-analog converters for each voice (DAC).
• Two oscillators based on same wavetable per multi instrument.
• Unique digital noise generator based on ASIC technology.
• Digital mixer of oscillators and noise based on original ASIC including overflow bug.
• Faithful recreation of non-interpolated pitch generation.

Wavetables

• All original wavetables of Microwave 1 based on the original coding and bit-identical to original.
• Including algorithmic and speech wavetables.
• Faithful recreation of 8-bit quantization and aliasing.
• Easy to use wavetable editor based on internal control tables.
• Full waveform catalogue of original instrument can be accessed.
• User waveform editor.

Filter

• Faithful modeling of revision A and B analogue filters.
• Voice individual calibration of cutoff and resonance to model detuned hardware.
• Cutoff and resonance modulations.
• Frequency response graphic animated by live modulations

Amplifier

• Modeling of voltage controlled analogue amplifiers and panning section.
• Faithful recreation of control voltage DACs including stepping effects.

Modulators

• Recreation of unique envelope and LFO timings based of original 68k code.
• Modeling of beautiful micro variations in timings due to limitations of the original hardware.
• Filter envelope with ADSR and additional delay parameter.
• Volume envelope with ADSR.
• All filter and volume envelope timings and levels can be modulated.
• Unique 8 stage wave envelope with variable key-off point and looping.
• Wave envelope levels and timings can be modulated.
• Attack-Decay envelope for LFO1 with additional delay.
• 2 LFOs with various waveforms, symmetry and humanize parameters.
• LFOs can be phase shifted to each other.
• LFO1 with global option, rate & level modulation.

Non-Standard Tunings

• 4 user tunings can be individually edited.
• Will be stored into user presets.

Multi-Mode

• Up to 8 instruments which can be layered and split or any combination of both.
• Split by key zone and velocity range.
• Multi instrument mixer with volume, panning, detuning, transpose and many more parameters.
• Individual tuning per instrument possible,
• Huge catalogue of all original multi sounds.

Polyphony

• 8 voice polyphony like the original hardware.
• Dynamic assignment of the voices to the multi instruments.

Presets

• All factory single and multi presets included.
• 5 additional original sound sets.
• 2 new sound sets from contemporary sound designers.
• Can import original .mid and .syx files with preset dumps including user tables and wavetables.
• User presets store all additional data like user wavetables and tuning & velocity tables.

Hardware Control

• Plug-in can be used to control original hard in single mode via MIDI interface,
• Control optionally in live mode where each control is transferred automatically.