Waldorf Microwave 1 (1989)

The Waldorf Microwave Mk1: the first version of a series of expanders born after the defunct PPG project.

A bit of History: the famous synthesizer PPG 2.2 was released around 1983 (2.3 in 1985) introducing dynamic spectral dynamic process synthesis, then PPG society went out of business. In 1989 Palm Project reincarnated the PPG spirit into the MICROWAVE rack.

RACKMOUNT 2 standard units.
Main panel features a 16 x 2 lines display, 6 buttons and the famous red plastic encoder for data entry.

Back panel terminal connectors:
- 2 main out
- 4 AUX out
- MIDI interface.

VOICE the CPU Motorola MC68000 manages 8 voices polyphony.
A basic patch "multisound" is made by 2 digital oscillators - each oscillator drive a short wave based on DSWS Dynamic Spectral Wavetable Synthesis with a variable harmonic contents.
The OSC1 and OSC2 have these individual settings:
- volume + keytrack
- octave height set
- pitch detune
- semitone
- bend range
- wavestart (128 values)
- glide amount.

WAVETABLE the DSWS features 32 wavetables, each wavetable contains 64 waves most of them are taken from original PPG 2.2 / 2.3 synthesizer but organized in different orde, also adding some extra wavetables (at position R31-R32).
Wavetable ROM also features 3 internal basic waveforms with some restrictions (check out "wavescan)
- sawtooth
- square
- triangle.

 

WAVE IMPORT it is possible to import and design 12 user-waves that can be accessed only by external software on computer (neither by third-part Access Programmer anyway)

WAVESCAN the PPG/MW tricks is the ability to scan a wavetable interpolating the waves between them in real-time.
How does it work? a wavetable offers 64 positions (these are the addresses) and the scan process reads the wave according to a start position in a cycled (or randomized) motion that can be defined using an 8-stages specific EG with loop point or by 24 modulation sources (eg. LFO, EG, CC#, velocity, aftertouch). Note that the 3 basic waveforms mentioned above cannot be "scanned".
INTERPOLATION wavescan often sounds harsh with digital artifacts and clips, the interpolation function smooths the transition values.

PEFORMANCE the system handles up to 7 parts with individual settings:
- Midi channel assign
- transpose
- detune
- analog out routing
- stereo panning
- volume
- keyboard zone
- velocity limit.

FILTER VCF with a superb lowpass 24 octave/slope resonant filter.
VCF chip differs according to module revision:
- REVISION A: CEM 3389 (this actual version for review)
- REVISION B: CEM 3387

 

 

ENVELOPE there are 4 EGs:
- EG1 amplitude: 4 segments
- EG2 filter : 4 segments
- EG3 wave: 8 stages multi-split segment and loopable parts.
- EG LFO1: 2 segments.
There are preset template for common sounds patch type for a quick edit.

LFO there are 2 modulators basically interchangeable in the matrix modulation:

	LFO1	LFO2
waveforms	sine / saw / pulse / random	sine / saw / pulse / random
symmetry	yes	yes
humanize	4 levels	4 levels
rate modulation	21	-
sync	yes	-
EG	yes	-
destinations	pitch /amp / cutoff / Eg / pan / wave	pitch /amp / cutoff / Eg / pan / wave

 

MIDI 4 assignable control changes W-X-Z-Y from Midi CC# from 0 to 120.
Full exclusives systems is implemented for both edit and data dump.

MEMORY:
- 64 RAM multisounds
- 64 RAM multibanks
- 12 waves
RAM can be doubled using memory cards;
Battery replacement: just swap the clipped 3V lithium battery Cr-2032 .

 

 

EDITOR some free and commercial computer-based softwares:
- Soundquest (commercial PC-MAC)
- Sounddiver (out of business)
- uwave sound editor Soundtower (Commercial PC)
- Mostrumwave (commercial PC-MAC)
- Speechrobot (atari ST free)
- WAVE SWS (atari ST) PIC
- various port of UPAW AMIGA - ATARI - PC

 

 

RELATED FAMILY:

	GREEN LIMITED EDITION cool green color as limited edition, may have high price on auctions. HINT: Buy a green spray can, cheaper way.
	WALDORF SLAVE it' s a rack unit wave slave that can be linked to the Microwave doubling the voices. Slave does NOT work standalone. Technically it will NOT work with OS2.0
	ACCESS PROGRAMMER quick editing of the most common parameters.
	PPG Synth: the original models VIDEO
	WAVE:biggest and more incredible wavetable synthesizer, very rare!VIDEO This vid was made by Max mazzotta a nice fella who left us too soon in 2014.
	MicroWave II/XT(k) digital version, no more analog filters but more realtime controls and extended memory VIDEO

 

VST PLUGIN / SAMPLED VERSION there are some free and commercial samples set:

	name	price	link	demo
	PPG Wave 3.V	PLUGIN VST COMMERCIAL reproduction of the legendary PPG Wave 2.3.
	PPG WaveGenerator	PLUGIN VST COMMERCIAL
	Waldorf Largo	PLUGIN VST COMMERCIAL with originale waves from PPG and MW

AUDIO DEMO

	The model, all MW but drums
	various harsh noises
	bass line filter
	if you want so send some of your demo--> UPLOAD

 

VIDEO CLIP SELECTION

Single Sounds	(1/Rev.1) w CEM 3389	Exercise Tape

 

 

WALDORF MICROWAVE 1 MANUAL

SERVICE MANUAL / SCHEMATICS

FACTORY PATCHES

original brochure

original brochure

original brochure

original brochure