MicrowaveXT.html

Welcome to my Waldorf MicrowaveII/XT page here at Carbon111.com, this page began as a mere repository for my wavetable charts but has grown to be so much more through the help and submissions of many people. For clarity this page is broken into four categorys: Tips & Tricks, Workshops, Wavetables/Wavetable References and XT Links. If you're not really familiar with the MicrowaveII/XT, you may want to read my "Quick Tour" just below. If you have a link or a tip to contribute, please email me. Information about me and my gear can be found on the Author and Studio pages. Enjoy!

Waldorf MicrowaveII/XT "Tips and Tricks":

A Quick Tour of the MicrowaveII/XT: If you need a quick introduction to the µWaveII/XT or just want to know what all the fuss is about, here you go.
The Waldorf MicrowaveII/XT Cookbook: Waldorf made this cool "getting started" guide for the µWaveII/XT around the time of the introduction of the XTk. Great little resource as well as showing some of the Waldorf tongue-in-cheek humor.
The MicrowaveII/XT Manual: Not exactly a "tip" or a "trick" but this excellent manual will get you quite a ways along the path to XT gurudom. An absolute necessity!
An Extra LFO from Modifiers: A cool way to generate a third LFO to use for that extra touch of animation for your monster sound! Submitted by Rizacan.
Wavetable Browser: A nice tutorial to create a patch that will allow you to fully audition each of the XT's wavetables. Actually rather handy! Submitted by vanHouten.
Formant Shift Through Windowed Sync: A great tip by Snyxol for a kind of "smoothed" hard sync that gives formant-type timbres.
"Airy" Sounds: Here's some excellent guidelines to help you create "airy", breathy sounds on the XT. Submitted by Nifflas.
Frequency Reference tables for Waldorf Synths: More of Alexander Eslava's handiwork. These frequency tables provide specific settings needed for Ring Mod, FM and other types of effects. These very usefull tables have been translated by Bodo Koktanek.
Applying Glide To One Oscillator Only: A great way to achieve a very unique sounding glide effect! Submitted by Nifflas.
Sample and Hold: Some nice guidelines for using Sample and Hold on the XT. Submitted by Snyxol.
Unisono Spread Modulation: A cool tip with example regarding the modulation of the Unisono "spread" parameter - how fat do you want it!? Submitted by Snyxol.
Pitch Independent Phasing: Here's an interesting couple of methods for the control of oscillator phasing (beating) independent of pitch. Submitted by Snyxol.
Frequency as Modulation Source: Here's a way to convert keyfollow (pitch) to frequency for use as a modsource. Submitted by Snyxol.
Comb+ Filter Simulation: An ingenious way to simulate a positive comb filter. For those of you envious of the Q/µQ's comb filter, this is a pleasant suprise! Submitted by Snyxol.
FM Ammount Guideline: Some good information on the implementation of FM. Submitted by Snyxol.
Microwave XT Continuous Controllers Chart: Paul Nagle has graciously granted permission to provide this handy reference chart of MIDI CC numbers and their associated knobs. Great if you want to use the MWXT's control surface to manipulate other synths and/or software.

More to come!

Send me your Tips& Tricks!!!

Waldorf MicrowaveII/XT Workshops:

Vocal Sound Workshop Part 1: A great tutorial by Snyxol(Alexander Eslava) graciously translated from the German by vanHouten (Fabian Logemann) and proofed and reworked by me. Originally published on Amazona.de
Vocal Sound Workshop Part 2: Part two of Snyxol's great vocal tutorial, also translated by vanHouten. Originally published at Amazona.de
Waveshaping Workshop Part 1: Part one of Snyxol's very in-depth waveshaping workshop. An invaluable look into one of the most powerfull sound-shaping aspects of the µWaveII/XT! This section is heavy on theory and the math behind waveshaping. (Part 2 will cover application and programming). Originally published at Amazona.de
Sound On Sound's MWXT Masterclass: An excellent resource and in-depth tutorial of our favorite orange synth from the Jan '03 issue of the best music gear magazine out there! One minor caveat though - the author obviously dosen't know about the "limit" function in the wavetable menu.

More to come!

Wavetables and Wavetable References:

My MicrowaveII/XT Wavetable Reference Charts: A Visual reference of the XT's preset wavetables. I find this type of information invaluable when programming the orange monster. I am finishing these as quickly as my job and my wife allow. ^_-
Four "Filter-UPAW" Wavetables: These four wavetables simulate different kinds of high-resonance filters, and are particularly useful for ringmod and S&H following the (simulated) filter, which is impossible with the normal filters. Submitted by Snyxol.
Four Vocal Phrase Wavetables: These fun wavetables were submitted by Hans Heerooms. For those of you missing the Speech Robot function of the original Microwave, Hans has created these cool wavetables with very clear vocalisations including "mi-cro-wave" and "mu-zik". Supplied as a SoundDiver library and as a standard MIDI file.
Detuned Saw & Square Wavetable: This wavetable provides a detuned pair of saw-waves in the first half and a trio of detuned square-waves in the second half. Get up to a six-oscillator sound using only two! Usefull for saving polyphony, especially on the 10-voice unit. Submitted by Snyxol.
Fuzz to Tine Wavetable: This wavetable morphs from a fuzzy saw-like wave to a nice bright tine sound (with some flavors in between) and can be used for bellish patches or distorted "FM Piano" type sounds. An example patch is included to get you started. Submitted by Carbon111.
"Chord" and "Distortion" Wavetables: Snyxol has provided these amazing wavetables. The "Chord" Wavetable allows you to create fat chords and other effects using only one voice! The "Distortion" Wavetable contains waves that are specifically designed to be used with the Waveshaper - see Snyxol's Waveshaping workshop also. Be sure to read the document provided for an in-depth description and usage guide.
"Bit Depth Reduction" Wavetable: Another cool wavetable from Snyxol. Unlike the XT's onboard quality settings or the S/H filter, this wavetable allows you to adjust quantization distortion color and quantization noise amplitude independently. This one is designed specifically For dirty, crappy and noisy Lo-Fi effects. ;-)
ROM Waves of the XT: Waldorf's list of the Microwave2/XT's 300 ROM waves used to construct the preset wavetables. Originally in PostScript format but translated into the more accessable Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format by Mr. Julian.

Waldorf MicrowaveII/XT Links:

Waldorf Music: Makers of the greatest synthesizers on earth, including the MicrowaveXT. Who would guess that they used to be headquartered in a grand old castle in the German countryside? The new reformed company is now poised to take over where the old Waldorf left off.
Soundtower's µWaveEdit: A high quality MicrowaveII/XT editor-librarian program. Version 3.02 is just out with an enhanced wavetable editor. I strongly prefer this editor to SoundDiver in terms of User Interface and ergonomics. This app even has a "genetics" section where you can "breed" patches with each other to get many "offspring" patches and all kinds of mutations! A little unusual but a very usefull tool. This app is bar-none my favorite synth editor. An excellent editor at an amazing price! ($35 USD)
The Unofficial Waldorf Wave Page: Till Kopper maintains this supurb page about the Waldorf Wave - a direct ancestor of the XT. Other than the wavetable engine (which is extreamly close to that of the XT) the Wave has a largely analog signal path!
Matthew G. Davidson's Waldorf Pulse Editor: What is this doing on the XT page, you ask? Matthew has created an intuitive Macintosh-based editor for the Waldorf Pulse monosynth that can actually use the XT as its control surface - with the knobs mapped in a logical fashion. Be sure to check out Matthew's homepage as well, for you'll find some astounding music!
Moogulator: A great resource page for Waldorf synths with some excellent Info, Patches and Wavetables for the Microwave XT. Interesting to explore.
Hans Herooms' Waveform FFT Reference Charts: Hans Heerooms' page showing the relative stregnths of the harmonics in each of the Microwave2/XT's 300 ROM waves. Very helpfull.
Waldorf's User Forum: About the most usefull and informative mailing list I am on. If you own any Waldorf gear or are just thinking about it, you owe it to yourself to get on this great mailing list. If you have a question, it is invariably answered in a timely fashion by a variety of real "characters". ^_^
Soundsets on Waldorf's FTP: Some excellent banks of patches including a bank by Paul Nagle, one by Hans Herooms, a bank using ProphetVS waves and all the factory soundsets. Pay special attention to the three user soundsets compiled from XT users on Waldorf's User Forum - there are some great sounds in there!
Microwave XT picture gallery: Sunao Inami's tongue-in-cheek "erotic" picture gallery of the XT. Oddly arousing! ^_-
Sound On Sound's Oct '98 µWaveXT Review: If I can't convince you what a great machine this is, maybe Paul Nagle of Sound On Sound magazine can.

What you give is what you get.

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