Waldorf Oscs vs Microwave XT

Kymeia · Post by **Kymeia** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 2:12 pm

I have an opportunity to buy a Microwave XT for a great price - it looks like a great synth but I'm wondering is it worth getting considering I can possibly replicate most of its functionality and sound in Modular 3 with the Waldorf oscs etc. Or can I? Do the oscs really sound like genuine Waldorf oscs and is there more to the hardware version?

erminardi · Post by **erminardi** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 2:46 pm

If the price is real great, buy the Microwave XT... and then U have real one plus Creamware's emulation

Hardware + Scope = heaven of musician

Remember, the life is only one... all depends how many children U have and/or how many bucks in your pocket!

If the price is great what's the problem?
If U don't like it U can sell it after one deep tryout @ bigger price.

djmicron · Post by **djmicron** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 2:50 pm

on the microwave xt, you should have 32 additional user wavetables for create your own by the midi editor.
In my opinion, if you buy it just for the sounds, the modular is enough.

Kymeia · Post by **Kymeia** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 9:26 am

It's only $500 - I believe that's a good price. Thing is I could get the Quantum Wave for less but I can't run many voices on my system. I don't have enough hands-on knowledge of either the Wave or the Microwave XT to really know which is the best option - I just like the sound - thats why I was wanting some more "expert" advice.

erminardi · Post by **erminardi** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 10:06 am

On 2006-04-29 10:26, Kymeia wrote:
It's only $500 - I believe that's a good price....

About the price, 500$ is good, 700$ is the average, here some review, info, 2hand prices:

http://www.sonicstate.com/synth/waldorf_microwavext.cfm

http://www.sonicstate.com/synth_reviews ... wavext.cfm

http://www.harmony-central.com/Synth/Da ... XT-01.html

http://www.vintagesynth.com/index2.html

medusa13 · Post by **medusa13** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 1:50 pm

I have an XT and I'm very happy with it.
You can use all those knobs to control anything when you are not using it, plus you get many filters not available in the scope platform.
You can create your own wavetables, plus you get a hardware synth different than anything else out there, with the possibility to free up some dsp resources from your scope card.
If it's just for the oscilators, stick with scope and don't buy the microwave.

Martin

Post by **irrelevance** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 9:04 pm

There are significant differences between the hardware and creamware version. Osc sync is not offered nor is the quality setting which allowed for aliasing to be turned on or off among other things. With the hardware you also get various filter types/shapers (flexor could probably help here), modulation options, arpeggiator and most importantly bpm sync on your wave envelope; something which is definatetly not offered in scopes multi segment envs.
I sold mine a few tears ago now for £350+shipping to a guy in the states just before waldorf went under. The reason behind getting rid of such a unique synth was because although it allowed for eight individual voices to play at the same time, it only had two stereo outs so no processing of all individual voices was possible. The internal fx were very weak, and waldorf had promised to further update the software to change the quality and provide further enhancements...which never happend.

It's a decent synth, but honestly there are many soft synths that have surpassed its original specs so a decent laptop and controller in my case was the better option.

In hardware the only other synth which I feel surpasses the XT (not including the overpriced Wave) is the Korg wavestation. You could pick up a wavestaion even cheaper than the price you're quoting these days.