Waldorf M Wavetable Synthesizer

[EvilDragon]

The main thing is that on MWI oscillators are calculated at 240 kHz, and different pitches are achieved by simply dropping samples. Emulate that and you're cooking with gas. No plugin that I know of does it like this. Waveteables being 8-bit is only half of the story.

[kobal]

thanks man really intresting stuff ! in massive X their is a keytracking with the sample rate reducer i haven t used much yet..it might not be close but might be fun , not sure it s something similar

[marzzz]

I had always liked the MW I, even briefly owned one a long time ago (and returned it for absolutely stupid reasons). Had an XT30, tried the Q and the Blofeld, but never really liked them. Was always looking to reacquire a MW I, prices became ridiculous, Nextel always looked trashed, would have to import it from Europe and change the power supply to 120V.

Just like Moog fulfilled a dream with the Minimoog Reissue, Waldorf goes and creates the M. Have had it a week, it exceeded all of my expectations. It does things and makes sounds that the Peak and Hydrasynth (great synths in their own right) just can’t approach. Looking forward to the voice expansion card…!

[pdxindy]

Just like Moog fulfilled a dream with the Minimoog Reissue, Waldorf goes and creates the M. Have had it a week, it exceeded all of my expectations. It does things and makes sounds that the Peak and Hydrasynth (great synths in their own right) just can’t approach. Looking forward to the voice expansion card…!

The M sounds so freakin good! It's a joy to create sounds with the M cause it's easy and there are unexpected nuances and tonalities that bubble out without trying. Still haven't sent it to any FX.

[marzzz]

You never, ever, never want to send it through this: https://tal-software.com/products/tal-chorus-lx

Kinda like you should never do crack or meth...

[pdxindy]

You never, ever, never want to send it through this: https://tal-software.com/products/tal-chorus-lx

Kinda like you should never do crack or meth...

I have a nice analog phaser in eurorack... I should try sending it through that!

One of the things I like about the M is how well it plays across the keyboard. I dial in a sound in the mid octaves and try it in the low end and it sounds great. I'm steadily learning the modulation, but often it just doesn't need much. A pleasing contrast to various synths where I spend a fair bit of time tweaking this and that and adding subtle modulations to get 'that' sound. The M just kinda lives there.

[zerocrossing]

The main thing is that on MWI oscillators are calculated at 240 kHz, and different pitches are achieved by simply dropping samples. Emulate that and you're cooking with gas. No plugin that I know of does it like this. Waveteables being 8-bit is only half of the story.

Interesting. I’ve been messing around with PPG wavetables in other plugins and using bit reduction oscillator effects to try and “get there” and I’m coming up with some amazing stuff, but you’re right. They don’t really sound very much like a Microwave 1, as cool as they are.

[sls]

I'm trying decide on if I want only a VirusTI2 or Prophet 6/Waldorf M combo. Another alternative is the VirusTI2/Waldorf M combo.

[menthol]

I'm trying decide on if I want only a VirusTI2 or Prophet 6/Waldorf M combo. Another alternative is the VirusTI2/Waldorf M combo.

Summit, Hydrasynth Deluxe, and Waldorf M should do the trick for me. I don't want to get greedy or anything.

[kobal]

I had always liked the MW I, even briefly owned one a long time ago (and returned it for absolutely stupid reasons). Had an XT30, tried the Q and the Blofeld, but never really liked them. Was always looking to reacquire a MW I, prices became ridiculous, Nextel always looked trashed, would have to import it from Europe and change the power supply to 120V.

Just like Moog fulfilled a dream with the Minimoog Reissue, Waldorf goes and creates the M. Have had it a week, it exceeded all of my expectations. It does things and makes sounds that the Peak and Hydrasynth (great synths in their own right) just can’t approach. Looking forward to the voice expansion card…!

nice ! i m close to buying one but what turn me off is only on lp filter and no Fm modulation between the osc , sound is good, but no modulation matrix and some others workflow things seems not great.

they would have make a new xt similar to the old one i would pick that even if there is no analog filter , old one price is a bit crazy imo.. i have afraid to be too limited with the M and also i guess they will bring one more version more complete or a new xt in recent futur, the M sound great but it feel a bit like a Beta for a futur product that will be really amazing, maybe i m wrong and i hope they keep developping it

the peak picked my attentionas well, in right hands it can sound really good, even vintage, can have something of old moogs hiden somwhere in his caractere ( maybe cause it can be a bit dull and thick ) but the wavetable is not greatly implemnted it seems, these are a lot smoothed from what i have read , so it will be almost unusable for me as a wavetable synth if it s the case.

guys after more time with the M do you find some stuff really annoying when programing it?

[kobal]

The main thing is that on MWI oscillators are calculated at 240 kHz, and different pitches are achieved by simply dropping samples. Emulate that and you're cooking with gas. No plugin that I know of does it like this. Waveteables being 8-bit is only half of the story.

Interesting. I’ve been messing around with PPG wavetables in other plugins and using bit reduction oscillator effects to try and “get there” and I’m coming up with some amazing stuff, but you’re right. They don’t really sound very much like a Microwave 1, as cool as they are.

might be possible to replicate this in Msoundfactory but it would be lot of pain and trouble.. btw msoundfactory is really underated as a wavetable synth, as a fm synth also

[pdxindy]

nice ! i m close to buying one but what turn me off is only on lp filter and no Fm modulation between the osc , sound is good, but no modulation matrix and some others workflow things seems not great.

they would have make a new xt similar to the old one i would pick that even if there is no analog filter , old one price is a bit crazy imo.. i have afraid to be too limited with the M and also i guess they will bring one more version more complete or a new xt in recent futur, the M sound great but it feel a bit like a Beta for a futur product that will be really amazing, maybe i m wrong and i hope they keep developping it

the peak picked my attentionas well, in right hands it can sound really good, even vintage, can have something of old moogs hiden somwhere in his caractere ( maybe cause it can be a bit dull and thick ) but the wavetable is not greatly implemnted it seems, these are a lot smoothed from what i have read , so it will be almost unusable for me as a wavetable synth if it s the case.

guys after more time with the M do you find some stuff really annoying when programing it?

I've had the M for 2+ weeks now and it is the opposite of annoying for programming. The M is not a beta for a future product. It is a complete synth and impressive exactly as it is. The developer is active on the M Gearspace thread and has some future development plans.

One has to decide what ones priorities are. Are features the priority? or sound quality, character and workflow?

I also have the Peak. It is a very competent synth but I find it kinda uninteresting. It is one of those synths where I end up spending a lot of time tweaking the sound and adding modulation cause I am still not quite satisfied with what I hear. I'm selling it.

For me the M is effortlessly gorgeous sounding. The modulation possibilities of the M are really quite deep and I do not miss a mod matrix. Beyond that, the M is dynamic and lively and doesn't need a lot of modulation to sound great. It is a pleasure to program sounds and the user interface is excellent! The M is a lifetime keeper.

[kobal]

nice ! i m close to buying one but what turn me off is only on lp filter and no Fm modulation between the osc , sound is good, but no modulation matrix and some others workflow things seems not great.

they would have make a new xt similar to the old one i would pick that even if there is no analog filter , old one price is a bit crazy imo.. i have afraid to be too limited with the M and also i guess they will bring one more version more complete or a new xt in recent futur, the M sound great but it feel a bit like a Beta for a futur product that will be really amazing, maybe i m wrong and i hope they keep developping it

the peak picked my attentionas well, in right hands it can sound really good, even vintage, can have something of old moogs hiden somwhere in his caractere ( maybe cause it can be a bit dull and thick ) but the wavetable is not greatly implemnted it seems, these are a lot smoothed from what i have read , so it will be almost unusable for me as a wavetable synth if it s the case.

guys after more time with the M do you find some stuff really annoying when programing it?

I've had the M for 2+ weeks now and it is the opposite of annoying for programming. The M is not a beta for a future product. It is a complete synth and impressive exactly as it is. The developer is active on the M Gearspace thread and has some future development plans.

One has to decide what ones priorities are. Are features the priority? or sound quality, character and workflow?

I also have the Peak. It is a very competent synth but I find it kinda uninteresting. It is one of those synths where I end up spending a lot of time tweaking the sound and adding modulation cause I am still not quite satisfied with what I hear. I'm selling it.

For me the M is effortlessly gorgeous sounding. The modulation possibilities of the M are really quite deep and I do not miss a mod matrix. Beyond that, the M is dynamic and lively and doesn't need a lot of modulation to sound great. It is a pleasure to program sounds and the user interface is excellent! The M is a lifetime keeper.

thanks really appreciate your words, i listened so many synths the past weeks ,from sequential , modal , peaks ect.. M really stand out sonically for my taste but featurewise for the price there is not much ..but yes sound is the priority or i will have a love/hate relationship with the synth, thanks to remind me this !

do you think it s possible to see updates on the features? maybe a new card for fx/filters

[pdxindy]

thanks really appreciate your words, i listened so many synths the past weeks ,from sequential , modal , peaks ect.. M really stand out sonically for my taste but featurewise for the price there is not much ..but yes sound is the priority or i will have a love/hate relationship with the synth, thanks to remind me this !

do you think it s possible to see updates on the features? maybe a new card for fx/filters

There is for sure going to be the 8 voice expansion card. Should be available in the next couple months. Production issues with Covid have made the release date 'flexible'

There is Waldorf discussion of an FX expansion but that is undecided.

The developer (VladiS on Gearspace) is currently working on a second bug fix firmware update (1.0.5) which should be out within a week. He said bugs first, then he will focus on adding a few features. The M feels solid and so bug fixing firmware updates should be settled soon.

He is investigating adding the digital filters from the XT. He said it is not yet certain it can be done so do not depend on it. If it can be done, it would be serial only with the structure Osc -> Digital Filter -> Analog Filter. Even a simple non-resonant high pass filter would be handy.

He is going to add microtonal support. 12 note scale only to start.

Also a few small modulation improvements and ability for the LFO to go slower (x4).

That is the stuff I remember.

[veloheinz]

microtonal tuning and a 12db filter is a must have
no FX please