Harkening back to the legacy of Waldorf's Microwave, M offers the same classic style of wavetable synthesis, updated with true analog filters, four-part multitimbrality, and a number of 21st century conveniences. This eight-voice polyphonic instrument comes loaded up with classic sounds from the original Microwave sound sets, and even includes converted sounds from the PPG Wave 2.3. But while M has its roots in the past, its eyes and ears look ahead, offering features that were previously unavailable on the instruments that inspired it. And by sharing an identical chassis design to the Kyra and Iridium, M lives in a rock-solid enclosure that looks great on any desk.
Each of M's voices offer two dual-mode oscillators, capable of running in the style of the "Classic" Microwave 1 and "Modern" Microwave II/XT. In Classic mode, 16-bit wavetables are reduced to 8-bits and run at a sample rate of 240kHz with no anti-aliasing, while Modern mode adds Hard Sync and Ring Modulation options and runs at a 40kHz sample-rate with band-limiting. Otherwise, both oscillator modes are functionally identical, with access to 96 factory and 32 user wavetables, which can be directlyed accessed via the black and red ring encoder. Like the original Microwaves, the display menus are key to accessing deeper settings, like the wave envelope and assigning other modulation sources.
After the mixer section, which includes both oscillators, pink noise, and the ring modulation of Modern mode, M features an analog four-pole lowpass ladder filter, based upon the SSI 2144 integrated-circuit. Where the wavetables and ring modulation can generate rich harmonic spectrums, the filter section tames the high frequency content in a way that's perfect for shaping piercing leads and punchy basses. After the filter, a stereo VCA with panning capabilities finishes the audio signal path, offering bipolar panel controls for amplitude envelope amount and velocity, with more control sources available in the display menus.
As for modulation and control, M offers several ways to bring movement and life to your sounds. Two LFOs and four envelope generators can be routed to a number of different parameters via their respective configuration pages, although many of them have default destinations, namely the Filter, Amplitude, and Wave envelopes. Even so, these can all be assigned to multiple parameters, and the Free envelope and both LFOs remain to create unique contours unrelated to the others. Each envelope offers something unique—the Filter envelope is a DADSR-type and the VCA envelope is a traditional ADSR, while the Wave and Free envelopes are freely assignable multi-segment envelopes of eight and four stages respectively.
But a big aspect of M's appeal isn't just in the features offered for single sounds, but also in the fact up to four sounds can be played at once in Multi-mode. This multitimbral functionality divides its eight voices across four parts, defined on the Voice Allocation page, and each can be assigned to different MIDI channels, Auxiliary outputs, and limited keyboard and velocity zones. With its modern features and classic sound palette, the Waldorf M is the perfect vessel to bring traditional wavetable magic to the modern day.
