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MW I series Microwave I
Q: Is there an online MW I manual available ?

A: Yes ! Thanks to Georg's work !

 http://qwave.de/georg/mwmanual     ^ 
Q: Is there a WaveSlave manual online ?

A: Yes :-)
But its the german version only :-(

 http://unofficial.waldorf-wave.de/waveslave     ^ 
Q: Where to get the latest MW I OS ?

A: Sure !
Ask your local Waldorf distributer for details. Its an ROM chip update.

Waldorf distributers near you:
 http://www.waldorf-music.com/distributors/     ^ 
Q: How to calibrate the filters?

A: MW1 users who have a working unit: DON'T DO THE FOLLOWING!!

To tune the filters, you have to go into the Service Mode.

- Press Mode and switch on the MW. As soon as you can read "Welcome to.." release the Mode button.
- Press OK to confirm the warning message.
- With the Mode button, step through the pages until you read "Filter Test".
- With OK you can toggle each of the eight filters on and off.
- With the alpha dial, you can tune the filters. I think you should try 440 Hz, but if you can't reach it with one or more filters, try to find a close frequency and tune the other filters to that, too.
- When you're done, switch the MW off and back on. Now the filters are tuned again.

Again: all others shouldn't do that, **only** if they experience *major* tuning problems.

Wolfram Franke (Waldorf-Music AG) on the Waldorf mailing list    ^ 
Q: What cards do fit in the MW I card slot?

A: You can use the original Waldorf MW I cards that were sold as ROM (read only) and RAM cards.
Or you try to get hold of a Korg M1 RAM card. These work fine in the MW I too. But not the ROM cards.    ^ 
Q: What batteries are inside the MW I RAM cards?

A: The type of battery is called: CR2016
You should be able to buy those in most electronic shops.

*** swapping the battery will loose all stored card information ***
Back up the contend BEFORE doing so.

The slot cor the battery is on the small front age of the card (opposite of the contacts that will go into the MW I slot first). Pull the little plastic drawer that hold the empty battery. Memorize the way the drawer was in the card and the way the battery was inserted.
Swap the battery and reinsert the little drawer.    ^ 
Q: Can I hook a WaveSlave to a MW I running OS 2.00 ?

A: Yes, you can do so.
But the WaveSlave will react strange to those OS 2.00 features of the MW I driving it.
Therefore:
- the new wavetables won't play
- the UPAW wavetables won't play
- you can't use the HMT tunning
-...    ^ 
Q: How to use a WaveSlave without a MW I ?

A: This won't work at all.
You allways have to hook a WaveSlave to a MW I.    ^ 
Q: How do I get my Microwave 1 to tell me what version ROM it has?

A: If it pre V2.0 there are two methods:

1.
send a VERR Version Number Request and decode the VERD Version Number and Date Dump

VERR
----------------------------------
IDM: 00h (Version Number Request)

Requests version number and date of the software.

Byte # Value

0 F0h (EXC)
1 IDW
2 IDE
3 DEV
4 IDM
5 CHKSUM ( 0 )
6 F7h (EOX)


VERD
--------------------------------------
IDM: 40h (Version Number and Date Dump)

Contains version number and date of software. Uses standard 7bit
ASCII format, no delimiters.
If the MicroWave recieves that message, it won't react. And why
should it.

Byte # Value

0 F0h (EXC)
1 IDW
2 IDE
3 DEV
4 IDM
5..14 Ascii Version Number and Date ( VVRRYYMMDD )
V=Version R=Revision Y=year M=month D=day
15 CHKSUM
16 F7h (EOX)

2.
Get into service mode:
Power up while holding the Mode button, and release it as soon as the message "Welcome to the MicroWave" is shown.

From this point on YOUR SOUNDS WILL BE DESTROYED !
Power off to exit.

Press OK to continue

press Mode button for the following test:
1.Software Version

press OK to run this test.    ^ 
Q: How to use the Service Mode on the MW I?

A: Attention
don't try this unless you know what you are doing. You might loose all your sounds and data. And if you calibrate your filters wrong, you won't like your MicroWave I after this.
You do this at your own risk!!!

Power up while holding the Mode button, and release it as soon as the message "Welcome to the MicroWave" is shown.

From this point on YOUR SOUNDS WILL BE DESTROYED !
Power off to exit.

Press OK to continue

press Mode button for the following tests:
1.Software Version
2.System Runtime
3.Memory Init & Test

press OK to run each test:

ICRT Ram Test
INIT Init Ram (init sound, not factory data)
ECRT External Card Test
COPY Copy card data to RAM test

press Mode button:
Keyboard test
Press each button on the microWave and watch display

press Mode button:
LED Test
Press the OK button to step through each LED

press Mode button:
MIDI test
Connect midi in to midi out
Press OK

press Mode button:
Voice Test
Press OK repeatedly to connect all 8 voices sequentially to the L and R
audio output. Voices 1-4 will be output at their respective single outs.

Sine wave is heard (123.5 Hz)

press Mode button:
Filter Frequency Adjust

*** tune filters after the microWave has warmed up ***

Connect tuner to audio out. Tuner must be able to display
A=440 Hz.

Press OK for voice #1
Use Alpha dial to fine tume the frequency of this voice.
Alpha dial covers +- 1 semitone.

If unable to tune correctly, adjust coarse tuning of filter using pot on motherboard. Center Alpha dial first?.

Voice -> Pot
1 -> 5
2 -> 12
3 -> 19
4 -> 26
5 -> 33
6 -> 40
7 -> 47
8 -> 54

Check single outputs too.

END OF TESTS    ^ 
Q: What different microwave I versions are known?

A: Rev A:
- frontpanel dark metalic blue, not painted, anodized metal
- rotary encoder has 52 ticks per revolution, has rippled, metal shaft with slot
- uses Curtis CEM 3389
- LCD has black characters on green background
- case is black

Rev B:
- frontpanel is made from Nextel, gray-blue, silkscreening blurry, rubs off
- high quality red dial
- rotary encoder has 24 ticks per revolution, has even, flattened plastic shaft
- uses Curtis CEM 3387
- LCD has green characters on black background
- case is grey

I assume that the change from Rev A to Rev B was not done by a step-function, so
there could be mixtures of all the attributes...

sonically they are nearly the same. The change of the filter didn't changed the microWave sound that much. And although the older version used the same Curtis filter chip as the big Waldorf WAVE, the sound is totally different.

There is also a single microWave with a chrome front plate (and a spare front plate like this in the hands of an ex-Waldorf employee). And the 99 last microWaves build came named "the mean green machine" with a green front plate and some spikes to put the unit on the shelf. Also included was a document in the look of a contract. It said you are not allowed to play folk music and that you have to feed the mean green MW I with all available software upgrades.


 http://faq.waldorfian.info/files/GreenMeanMachineDocument.jpg  (Showing the mean green "contract" document. The person in the watermark like picture is one of the signers: production manager Frank Schneider. Picture provided by Waldorf User Forum member Jesper Jensen. THANKS !)    ^ 
Q: How to check if my MW1 is running on the latest OS (=2.0)?

A: switch your microWave on and look at the display during the very first second it starts. You will se a "2.0" in the lower line of the display in the very right. All mircoWave OS versions before don't show their version number during start up unless you press the Param./Value button (under the display) during powering on.    ^ 
Q: What were the new features of the MW1 OS 2.0 ?

A: Microwave 2.0 Features Overview

New Voice Allocation
(instruments with audio routing to the outputs 1-4 stay in Mono Mode)
6 new voice allocation modes, in addition to the dynamic modes:
- Mono Retrigger
- Mono Low- und High-Note Retrigger
- Mono Single Trigger
- Mono Low- und High-Note Single Trigger


New Glide-Mode und Controller
- fingered portamento and fingered glissando in all voice allocation modes
- portamento time controller (#5) will be used for MIDI portamento and glissando (MPorta, MGliss)


Additional Wavetables (above C56)
32 new, mostly algorithmic calculated wavetables:
- 3 Sawtooth Sync
- 3 Pulse Sync
- 3 Sinus Sync
- 2 Pulswidth modulation (Saw, Pulse)
- 4 Fuzzwavetables
- 3 Karplus&Strong
- 4 Wavetrips (randomly picked)
- 2 speach wavetables
- Male Voice, Low Piano, ResoSweep, Xmas Bell, FM Piano, Fat Organ, Vibes,
Chorus 2


New Sound Parameter
- free modulable oscillator and noise levels
- Sample&Hold waveshape on LFO 1 and LFO 2
- LFO-Rates in between 0 and 1 because of extended RateModAmnt
- LFO 2 syncable to LFO 1 with definable phase shift
- MIDI Clock as modulation source


New System Exlusive Functions
(improved comunication with software editors)
- store, compare and recall commands for multi- and sound programs
- total remote control because of button and dialcommands
- tuningtable and velocity table changes in realtime


Algorithmic Wavetable Construction
Construct user programmable algorithmic wavetables (UPAW) by software editors


And
- sostenuto controller #66
- SysEx data rate selectable
- extended card copy functions
- editing of the tuning and velocity tables #3 and #4    ^ 
Q: What's inside a MW I ?

A: Have look at the link below.

 http://faq.waldorfian.info/mw1-inside.html     ^ 
Q: What's inside a WaveSlave ?

A: Have look at the link below.

 http://faq.waldorfian.info/waveSlave-inside.html     ^ 
Q: How to remote control the MW1 by an controller keyboard?

A: Because of the MW1 nature, you have to send the parameters to edit a sound by means of SysEx. And this is one thing not all remote controllers are able to do.
The Access MW1 controller did a good job. But not all parameters can be acessed by it. Only the most often found parameters on analog synths got their knob or button.
The Novation Remote 25 is one option to go. Boele "SCD" Gerkes gave us his template SysEx (using all the knobs and buttons in 6 layers) and PDF description of what knob does what parameter. See the link below for the free download.
Thanks Boele !

 http://faq.waldorfian.info/files/mw1_rem25.zip     ^ 
Q: What are the specs of the MW I power supply

A: The PSU specs are:
2 x 15V 0,42 A
9 V 1,6 A

The connector has 5 pins:

1 - +9 V
2 - +9 V
3 - +16 V before the 7812 power regulator, behind it should be +12 V
4 - gnd
5 - -16 V before the 7912 power regulator, behind it should be +12 V

1 yellow
2 green
3 brown
4 white
5 grey

 http://www.waldorf-forum.com/pipermail/user-forum/2007-June/010435.html
 

 http://www.waldorf-forum.com/pipermail/user-forum/2010-March/023363.html     ^ 
Q: What to do, if the MW I does not respond to a data dump after swapping the battery?

A: Change the Wave 1 volume, under "filter/volume" and the dump should work after this. Most likely initializing a sound would work too.

 http://www.gearslutz.com/board/showpost.php?p=10585136&postcount=16     ^ 
Q: How to repair a non working big red encoder?

A: Open the MW (unplug the mains!!!) and carefully open the encoder housing by gently bend the four metal brackets that hold it together a little bit.

Once open, clean the encoder's inside. You may use Q-tips (not the Waldorf Q tips & tricks), and some alcohol to do so. Maybe greese the axis a little bit.

Assemble everything together and gently bend the encoder metal brackets back in place. Shut the MW and you are done.

 http://pics.studiorepair.de/Waldorf/IMG_7646.JPG     ^ 
Q: Why do some synths produce clicks?

A: Chapter 1: The click in theory
------------------------------
A click is produced when a very fast level change in the audio signal
occurs. You can easily check that on your home stereo when you play
back a CD and switch the Source Selector back and forth between CD
and a source that doesn't play anything.

The brightness of the click depends on the speed of the level change.
The faster the level changes, the brighter is the click. So, the
level change speed can be compared with the cutoff of a lowpass
filter. There is an easy formula for it:

Let's consider a level change from full to zero (or from zero to
full) output from one sample to another on a machine that uses
44.1kHz sample rate. So, we first transfer the sample to milli
seconds:

1 sample equals 1/44100 second, which is = 0.02267573696ms.

To calculate the cutoff frequency of the click, just use this formula:

Cutoff (Hz) = 1000 / Level Change Time (ms)

which in the example results in:

44100Hz = 1000 / 0.02267573696ms


Whoops? This the sampling frequency and, err, very bright.


Chapter 2: The click in the real world
--------------------------------------
Now, how could this knowledge help you and what has it to do with
Waldorf synthesizers? Easy:

When you play a sine wave sound, only the base frequency (the
fundamental or the 1st harmonic) is present. That means, when you
play note A=110Hz, no other frequencies are involved except this
110Hz oscillation.

Now, what happens when you abruptly cut the sine wave to zero when it
just is at its maximum level? You get the same effect as with your
home stereo.
From one sample to the next, the waveform is brought from maximum to
zero, resulting in the forementioned bright click.

The same applies when the opposite happens. On Waldorf synthesizers,
you can setup the oscillators so that their phases start randomly
when a new note is played. So, you never know at which level the sine
wave is when you hit a note.
Consider it would be at the maximum level, you would get an immediate
change from zero to maximum when the amp envelope's attack rate is
set to 0.

BTW: the effect is the same, when you have a bright waveform but
filter it so that it is very hollow.

Chapter 3: In which situations does the click occur on my Waldorf synth?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are several situations when you can get a click and when you
know where they happen, you can try to prevent them:

* Amp Envelope Attack. On digital Waldorf synthesizers like the MWII
and the Q, the Attack rate can be as short as 1 sample. This means
that the amp volume of a note can change from zero to maximum in one
sample, or in ms: 0.02267573696ms. This results in a very bright
click.
On the Pulse, we chose a minimum attack rate of 1.9ms, resulting in a
click with a maximum cutoff of around 526Hz. When you own a Pulse,
you probably know of the 1.9ms number from the user's manual, because
that's the update speed of all CVs that are used in it.
So, when you hear a click on note start every now and then, just
increase the Amp Envelope Attack rate until you don't hear a click
anymore.

* Amp Envelope Release. Here, the same as with the Attack rate applies.
When you hear a click when you release a note, increase the Amp
Envelope's Release rate.
If the click still persists, you should also check the Release rate
of the Filter Envelope. Maybe the filter closes very fast, which can
result in a click, too.

* Voice Stealing. We know that this is the most annoying situation.
But, the click helps you: When you hear a click at a certain position
in your song, you know that a voice stealing happened and you can
easily shorten or delete notes in the editors of your sequencer.
When you count the notes and say that they don't exceed the maximum
number of voices of your synthesizer, just keep in mind that other
notes might still be in their release phases and therefore have to be
added, too.

* Mono mode. In Mono mode, a click might occur when any envelopes
(Amp or maybe Filter, too) are set to retrigger on new notes. When
the Attack rate of a sound is greater than 0, they are brought to
zero so that they can go up to their full level again. This rapid
change to zero results in a click.

* Unisono sounds. Here, a click might occur even heavier. Unisono
sounds easily exceed the maximum number of voices and because they
steal not only one but **several** notes at once, a click can be a
lot more present. It is louder and happens more often. You should
check several points on unisono sounds to lower clicks as much as
possible: are the envelope rates set to reasonable values, are the
oscillator phases set to free, is filter keytrack set to 0% (because
this can also be a rapid change) and so on.

Chapter 4: Why does my synth xy (insert product name here) produce no clicks
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Should I really answer that? Because it is slooooow.
Some japanese manufacturers (I don't say names here) prevent voice
stealing clicks by fading out voices slowly before they start new
notes. Hey, brillant idea, why doesn't Waldorf do that? Because it
ends up in a very bad MIDI timing (and those japanese synths are
**well-known** for that).
Furthermore, most of these synths are sample-based, which means that
their attack behaviour is stored in the sample that they should play.
So, a click on note start is also not possible because the sample
somehow gradually fades from zero to maximum.
If those synths allow you to change the sample start position, they
hopefully produce clicks, too (if not, they also have slow envelopes
which we don't hope).

A couple of days ago, someone mentioned the Matrix 12 producing no
clicks on retriggering envelopes. Yes, that's correct, because the
Matrix 12's minimum attack rate is around 20ms. Or in other words:
its envelopes are among the slowest you can find in a synthesizer.
The same applies to all synthesizers of the Matrix series, because
they all used Curtis chips that had an automatic smoothing filter to
prevent steppiness. The older Oberheim synths like the 4-Voice were
better here.
Also, the Waldorf Microwave and the Waldorf Wave used those Curtis
chips, but when the Attack rates of the envelopes were set to 0, this
smoothing filter was temporarily switched off, resulting in an abrupt
change. Attack 1 there is the same as minimum attack on a Matrix
synthesizer.

Chapter 5: Conclusion
---------------------
You know that we at Waldorf could prevent clicks by increasing the
minimum envelope rates or allowing bad MIDI timing. We could also
prevent that the filter resonance can destroy your hearing ability or
that you could play a C major chord. But who are we that we could
decide what **you** want from a synthesizer. Clicks can even be
musically useful and add a kind of randomness to a song that brings
it to live. A very good example is the bad, ugly, annoying, but
famous and beloved keyclick on Hammond organs.
Recently I bought the latest Art Of Noise album "the seduction of
Claude Debussy" produced by Trevor Horn and played by the creme de la
creme (even including Lol Creme of 10CC and Godley&Creme) of
musicians and I heard a lot of clicks during a couple of tracks. I am
even quite sure that they came from Waldorf synths but I don't know
if. You can easily imagine that I had a smile on my face.


I hope you now have even more fun with your "clicking" Waldorf synth.    ^ 
Q: What freeware software to load updates and sounds to Waldorf synths?

A: "Midi-OX" for PC (95/NT/98/Me/2000/XP)
 http://www.midiox.com/
 
("MIDI-OX is copyrighted freeware, for non-commercial use.")

or

"SysEx Librarian" for Mac OS X (10.1. or later)
 http://www.snoize.com/SysExLibrarian
 
("SysEx Librarian is FREE to download and use.")
   ^ 
[ Home ] 19.03.2024 06:56:05 Waldorf Time