Conference napalm::commusic_v1

    Yabbut, it can cook up a wonderful apple and nut salad in 30 seconds
    ...
    
    Steve

	It's been almost two years since the last note was written
on the Waldorf.  Anyone out there actually buy one of these??  If
so, once you learn to program it, can you get it to sound like
a ppg?  By the way, the price has dropped to like $1399.

		Just wonderin,

			Mark

    Mark,
    
    If you follow the USENET newsgroup rec.music.synth you will find
    considerable traffic about the Waldorf in there.  There are a half-dozen
    or so owners who post regularly.
    
    From early reports *all* of the waveforms from the PPG are included in
    addition to some newer ones.  That suggests it should sound "close" to
    a PPG.
    
    								Brian
    
    P.S. Still doing beta testing for Ensoniq?

YEAH, THE R.M.S folks bought a bunch and they paid
like $999 for them at that Bananas place in CA.

Chad

I got to play with Mike Metlay's MicroWave.   I have to concurr with Thomas
Dolby: "To get a grip on the original PPG required a doctorate in German.  The
MicroWave is worse--it has no front panel."

It appears to be quite difficult to program it to make a particular sound that
you have in your head.  It has required a large time investment on the part of
the people who have gotten it to do things that they liked.  The LCD is very
small, so you have to keep a lot in your head as you edit one parameter at a
time.

I'd be wary of it unless you have the time to spend figuring it out.  A good
computer patch editor would help a lot.

After all that,  I have to say that the sound is pretty nice.  The filters
sound good, and there are enough modulation sources (the bane of most synths)
to provide all the animation you are likely to want.

	Eirikur

    I think this is one of those synths that fits what I will call:
    
    Machiaveli's Law of Synthesizers:  Your devotion to a synth will be
    directly proportional to the amount of resources you waste on it.
    
    Steve

re .3
>    P.S. Still doing beta testing for Ensoniq?

	Ya, I am testing the VFX-SD and the EPS.  However,
I can't discuss any of the gory details or I'd have to kill you 
(just a joke).  I do however think its great that Ensoniq
continues to enhance their older products.  

re the waldorf:

	I am looking for something new to add to my rack. I definitely want
something with resonant filters, that I can program.  By programming I don't
mean, "Hey I need a brass patch, lets fine sample BRASS", I mean "Hey I need a
reverse gopher sneeze sound..."  Any way...for normal synth patches I'm set.  I
really have all of the realistic samples I need in my VFX and EPS.  Even though
the VFX offers transwaves, I would like to have a more control over the
transwaves. Sounds like if I do buy one of these beasts, I will need an editor
for my computer.  Anyone know if there editing software exists out there? 

			Mark (the glutton for programming punishment guy)

    
    Re: .7
    
    I've seen ads that suggest that X-Or from Dr. T's supports the
    MicroWave.
    
    Re: .6
    
    I dunno, Steve, I think most of today's synths are so damn complex that
    this hopping from synth to synth every two years means few people do
    more than scratch the surface of what the thing can do.  Everyone is
    always recreating that killer piano patch they had on their last synth.
    I remember being so impressed with the Yamaha SY22's "vector synthesis"
    that I went immediately home and figured out how to do the *same damn
    thing* on my "obsolete" Ensoniq. The time I've spent learning to
    program it has been well spent IMHO (although now that I have a
    computer editor, I get more programming done in less time).
    
    						Brian

    I like my D70.  I can navigate around it pretty easily and have been
    able to get any sound I've needed so far.  I wonder if I'm spoiled now. 
    I mean, if I have a sound in my head I'm used to pretty quickly getting
    it with the D70.  If I want to mess around with wierdness, I can always
    diddle with DLM.  I don't think I'd have the patience anymore to deal
    with a hostile interface for hours on end trying to get something I
    liked.  So, I probably wouldn't go for a Waldorf.  Similarly, because
    the D70 is so "easy" for me to program, I would probably be more prone
    to "trade up" if/when Roland comes out with a machine that represents a
    significant step up.  That is, ironically I don't feel the same
    commitment to the D70 BECAUSE it has been easy (for me) to use.
    
    So, I could see myself hopping to a new synth in a couple of years IF I
    don't lose the ability to generate the sounds I want as easily as I can
    with the D70.
    
    On the other hand, I spent hours diddling with my TX81Z.  My heart
    swells with enthusiasm for that box.  It's because I was able, after
    sometimes much pain, to get sounds I liked out of the thing.  I remember 
    those feelings of triumph.  So, in my mind the thing is a great box.
    But, there is no comparison with the D70 as far as sound goes.  I like
    the sounds of the D70 SO much better.  And, it is a lot easier to get
    stuff I want.  Still, because I donated so much of my time to
    programming the TZ I still feel that commitment to it.  That's a
    Machiavelian observation.  It's just human nature.
    
    Steve

    This doesn't belong in this note, but the trend started and I'll voice
    my opinion and then be silenced.  (and then fined?)
    
    More and more I seem to be longing for the "old" synths.  I seem to be
    less and less interested in the "new" synths--by this I mean the
    wavetable "sample" synths.  They really seem too sterile to me.  I
    can't find that sound anymore, if ya know what I mean.  I guess I'd
    like to have an old Oberheim analog, a Yamaha FM, and maybe a Kurzweil
    sample player.  Nothing else.
    
    2 cents, probably get moved, sorry

re .10

	I agree completely.  Thats why I am interested in the Microwave.
Even though it is wavetable based, the fact that it has a resonant
filter, and can modulate through the wave tables makes it more
like programming the synths of old.   

		Mark

Eirikur,
	
	Since you have actually played with one of these, you might
know the answer to this question.  An Electronic Musician review
indicated that the Microwave can read PCM data off of Korg M1
rom cards.  However, there was no mention of this functionality
in the Keyboard mag review.  Did you happen to see anything about
this in the documentation?

		Mark

I didn't really look at the documentation.  But, I can tell you that there is
no card slot on the front--unless I'm going brain-dead.

Eirikur