Vintage Synth Explorer

Waldorf • Micro Q

The power of the Q synthesizer is now available in an affordable 2-unit rack module. Sound quality is not compromised, it sounds just as great as the more expensive Q! The main limitation is that there is less polyphony and only 6 knobs; however these knobs provide access to dozens of parameters at the push of a button. The Q's powerful arpeggiator is also on-board. There is no sequencer, but a rack module is usually destined for use with an external sequencer or controller anyway. There are two independent filters with low-pass, band-pass, high-pass, notch and comb filters. The filters are resonant and can self-oscillate too! There's also a Modulation Matrix where you can route your signal through flexible and complex processes to really shape your sounds. There's also a stereo vocoder and ring modulator on-board. A Voice Expansion board can boost polyphony in the Micro Q up to 75 voices!

The Micro Q is not an analog synth, but it can emulate them very well. It is great for punchy analog bass, 303 lines, synth leads, trance pads, swirling effects, analog drums, percussion, beats, and lots more! It's worth a listen! Wonderful preset sounds, a challenge to program...bottom line is affordable, incredible sounds! It has been used by Somatic Responses, RadioBomb, and Hardmakz.

The Micro Q Keyboard is identical to the Micro Q, but packaged in a handy and portable 37 note keyboard. It also adds pedal inputs, pitch/mod wheels, and some front panel numeric buttons.

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Posting Rules: Please keep your comments relevant! Do not post requests for help, do not use for sales, do not post unless you have something interesting to say about this instrument, or we may delete your post.

 

J Rowland

Posted 72 days ago

i've just ordered a micro q from ebay. i love the sound of the waldorf synths, they have a very unique sound to them.

Charlie

Posted 76 days ago

How is this compared to Blofeld? since i can get a Microq "used" for almost the same pice as a new Blofeld..

The Jingle Tingle

Posted 105 days ago

After years of using a KORG MS-20, this is like having 20 of them, including an external signal IN, with a few <ahem> plusses: +MIDI, +patch memory, +multi-timbrality, +vocoding, +extra LFOs, +multimode filters with more parameters, +sweepable oscillator tables, +individual outs, +drum map. And the sound is quite analog-like. There is stepping only in very extreme situations (i.e., non-musical). My only gripe (minor) is that the headphone out is very noisy, so listening to the synth is best through your mixer. Pressing buttons on the programming matrix is a bit of a drag, but it works; or use freeware to work the controls. A very satisfying synth. Minor bugs do crop up, but again, minor stuff---development halted circa 2005 when Waldorf went into bankruptcy for about two years. Quite the techno beast but has the engine to do traditional subtractive synthesis with flare.

mike

Posted 279 days ago

i just bought myself a yellow rack mount version on the bay of e (LOL) for US $350. i was trying to get my hands on the Microwave XT but got outbid in the last 3 seconds go figure.

i am equally as excited to get this sweet sounding machine tho. looking forward to getting it. It will have a nice home next to my Moog LP2 and my DSI Prophet '08.

Roby31

Posted 306 days ago

I bought my yellow rack one last week, payed 270 euro. Very easy to program although it has only 4 knobs in the parameter matrix; built like a tank; nice sounding preset sounds and a large amount of other presets downloadable from waldorf's website. It is capable of very rich and complex sounds, while it stil has its own personality. It is definitely worth its cost, especially if you are looking for a nice first synthesizer which isn't limited when you musically grow up; 16 part multitimbrality is a very nice plus while in studio, although you probably won't get 16 sounds at once because of 25 note polyphony which decreases using complex sounds. The Omega has 75 voices and wouldn't probably suffer from the polyphony reduction.
I would definitely buy it again.

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