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 are 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.
- Demos & Media
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Audio Clip 1 - Hear a bit of a Demo. Thick pads, resonant distorted basses, airy perc sounds, arpeggios and beats!
Manual - Waldorf have made manuals for many of their products available on-line!
- Specifications
- Polyphony - 25 voices, expandable up to 75 voices
- Oscillators - 5 oscillators per voice (Pulse with Pulse Width Modulation, Sawtooth, Triangle, Sine, 2 wavetables with 128 waves each and sub-oscillator per alt-wave); Noise generator
- Memory - 300 single programs, 100 multi programs, 20 drum-maps
- Filter - 2 Filters (including FM and distortion): Low Pass (12dB/24dB), Band Pass (12dB/24dB), High Pass (12dB/24dB), Notch (12dB/24dB), Comb Filter (positive/negative feedback)
- VCA - 4 envelopes, enhanced ADSR configuration with loop and one shot function, bipolar; different trigger modes for each envelope, poly, mono, dual, unison, manual trigger etc.
- Modulation - 3 LFOs up to audio range; Modulation Matrix with 16 slots, freely routable, pre-routed modulation destinations, sources selectable
- Effects - 2 effects per program, up to 5 effects in Multimode (Effects: Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Distortion, Delay, 5 FX, Vocoder)
- Keyboard - 37 keys (Keyboard model)
- Arpeg/Seq - Arpeggiator with 16 preset plus 1 user pattern, including accents, timing information, swing, glide, chords and more
- Control - MIDI In/Out/Thru (16 parts)
- Date Produced - 2000-2001
- Resources & Credits
Images from Perfect Circuit Audio and Waldorf.
Errors or Corrections? Send them here.
The VA sound is less digital than VSTis, but lacks a little richness (not as thin as a Korg though). The microQ's wavetables are meant to sound digital, of course.
The microQ has the Waldorf tone; it produces superb spacey pads, fx, drones and huge layers that sit very well in a mix. It can also get very nasty.
Mine has OS v.2.22, which seems very stable. Live tweaking isn't as easy as on a synth with more knobs but the things you need to get at most are very accessible. It works very well, though some of the functions are buried quite deep in the menus.
Multi-mode seems to work OK on mine, but I don't use it much.
Only one complaint - the colour scheme on mine is dark blue with white and dark rust text - which is almost unreadable in low light.
The Blofeld is indeed regarded as the new babe from Waldorf. With some of the abilities and features of both the Q and XT...
check out what it can do on my youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqxsSnhHmB8
IttaiTal
Fx like reverb and delay are so poor like the buggy software and the hardware knobs...but like a synth this toy SOUNDS, very nice fatty crystal aggressive leads, deep warm pads sounds fast envelopes for nice analog drum sounds, good filters emulation.
A must is:
1-The omega expansion (up to 75 voices),
2-PC/Mac Editor for easy creating supersounds
3-Put the voice in unison mode and you will hear a FAT POLY SYNTH (omega expansion needs for poly sounds),
I will never sold my uQ omega.