When Waldorf decided to shrink the Microwave down to a compact rackmount in 1997, they didn't just scale down the sound—they rebuilt it around a Motorola DSP chip that gave the digital wavetable engine a completely different character from its predecessor. The result was a machine that felt both familiar and radical, carrying forward the legacy of PPG wavetable synthesis while introducing a level of modulation complexity that still catches people off guard.
The Microwave II sits in just two rack spaces and runs remarkably shallow at 220mm deep, making it practical for tight setups without sacrificing the core synthesis architecture. You get 10 voices of polyphony across 8-part multitimbral operation, with 256 user patches and 128 performance patches stored internally. The front panel is refreshingly minimal—five edit selection switches, four continuous knobs, and that iconic large red Microwave knob positioned at the center of a rippled programming matrix. A 2-line by 40-character LCD handles display duties, and the rear offers MIDI In/Out/Thru plus assignable stereo outputs for flexible routing.
The synthesis engine centers on wavetable oscillators feeding into 10 different digital filter models including 24dB and 12dB Moog-style lowpass designs, sine waveshaper, and FM filter modes. Four envelopes give you serious modulation depth—three logically connected to filter, amplifier, and wave control, plus a free envelope that can modulate anything. Two LFOs sync to MIDI clock and offer sine, triangle, square, random, and sample-and-hold shapes. The modulation matrix lets you stack up to four modifier units with mathematical operations like addition, multiplication, XOr, and triggered ramps, opening doors to sounds that feel genuinely unpredictable. Built-in effects include chorus, flanger, autowah, overdrive, and delay on later board revisions, plus an arpeggiator for sequencing.
The Microwave II earned respect in the community for its randomizer function, which generates patches that defy conventional programming logic, and for the sheer depth of its modulation possibilities despite the compact interface.
