Waldorf Music is a German

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

company. They are best known for the

Microwave Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter corresponding to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz respectively. Different sources define different frequency ran ...

wavetable synthesizer Wavetable synthesis is a sound synthesis technique used to create quasi-periodic waveforms often used in the production of musical tones or notes. Development Wavetable synthesis was invented by Max Mathews in 1958 as part of MUSIC II. MU ...

and Blofeld virtual analogue synthesizer.

History

Waldorf Electronics GmbH was founded in 1988 by Wolfgang Düren, who at the time was the German

distributor A distributor is an enclosed rotating switch used in spark-ignition internal combustion engines that have mechanically timed ignition. The distributor's main function is to route high voltage current from the ignition coil to the spark plugs ...

of PPG. The Waldorf name refers to the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

town Waldorf (near to the former capital of

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

) where the company was founded. Later, the company was headquartered in Schloss Ahrenthal. On 5 February 2004, Waldorf declared insolvency at a German court. Shortly before, the company was turned into an

Aktiengesellschaft (; abbreviated AG, ) is a German word for a corporation limited by Share (finance), share ownership (i.e. one which is owned by its shareholders) whose shares may be traded on a stock market. The term is used in Germany, Austria, Switzerland (wh ...

called ''Waldorf Music AG'', but to no avail. In Summer 2006, a new company Waldorf Music GmbH was officially established, although it is not a legal successor to the original company. Waldorf's headquarter has now moved to

Remagen Remagen ( ) is a town in Germany in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, in the district of Ahrweiler. It is about a one-hour drive from Cologne, just south of Bonn, the former West German capital. It is situated on the left (western) bank of the ...

and is led by CEO Joachim Flor. After the demise of PPG in 1987, Waldorf took over the heritage of

wavetable synthesis Wavetable synthesis is a sound synthesis technique used to create Periodic function, quasi-periodic waveforms often used in the production of musical tones or Musical note, notes. Development Wavetable synthesis was invented by Max Mathews i ...

. Based on an

ASIC An application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC ) is an integrated circuit (IC) chip customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use, such as a chip designed to run in a digital voice recorder or a high-efficien ...

designed by Wolfgang Palm, the Microwave, and later the WAVE, were built. However, Palm never functioned as an employee of Waldorf. Over the years, Waldorf continuously adapted new technologies. While the Microwave I (released 1989) was based on ASICs and a Motorola MC68000 micro processor, Microwave II (1997) was driven by a

DSP DSP may refer to: Computing * Digital signal processing, the mathematical manipulation of an information signal * Digital signal processor, a microprocessor designed for digital signal processing * Yamaha DSP-1, a proprietary digital signal ...

. In 2013, NAVE, a synthesizer app for

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

was released. Their Kyra (2019) is the first fully

FPGA A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) is an integrated circuit designed to be configured by a customer or a designer after manufacturinghence the term '' field-programmable''. The FPGA configuration is generally specified using a hardware de ...

-powered synthesizer. While many other synth manufacturers aimed to recreate previously existing hardware in software, Waldorf went the other way and presented the RackAttack, a hardware drum synth in 2002. The synth engine had been published as a

VST VST may refer to: * Vancouver School of Theology, a theological graduate school in British Columbia, Canada * VST, Stockholm Västerås Airport in Sweden (IATA airport code) * Vehicle safety technology * Virtual Studio Technology, Steinberg's stand ...

instrument a year before. Nevertheless, the Streichfett came up in 2014: a synth that recreated the sound of vintage string machines.

Products

1989

* Microwave.

Rack Rack or racks may refer to: Storage and installation * Amp rack, short for amplifier rack, a piece of furniture in which amplifiers are mounted * Bicycle rack, a frame for storing bicycles when not in use * Bustle rack, a type of storage bi ...

wavetable

synth A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

and developed from the

PPG Wave The PPG Wave is a series of synthesizers built by the German company Palm Products GmbH from 1981 to 1987. Background Until the early 1980s, the tonal palette of commercial synthesizers was limited to that which could be obtained by combining ...

. Built in two different hardware revisions: the first ones had a backlit LCD. The later ones a lit character display. They use a different Curtis CEM

analog Analog or analogue may refer to: Computing and electronics * Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable ** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals *** Analog electronics, circuits which use analog ...

lowpass A low-pass filter is a filter that passes signals with a frequency lower than a selected cutoff frequency and attenuates signals with frequencies higher than the cutoff frequency. The exact frequency response of the filter depends on the filter ...

filter Filter, filtering or filters may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Filter (higher-order function), in functional programming * Filter (software), a computer program to process a data stream * Filter (video), a software component tha ...

chips ''CHiPs'' is an American crime drama television series created by Rick Rosner and originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to May 1, 1983. It follows the lives of two motorcycle officers of the California Highway Patrol (CHP). The serie ...

. Later called Microwave I due to the 1997 introduced Microwave II

1990

* Midibay MB-15.

MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and re ...

patchbay A patch panel is a device or unit featuring a number of jacks, usually of the same or similar type, for the use of connecting and routing circuits for monitoring, interconnecting, and testing circuits in a convenient, flexible manner. Patch ...

and

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

1991

* Microwave Waveslave. 1 HE voice extension for the original Microwave (adding another 8 voices)

1993

* WAVE. A wavetable

. This was a deluxe extrapolation of Microwave technology, with additional features for wavetable creation and resynthesis that even today is not available on any other synthesizer. Available in 4 colours. 61 or 76 keys. 16, 32, or 48 voices and expandable to 120. Retail price in 1994 was $9000.00 with less than 200 made. The WAVE was used by for example

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depeche ...

Hans Zimmer Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Academy Awards, Oscars and four Grammy Awards, Grammys, and has been nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmys and a Tony Awar ...

and

The Orb The Orb are an English electronic music group founded in 1988 by Alex Paterson and Jimmy Cauty. Known for their psychedelic sound, the Orb developed a cult following among clubbers "coming down" from drug-induced highs. Their influential 19 ...

. * 4-pole. Table top

analog filter Analogue filters are a basic building block of signal processing much used in electronics. Amongst their many applications are the separation of an audio signal before application to bass, mid-range, and tweeter loudspeakers; the combining and ...

box. * EQ-27. Compact (table top) programmable and

controllable stereo 7 band equalizer.

1994

* Microwave I V2.0 ROM upgrade, which added additional wavetables, a facility to algorithmically create custom wavetables, a speech synthesizer, and numerous other improvements. The Waveslave was not compatible with this upgrade, but a trade-in program was offered where the user could upgrade to a full Microwave for a small fee. * A limited edition Mean Green Machine was released at the same time as this upgrade, being a Microwave with a new "Nextel" rubberized finish in a green color, a certificate of authenticity, special cone-shaped metal feet, and comical silkscreening (the power switch was labeled Life, and the card slot was labeled Food.) Normal Microwave units from then on featured the Nextel finish in the usual blue color.

1995

* Gekko Chords and Gekko Trigger: Very compact passive powered

tools *

Hohner Hohner Musikinstrumente GmbH & Co. KG is a German manufacturer of musical instruments, founded in 1857 by Matthias Hohner (1833–1902). The roots of the Hohner firm are in Trossingen, Baden-Württemberg. Since its foundation, and though known ...

Adam * Pulse:

Monophonic Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction (often shortened to mono) is sound intended to be heard as if it were emanating from one position. This contrasts with stereophonic sound or ''stereo'', which uses two separate audio channels to reproduc ...

rack Rack or racks may refer to: Storage and installation * Amp rack, short for amplifier rack, a piece of furniture in which amplifiers are mounted * Bicycle rack, a frame for storing bicycles when not in use * Bustle rack, a type of storage bi ...

1997

* Gekko Arpeggiator. Very compact passive powered Midi tool * Microwave II.

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent p ...

driven wavetable rack synth, containing many features of the original Microwave with improved mixing, modulation, effects processing, and multimode filter. * Pulse+. Monophonic analog rack synth with additional audio in and

CV/gate CV/gate (an abbreviation of ''control voltage/gate'') is an analog method of controlling synthesizers, drum machines, and similar equipment with external sequencers. The control voltage typically controls pitch and the gate signal controls not ...

interface

1998

* x-pole. Programmable stereo (in/out) analog filter in a 2HE rack module. With full MIDI, CV/Gate and ACM support. * Microwave XT. Microwave II with 44 knobs and audio input, in 5HE package with bright orange color. * Microwave XT Limited Edition. Microwave XT in charcoal gray/black color scheme, in a limited edition run of 666 units. * d-pole.

filter plug-in * Terratec Microwave PC. Synth module for the

TerraTec TerraTec Electronic GmbH is a German manufacturer of sound cards, computer speakers, webcams, computer mice, video grabbers and TV tuner cards. TerraTec is mainly known for its sound cards, and is the largest German producer of them. The compan ...

EWS sound cards, featuring a fully functional Microwave II in a drivebay package. * Wavetable Oscillator for

Creamware Creamware is a cream-coloured refined earthenware with a lead glaze over a pale body, known in France as '' faïence fine'', in the Netherlands as ''Engels porselein'', and in Italy as ''terraglia inglese''.Osborne, 140 It was created about 175 ...

Modular

1999

* Q. DSP driven virtual analog synth. 58 knobs! Colours: bright yellow "sahara" and WAVE blue, the latter became popularly known as the Halloween edition. * XTk. The Microwave XT with a 49 key keyboard * Q rack. Rack version of the Q synth. Fewer knobs. Yellow and dark blue.

2000

* PPG 2.V

plug-in synthesizer to emulate the blue PPG. wave 2.x wavetable

s * microQ. Even more compact and affordable Q rack with only 7 knobs and different DSP. Differences: 25 potential voices compared to the original models, due to shared operation and effects chip. A 75 voice expansion is available. The upgrade must be done by Waldorf or licensed repair center. Typical usage depended upon complexity of patches, unlike the Q or Q Rack which feature 16 note polyphony, upgradable to 32 voices. The microQ did not include the step sequencer.

2001

* Attack.

drum-synth plug-in * Color of the Q, Q rack & mQ changed to the classic (Microwave) blue * microQ keyboard. 3 octave keyboard version of the mQ. Classic blue coloured

2002

* D-coder. A synth and vocoder Plug-In for the TC Powercore hardware platform * RackAttack. The

in a microQ housing * Q+ A red Q featuring up to 100 dynamically allocated voices and 16 analog lowpass filters * A1 VSTi software synth for Steinberg Cubase SX and Nuendo * Waldorf Filter for Halion

2003

* AFB-16. 16 analog filters to be used via

USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad ...

for

instrument and effects.

2004

* On 5 February Waldorf Music AG declared insolvency at a German court.

2006

* In April 2006 Waldorf Music GmbH formed. Even though during August of that same year the website experienced intermittent availability resulting in multiple pronouncements of its demise, in November the Waldorf user mailing list/forum was resurrected.

2007

* Blofeld (released December 2007), an affordable desktop module combining the sound engines of the Q and the Microwave. Blofeld is still being manufactured today (as of 2022). * At the start of 2007, Waldorf announces their new line of synths and electric pianos. These include special editions of their famed Q, Q+ and Micro Q line relabled as the Phoenix Edition and the introduction of Blofeld. Also, a design study called ''Stromberg'' is shown, but this never went into production.

2009

* Blofeld Keyboard (released January 2009) - The Blofeld Keyboard is a Blofeld housed in a compact metal case and features a four-octave semi-weighted keyboard and 60MB sample memory in addition to the Blofeld module. * License SL - Blofeld License SL Sample Upgrade, is a software license that expands the Waldorf Blofeld desktop module with 60 MByte sample memory * Largo - a software synthesizer that works as a VST and AudioUnit instrument.

2010

* PPG Wave 3.V (released December 2010) - a software version of the PPG Wave keyboards that works as a VST and AudioUnit instrument.

2011

* Lector - a software vocoder that works as a VST and AudioUnit plugin.

2012

* Zarenbourg - an electric piano based on

physical modelling Physical modelling synthesis refers to sound synthesis methods in which the waveform of the sound to be generated is computed using a mathematical model, a set of equations and algorithms to simulate a physical source of sound, usually a musi ...

and samples

2013

* Rocket - a paraphonic hybrid synthesizer. * Nave - a wavetable synthesizer for the iPad. * Pulse 2 - a paraphonic analog synthesizer.

2014

* 2-Pole - an analog filter. * Streichfett - a string synthesizer.

2015

* nw1 Eurorack Wavetable Oscillator - a digital Wavetable oscillator designed to be used in the

Eurorack Eurorack is a modular synthesizer format originally specified in 1995 by Doepfer Musikelektronik. It has since grown in popularity, and as of 2022 has become a dominant hardware modular synthesizer format, with over 15,000 modules available from ...

modular system.

2016

* kb37 Eurorack - a eurorack based modular synthesis system that contains a 37 key keyboard with a mounting surface for modules up to 107 hp. * mod1 - a eurorack based analog synthesis module that offers three types of modulation parameters. * dvca1 - a eurorack based analog dual VCA circuit with input summing and parallel control of separate parameters. * cmp1 - a eurorack based analog compressor module that offers both RMS and peak modes of operation.

2017

* vcf1 - a eurorack based analog multimode filter module with distortion.

2018

* Quantum - Waldorf's flagship analog/digital hybrid synthesizer.

2019

* STVC, the keyboard version of the ''Streichfett'' with added vocoder and additional tweaking parameters. Released in Summer 2019 in small numbers, followed by a general release in 2020. *Kyra - the world's first fully FPGA-powered synthesizer with 128 voices

2020

* Iridium - Digital 16-voice Dual Timbral Polyphonic Synthesizer Module with 3 Stereo Digital Oscillators, Dual Filter, 6 LFOs, 6 Envelopes, and Modulation Matrix.

2021

* M - Hybrid 8-voice Polyphonic Synthesizer Module with 2 Digital Wavetable Oscillators recreating the Microwave sound character, analog SSI Filter, 2 LFOs, 4 Envelopes, Userwavetable Import and SD-Card mass storage.

2022

* Iridium Keyboard - a variant of Iridium housed in a case with a 49-key Fatar TP/8SK semi-weighted polyphonic aftertouch pressure-providing keyboard. The layout of physical controls is similar to the module version of Iridium, with more space between knobs and buttons, additional dedicated controls for envelopes, LFOs, FX, and layer selection, as well as six Macro buttons.

Distributed products

* Emes Studio Monitors

Developed for Steinberg

* SMP 24 (for Atari ST) * SMP II (for Atari ST) * Midex+ (for Atari ST) * Topaz (Harddisk recording, Mr. Wolfgang Palm was involved too)

Notable users of Waldorf gear

Jean-Michel Jarre Jean-Michel André Jarre (; born 24 August 1948) is a French composer, performer and record producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and new-age genres, and is known for organising outdoor spectacles featuring his music, accompanie ...

Vangelis Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou ( el, Ευάγγελος Οδυσσέας Παπαθανασίου ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis ( ; el, Βαγγέλης, links=no ), was a Greek composer and arranger of ...

Enya Enya Patricia Brennan (; ga, Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin; born 17 May 1961), known professionally by the mononym Enya, is an Irish singer, songwriter, and musician known for modern Celtic music. She is the best-selling Irish solo arti ...

A-ha A-ha (usually stylised as ''a-''h''a''; ) is a Norwegian synth-pop band formed in Oslo in 1982. Founded by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (guitars and vocals), Magne Furuholmen (keyboards, guitars and vocals), and Morten Harket (lead vocals), the band ...

Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN and stylized as NIИ, is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland in 1988. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Trent Reznor was the only permanent member of the band ...

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...

* Albert Patron * Stafford Bawler

References

External links

{{commons category, Waldorf Synthesizers
Homepage of the newly founded Waldorf Music GmbH

Newly founded Waldorf Music's mailing list

FAQs for current devices
Waldorf User
FAQs for legacy devices(faq.waldorfian.info)
Archive containing manuals
as

PDF Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...

files, as well as all public OS versions of their products.
Stefan Stenzel Interview
NAMM Oral History Library (2011)

Third-party editors for many Waldorf instruments Synthesizer manufacturing companies of Germany Musical instrument manufacturing companies of Germany Companies based in Rhineland-Palatinate