Waldorf Microwave 1 – Version 2 [WiN-MAC]

• Product: Microwave 1 – Version 2
• Developer: Waldorf
• Version: 2.0.0
• Format: VST, VST3, AAX, AU
• Requirements: Windows 7 or later, macOS 10.14 or later
• Source: waldorfmusic.com/produkt/microwave-1-version-2

Microwave 1 – Version 2 is a wavetable synthesizer plugin recreating Waldorf’s 1989 hardware Microwave, modeling the original’s Waldorf ASIC chip, Curtis filter variants, and 250kHz internal synthesis rate independent of host sample rate. Version 2 builds entirely on that existing engine — released as the Microwave 1 Plugin in mid-2025 — adding voice-card-based polyphony expansion, two arpeggiators, and a new delay effect, rather than changing the oscillator or filter model itself. Its differentiator at this version is architectural: polyphony scales from the original 8 voices to 32 by emulating additional hardware voice cards, the same mechanism the real Microwave used to expand from its factory configuration. For anyone asking what’s actually new in Version 2 versus what already existed in the Microwave 1 Plugin’s first release, this is that distinction.

Key Takeaway

Activates for producers already committed to the Microwave 1 Plugin’s wavetable character who need multitimbral polyphony, per-part arpeggiation, or built-in delay processing that the original release didn’t have. Displaces a separate delay plugin or external arpeggiator MIDI track when those functions can live inside the same instance instead. Doesn’t change the underlying oscillator or filter sound at all — anyone expecting Version 2 to sound different from the existing Microwave 1 Plugin will hear an identical core engine; current user reports also describe a CPU cost from activating additional voice cards that producers running tight CPU budgets should test before committing a session to the upgrade.

What Version 2 Actually Adds Versus What Already Existed

Version 2’s paid features are voice-card-based polyphony expansion, two arpeggiators, and a new delay effect; everything else — the two-oscillator wavetable engine, Curtis-modeled filter section, 250kHz internal synthesis, and bit-exact waveform recreation — carries over unchanged from the Microwave 1 Plugin’s original release. A separate 1.3.0 update, free to all existing owners regardless of whether they buy the Version 2 upgrade, covers preset browser redesign, multi-level undo/redo, and simultaneous multi-part editing — workflow changes available without paying for the sound-and-performance features gated behind Version 2 itself.

This split matters for deciding whether to upgrade: an owner who only wants the improved preset browser and undo/redo gets those for free under 1.3.0, while voice-card polyphony, arpeggiation, and the delay effect specifically require the paid Version 2 license. Existing owners 7 days or less into ownership of the original plugin have reported uncertainty over whether a grace period applies to the upgrade price, a detail worth confirming directly with Waldorf before purchasing rather than assuming standard upgrade terms apply uniformly.

Voice Card Expansion and the Reported CPU Cost

Version 2 raises polyphony from 8 to 32 voices by emulating three additional virtual voice cards beyond the original’s single card, activated on the global settings page, with Waldorf stating that micro-timing and tuning variation between voices carries over from the hardware’s actual card-based expansion architecture rather than getting smoothed out by software. This is a structural recreation of how the real hardware scaled polyphony, not a simple polyphony-limit increase — the original Microwave’s expanded units used physically separate voice cards, and the emulation reproduces that same per-card variation rather than treating all 32 voices as identical copies of one voice algorithm.

Independent user reports from the version’s release week describe a CPU cost increase of roughly 10% or more from activating all four voice cards, occurring even when only a single voice is actually sounding — meaning the cost comes from the cards being active, not from polyphonic note count at any given moment. Waldorf has acknowledged this report directly and stated the issue is under investigation, which means producers building sessions around heavy multi-instance use of Version 2 should test CPU load with voice cards engaged before relying on the higher polyphony in a performance-critical context, since this is an open issue at the time of writing rather than a resolved one.

Two Arpeggiators and Where Each One Operates

Version 2 separates arpeggiation into two distinct tools: a global arpeggiator that triggers all voices across a full multi-setup simultaneously, with adjustable step length, pattern, algorithm, swing, release gate, and reset; and a per-part polyphonic arpeggiator that runs independently within a single instrument part, offering its own polyphonic modes, voice selection, and transpose settings. Running both at once means a multi-instrument setup can have one part arpeggiating independently of the others while the global arpeggiator handles full-ensemble triggering, rather than being limited to one arpeggiation behavior applied uniformly across every part.

The per-part arpeggiator includes a piano-roll visualizer showing the generated pattern in real time, which speeds up identifying whether a pattern’s actual note output matches what a given polyphonic mode and transpose setting are expected to produce — useful specifically because the polyphonic modes interact with voice selection in ways that aren’t always predictable from the parameter names alone. Both arpeggiators can retain their settings when scrolling through presets if that option is enabled, though independent user reports note that effect parameter values do not currently follow the same retention behavior by default, requiring the same opt-in setting to be applied separately for the delay section.

The New Delay Effect and Signal Routing

Version 2 introduces the first onboard effects processing the Microwave 1 Plugin has had, a multi-mode delay combining filtering, tremolo, diffusion, and pitch shifting directly within the delay line rather than as a simple repeat-only effect. Four delay modes — normal, ping-pong, swing, and repeat — each expose a different subset of the diffusor and pitch-shifting controls, so switching modes changes which parameters are available rather than just changing the rhythmic pattern of the repeats themselves.

Send level to the delay is controllable per instrument part on the multi page, which means a multitimbral setup can route some parts through heavy delay treatment while keeping others dry, rather than applying one delay setting across the entire instrument uniformly. A pre/post-delay multimode filter and a two-mode tremolo sit in the same signal path as the delay and diffusor, giving a modulated, pitched delay texture achievable without external plugins — the tradeoff being that this is the instrument’s only effects section, so sound design needing reverb, distortion, or modulation effects beyond delay-based ones still requires routing to plugins outside the instrument.

A Hardware Recreation Whose Newest Feature Is Still Settling In

Version 2’s voice-card polyphony, arpeggiators, and delay sit on top of an engine that’s been independently verified bit-for-bit against the original hardware — but the polyphony expansion itself, days into release, is still carrying an acknowledged CPU cost Waldorf hasn’t resolved yet.

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