From gacki@sax.sax.deFri Jan 27 10:06:24 1995 Date: Fri, 27 Jan 1995 13:26:24 +0100 From: Malte Rogacki To: analogue@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu Subject: Microwave programmer - first test Hi, here's the promised review. The Microwave programmer is a nifty little box for use with the Microwave (surprise, surprise!). The box is a little smaller than the Microwave (not 19"), made of metal with wooden side panels. It is used in a daisy-chain manner (somewhere between a master keyboard and the Microwave). It has a MIDI IN, so incoming data are merged with the programmer data. Of course, you can record those parameter changes into a sequencer. When it first powers up each time, the panel is locked. This prevents accidental changes to Microwave sounds. By pressing a certain button you can "unlock" the panel for editing purposes (you can also manually lock it again). The programmer provides knobs for a lot of functions, more can be found on the scans on Georg Mueller's web page. You can edit Filter and Amp EGs, the Wave EG, Filter Cutoff, Resonance and more. You can also use it to choose Wavetable and starting wave and such. I think the programming goes pretty straightforward. The following things are noteworthy (I think): 1. If the Microwave is in Multimode you can choose which instrument to edit (1 to 8), you can also edit more than one instrument at the same time. 2. When using the buttons in the Oscillator section (for Triangle, Square and Sawtooth wave) all modulations affecting the Wavetables are disabled. 3. Beside this, there is no way to edit the modulation routings extensively from the programmer. That's a drawback FOR ME (not nessicarily for someone else) since I spend alot of time with the modulations to get a sound "playable". 4. Another problem is that the Microwave doesn't reflect the parameter changes instantly in the display. However, if you switch to another page and back, the changes are visible after. I'm sending the box to Rob now, maybe he will give more insights. Regards, Malte Rogacki gacki@sax.sax.de 100116.154@compuserve.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Don't forget to TURN ON THE SYNTHESIZER. Often this is the reason why you get no sound out of it." (ARP 2600 Owner's Manual) -----------------------------------------------------------------------------