Some people ask me what kind of machines and technics I use to make my sounds. So I decided to begin a serie of posts under the category Technology. I will talk about my instruments and the way I use them in order to share with you some of my secret weapons 
To begin with, here is the Waldorf Microwave XT, a synthesizer that uses a wavetable system based on the pioneered Wolfgang Palm‘s PPG synths of the ’80s. Basically, there are two digital oscillators, a digital filter, a couple of LFOs, four envelopes, an arpeggiator, and some simple effects. You can use one of the 64 waves pre-installed in its memory. Many were imported from the original PPG Wave 2.x series.
Creating your own waves and wavetables requires some persistence, but the results are definitely worth it. Unfortunately there’s no built-in tool for this, so you need external software. The best option is undoubtedly Emagic’s Sound Diver. It’s the most comprehensive wavetable creation and management utility available for the Microwave.
To begin with, here is the Waldorf Microwave XT, a synthesizer that uses a wavetable system based on the pioneered Wolfgang Palm‘s PPG synths of the ’80s. Basically, there are two digital oscillators, a digital filter, a couple of LFOs, four envelopes, an arpeggiator, and some simple effects. You can use one of the 64 waves pre-installed in its memory. Many were imported from the original PPG Wave 2.x series.
Creating your own waves and wavetables requires some persistence, but the results are definitely worth it. Unfortunately there’s no built-in tool for this, so you need external software. The best option is undoubtedly Emagic’s Sound Diver. It’s the most comprehensive wavetable creation and management utility available for the Microwave.
Some good links:
www.waldorfmusic.de
Carbon111.com
SoundOnSound Wavetable masterclass
Here is one of my experimentations in which there are some interesting digital glitchy textures. I put this recording in high-resolution .aiff file and under a creative commons share-alike license, so you can play with it. I will be happy to listen to what you have done with it, so share !
I have used some samples of these textures in these tracks :
Français
Really interesting! My connexion is really bad, so impossible to read the videos. I appreciate the “secret weapons”, but I think you could tell us more You are introducing the machine, but not the way you work with it… It interest me very much because I want to create glitchy-abstract textures like yours (very beautifull) but don’t know how to produce those in a systematic/not difficult way…
Your two tracks are INCREDIBLE!!!
I wait for the secret weapon about monomachine!
Bye
Xa
Comment by Xavier Heindrichs — 22 December, 2009 @ 5:51 pm
Great skill Syl,
I love this textures.
Thanks for sharing !
Comment by grainsmatch — 16 December, 2009 @ 10:45 am
A reconstruction in a dark and sweet levitation by Victorius !
Thanks for sharing
Syl Kougaï – Microwave experiments (Victorius Restruction mix) by Victorius
Comment by Syl Kougaï — 10 December, 2009 @ 11:03 pm