Developer Dave Whiting shared this preview of Wave Emulation, a software recreation of the classic Waldorf Wave, a hybrid wavetable synthesizer known for hybrid synth engine, featuring gritty digital oscillators paired with analog filters.
“Rather than simply making a modern synth that sounds similar,” says Whiting, “I’ve tried to reproduce the structure and behaviour of the original machine.”
Wave Emulation models:
- The Wave’s 250 kHz, 8-bit time-multiplexed wavetable oscillator system
- Signed mixer overflow—including the characteristic Waldorf “ASIC Mix Bug”
- Digital 12 dB high-pass filtering
- CEM3387-style reconstruction filtering, resonant four-pole low-pass filtering, VCAs and panning
- 12-bit stepped control voltages, sample-and-hold behaviour, saturation, noise and output coupling
- Three independent 16-voice WDV boards, matching a fully expanded 48-voice Wave
- The original 480 × 64 monochrome LCD and front-panel workflow
The instrument can also run authenticated Waldorf Wave OS 1.700 firmware. An emulated 68000 CPU executes the original main operating system, while a second runtime executes the genuine WDV voice-board program. Their shared-memory communication, voice-update masks, semaphores and hardware-register writes are reproduced and traced inside the model.
Whiting notes, “The oscillator ASIC itself remains undocumented, so its internal operation is represented by a behavioural model based on the Wave’s published architecture, firmware activity and known hardware characteristics. This is therefore an ongoing reverse-engineering and preservation project—not a claim of perfect, bit-exact emulation.”
Availability:
Wave Emulation is available now as an open source project via Github.
Looks great! Only questions is, where is the actual installer? I can’t find it on the GitHub page.
Thanks.
I’ve never understood why this synth costs 25k second-hand, and now that I’ve actually heard how it sounds, I understand it even less.
I just checked Reverb after reading this article, two Waves are listed for more than 30K.
After listening to the demo, I think my Waldorf M and 3rd Wave 8M sounds better.
Here is exactly why it costs $$$:
https://axelhartmanndesign.com/waldorf-wave/
Looking back from a historical standpoint:
What else was there that could rival such a beast in 1993…?
The VA craze was still a year or two short, PCM romplers didn’t do wavetables, and older Microwaves didn’t have the luxurious front panel, sans editor.
The Wave was a child of its time – it is only natural that nearly 25 years later the technological synth landscape has progressed dramatically!
Personally, I so would like to give this a try, but it seems it is ‘Mac Only’ for the time being. Let’s hope a windows version is on the horizon soon.
I had it and it’s a great synth
Of course its a rare one and get it for few bucks its not possible.
Judge it only after you have put your hands on.
On the real one, not on an emulation, even if done well.
The Wave can sounds like a lush moog poly, but also digital and glassy.
It has a very crisp and punchy attack.
I sold it only cause the spare parts are not more available and if an asics or another custom digital component fail, it can be a huge issue fix it., for my actual knoledge.
I don’t say impossible fix it, but not easy like a Pro one or a Model D.
Expensive? Of course.
Are vintage Porche, Rolex, or Gibson cheap?
A cool toy for who can afford and maintain it.
Hello, Upon installation on my PC, Windows Defender detects a Win32/Wacatac Trojan.