This article is dedicated to this extremely rare machine.
The aim here is to share information about this exceptional machine, but also to serve as a showcase in order, I hope, to make contact with former WaveFrame employees, as well as former users or owners.
Indeed, I have already taken this approach for other brands (Fairlight, Ned, Technos, etc.), and it has always encouraged the collection and sharing of information and experiences. My ambition? To bring this machine back to life.
If you are a former WaveFrame employee, a user from the time, or if you still own one of these machines and have access to documents (user manuals, technical manuals, software, hardware), please do not hesitate to share them: this would help keep this mythical brand alive, or bring it back to life.
But first, I would like to thank UVI here, and especially its director and co-founder, Alain Etchard, who gave me this rarity. Having worked with them in the past on several of their products (darklight-iix, the-beast, energy, synthox and u1250), they thought of me…
The sounds of this machine are also available from UVI in their software package: px-waveframe
Let us go back in time: this machine is one of the great mythical machines of the late 1980s, a kind of grail of what was best in audio synthesis at that time. I had seen its name in articles, I no longer remember whether I had seen photos, but one thing is certain: it remained even more mysterious than the Fairlight and Synclavier systems I had already encountered on several occasions, and for several years, in studios around the Paris region. Which is quite surprising given that it was marketed much later, from 1988 onward,
It is also an extremely expensive machine, whose purchase price was around US$88,000. I also found a trace of a price of DM100,000 around 1989.
And one day, I came across it, quite some time ago now, it must have been at least 26 years ago, at Funky Junk by chance, while going there to test and validate the proper operation of a CMI III, the one belonging to Celmar Engel (repainted purple with glitter… apparently, his wife wanted it that way) which was on consignment sale. It was at a time when Funky Junk still had a consignment showroom in France, around La Défense, near Paris.
It was in very good condition, and above all in a complete configuration, that is to say with the large black unit (the same one that UVI gave me), but also a complete PC computer, the documentation (binders and floppy disks) and cables.
AudioFrame
Developed in the late 1980s by WaveFrame, the AudioFrame stands out as a highly advanced digital audio workstation for its time. Its design is based on a modular architecture organized around a rack-mount chassis and a high-speed backplane capable of handling up to 64 multiplexed audio channels. This approach makes it possible to build a fully configurable system by adding dedicated boards for the various functions: audio conversion, DSP processing, sampling, multitrack recording, or synchronization interfaces. One of the major strengths of this architecture is its scalability: it is possible to adapt the machine precisely to a studio’s needs, then expand it progressively without calling the entire system into question.
From an audio standpoint, the AudioFrame efficiently combines sampling and real-time processing functions. The sampling modules each provide up to 16 dynamic voices, with flexible resource management and possible expansion through the addition of memory or extra modules. The overall polyphony therefore depends directly on the installed configuration, which makes it possible to achieve significant capabilities for the period. Processing is handled by DSP boards incorporating several specialized processors, capable of carrying out real-time mixing, equalization, and effects, with 24-bit internal processing ensuring high audio quality.
The AudioFrame also stands out for its hard-disk multitrack recording capabilities. Thanks to its dedicated modules, it can record and play back several audio tracks simultaneously with non-destructive operation, precise edit points, and flexible take management. This approach makes it a true advanced digital multitrack recorder, particularly suited to production and post-production environments. Total recording time can reach several hours depending on the configuration, which was remarkable at the end of the 1980s.
The storage chain is based mainly on SCSI hard drives integrated into the rack or connected through expansion units. These drives make it possible to store large quantities of audio data and ensure fast transfers to the memory of the sampling modules or to the multitrack playback engines. Loading times are thus greatly reduced, which considerably improves workflow. The addition of expansion racks makes it possible to increase storage capacity even further, confirming the system’s orientation toward intensive use in a professional studio environment.
Another essential aspect of the AudioFrame is its synchronization capability and its integration into complex environments. The system supports professional standards such as SMPTE (linear timecode), VITC for video, as well as external synchronization signals (word clock, house sync, etc.). Dedicated inputs and outputs make it possible to lock the AudioFrame precisely to external sources or to drive other equipment. At the same time, several MIDI interfaces are available, with independent inputs and outputs, making it possible to control external instruments or integrate the system into a broader music production chain. All these signals circulate at high speed inside the system, which largely eliminates the classic limitations of MIDI used externally.
Finally, the AudioFrame stands out for its overall level of integration. It is not simply a collection of independent modules, but a coherent platform in which sampling, recording, processing, synchronization, and data management are closely interconnected. This convergence, combined with a modular architecture and substantial processing power, makes the AudioFrame a direct precursor of modern digital audio workstations, while retaining a hardware-oriented approach typical of high-end systems from the late 1980s.
The AudioFrame consists of a large black 19-inch 10U rack unit (height) and is very deep. Here are the external dimensions of the enclosure: 48.5 x 44.3 x 64 cm, and it is heavy, I would say more than 40 kg. This large enclosure is called the DAR (Digital Audio Rack).
Inside this enclosure are grouped all the electronic boards (also large-format, multilayer boards: 36 x 28 cm) and three hard drives (in the configuration I have: 2 drives of 600 MB and one of 2.1 GB), as well as a magnetic tape drive/recorder (for backing up the contents of the hard drives). All of this works in SCSI.
It also contains what is needed to supply power to the whole system:
- a switching power supply for the 5 V rail,
- a linear power supply (large transformer, rectifier bridges and voltage regulators) for the voltages dedicated to the analog section.
But in order to operate, it also has to be associated with a PC-type computer. You have probably understood that I did not have that famous PC, nor do I have the software and the documentation.
Apparently, it was the ALR brand (Advanced Logic Research) that was configured and delivered by WaveFrame. However, in my case, since I do not have the original machine, I think that a PC equipped with an x86-compatible processor (ideally a model between the i80386 and the Pentium), configured with the Windows operating system and fitted with a Token Ring-compatible network card, should have been sufficient.
According to the information I have gathered, the control software would run under Microsoft Windows 2 up to 3.11.
As the logic of this very old family of Windows operating systems required (from version 2 and those that followed until the arrival of NT and 95), there were strong constraints that required splitting the system into several programs. It is therefore very likely that there were several programs, each responsible for a specific area of management (MIDI, hard-disk recording, sampling, effects, etc.).
Here are a few screenshots of these program interfaces:
SCP Module
Studio Control Processor
This basic module handles all MIDI and timecode control. It reads and generates LTC (SMPTE), reads VITC and composite sync, links the computer to the Digital Audio Rock (DAR) and, if necessary, to several DAR units at the digital level. It also allows the AudioFrame remote control to be connected.
SAMPLING Module
It is possible to integrate up to 3 modules into a DAR, each with 16 dynamic voices and a constant sampling rate of 44.1 kHz. No anti-aliasing filter is therefore required. Each sample immediately delivers a perfectly pure sound across 14 octaves, without any digital noise. Each sampling module can manage up to 28 MB of RAM and handle up to 614,400 samples.
My machine is equipped with two modules and totals 60 MB of RAM.
DSP Module
DRM-4/8 Module
(Hard-disk recording module)
The Digital Audio Rock can accommodate up to 4 DRM modules.
Wave From therefore offers the world’s only hard-disk recording system currently capable of 24-bit recordings.
The usual limitations of hard-disk recording systems are completely eliminated with the AudioFrame:
- unlimited crossfade durations
- unlimited number of tracks (thanks to the digital networking of several DAR units)
- unlimited number of cue points (direct selection without rewinding), variable speed at 100%, etc.
- Current maximum recording time per track: 7 hours (!)
- Free distribution of recording time among mono, stereo, or multichannel events.
The following fact illustrates the capabilities of the AudioFrame particularly well:
the DRM module plays 50% more tracks when there are no long crossfades. A DRM-8 is therefore a complete 8-track editing and recording system, but without crossfades it becomes a 12-track machine.
ALR-Computer System
DIGITAL-TO-ANALOG MODULE – 5131 DAC
DA converter, outputs
It is possible to plug in as many sipd modules as desired. Automatic calibration, as is already the case for the AD converters, guarantees that all channels sound the same! (16 bits, 44.1 kHz, 20 Hz to 20 kHz, 96 dB.) In addition, this board includes 8 digital outputs that are available in parallel and simultaneously with the analog outputs (constant sampling rate of 44.1 kHz).
The boards
Since the DAR operates with a BUS, it is possible to configure the machine for a use more oriented toward recording or sampling… by adjusting the number of modules in the enclosure. It is stated that it is possible, for example, to install 3 SAMPLER modules (which apparently also implies the same number of MEMORY modules, thus representing 6 modules in total), but it is also possible to install 4 DRM modules.
I found variants among the modules: indeed, 2 versions of the ADC module, and 3 versions of the MEMORY module.
5101 ADC – 2 audio inputs in XLR format
5102 ADC – 8 audio inputs in XLR format, switch (ENABLE/DISABLE)
5203 UDI-4
5131 DAC – 8 audio outputs in XLR format, digital out in female DB9 format, DITHER switch (ON/OFF))
5501 SCP
5601 DRM – RS-422 in male DB9 format, SCSI A and SCSI B in male DB25 format, DSP A in female DB9 format, DSP B in male DB9 format
5711 MEMORY – SCSI 1 and 2 opening in male DB25 format
5712 MEMORY – SCSI 1 and 2 opening but without connector
The module is made up of two stacked boards attached to a common front panel, and in addition it is connected to the SAMPLER module by two ribbon cables.
5713 MEMORY
5801 DSP – IN in male DB25 format, OUT in female DB25 format
5901 SAMPLER
The module is connected to the MEMORY module by two ribbon cables.
Sources on the web
For years, I searched the web for information, documents, and media about this mythical machine… I have always been wary of the comments and opinions of people who labelled themselves specialists, and that also applies to what I have read in magazines and on the web. I am not even mentioning the level of trust one can place in forums and various websites published online, which far too often come close to the level of competence of conversations in a roadside café at rush hour, early in the morning…
Moreover, I kept coming across the same information over and over again, more or less distorted, along with a few rare websites, and nothing more… It is always tedious, even very frustrating, to find nothing when digging into the depths of the web, where one searches every tiny lead that often goes nowhere: that is where one sees the true limits of digitization, because only what has been digitized is available!
I have always been relentless in my efforts to obtain information. I have this need to satisfy my knowledge on a subject or in a field. I have had this character trait since my distant childhood, and it is rather difficult for those around me, because it quite often turns into obsession. And often, if I think I have recovered as much as it was possible to extract from what was available at that time, I put it away in a corner of my brain, then move on to something else, another objective, another target…
A natural source of information would have been the WaveFrame brand website, but unfortunately,
Fortunately, thanks to Web Archive, it is possible to go back in time, but here that is not enough… Too bad:
https://web.archive.org/web/20260000000000*/http://www.waveframe.com
I also found a few traces of user opinions and feedback:
In English:
https://gearspace.com/board/showpost.php?p=12470801&postcount=51 (February 27, 2017)
My submission is the 1987-era Boulder Colorado-based WaveFrame AudioFrame.
I received maintenance training on the AudioFrame 1000 sometime around 1990. I had several clients in Dallas using them including Charlie Pride’s studio and Real to Reel which did a lot of radio production on them. Many of the Motel 6 “We’ll leave the light on for you” spots with Tom Bodett were done on the WaveFrame.
The LAN adapter used a black box interface to an IBM Token Ring network. Drive interfaces were SCSI and the original ones if I remember correctly ran the user interface on Windows 2. The DSP was Motorola 56K.
A restoration project for a more modern model: the WaveFrame 401.
Bringing an iconic DAW back to life – The Waveframe 401
In German:
https://www.sequencer.de/synthesizer/threads/waveframe-1000-audioframe-1000-system-noch-brauchbar.115602/ (July 6, 2016)
Audio examples
And through all these publications, I compiled a list of the named users and their productions: Michael Cretu (ENIGMA, album MCMXC a. D. – 1990), Peter Gabriel (Passion – 1989)
I also found two promotional booklets, one in English and the other in German. They are not perfect, some pages seem to be missing, and the full surface of the documents was not digitized.
An article in Keyboard Magazine US:
An article in Sound and Sounds:
I made an inventory of the machine:
12 large-format boards ()
6 Intel 80186 CPUs [Intel and Siemens] (I know this x86 family well, I even wrote a book on their assembler https://www.amazon.fr/Assembleur-x86…/dp/2744015644…), 6 Motorola XSP56001 DSPs, 8 MB of RAM for the CPUs, 128 KB of ROM for the CPUs, 56 MB of RAM for the sampling boards, 4x 16-bit 50 kHz stereo ADCs (easily expandable to 8x), 4x 16-bit 50 kHz DACs, tons of digital and serial I/O, and 4 SCSI controllers… All distributed across 12 giant 28×36 cm boards.
The RAM for audio represents 28 megawords of 16 bits. With sampling at 50 kHz, this represents a sampling time of 560 seconds (about 9.33 minutes) in stereo.
If we apply this reasoning to the three SCSI disks, one of 2.1 GB and two of 600 MB each: In simple stereo: 2 hours and 24 minutes of recording possible. In multitrack mode (8 stereo tracks): 17 minutes of recording possible. And in RAM: 2.45 minutes.
I forgot to mention that it is the former machine of Ian Robertson Underwood: https://www.imdb.com/fr/name/nm0881005/#AudioFrame#WaveFrame
The WaveFrame AudioFrame seems to have found its place mainly in the world of film and post-production, much more than in mainstream music. Among the few notable exceptions in music, we find:
– Peter Gabriel, who used it on Passion (the soundtrack to The Last Temptation of Christ, 1989) and on Us (1992), one of his studio albums.
– Michael Cretu (Enigma), who made it a key element of his iconic album MCMXC a.D. (1990), notably for its ethereal sound textures and transformed choirs.
– Stevie Wonder, who used it for post-production and sound creation projects between the late 1980s and the mid-1990s.
Why such a predominance in film?
The AudioFrame was particularly appreciated in post-production studios (sound effects, sound design for film and television). Its ability to handle long, high-quality 16-bit samples, a rarity at the time, made it an ideal tool for creating complex sound atmospheres and detailed audio landscapes, long before these features became available on consumer samplers.
Rodolphe Honestly… This is only the second one I have ever come across (the first was at least 20 years ago at Funky Junk in La Défense), and clearly, it really is a rarity (worse than Fairlight and Ned or Technos): almost no documentation on the net (a few things remain from the former manufacturer’s site via Web Archive).
But for now, I still have too many things to finish: I am running a tremendous, even staggering, backlog in my workshop. So it will have to wait. For the moment, I have no opinion to give, except that it weighs as much as a dead donkey, or even much more 
This instrument was designed to compete with the Synclavier, the Fairlight Series III, and the MFX. In 1988, a 48-voice system cost US$88,000. The sound quality is exceptional and sample editing is made easy by a very intuitive graphical interface running on a Windows PC to control the system. The sound quality far surpasses that of my Akai and E-mu samplers. It has a truly fantastic-sounding reverb. With the DSP board and the HD recorder options, the AudioFrame is a self-contained studio in a box, offering sampling, effects, MIDI sequencing, mixing with EQ, mix automation, and 24-bit hard-disk recording functions. The AudioFrame was used for sound effects and ADR in the film industry well into the 1990s. Peter Gabriel mentions the AudioFrame in the credits of “US” and its most famous musical use is probably on Enigma’s MCMXC album.
Waveframe is still active and continues to manufacture digital audio workstations (DAWs), but like Fairlight, they no longer make samplers.
Comments on the sounds:
It is a sampler: if you feed it poor-quality data, you get poor-quality results. It comes with a fairly large sound library created by Prosonus, including many excellent acoustic sounds.