There are a couple of reasons I prefer the Microwave2 to both MW1 and Blofeld... I still have the Blofeld though, it's not going anywhere
1. The MW2 has a lot more presets out there, specialized for my genre of music (Ambient), and it is backward compatible with earlier MW1 presets... One major reason for wanting the MW2 is that I get a lot of sounds straight out of the box, without having to program a lot myself...
2. It's 100% digital, and thus does not need servicing... the MW1 I had, needed callibration inside the unit from time to time because of the analog filters, and had begun showing signs of being vintage.
3. It is considerably lower in signal/noise ratio.
4. It's synthesis engine is better (if we do not count in the analog sound of course). it has built in FX and a modulation matrix... MW1 does not... more wavetables, more space for presets and user waves.
and the reason my Blofeld is not chosen to be my only wavetable synth is that it cannot use the MW Familys presets... it does have all the wavetables, but it lacks the MW Wave Envelope among other things... also, the Blofeld cannot do interpolation inside the machine... you have to use external software to do this, and then transfer to the Blofeld... with MW2, I can quickly insert single waveforms in a wavetable, and have the DSP in the MW2 interpolate... this allow for fast changes of timbres in already made presets, simply by just changing a few waves and interpolate.... just like if you had a sampler, and exchanged samples in an already made patch.
I've had the MW2 many years ago by the way, so I know what it sounds like, and what it is capable of
I know that many will wonder why I of all, being so analog-happy, would want to let the MW1 go, and then get a MW2 ... but the reason is, that I simply have revised my view on analog/digital over the last year or so, having begun making Ambient instead of dance, Techno like material... I found out, over the years, that what I really like about analog, is the bass mostly, and to some extend the "dirty, wooly" sound on some leads... I really don't need analog for pads, and Ambient is mostly pad based music... also, having so many different flavours of analog is not really what I need... I need flexibility, I need FX, I need polyphony and good signal to noise ratio so that very quiet passages in my music will not drown in noise from analog gear. Thus I'm only into gear that are modern, and do not need servicing.
I have bought the Pulse 2 again... it's the only gear I have with analog oscillators... it serves me fine as analog bass, and the leads is also perfect in this box... my P12 takes care of the middle terrain.
With the purchase of the MW2, my setup is complete... for now