This page is read from MIDI Instrument Definitions, a Python library used in the author's other projects, in which every number is traced to a document its maker published. Its source is on GitHub.

Waldorf Iridium Core MIDI implementation

The MIDI implementation of the Waldorf Iridium Core: what it answers to, and the 15 controls it offers.

At a glance

Firmware: Not recorded.
MIDI channel: Not recorded.
MPE: Received: its voices are spread across its MIDI channels, a note to each.
Parts: Layer, 2 of them: each on a MIDI channel of its own, taking notes and controls.
Voices: 12, shared by the parts that play notes.
Note range: Not recorded.
Velocity: Received.
Aftertouch: Channel pressure and polyphonic, each answered.
Pitch bend: 12 semitones, and the range can be changed.
Program change: Received and sent.
MIDI clock: Received.
Start and stop: Not recorded.
Control change: Assigned by the player, apart from the 15 controls below.
NRPN: None.
System exclusive: Not recorded.

Controls

In the order the definition gives them, by group. Under each control is the name a program calls it by, once pymidiinstrumentdefs.load("waldorf/iridium_core") has loaded them.

Controllers

Control	CC	Values
Wheel `wheel`	1	0-127 Received, never sent
Breath Control `breath_control`	2	0-127 Received, never sent

Pedals

Control	CC	Values
Expression `expression`	11	0-127 Received, never sent
Pedal `pedal`	64	0-127 Received, never sent

Modulation sources

Control	CC	Values
CC 22 `cc_22`	22	0-127 Received, never sent
CC 23 `cc_23`	23	0-127 Received, never sent
CC 24 `cc_24`	24	0-127 Received, never sent
CC 25 `cc_25`	25	0-127 Received, never sent
CC 26 `cc_26`	26	0-127 Received, never sent
CC 27 `cc_27`	27	0-127 Received, never sent
CC 28 `cc_28`	28	0-127 Received, never sent
CC 29 `cc_29`	29	0-127 Received, never sent
CC 30 `cc_30`	30	0-127 Received, never sent
CC 31 `cc_31`	31	0-127 Received, never sent

MPE

Control	CC	Values
MPE Y Axis `mpe_y_axis`	74	0-127 Received, never sent

Where these facts come from

Source documents

Iridium Core Manual, Rev.1, dated 26 September 2023, its user manual, read on 10 October 2026 (the file read).
Iridium User Manual, Rev.3, dated 28 January 2026, its user manual, read on 3 October 2026 (the file read).
Iridium Core Spec, dated 10 October 2023, specification, read on 10 October 2026 (the file read).
Iridium Core – Waldorf Music, its product page, read on 10 October 2026 (the file read).
FAQ Iridium Core – Waldorf Music, one of its maker's support articles, read on 10 October 2026 (the file read).

How they were read

THE IRIDIUM CORE'S OWN MANUAL, WITH ITS SPECIFICATION SHEET, ITS PRODUCT PAGE AND THE FAQ IT LINKS. The 223-page Iridium Core manual is what the product page's Manual link serves, and a Specifications link serves a two-page sheet. None of the Core's documents is a MIDI implementation chart, and the manual has no control map, because most parameters are reached by MIDI Learn: "Set: opens a page allowing you to link a desired MIDI CC connection to any panel parameter dial, potentiometer, or button." (manual p. 181). So control_change is learned. No page gives the numbers Learn accepts: the nearest range printed, "CC01 to CC118 (or Off)" (manual p. 157), belongs to the XY pad's own CC X/Y selector, and the Mappings screenshot on p. 180 shows CC 0 mapped. The FAQ page adds that "the assignment is valid globally for all patches." (faq_page).

FIFTEEN CONTROLLER NUMBERS ARE THE INSTRUMENT'S OWN. Fourteen are in the modulation-source table on p. 211, where five rows name a number: "Modulation wheel (CC #1)" (manual p. 211), "MIDI Sustain pedal (CC #64)" (manual p. 211), "MIDI Expression pedal (CC #11)" (manual p. 211), "MIDI Breath Controller (CC #2)" (manual p. 211) and "MIDI CC #22 - #31" (manual p. 211). The fifteenth is the MPE Y axis, "Front-back / Y-axis (sent as MIDI CC 74)" (manual p. 178); the number is printed only in the MPE section, and the table's MPE Y Axis row gives none, so recording it among the controls, as waldorf/iridium does, is this definition's reading. The ten in the block are 22 to 31, written out here because the page prints only the ends. These are the Iridium's fifteen; the MK2's Master Volume on CC 7 is not in this manual.

ALL FIFTEEN ARE RECORDED AS RECEIVED, for the Iridium's reason: each is something the engine is modulated by, or answers to. What the manual says is sent is the panel - "All Panel parameter dials and pots are capable of sending MIDI Controller data via USB and MIDI Out." (manual p. 23) - and "Send CC: here you can activate all mapped MIDI Control Change (MIDI CC) data being sent out for the panel pots, buttons, and encoder." (manual p. 179), the mapped, learned numbers. A Macro button can fire a controller on demand, Send MIDI CC (manual p. 171), and the panic gesture sends one message by name: "Press the MOD + EFFECTS buttons simultaneously to send an All Notes Off message." (manual p. 16), without saying whether it leaves the MIDI outputs. The arpeggiator and the sequencer send notes: "The arpeggiator outputs MIDI notes in case the MIDI Out function on the Global menu page is enabled." (manual p. 157), and the same of the sequencer (manual p. 161).

IT SENDS NRPN AND DOES NOT ANSWER TO IT, as the Iridium does: "Send NRPN: if set to On, the physical panel elements send out MIDI NRPN data. For parameter automation please use MIDI CC as before. Keep in mind, that the Iridium Core doesn´t react on incoming NRPN MIDI data." (manual p. 179), the maker's acute accent kept. So nrpn: none.

TWO LAYERS, ONE POOL OF TWELVE VOICES. "Iridium Core offers a dual sound mode which means that two different sounds can be played simultaneously either as layered or as split sounds." (manual p. 23), and "Keep in mind that Iridium Core offers an overall polyphony of 12 voices. If you set Layer 1 to 9 voices, Layer 2 automatically switches to 3 voices, and vice versa." (manual p. 154), which is one pool. The specification sheet agrees, "12 voice polyphony" (specification p. 2) and Duo-timbral (specification p. 2), and so does the monitor's description on p. 24, "the 12 played voices" (manual p. 24). One page says sixteen: the text describing the monitor on p. 19 says "the 16 played voices" (manual p. 19), the Iridium's number in the Iridium's sentence (iridium_manual p. 25), above a screenshot of that monitor marked 2 to 12. The sheet and three pages of the manual (pp. 23, 24 and 154) say twelve - p. 24's being the sidebar copy of the same sentence, which the Iridium's manual prints with 16 (iridium_manual p. 30) and the Core's corrects - and the meter in the Core's other screenshots is marked 2 to 12 too (manual p. 155). One sentence carried over against all of that, so twelve is recorded.

A CHANNEL PER LAYER, IN AND OUT. "Layer 1/2 Input Channel" (manual p. 177): "Here you can select the desired MIDI channel on which Layer 1 and Layer 2 reacts." (manual p. 177), and "Chan 1 / 2: here you can determine the MIDI channel for Layer 1 and 2, on which MIDI data is sent out." (manual p. 179). So the two are one part, channel: assigned. The Inputs screenshot shows a Chan 1 and a Chan 2 button for each input, DIN, USB Contrl and USB Comp (manual p. 177), so a Layer's channel appears to be set port by port. A learned controller reaches the Layer on its channel: "Make sure that you’re sending the CCs on the correct MIDI channel so that you change the values on the correct layer." (faq_page). One setting decides which Layer the play controls reach in Split and Layered modes: Controller "Determines which Layer will be affected by incoming Mod wheel, Pitch bend, Aftertouch, Pads and Modulation pad data." (manual p. 154) - both, one, or the selected one. And in Single mode the two layers "cannot be played together." (manual p. 145). A split is made by channel unless set otherwise: "You need to set up a lower/upper range in the settings of your MIDI master keyboard." (manual p. 145). No page says which channels the Layer menus offer: the glossary's "MIDI Channels 1 through 16 are available for this purpose." (manual p. 219) closes its definition of a MIDI channel in general. So no range is recorded, as for the Iridium.

MPE, WITH AN OPTIONAL SECOND ZONE. "Left-right / X-axis (sent as MIDI Pitch Bend)" (manual p. 178), "Front-back / Y-axis (sent as MIDI CC 74)" (manual p. 178) and "Pressure / Z-axis (sent as MIDI Channel Aftertouch)" (manual p. 178). It is switched on input by input, and a controller's MPE configuration messages "will automatically put Iridium Core into MPE mode." (manual p. 178); "Iridium Core supports an optional second MPE zone" (manual p. 178). So per_voice_channels: true.

PROGRAM CHANGE: SENT FROM A MACRO BUTTON, AND RECEIVED ON THE FAQ'S WORD. The Core has six Macro buttons - "6 user-configurable macro buttons" (specification p. 2), the Play Control buttons doing double duty: "This section offers six buttons with a double function for different purposes." (manual p. 16) - and one of the actions they can be given is Send MIDI Prog, "Sends a definable MIDI program change from 0 to 127." (manual p. 171). No page says on which channel or port it goes. So sends: true, a performer firing a chosen number rather than the instrument announcing a patch, as waldorf/iridium reads the same action on the Iridium Keyboard. Receiving rests on one FAQ entry. The FAQ page the product page's FAQ links open is drawn from the Iridium's: each of its 19 entries is on the Iridium's product page too, with the same title, author, time stamp and text, and the Iridium's has three more. Some were written for another model: the volume instruction goes through a Layer button, where the Core reaches its levels with "press the Master button." (manual p. 146), and the Autoplay one names a Perform>Autoplay>Mode path that the Core's Perform page, "Wheels, Favorites and XY pads" (manual p. 18), does not have; and one calls Apply Split to Inputs (manual p. 177) Apply Split to MIDI. The entry reads: "This device does not react to Program Change Messages!" (faq_page), then "You will have to use the Favorites list in order to get the Prog CH working." (faq_page) and "This device uses only to the entries in the Favorites lis when Prog CH messages are used. As soon as you have put the most needed patches there, you can call them up by MIDI." (faq_page) - the maker's own uses only to and lis. Every entry is titled as a user's question or complaint and answered in its body, so receives: true is read as waldorf/iridium reads the same words, and the three Iridiums answer the question the same way. A support page is a source that should confirm a fact rather than carry it alone, and only a picture confirms this one. No text of the manual names program change but its glossary (manual p. 219) and the Macro action, but the Favorites screenshot on p. 155 labels each filled slot with a MIDI number, from 0001 [MIDI 1] to 0007 [MIDI 19]. The number follows the slot, not the patch - 0005 is [MIDI 9] - and matches the slot's place in the Set counted from 0, row by row, which is this definition's reading. A slot numbered for MIDI is what the FAQ describes. The picture names no message, and the entry was written for the family rather than for this instrument, so it is carried for the Iridium's reason, and doubted here. No preset count is recorded: the Favorites hold "20 sound programs per Set" (manual p. 155) over "up to six Sets, which means faster access to 120 sound programs with just two taps." (manual p. 155), and nothing says whether program change reaches one Set or all six. The glossary's "Program numbers 1 through 128" (manual p. 219) and the Macro's "from 0 to 127" (manual p. 171) count the same 128 two ways.

VELOCITY AND POLYPHONIC AFTERTOUCH, RECEIVED. The modulation sources include "MIDI Velocity" (manual p. 211). Release velocity is not in that table, which is the list a patch chooses from; p. 132 names it among the kinds of unipolar source - "Velocity; Release Velocity; Aftertouch (Pressure; and Polyphonic Pressure)." (manual p. 132) - in a passage the Iridium's manual has too (iridium_manual p. 149), and the Iridium's table has no such row either (iridium_manual p. 234). So note_off is left out; the MK2's table adds the row. Aftertouch: "Here you can select, if the Iridium Core reacts on monophonic (Mono AT) or polyphonic aftertouch (Poly AT)." (manual p. 149), with "Set Default: sets After Touch to its default value of PolyAT." (manual p. 149), and the table's After Touch is "Polyphonic Keyboard Pressure Data" (manual p. 211). Channel pressure is answered too: the same setting offers "monophonic (Mono AT)" (manual p. 149), and the MPE Z axis is channel aftertouch (manual p. 178). This desktop has eight pads and no keybed - "Alternatively, you can trigger notes or chord via the 8 pads." (manual p. 11) - and the manual says nothing of sending pitch bend, aftertouch or velocity, so this definition records none of them as sent. The sheet's "Wheels touchscreen for MIDI controls like mod wheel, pitch bend, aftertouch and velocity" (specification p. 2) describes on-screen controls and does not say they transmit.

PITCH BEND PER OSCILLATOR: "Determines the intensity of the pitch wheel in semitones for the selected oscillator from -24 to +24." (manual p. 32), with "Set Default: sets PB Range to its default value +12." (manual p. 32). Twelve is recorded, and that it can be set.

CLOCK IS RECEIVED, AND NO PAGE SAYS MIDI CLOCK IS SENT: "MIDI Clock means that Iridium Core automatically syncs to incoming MIDI Clock if it is sent by an external device like a sequencer or drum machine." (manual p. 179). The one sentence about sending it is a denial: "Internal means that Iridium Core doesn’t react to incoming MIDI Clock, nor does it send MIDI Clock." (manual p. 179). The clock the Core does send is analogue: "Analog clock In & Out with clock divider settings" (specification p. 2). So clock stays receives.

KEYBOARD SETTINGS ON AN INSTRUMENT WITH NO KEYBOARD. The MIDI input page keeps two settings written for a keyboard: "Local Keys: determines whether incoming MIDI messages are received (On) or ignored (Off) by the keyboard." (manual p. 177), and "Apply Split to Inputs: if set to On, it uses the keybed split ranges for incoming external MIDI notes instead of channels." (manual p. 177). The screenshot beside them has no Local Keys row: it shows Latch Inputs and Apply Split to Inputs (manual p. 177). Apply Split to Inputs can route incoming notes to the Layers by key range instead of by channel; what is recorded is the default, by channel.

THE SPLIT SENTENCE IS THE IRIDIUM'S, UNCORRECTED: "The lowest setting is 0 (note C-2); the highest is 60 (note C8)." (manual p. 154), against the same manual's "the middle C3 is note number 60" (manual p. 177). The MK2's manual corrects it, as waldorf/iridium_mk2 records. It bounds a split point, not the engine's range, so no note_range is recorded.

SOMEBODY'S SETTINGS, NOT A FACTORY MAP. The Mappings screenshot on p. 180 shows CC 0, 3, 4, 5 and 6 mapped to named parameters. It is a picture of the MIDI Learn store, as the Iridium's is, and nothing beside it says otherwise. Not recorded.

MIDI ON MINIATURE JACKS: "DIN MIDI IN & Out, mini-TRS Type A (two adapters to DIN MIDI sockets included)" (specification p. 2), and the rear panel has "MIDI In & MIDI Out jacks" (manual p. 7), no Thru.

NOT RECORDED: firmware, as above; the channel range; mode; transport, the only start input being a CV one, CV Start In (manual p. 185), with CV Start among the modulation sources (manual p. 211); system exclusive, named only in the glossary; and a note range.