PPG wave 2.2 Synthesizer (1982) sound demo (Depeche Mode, Art Of Noise)

(c) 2016 vintage synthesizer demo track by RetroSound
supported by UVI: bit.ly/retrosou...
PPG wave 2.2 Hybrid Synthesizer from the year 1982
Made by Wolfgang Palm / Palm Products Germany.
The PPG Wave 2.2 is the direct successor of the Wave 2 but with 2 oscillators per voice. For me one of the greatest synths ever and one of my Top 3. A real classic!
Only 500 Wave 2.2 were manufactured.
The 12 bit sound character is different to the later Waldorf Microwave series and a bit different to the 16bit Wave 2.3. The nice SSM 2044 filter make the sounds so warm and incredible.
- 8 Voices
- 2 to 16 Oscillators per voice
- 30 Wavetables with 64 waves per table
- analog 24 dB/oct lowpass SSM 2044 VCF
- Curtis CEM 3360 VCAs
- micro processor (6809)
- 8Bit DACs
Used by: Trevor Horn (Propaganda, Art Of Noise, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Grace Jones), Ultravox, Depeche Mode, Robert Palmer, Talk Talk, Tears For Fears, Thomas Dolby, The Fixx, Thompson Twins, Tangerine Dream, Gary Numan and much more
Facebook page: / 265713782347
#Retrosound #PPGwave #PPGwaveterm

[@retrosound72]

The PPG wave 2.2 Synthesizer from the year 1982 is one of most fascinating synthesizers ever. You can find a lot demo videos, sound tutorials about the Wave and the Waveterm in the PPG wave playlist. The PPG playlist: kzbin.info/aero/PLe08Lbpy8pPYKXe4iF4ANVVO6C6qz53WZ

[@tonybalm1513]

These synthesizers produce the most stunning chime, tubular bell and glockenspiel sounds I have ever heard. Ultravox's - Lament track is a fine example of what this synth can really do!!!!

[@retrosound72]

yes, very unique sound.

[@tonybalm1513]

@@retrosound72 I played with the Waldorf plugin on Cubase. Even though I can't play very well I was amazed at what it could do.

[@revokdaryl1]

I immediately think of Gary Numan when I hear this awesome synth. He was an expert at playing and programming it for his 80's albums. Numan was ripped off by many people unfortunately. He's a very talented musician and songwriter.

[@retrosound72]

Numan is great.

[@drumroller27]

As a 16 year old in high school I loved listening to his song Cars and would even play it at friend’s parties. It didn’t take much to recognize his talent

[@Rooniman]

That first patch was perfection.

[@retrosound72]

Thank you

[@this_connor_guy]

What an incredible synth. Such a raw digital tone.

[@retrosound72]

+Saibot216 :)

[@markriese6245]

Oggi i synth si mostrano con suoni corredati di multidelay, chorus e quant'altro. Qui si sente il PPG senza nulla, libero da tutto: asciutto. Il paragone è improbo. Io, che avevo la versione 2.3 (senza waveterm) conoscevo il suono corredato di reverberi Lexicon, Art ed Eventide. Era un sogno. Di originalità, di profondità di suono, dove la creatività personale poteva far raggiungere risultati, per l'epoca, ininmmaginabili. L'unica problema di quei giorni era il MIDI che non era a punto: spessisimo si impallava costringendo lo user a riaccendere la macchina. Ma erano i primi tempi del MIDI. Ma il suono era inconfondibile.

[@dxmat]

Concordo. Il PPG ha una tridimensionalità incredibile anche senza effetti.

[@ThierryLalinne]

Wonderful german synth! Wave table synthesis FTW. Thanks for this great demo.

[@retrosound72]

+Thierry Lalinne thanks for watching :)

[@PJXay]

The PPG wave can really “Get The Balance Right”

[@retrosound72]

yes

[@toscci]

so gorgeous deep sound

[@retrosound72]

+Hitoshi Koizumi :)

[@Eyepatchfilms]

Great demo! This one is really helpful for comparing to my Microwave 1. Somewhat similar but I'm a diehard SSM fam

[@retrosound72]

+Eyepatch Entertainment thank you :) yes the MW sounds different. with the PPGs SSM filter can you program very lush pads.

[@_Thorsten]

Sehr Prophet VS like der Sound. Wie kann man hier eigentlich irgendeinen Beitrag disliken. ? Das sind alles geniale Synthies. Diejenigen müssen sich wohl hierher verirrt haben und können nichts damit anfangen.

[@retrosound72]

+T. h.orsten Im Prinzip stand der PPG dem Prophet VS klangtechnisch Pate. Man wollte einen Synthesizer bauen die die Klänge der Gruppe The Fixx wiedergeben konnte ohne die Wavetable Synthese zu benutzen. Raus kam der Prophet VS. Die Dislikes kommen zumeist von meinem Hater Fanklub. :D Sind fast immer die gleichen Typen.

[@TMA-Torsten_M._Abel]

awesome! Like the most of your videos. Well done Marko

[@retrosound72]

+Torsten Abel Vielen Dank Torsten. :) Du weißt ja selbst wie das Teil klingt. ;)

[@TMA-Torsten_M._Abel]

Ohh jaa, ich sitze gerade davor :-)

[@Dudderlyful]

The sparkle and that 'Poland' crunch, what a fantastic machine, in my top 3 synths along with the Jupiter 8 and Wavestation

[@SPAZZOID100]

Poland???

[@Firstinversion899]

@@SPAZZOID100 I imagine its the eastern “modular” block design.

[@warleyncs]

Another great 80's band that used PPG Wave was the synthpop duo The Twins, as shown in their clip "Face To Face, Heart To Heart".

[@retrosound72]

+Warley S Love System :)

[@peternicklin2693]

depeche mode used a ppg-wave on the "broken frame " album, a beautiful synth .

[@retrosound72]

yes

[@Soundartprojekt]

Great Demo , with many very great Sounds , I love this Sounds-World - Greetings Peter

[@retrosound72]

thank you :)

[@riksentenza]

Fantastic synth!

[@flaviendepret602]

Cool demo... PPG Wave synths are definitely underrated. Everyone preferred the much less expensive (and less interesting IMO) Yamaha DX7 at the time...

[@retrosound72]

thanks a lot

[@chieftp]

digital waveform synths were never really developed to their full potential. they had a brief life in the mid 80s after the "regular analog" synth period, during the DX7 craze and just before the "must have realistic piano/oboe/fiddle samples" period of the late 80s to the present day.

[@museonfilm8919]

Yes, there was a definite window of digital creative synths, last of which were probably around the Ensoniq ESQ-1 era. After that, as you say, everyone wanted realistic acoustic sounds, and then we had General MIDI.............................

[@MrFricoco]

Beautiful!

[@retrosound72]

+MrFricoco thank you!

[@synthscolors]

Amazing, Superb Sounds From The Rare "Blue Monster"... Hat Off & Thanks For Sharing These Rare Sounding Textures From This Dreaming Machine... Keep Sharing These Moments Out Of Time ! ;-))

[@retrosound72]

+synths colors thanks a lot for watching and your feedback :)

[@synthscolors]

My Pleasure... Fully Deserved ! ;-))

[@MichaelRabbitBass3]

WOW! What a cool instrument. I wish I could get my hands on one.

[@retrosound72]

:)

[@timdowns7937]

That Edgar Froese sound 😉

[@MrBuratishka]

Фантастические звуки, это царь синтезаторов. У вас есть авторские работы (композиции) с использованием этих синтезаторов?

[@retrosound72]

Спасибо за ваши добрые слова. Ты ищешь... Tangerine Dream : Exit , Firestarter The Fixx Red Skies or Passport New Moon...

[@sumchi3690]

One is lucky...you have two.

[@drecksheep]

3:28 1,2,3 Technoman! Ein herrlicher Synth,dieses Gerät ist DEPECHE MODE Sound pur!Fein. ;-)

[@retrosound72]

+drecksheep :))))

[@Cesarsound1]

superb 8 bits.

[@retrosound72]

+J Cesarsound :)

[@calvin808]

all i hear is depeche mode. great video. thanks

[@retrosound72]

+john heath haha I know. ;) thanks for watching

[@darrencafferty]

I used to have an Oberheim keyboard in 1990 which was cream coloured with built in speakers, a la Yamaha psr kind of thing except it was programmable with over 100 different parameters, more complex than a DX7 to get your head around. I can't remember what model it was but it sounded great, really deep sounds and much better than the ordinary FM or PCM synthesis that was around then, I don't think it was wave memory (samples).

[@retrosound72]

+darren cafferty made by Oberheim or Viscount?

[@darrencafferty]

Definitely Oberheim, I'm in the UK if that makes any difference?

[@retrosound72]

+darren I don`t know a Oberheim with speaker.

[@darrencafferty]

I'm a twat, it wasn't Oberheim it was a Hohner...I'm getting senile these days I'm sure lol

[@retrosound72]

+darren cafferty aha :D no problem. Hohner Adam I think.

[@geoffk777]

This sounds totally awesome! I remember back in the 1980s because I was so frustrated. Tangerine Dream could make these amazing, moving sounds, and there was just no way to duplicate it with my analog gear. 30 years on, and it still is great. Have you tried any iPad wavetable synths? I know PPG actually sells something for iPad now...

[@retrosound72]

yes I know but its not the same. different modelling and without the awesome SSM filter. thank you.

[@totalrobot]

Missing Persons used this PPG wave on their debut album. Listen to the fat bass sound on their opening song "Noticeable Ones".

[@retrosound72]

yes

[@SlimMixer]

einfach super!

[@retrosound72]

+SlimMixer Danke Red! :))

[@bernhardbouche3933]

wrong Information: the PPG Wave 2 also has two Oscillators per voice. The difference: Wave 2 is only 4 Voice.Wave 2.2 is 8 voice. Believe me I own both :-)

[@retrosound72]

Sorry no. Wave 2: 8 voices, 1 Oscillator per voice

[@bernhardbouche3933]

​@@retrosound72 you are right, I just checked it. Sorry

[@btaylo24]

like the clips of the front panel etc..interesting

[@retrosound72]

+Barry Taylor :)

[@penguin0075]

Amazing!

[@retrosound72]

+Are you going Phil? :)

[@penguin0075]

+RetroSound Subscribed 🙂

[@retrosound72]

+Are you going Phil? :)))

[@Shred_The_Weapon]

Wonder now if Georgio Moroder played one of these when he was composing the music from Flashdance.

[@SPAZZOID100]

Nope. That was mostly P5 & J8.

[@revokdaryl1]

What is the name of the patch at 0:07? I'm looking for the sound that Mark Isham used for the bell-like sound in On The Threshold of Liberty. Really nice demo. I'm back again lol.

[@retrosound72]

Thank you I have made this sound for the demo

[@darrencafferty]

Fantastic bit of kit, a true 'Synthesiser', no crappy presets or patches, you have to build the sound from the bottom up. I dread to think how much this cost back 1982, about 10,000DM I would say....

[@retrosound72]

+darren cafferty yes a real synth. only waves , wavetables and a low pass filter. that´s all. you must program this beast. onyl 500 wave 2.2 was made by PPG, price: 15.000 DM

[@fritagogo1]

PPG wave 2.2 = + 2 billions of sounds to lookfor... Sound Designer job... I suppose...next 2050 last time my first piece with PPG wave 2.2 ( Yes it's a joke )... Fun...

[@retrosound72]

+fritagogo1 haha good joke. :) thank you

[@cubdukat]

3:30 The "Windpower" sound?

[@retrosound72]

yes

[@theunionbeats1]

listen to the ppg

[@drecksheep]

4:35 bis Ende, Krass wie hart der ran geht.

[@retrosound72]

+drecksheep Das Blaue Wunder :D Danke fürs reinschauen. :)

[@michaeldouthitt5972]

Geddy Lee of the band Rush used a PPG Wave 2.2 or 2.3 during the 80s as well. He also used a Minimoog, Oberheim OBX and OBXa, Roland Jupiter 8 and a Yamaha DX-7.

[@luiseduardo_ear]

Power Windows album have a lot of his sounds!

[@infraviolet]

he also used an SCI prophet VS in the presto and roll the bones era, as well as the roland D50 and S770 starting during the hold your fire era

[@infraviolet]

through most of the keyboard era from the mid 80s to the early 90s he used a yamaha KX76 and roland D50 onstage, which he kept using through vapor trail, R30, and snakes and arrows, he switched to the roland fantom X7 and moog slim phatty for the time machine tour and kept that through the rest of their touring career until they retired in 2015

[@lastsonofktn]

Sounds like they may have used this for the playstation 1 intro screen.

[@retrosound72]

+lastsonofktn yes but this is make with a DX7

[@rosiedavall288]

The PS1 intro screen was a DX7 - there are a few similar elements between the sounds of the two machines (with both being digital synths built around the same time), but the PS1 sound is noticeably colder, tinnier and more 'grainy' than the PPGs (at least the later SSM-fueled models), which have a deeper, smoother, 'snappier' edge to their sonic character. My experience with the DX7 (ironically enough, considering that at least (if not more) a hundred times more DX7s exist than Wave 2.2s) is limited, but I'm relatively sure Marko could attest to the difference.

[@ebeep]

So, what are your top 3? :)

[@mainmajo]

So unendlich dunkel. So endless dark sounds.

[@retrosound72]

+mainmajo düster und brachial, das kann der PPG am Besten.

[@mainmajo]

+RetroSound Höre ich da ein wenig McGyver?

[@retrosound72]

+mainmajo das passt schon.

[@Funbia]

Hi my friend. I wonder how the complex waves were produced before being recorded in the synth?? Do you know that?? Tks for the video.

[@retrosound72]

+Funbia_dude the system calculate the waves digitally.

[@blueeyedsoulman]

I used to own one. It was in the shop being fixed more than being played. When it worked it was incredible. Get the PPG 3.v and be happy with that. Trust me it's not worth it. Only 500 made anyway and you can't get the parts anymore. They were not meant to be in this world very long. Even Rupert (The Fixx) does not use the original anymore.

[@retrosound72]

but I use the original. :)

[@SPAZZOID100]

We prefer hardware.

[@8lorko8]

does this synth have some sort of delay effect or have added some of your own effects?

[@retrosound72]

+8lorko8 only a bit external delay added.

[@matthewpicard4463]

would you be able to do take on me on your channel I know the bass is a dx7 and the lead is on the Juno 60 and they use prophet 5 and other synth it would be so cool if you could and I liv your music it's great

[@retrosound72]

+Matthew Picard thank you but you can`t find any cover songs on my channel. only own synth demo tracks or sound tutorials

[@matthewpicard4463]

+RetroSound Ok that's fine and keep up the good videos

[@retrosound72]

+Matthew Picard :))

[@jaggass]

What presets did Aha use for Take On Me?

[@tomwhite916]

anybody know what the synth sound was used on talk talk it's my life ?

[@benmarshall404]

Pretty sure that was a Jupiter 8

[@ar_xiv]

is this what made the sound for your intro?

[@retrosound72]

no. Intro is DX7

[@Screaming-Trees]

How does the Waldorf PPG VST compare to the actual thing would you say mate? Thanks.

[@retrosound72]

its ok. ;)

[@Screaming-Trees]

I love the sound of the PPG but they are difficult to find in the wild these days so I'm looking for alternatives. Great videos by the way. Keep it up :).

[@retrosound72]

check the waldorf microwave. the first not the MW XT

[@Screaming-Trees]

Ahh right. Forgot about them actually. Thanks! That's a rack unit right? How do you edit those? Any good editors out there?

[@malatia7575]

This is a big secret, many of these keyboards and so called " synthetizers" are in fact high quality samplers with lots of sound editing capibilities thus knobs , buttons, switch etc to control these, the oscillators are fake, it just give you a square, triangle or saw wave sample, wavetables are a set of prerecorded HQ samples. These are trick to fool you with bogus technology and so on, you are hearing samples that all. However there were real synthetizers. The Dx7 was one, so was the sequencial circuits synths.

[@Funbia]

+Manfred klaus The Yamaha DX7 was a fm synth not a wavetale. ;)

[@malatia7575]

+Funbia_dude that what I said read well, dx7 was a real synth. Of course fm algorithms, i had a dx7 ii, the prophet 5 real too, real oscillators not fake oscillators which are only providing a sample wave shape.

[@malatia7575]

+Funbia_dude but German synths whether wavetables or samplers or real synths, the sound quanlity of the synth engine is the best.

[@Funbia]

Manfred klaus Really?, why?

[@SPAZZOID100]

It is a SYNTHESIZER

[@EtsiJuuret]

Don't recognize it in any DM track

[@retrosound72]

ok