New PPG emulation -WaveSim

chamomileshark · Post by **chamomileshark** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 11:33 pm

Apologises if this has been posted before, but if you are interested in a PPG emulation, then take a look at http://www.hermannseib.com/english/synt ... avesim.htm It's free but if you want to send a donatation to continuing development then I'm sure Hermann will be grateful. I have the Steinberg/Waldorf emulation and this one sounds different. he's made a big thing of making it exactly like the original which means it can be a bit of a pig..but it sounds wonderful. As you will see from the page he's working on an emulation of the PPG suite, what is on offer is a PPG 2.2 emulation.

Bitexion · Post by **Bitexion** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 11:42 am

Looks uglier than the old Waldorf PPG emulation..but that one is getting really old, I'm sure this one has much better tech underneath the surface.

I'm really confused about the website, he keeps mixing two terms, WTC32 and the Wave and that they complement eachother, which is what and which does what?

chamomileshark · Post by **chamomileshark** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 12:39 pm

He wrote software for the hardware PPG which most of them run on. I think he was working on the Wave Term C. What this is about is recreating the Wave 2.2, 2.3 and Waveterm in software but only the Wave 2.2 is on offer here. There's someone on KvR looking at doing a better GUI for him.

Bitexion · Post by **Bitexion** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 1:24 pm

So in real terms, the PPG Wave2.2 was the keyboard w/ all the presets in it, and the Waveterm a computer linked to it where you'd manipulate samples and other things?

chamomileshark · Post by **chamomileshark** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 1:56 pm

yes, roughly, I don't know the detail.

dtime · Post by **dtime** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 2:29 pm

Thanks for the heads up.

I have used Waldorf's PPG VSTi a lot and think it's great. WaveSim's GUI is much worse but the sound is wonderful - Waldorf sounds much more cleaner. Unfortunately I have never had a chance to play the original PPG 2.2/2.3 but this WaveSim surely has some character. I get this feeling that I'm playing an old instrument that is a bit difficult to tame. I hope he improves the GUI because right now I'm not very excited to program it.

I read on KVRaudio.com that the author is thinking to make the final version commercial. He thinks that the filter still needs some improvement among some other things.

chamomileshark · Post by **chamomileshark** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 4:00 pm

yes, in Cubase it doesn't keep the presets, you have to programme and save exactly as you would with the real thing. If you can find a pdf manual for the PPG 2.2 or 2.3 (not the Waldorf emulation) on the net then you probably need to use that. I sent him a small donation and would be interested in the finished product.

Bitexion · Post by **Bitexion** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 12:17 am

I was very intrigued with the whole system in the demo..get that oldschool C64/Fairlight feeling from the Waveterm emulation, although I didn't understand much of it.

Anyway, is this project alive anymore? His last news update was in 2004.
Guess I'll go looking for a Wave2.3 manual so I can understand something of this synth. I did figure out how to dial in new presets, but that's pretty much all

Did you get any response from your donation chamomileshark?

According to closeup pics of the Wave2.3 synth, his emulated wave looks exactly the same on the panel, and has the exact same menu structure too!
Same thing with the Waveterm, that is actually a software emulation of the essential chips..cool stuff.

chamomileshark · Post by **chamomileshark** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 5:59 am

It's very much alive. Not sure why it is showing that update date as the emulation was last updated about a week ago! Yes I did get a response to the donation and as I say he's working on it still and the new GUI designer has just come on board.

Bitexion · Post by **Bitexion** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:21 am

Do you get access to a wavesim version without the DEMO VERSION banner across the middle of the panel if you donate, that has the full MIDI implementation btw?

The Waveterm C emulation seems to work fine (WTC32) and is fully available there aswell. You get the whole package if you get 2.0052.
Do you get the C unlocked aswell in wtc32? Not that it matters, I wouldn't know how to work with any of the waveterms..need to find a manual.
I only browsed around the various screens and changed the waveform by adding numbers in the harmonics row, then Merge or Compute to create weird shaped waveforms. But I could hear my creation, it would still just play the chosen patch on the Wavesim synth..

is there any way to load up real Wave2.x sysex files? He says the hardware and software systems are so equal in function, he developed the hardware Wave 8.3OS on the simulated version and it works perfectly. So I'd expect sysex soundbanks to work aswell, but found no ways to import sysex.

calyx93 · Post by **calyx93** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 2:45 pm

Hey - haven't been able to use this yet, as I'm a Mac user - but I'd seriously consider getting a PC just for this if it indeed is as good as Till Kopper reports (on the Matrixsynth blog) - as he really know the PPG Waves very well from a users viewpoint. I wonder if all the funny quirks are in there, like the "hicupping" LFO or the highly-quantized pitch bends. As a user of the real thing, I'd feel much better toting this out on a laptop to gigs rather than risk damage to my 2.2. I heard a few examples at the bottom of the Waveterm-C page, but they were mainly just samples from the Waveterm played by the WaveSim - could anyone be so kind as to post some examples of wavetables being played and scanned? I'd be most appreciated

If all the components, other than the filter, sound the same - I'll definitely be a financial supporter/donor in the cost of development for a full-fledged version.

Bitexion · Post by **Bitexion** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 2:57 pm

I cannot vouch for the exactness of the emulation, but the Waveterm sure looks exactly like all the screenshots of the real thing. Looks like an old C64 program

I need to find a manual, as all I managed to do was insert some number in the harmonics rows and create strange waveforms, but couldn't hear them.
And the simulated Wave2.x synth has the exact same layout and menu structure as screenshots I've seen of the real deal aswell.

And it was made by one of the actual programmers of the Wave2.x and Waveterm. He also developed the 8.3 OS upgrade for the hardware on the software emulation, so you can bet your butt it's accurate enough.

Shleed · Post by **Shleed** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 3:31 pm

calyx93 wrote:Hey - haven't been able to use this yet, as I'm a Mac user - but I'd seriously consider getting a PC just for this if it indeed is as good as Till Kopper reports (on the Matrixsynth blog) - as he really know the PPG Waves very well from a users viewpoint. I wonder if all the funny quirks are in there, like the "hicupping" LFO or the highly-quantized pitch bends. As a user of the real thing, I'd feel much better toting this out on a laptop to gigs rather than risk damage to my 2.2. I heard a few examples at the bottom of the Waveterm-C page, but they were mainly just samples from the Waveterm played by the WaveSim - could anyone be so kind as to post some examples of wavetables being played and scanned? If all the components, other than the filter, sound the same - I'll definitely be a financial supporter/donor in the cost of development for a full-fledged version.

Cheers!

Well if your Mac is Intel-Based, you could Bootcamp XP and run the VST from there...

calyx93 · Post by **calyx93** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 3:41 pm

Shleed wrote:
calyx93 wrote:Hey - haven't been able to use this yet, as I'm a Mac user - but I'd seriously consider getting a PC just for this if it indeed is as good as Till Kopper reports (on the Matrixsynth blog) - as he really know the PPG Waves very well from a users viewpoint. I wonder if all the funny quirks are in there, like the "hicupping" LFO or the highly-quantized pitch bends. As a user of the real thing, I'd feel much better toting this out on a laptop to gigs rather than risk damage to my 2.2. I heard a few examples at the bottom of the Waveterm-C page, but they were mainly just samples from the Waveterm played by the WaveSim - could anyone be so kind as to post some examples of wavetables being played and scanned? If all the components, other than the filter, sound the same - I'll definitely be a financial supporter/donor in the cost of development for a full-fledged version.

Cheers!
Well if your Mac is Intel-Based, you could Bootcamp XP and run the VST from there...

Wow - I do happen to be using a new Mac and I hadn't seen this yet - I was hoping something like this would soon be available! Thanks very much for heading me in the right direction

Bitexion · Post by **Bitexion** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 12:14 am

I found a english manual for the PPG wave 2.2, but the demo version only gives you 2.3 emulation, and the manual refers to menus that doesn't exist on the 2.3 so it's kind of useless..hmz...registering the whole package would give me all 3 emulations I suppose.

Edit: Forget it, I just realized the free VST version is the full 2.2 V6..now I can follow the manual, even though it's chock full of broken german-english.