New (or rather, very old :-) Synth in town

[jah1234]

Thanks for this emulation Hermann! Haven't tried the original, but I'm very impressed - it seems you've made a virtual machine running the original synth assembler code or am I wrong?

Cheers,
Anton

[Notron User]

Speaking about the importance of oscillators, I've always been interested in finding a synth that could pull of the original method of sound creation that the synths (as opposed to the plug ins) utilized after reading an article on the birth of Vector Synthesis by Chris Meyer:

Tony and I theorized on how to do a wavetable synth, and came up with two strategies - have a waveform of short, fixed length and vary how fast you played it, or start with a very long version of a waveform and skip samples in it to alter how long it took you to read it out once (and therfore alter your final pitch). Unable to decide we acquired a PPG anda Korg DW6000 to see how they did it. We felt vindicated to learn that the PPG did it exactly the first way we theorized, and the Korg the second. (In the process, Josh became one of the few people in the US who knew how a PPG worked inside - the company didn't release schematics, advising would-be techs to "Don't loose (sic) time - return to factory immediately!"). We liked the pure balls of the PPG better (plus the scheme that used shorter waveforms meant we could stuff more waves into the instrument), so we chose the transposition method.

This choice is the one place our ignorance paid off the most. transposing a waveform way down in pitch causes strange upper harmonics - images of the original harmonic pattern - to appear if not properly filtered. These images are what gives the PPG (and VS) its brightness and vicious bass. I was raving for months (much to the bafflement of Josh and Tony) in particular about the sound a PPG makes where only the low and highest harmonics seem to be present. One day, I walked into the lab while Josh was testing the VS hardware, and happily exclaimed "That's it! That's it!! That's the sound I mean! What's the waveform?" It turned out it was only a sine wave, but it was tuned so low that the image of its one harmonic was audible as a very high, airy harmonic.

Original article here.

[arakula]

it seems you've made a virtual machine running the original synth assembler code or am I wrong?

That's correct.

[arakula]

In conclusion, THE IMPORTANT IS THE CLOSENESS TO THE ORIGINAL, to get something which blowes away the glorious (and rightly appreciated) waldorf PPG Vst.
If you'll achieve this result, I'll be ready to buy the beast, without careing too much for the price.

Have you tried it?

[arakula]

I've just uploaded a new version, together with 12 Wave 2.3 sound banks converted into WaveSim's bank format, and a conversion program that can convert between PPG Wave V8 SysEx files, Waldorf PPG Wave 2.V banks (Steinberg version only, haven't got the new one yet), WaveSim banks plus some other formats. Have fun!

[bmanic]

[Edit:] oh yeah... and if someone has an accurate mathematical or pseudocode description of a SSM2044 VCF or CEM 3360 VCA, that would make me really, really, really happy!

I think you should have a chat with Antti from smartelectronix (author of A-synth and Taurus).

http://antti.smartelectronix.com/

Cheers!
bManic

[fmr]

I still didn't understood completely what this, I think. I was very disappointed when I saw that Waldorf left out the Waveterm part of the job when they recreated the PPG. My main interest was creating new wavetables, by analising samples, doing additive synhtesis, whatever. If I'm not mistakes, this is one of the things the Wavetern did, right? Are you planning to create a Waveterm simulation that works together (or better yet - INSIDE) your WaverSim? If yes, you count count with me for buying it.
The current Waveterm software you created doesn't seem to work this way, right?

[Jace-BeOS]

1. Too Quiet and i did not understand what your suggested solution to that was for the other person who made the same complaint.

2. i would LOVE to see a Fairlight emulation. A COMPLETE Fairlight, with all the sounds of the originals (lots, surely) and same features and "attitude" would be something i would be interested in buying.

[Jace-BeOS]

Running it through iZotope's Ozone really helps with the loudness problem, but the patches are still very very different from each other in volume and even the settings that work great in Ozone for one or three patches are useless for other patches. But, now that i can HEAR this synth, i think it has its own unique character. That is the number one reason i would have for keeping it (number two would be a nice GUI also, and this one is ok, but feels a but low contrast, flat and is TERRIBLY hard to read - i'm only on a laptop, i can't imagine seeing this on my studio machine at the super high resolution i'm running there!!)

[Scot Solida]

I've just uploaded a new version, together with 12 Wave 2.3 sound banks converted into WaveSim's bank format, and a conversion program that can convert between PPG Wave V8 SysEx files, Waldorf PPG Wave 2.V banks (Steinberg version only, haven't got the new one yet), WaveSim banks plus some other formats. Have fun!

Wow! This is some really good work you are doing! I am definitely going to put the PC back into my studio rack this afternoon just to make some use of this stuff.

[stesgarbi]

In conclusion, THE IMPORTANT IS THE CLOSENESS TO THE ORIGINAL, to get something which blowes away the glorious (and rightly appreciated) waldorf PPG Vst.
If you'll achieve this result, I'll be ready to buy the beast, without careing too much for the price.

Have you tried it?

Hi,
I have tried it today, for few minutes (hadn't so much time today, unluckilly). It sounds really nice, in my first impression. I hadn't time for doing a real A/B test with Waldorf VST, but i'm going to get a deep comparison during the next days, and I want even to go to a fiend of mine (lucky man!) wich have the "real thing", for a much deep comparison with the original.
Anyway, by first I can say that . . . there's feeling with your beast.
Stefano

[Z]

This is great; my very first VSTi was the PPG Wave 2.v, and I must have visited your site about a million times since 2002 or 2003, when I was searching the internet for more info about the Waves.

If you can get the GUI a bit more readable and the filters close enough to the original so that you're happy with it, I will probably buy it.

On the other hand, how do you think the Wave 2.v stack up to the original?

And for your project, any plans of implementing voice boards coming loose?

[arakula]

but the patches are still very very different from each other in volume

That's the factory sound set; you get the same volume differences on the real thing.

[arakula]

Are you planning to create a Waveterm simulation that works together (or better yet - INSIDE) your WaverSim?

Works together - yes. Works inside - presumably not.

The current Waveterm software you created doesn't seem to work this way, right?

Oh, it does... with the right drivers (not included in the Wave 2.2 V6 bundle), Waveterm C can already work with the simulation. It's not absolutely satisfactory yet (presumably the same problem as with the EVU simulation), but I've had much fun with T040 already

[arakula]

On the other hand, how do you think the Wave 2.v stack up to the original?

Waldorf did a really great job on the 2.V, but if I had to choose, I'd take the real hardware original. A 2.3 for sample playback and user-defined wavetables, a 2.2 for the built-in ones. It has less voices, but more soul. I hope that my simulation will come close one day, and will surely do my best to achieve this, but for now, the hardware beats both 2.V and WaveSim IMO.