Waldorf PPG Wave 3.V still recommendable?

[Caine123]

thx a lot! but is largo not a different character? i need to demo ppg 3.0 later today. i want it for the 80s flavour not modern stuff.

[Igro]

oops

[Vectorman]

I'm still fond of it and pull it up to put a taste of something different in a track sometimes. The fact that it's intended to emulate an '80s hybrid with a lot of oscillator artifacts does make it stand out from the pack sound-wise, given that most modern wavetable scanning synths are trying to banish artifacts and sound as clean and hi-fi as possible.

Demo thoroughly, though, and make sure it's behaving well in your DAW of choice. I find I have an issue with it in Reaper where patches are not always reloaded correctly (some parameters in a patch come back up with the wrong values when a project is closed and re-opened, usually things like key position routing to wavetable index and such that utterly change the sound).

[EvilDragon]

thx a lot! but is largo not a different character? i need to demo ppg 3.0 later today. i want it for the 80s flavour not modern stuff.

It is a different character. Both Largo and PPG V.3 sound great.

[MaF]

Strange there's no mention of this sale on waldorfmusic.com:

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/showpos ... tcount=118

I wonder if upgrades are also 50% off. I also have Attack collecting virtual dust...

Yes, upgrades are also 50 % off. I upgraded from the old Waldorf Collection to V2 for 7.50 € this morning. (Those black UIs are not really an improvement though and not scalable either. So the only advantage is that the plugins work again in a modern environment.)

[Lotuz2019]

So the only advantage is that the plugins work again in a modern environment.)

Thanks MaF. Yes, 64 bit ,VST3 and NKS as well. But still the same sound emulation quality and features? Waldorf at least added an effects section to Attack. D-Pole seems to have stayed the same though.

Those black UIs are not really an improvement though and not scalable either.

I prefer the original GUis that looked like the hardware (where did the typical red filter knob on D-Pole go?), although the new ones look like they'll match the Maschine/Komplete environment well.

[AdvancedFollower]

I really like PPG Wave 3.V, though it's a bit cumbersome to program. Not terribly complex or anything, it's only the GUI that feels a bit archaic and fiddly to work with compared to modern synths like Serum and Pigments.

I also have Waldorf Edition 2 which includes PPG Wave 2.2V. Honestly I think that's good enough for most users. Didn't notice a huge difference in terms of sound quality or features compared to 3.V so didn't really feel it was worth the upgrade cost. With Edition 2 you also get Attack and D-Pole for a good price. They're old plugins, but still great IMO.

It's also worth checking this link:
https://support.waldorfmusic.com/products/PPG Wave 3.v
They removed most of the presets and promised to rework them, but AFAIK, this hasn't been done yet. You can download the old presets from the above link, haven't noticed any problems with them. Supposedly there's some issue with NI hardware (MKS?).

[zerocrossing]

It sounds great, but, you have to like the operation.

I'd rather get Largo.

I have both and I will agree with you that the PPG is a bit of an odd interface that takes some getting used to. The original looks like a pain in the butt too, so I guess this is what can be expected, though I think Waldorf would do better if they just decided to make a good UI and not conform to how the original looked or worked.

But it is a great sounding synth, IMO. I have never owned the original, but from what I can tell, the emulation is really close. The only real difference that I can hear is that the emulation sounds a bit cleaner, which I kind of prefer. To me it has just enough of that vintage vibe to make me happy but it also fits into my modern aesthetic as well. I highly recommend it, just be prepared to learn how to use it’s clumsy UI. If I want more exact PPG Wave sounds, I’ll use Syntronik by IK Multimedia, which uses actual samples.

[c_voltage]

PPG 2v is still one of my favorites.

For me too (though i have v3, and Largo with Nave)

[ians]

Worth downloading the presets to show this thing off, although I'm getting crashes loading some sound designer banks. Feels a bit bug ridden to me, lots of strange behaviour. I'm pretty sure a preset I really liked now sounds different on second loading

[c_voltage]

So the only advantage is that the plugins work again in a modern environment.)

Thanks MaF. Yes, 64 bit ,VST3 and NKS as well. But still the same sound emulation quality and features? Waldorf at least added an effects section to Attack. D-Pole seems to have stayed the same though.

Those black UIs are not really an improvement though and not scalable either.

I prefer the original GUis that looked like the hardware (where did the typical red filter knob on D-Pole go?), although the new ones look like they'll match the Maschine/Komplete environment well.

I liked blue UI too, and initially was upset a bit due to this update, but later frankly to say has concluded that black ok too, just habit. More importantly, all nuances of the sound had not worsened, even more - it seemed to me that viceversa - become a bit even better lol. Though i guess it psychovisual factor. Well in any case the sound not did become worse, it's i can say surely.
Additionally, was add interesting features in Attack.
So i definitely advise to update edition to v2. (Who did not done it yet).

[c_voltage]

although I'm getting crashes

That one of some reasons why v2 still actual. With v3 was initially a lot of stability issues, and I'm not sure that everything has changed, to date.

[midi_transmission]

I had a very similar question. I love the PPG sound. I'm owning the Waldorf Edition 2 LE and thinking if I should upgrade to the Waldorf Edition 2 - or even get the PPG 3.v

Any opinions if it's worth to upgrade Waldorf Edition 2 LE to Waldorf Edition 2?

So far it seems that PPG 3.v isn't a real difference to PPG 2.v?

[Lotuz2019]

Any opinions if it's worth to upgrade Waldorf Edition 2 LE to Waldorf Edition 2?

https://waldorfmusic.com/en/waldorf-edition-2-software :

The full version has many advantages over the LE version:

Attack:

24 parts instead of 12 in LE version
64 voices opposed to eight in LE version
melodic sounds
six stereo outputs

PPG Wave 2.V:

eight MIDI channels
64 voices instead of eight
two stereo outputs
possible upgrade to PPG Wave 3.V in our webshop

[midi_transmission]

Any opinions if it's worth to upgrade Waldorf Edition 2 LE to Waldorf Edition 2?

https://waldorfmusic.com/en/waldorf-edition-2-software :

The full version has many advantages over the LE version:

Attack:

24 parts instead of 12 in LE version
64 voices opposed to eight in LE version
melodic sounds
six stereo outputs

PPG Wave 2.V:

eight MIDI channels
64 voices instead of eight
two stereo outputs
possible upgrade to PPG Wave 3.V in our webshop

So the only real benefit seems to be 64 voices instead of 8 for 25€. Hmm