Waldorf Largo + Blofeld: free + commercial patches

[filterfilter]

I'm going to port some sounds of the Waldorf Attack to the Largo. I know they won't sound the same, but as Rob Lee has shown here...
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopi ... &highlight

...Largo is capable of some really great drumsounds!

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Don't get me wrong but drum sounds were the last thing i thought about when i purchased such a powerfull wavetable synthesizer as Largo. It's main territory should be pads, atmospheres, bell tones, keys and polysynth sounds. For drums i prefer a dedicated drum computer or drum synth plugin. I try to do some PPG style sounds on the Largo to show off the power of Largos wavetable oscillators.

The idea of drum sounds is good anyway. I just wanted so say i was surprised that this was one of your first ideas on programming patches on Largo.

By the way the Waldorf Edition LE is contained on the Largo CD. This includes PPG Wave 2.V LE, Attack LE and D-Pole LE.

It wasn't my intention to create drum sounds when I bought the Largo, but I have to say I was never really satisfied with drum samples, and although there are some cool drumsynth-plugins (waldorf attack, microtonic), using Largo totaly makes sense to me. Because of its outstanding sound quality and it's modulation capabilities it can make excellent drumsounds! Far better than any drumplugin imho

[Ingonator]

Hello,
i just published a zip-file called "IW PPG patches v1.0" at KVK. link: http://www.kvraudio.com/banks.php?s=lis ... order=date

This contains 49 patches (49 fxp + 1 fxb files)based on patches from the PPG Wave 2.V LE plugin.

I tried to do the patches as authentic as possible. This means: no FX except EQ in some cases, only the 12dB LPF, OSCs 1+2 with the same wavetable, only PPG wavetables (in Largo: "Resonant" up to "MicroPWM" ü "Upper Waves"), one LFO (LFO1), Filter envelope for filter and wavetable mod, Amp envelope, ENV 3 for pitch + wavetable mod, Cutoff + Resonance + Keytrack + filter mod in the filter section, some modulation in the mod matrix.

Most patches are recreations of patches from the PPG Wave 2.V and some are my own. Most patches cover "digital" territorry. Only few are "analog" style. The recreations are not always perfect but good as they are IMO. Some of the patches of the PPG could not be recreated. I guess it's due to the lack of a proper PPG filter in Largo.

Hope i will continue the bank until i have 128 patches and post that later.

UPDATE: The patch "PPG Factory '84 016 IW" fits very well to the sound in the second part of Tangerine Dream's "Kiew Mission" from the album "Exit". I'll try to improve that patch to exactly fit the original sound.

[Scot Solida]

Great! I'll be checking these out later today. Thanks for this work!

[Scot Solida]

Nice set, all around. Very close to the things I like to hear from the PPG. I was disappointed that there weren't many classic wavetable patches in Largo's factory set. I was especially disappointed in the basses, too many of which sound like the usual fat, gauzy VA basses and not the spiky digital basses that first made me want to own a real PPG. What Tangerine Dream called the "Metal Bone" sound. At first I wondered if it could indeed make the sounds, but thanks to your list of wavetables, I was able to get pretty close in a hurry:

http://www.olscratchrecordings.com/Soun ... PGBass.zip

That's just a quickie based on your wavetable chart, but it shows that Largo can indeed make "that" sound.

[Ingonator]

Nice set, all around. Very close to the things I like to hear from the PPG. I was disappointed that there weren't many classic wavetable patches in Largo's factory set. I was especially disappointed in the basses, too many of which sound like the usual fat, gauzy VA basses and not the spiky digital basses that first made me want to own a real PPG. What Tangerine Dream called the "Metal Bone" sound. At first I wondered if it could indeed make the sounds, but thanks to your list of wavetables, I was able to get pretty close in a hurry:

http://www.olscratchrecordings.com/Soun ... PGBass.zip

That's just a quickie based on your wavetable chart, but it shows that Largo can indeed make "that" sound.

Thanks for your short review. I just listened to "Kiew Mission" from Tangerine Dream" and improved the patch i talked about in the above post. Here it is:
http://www.kvraudio.com/banks.php?s=list&what=3620
The patch is called "PPG Kiew Mission 1 IW".

I'll check you Bass patch soon.

[Scot Solida]

That's PERFECT! A terrific recreation of the classic TD PPG sound. Your patches really should be included in Largo for old-timers like me...

[Ingonator]

That's PERFECT! A terrific recreation of the classic TD PPG sound. Your patches really should be included in Largo for old-timers like me...

Thank again. On your homepage i saw that you own/owned the real PPG Wave. Nice compliment from an experienced sound designer like you.

Before i forget, your bass patch is nice too !!

[Scot Solida]

That's PERFECT! A terrific recreation of the classic TD PPG sound. Your patches really should be included in Largo for old-timers like me...

Thank again. On your homepage i saw that you own/owned the real PPG Wave. Nice compliment from an experienced sound designer like you.

Before i forget, your bass patch is nice too !!

Thanks. It's just a rough sketch to prove to myself that it can indeed come close to the PPG bass. Yes, I still have a PPG Wave 2.2. It's battered and quirky, and the keyboard sucks beyond belief, but it is still one of my favorite synths ever made.

[Vectorman]

It would be interesting to hear a WAV file of a quick run-through of some of the PPG recreations if one of you guys should find the time, for the benefit of those who haven't purchased Largo yet. I keep getting this feeling from hearing the demos that a little something has gotten lost in between the Blofeld and Largo, as if Largo has lost a bit of the bite and "rusty razor's edge" of the hardware - but it could be that I just haven't heard the right patches yet.

[Ingonator]

I updated my PPG patches bank today. Now it contains 60 patches. The bank contains all my former patches so older version can be deleted. I added an init patch and an init bank.
link: http://www.kvraudio.com/banks.php?s=lis ... order=date

The bank mostly contains pads and polysynth patches. A few patches are bass, lead or keys. Most are typical "digital" wavetable sounds but several more "analog" sounding patches are contained too.


GENERAL HINT: For all those who think that Largo has only 128 preset sounds that's wrong. It contains 237 patches but only as fxp files. No bank files included. I made banks containing all patches but i'm not sure if i could publish them due to copyright reasons.
I made the banks using the preset manager of MiniHost, like i do with most synths.

[Ingonator]

Today i tried to make some more PPG style sounds with Largo. I found out that on leads or bass sounds Largo lacks some fatness in the standard settings when compared to the original Waldorf PPG Wave 2.V plugin. Again i think this would be better with a PPG filter in Largo.
The solution for me besides using the 12dB LP filter is turning the Bass Boost on and/or turning the filter drive (tube mode) up to maximum. The EQ could also help a bit.

Here's the message i wrote to the Waldorf user forum:

"Hello,

i own Largo since one week and i already created 62 patches based on the PPG Wave 2.V plugin. Most patches sound authentic but in many cases the PPG filter is really missing in Largo. So PLEASE Waldorf try to implement the PPG filter in a future release of Largo !! Many thanks in advance.

Ingo"


If anyone wants to compare the features of the Blofeld and Largo, here are the 'links for the manuals:
http://www.waldorfmusic.de/en/archive?r ... umentation
http://www.waldorfmusic.de/en/archive?r ... umentation

3 features which i found Largo lacks compared to the Blofeld:
1.) the PPG filter -> a MUST HAVE feature like i stated above
2.) the "Brilliance" adjustment for the waveforms. This could add some dirt to the OSCs -> could be nice in some cases
3.) the sample memory -> not so important IMO

UPDATE: I just found out that on patches with high filter resonance the 24dB LP filter suits better to the PPG patches. Will check this on older patches.

[ganymede]

Betcha can't reproduce that Palmolive preset from the Till Kopper PPG Wave bank?

[Ingonator]

Betcha can't reproduce that Palmolive preset from the Till Kopper PPG Wave bank?

Wanted to look at patches from that bank later but i could try it now.

UPDATE: You're right, a quite difficult patch. It has some tricks for which are difficult to reproduce. Like that panning effect for instance. I think it's close to finish now. Interesting challenge.

[rob_lee]

Betcha can't reproduce that Palmolive preset from the Till Kopper PPG Wave bank?

Wanted to look at patches from that bank later but i could try it now.

Hi Ingonator, you should do a full bank for Largo I started doing a drumloop and hits bank first mainly because i want drums from Largo in my mixes..a soundset will come later in the year but i'll finish the Electro/Tech house bank first...

Get some more done you got some great sounds and ideas

Best

Rob

[Ingonator]

Betcha can't reproduce that Palmolive preset from the Till Kopper PPG Wave bank?

Wanted to look at patches from that bank later but i could try it now.

UPDATE: You're right, a quite difficult patch. It has some tricks for which are difficult to reproduce. Like that panning effect for instance. I think it's close to finish now. Interesting challenge.

The patch is almost finished. Does anyone have an idea how to reproduce the panning of the PPG Wave 2.V plugin? This changes the side of the stereo signal after each key hit. Means it could not be modulated by an LFO or an envelope. Using the Keytrack as modulation doesn't really do it. Maybe a combination of the Keytrack and another feature could do it.