Overview
PPG was Wolfgang Palm’s company in Hamburg, and the PPG Wave is where the wavetable as we use the word today comes from. Palm’s earlier Wavecomputer 360 from the late 1970s already stored 30 wavetables of 64 waves each and let a position move between them, but only about 40 were made. The Wave 2 followed in 1981 and put the same idea into a keyboard synth with an analog filter on every voice. The Wave 2.2 came in 1982, and the Wave 2.3 in 1984 added 8-part multitimbrality. PPG closed in 1987.
The engine is a digital/analog hybrid. Each voice reads waves from a table in memory, steps through them under control of envelopes, LFOs, or the mod wheel, and sends the result through an analog low-pass filter and VCA. Wikipedia lists CEM 3320 filters in the Wave 2 and SSM 2044 filters in the 2.2 and 2.3, with a Motorola 6809 running the show and MIDI added in 1984. The Wave 2.3 could also play 12-bit samples, but only when they came from the Waveterm, PPG’s rack-mounted computer for sampling and managing wavetables.
The Wave turned up on records by Depeche Mode, a-ha, Gary Numan, Stevie Wonder, and many others, according to Wikipedia’s list of users.
How its wavetables worked
A Wave 2 table holds 64 waves, and there are 30 tables, so 1,920 waves in all. Each wave is 128 samples long at 8 bits. That’s tiny by modern standards: a 128-sample frame can hold only about 64 harmonics, and 8 bits gives only 256 levels per sample. The PPG played those samples back without smoothing, holding each value until the next, so the stair-steps added harmonics of their own. Our guide’s frame size section has a Stepped vs Smooth figure you can play to hear the difference.
There’s no way to load a WAV file into the original hardware. New waves came from the factory or, on the Wave 2.3, from the Waveterm. Today the PPG lives on in software and clones. Waldorf, the company founded by PPG’s German distributor, makes the PPG Wave 3.V plug-in, co-developed with Palm, with a filter emulation of the Wave 2.2 and 2.3. Waldorf says version 2 adds a wavetable editor that can import your own wavetables, though it doesn’t publish the frame size it expects, so treat any WaveStack table as something to test rather than a known fit. Behringer released a hardware clone of the 2.2 and 2.3, the Behringer Wave, in 2024.
To get close to the PPG’s digital side in WaveStack, build a table with 64 frames, then export with Other tools at 256 samples per frame (the smallest size WaveStack writes) and load it into a synth that steps through samples or lets you add bit reduction. Frames that differ a lot from their neighbors make the position audibly step as it moves. Load the same table into Serum or Vital and you’ll hear it played back smoothly, which is cleaner than the original. WaveStack can’t reproduce the analog filter, which is half of the PPG sound, so pair the table with a resonant low-pass filter in whatever plays it.
Specifications
| Wavetables (Wave 2) | 30 |
|---|---|
| Waves per table | 64 (1,920 in all) |
| Samples per wave | 128 |
| Bit depth | 8-bit (12-bit samples on the Wave 2.3 via the Waveterm) |
| Voices | 8 |
| Filter | Analog low-pass, one per voice (CEM 3320 in the Wave 2, SSM 2044 in the 2.2 and 2.3) |
Things to know
- WaveStack exports frames of 256 samples or more, so a true 128-sample PPG frame isn’t possible. A 256-sample frame holds at most 127 harmonics, still far fewer than a modern 2048-sample frame.
Frequently asked questions
What made the PPG Wave sound the way it did?
Two things working together. The digital side used very small waves, 128 samples at 8 bits, and played them back without smoothing, so each sample was held until the next and the stair-steps added a bright, slightly metallic grit. Scanning through 64 waves in a table could also jump audibly from one wave to the next. The analog side was a resonant low-pass filter on every voice, which tamed and warmed that grit.
Can I load my own wavetables into a PPG Wave?
Not from a WAV file. The original Wave 2, 2.2, and 2.3 played their factory tables, and the Wave 2.3 could take new material from PPG’s Waveterm, a rack-mounted computer for sampling and managing wavetables that is now rare itself. If you want PPG-style tables you made yourself, the practical route is software: Waldorf says version 2 of its PPG Wave 3.V plug-in can import your own wavetables, and modern synths like Serum and Vital load WaveStack exports directly.
What’s the difference between the Wave 2, 2.2, and 2.3?
The Wave 2 arrived in 1981 with 8-bit waves, CEM 3320 filters, and a single mod wheel. The Wave 2.2 followed in 1982 with two mod wheels and SSM 2044 filters. The Wave 2.3 of 1984 added 8-part multitimbrality, so one instrument could play several sounds at once, and could play 12-bit samples sent from the Waveterm. MIDI was added in 1984 through a daughtercard. All three share the same basic idea: digital wavetables into analog filters.
How do I make PPG-style wavetables in WaveStack?
Build a table with 64 frames and make neighboring frames fairly different, since the PPG’s scans were often steppy rather than smooth. Export with Other tools at 256 samples per frame, the smallest size WaveStack offers, which keeps the harmonic count low. Load it into a synth with a bit-crusher or a stepped playback mode for the grit, and use a resonant low-pass filter after the oscillator. WaveStack can’t recreate the PPG’s analog filter, so that part comes from the synth you load the table into.
Is there a modern version of the PPG Wave?
Waldorf makes the PPG Wave 3.V plug-in, which was co-developed with Wolfgang Palm and includes a filter emulation of the Wave 2.2 and 2.3. Waldorf also released the PPG Wave 2.V in 2000. Its hardware synths carry the tables forward too: the Microwave of 1989 used the Wave 2.3’s wavetables, and the Blofeld includes PPG tables. In 2024 Behringer released the Behringer Wave, a hardware clone of the 2.2 and 2.3.