Part 15 “The End”

 

The circuit boards were eventually finished some time in the summer of ’86, the software ran and the first HDU’s were delivered. But again there were problems. Some hardware issues could be quickly resolved, but the software was more difficult.
If I now look how much code and how many functions are in the HDU, I’m surprised that it all managed run considering the primitive development systems of that time. The “C” programming language existed, but it was not available on our systems. So as before we had to program in assembler language!
Another problem was that the customers were not satisfied with the “time correction”. We had always demonstrated this smoothly at the fairs, but with certain audio material the “time correction” was totally unsatisfactory (it has also taken years until better algorithms arose, but they also required much more computing power).The Realizer was developed in parallel – with better colour graphics, more sample memory and better DSP algorithms. The price was in a similar range to the Fairlight or Synclavier, which only made it available to the few. Not everyone could afford them – unless of course that had just had a Megahit!
A completely different (but perhaps the biggest) problem was that now the Wave sales slowly decreased. This was due on one hand to the DX7, which was now very popular, but also because of the small samplers from Ensoniq etc. The Kurzweil was now also volume production.

Therefore things became financially tighter at PPG and I was forced to dismiss people, which was of course very painful. Nobody could or wanted to understand why particularly they had to go! The whole working environment became increasingly intolerable. In addition to that, my marriage was in crisis!
We still went to the ’87 Frankfurt fair, where we tried to get dealers to invest, but later in the year decided to implement the liquidation of the company. (PPG was not bankrupt, as I’ve ever read, but was very cleanly dissolved).
Wolfgang Düren then made contact with Steinberg. I demonstrated the Realizer to Manfred Rürup, Karl Steinberg and a few developers, and it was probably clear to them that they saw the future before them (albeit in another form and on other hardware). It then continued at Steinberg for me and 2 programmers.

Frankfurt Messe Review in german magazine “Fachblatt MusikMagazin” from Mai, 1987
The picts where shot directly while I gave them a demo. The text says:
PPG HDU/Realizer
With the work done on both of the projects, which I have demonstrated more than once, PPG has once more made progress. All but the reverb options of the digital effects section are finished. There are many pages simulating different forms of synthesis for the Realizer which are now – like the demonstration has shown – definitely detectable by listening.

“Das Ende”

Irgendwann im Sommer ’86 waren dann endlich die Platinen fertig, die Software lief und es wurden die ersten HDUs ausgeliefert. Aber es gab wieder mal Probleme. Einige Hardwaresachen konnten schnell bereinigt werden, mit der Software war das schwieriger.
Wenn ich mir heute ansehe, wieviel Programmcode und wie viele Funktionen in der HDU sind, wundere ich mich sowieso, wie das alles mit den primitiven Entwicklungssystemen der damaligen Zeit laufen konnte. Es gab zwar schon die “C”-Programmiersprache, die war aber auf unseren Systemen nicht verfügbar. Also mussten wir nach wie vor alles in Assembler programmieren!
Ein anderes Problem war, dass die Kunden mit der “Timecorrection” unzufrieden waren. Wir hatten das auf den Messen und sonstigen Vorführungen immer schön dargestellt, aber mit bestimmtem Audiomaterial war die “Timecorrection” total unbefriedigend (es hat auch noch Jahre gedauert, bis bessere Algorithmen entstanden, die aber auch wesentlich mehr Rechenpower benötigen).

Der Realizer wurde parallel weiterentwickelt – mit besserer Farbgrafik, mehr Sample-Memory und besseren DSP-Algorithmen. Die Preiskategorie bewegte sich im selben Rahmen wie das Fairlight oder Synclavier und kam damit nur für wenige in Frage. So etwas kauft man nicht mal eben schnell – es sei denn man hat gerade einen Megahit!

Ein ganz anderes (aber vielleicht das grösste) Problem war, dass nun langsam die Wave-Verkäufe zurückgingen. Das lag zum einen am DX7, welches jetzt sehr pupolär war, aber auch an kleinen Samplern von Ensoniqu etc. Das Kurzweil lief jetzt auch in Stückzahlen.
Es wurde daher bei PPG finanziell immer enger und ich musste Leute entlassen, was natürlich sehr schmerzlich war. Niemand konnte oder wollte verstehen, warum nun gerade er gehen musste! Die ganze Arbeitssituation wurde immer unerträglicher. Hinzu kam noch, dass es in meiner Ehe kriselte!

Wir haben dann ’87 noch die Frankfurter Messe gemacht und versucht, Händler zu Investitionen zu bewegen, aber später im Jahr die Liquidation beschlossen und durchgeführt. (PPG ging also nicht pleite, wie ich es schonmal gelesen habe, sondern wurde ganz sauber aufgelöst).
Wolfgang Düren stellte dann einen Kontakt zu Steinberg her. Ich führte Manfred Rürup, Karl Steinberg und ein paar Entwicklern den Realizer vor, und ihnen war wohl klar, dass hier die Zukunft vor ihnen ausgebreitet liegt (nur eben in anderer Form und auf anderer Hardware). Für mich und 2 Programmierer ging es dann bei Steinberg weiter.

Video showing Volker Barber demonstrating the HDU in 1987.
in the left you see the new version of the Realizer, with the new console.
PPG System Demo 1987

© 2008 W.Palm

 

5 thoughts on “Part 15 “The End””

  1. Read all the articles, very nice. Thanks for sharing the PPG story! One of the most interesting reads i’ve had in a good while!

  2. Mr. Palm, thank you for a great story. You should really write a book.

    I fell in love with the sound of the PPG Wave 2.3 since I in my late teens in the late 80′s realised that that was the sound Geddy Lee used to achive that fantastic pitch rising tone on Rush’s song Red Sector A, off their A Show Of Hand live album.

    You have no idea how many countless hours I tried to recreate the sound of the Wave 2.3 on my Roland D-20, unsuccessfully of course, and since I only had the Rush sound to compare to. But still, to me the PPG Wave 2.3 was THE ultimate synthesizer (I also later saw that Rush not only used it extensively on their entire Grace Under Pressure album, but see the video for The Enemy Within (and Red Sector A) on youtube, for some fantastic sounds), albeit financially far, far out of reach for a 19 year old kid at the time.

    I took up guitar playing and ‘forgot’ about synthesizers (I found a 2nd-hand 2.3 in a music shop in Oslo, Norway at the time, but it was either broken or the voice boards were loose, because it produced no sound) untill exactly ten years ago, when a co-worker of mine showed me his DAW home studio, and by some fortunate coincident loaded the PPG Wave 2.V as the first instrument to show me.
    IIn the following year I not only bought a MIDI keyboard and Cubase, but also the Wave 2.V and tried to recreate the Rush sound I was after. The Wave 2.V has stayed with me since, but out of pure boredom just three days ago, I decided to google PPG Wave, and among the first hits was the PPG Wave 3.V, whose launch I have completely missed!

    I bought it two days ago, and at the moment of writing, I’m waiting for my kids to go to bed so I can sit down with the 3.V and just lose hours upon hours with it.

    Well, this post is lengthier than I intended, but again, thank you for such wonderfull instruments. Even though I won’t own a Wave 2.3 myself (I’m sure my wife will insist our money are better spent elsewhere, but hey, what does she know? :) I can still have some of that magic with the 3.V, and to me, the PPG Wave 2.3 is, and will always be, the ultimate synthesizer ever made.

  3. Most enjoyable to hear this in your own words. I first heard of your work when I wrote the keyboard player of Tritonus to ask about the unusual modules he was using with his Minimoog . He explained they came from you and sent me some material about PPG. I have also greatly enjoyed working with PLEX the VST software you designed.