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In a world that had previously been used to analogue synths, the PPG was an innovative digital synth with new and distinctive sounds the likes of which had never been heard before but presented with a familiar, 'knobby' analogue-style user interface and voice architecture that was at once both immediate and easy to use. With hundreds of digital waveforms to choose from, the PPG could sound like nothing else on earth..... harsh, cutting and like an aural razor blade but also capable of subtelty, smoothness and chime-like delicacy. However, it also offered a brand new concept - wavetable synthesis. This allowed you to sweep through these waveforms with various controllers for an even greater pallette of new and unique sounds to be created. But the PPG was expensive and quirky and although initially its knobby panel looked accessible, there was a lot of stuff hiding in there that was accessed in various modes, a new concept at the time. |
Early adopters were Thomas Dolby and Depeche Mode but others were soon to come to appreciate the unique flavour the PPG could bring to a sonic recipe. It was a classic sound then and remains the same today despite the advances in digital technology - nothing else sounds like a PPG and if you are looking for truly distinctive sounds, look no further than this CD-ROM that authentically captures the sound of the original PPG Wave 2.2. The Hollow Sun Definitive PPG collection contains extensively multi-sampled sounds and textures from a PPG Wave 2.2. Most are recorded in stereo using the PPG's various playback modes and most are recorded at minor thirds across the C1-C6 range. They are seamlessly looped where appropriate but many are just full-length samples of the original in all its glory. Because many of the wavetables were quite similar - almost duplications in some cases - I have selected what I consider to be the most representative and/or the most characteristic of the original PPG Wave 2.2. There are 50 varied programs (utilising over 370 perfectly optimised multi-samples) and in the collection you will discover punchy analogue basses, delicate chimes and bells, spiky textures, smooth vocal digital pads, brittle and tingling basses, buzzy and piercing tones as well as harsh, metal 'thrangs' amongst many other highly distinctive sounds that defined this classic and unique synthesiser. Some program variations take the sounds to new heights not possible on the original (such as phase shifted vocal pads, etc.). It's probably not for me to say but as a PPG afficianado,
this collection of sounds is arguably the best representation
of the instrument and likely to be a firm favourite for anyone
looking for something 'different' to spice up a track with a unique
flavour. |
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In his review of the Hollow Sun CDs in 'Sound On Sound' (October 2005 issue), Nick Magnus says of the Definitive PPG collection: |
"These are classic PPG sounds, which you can further filter and modulate as you wish." And leading UK synth artist, Ian Boddy, says of it: "..... my favourite has to be the PPG - it's got such a personality of it's own." |
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| The Definitive PPG is available for S5/6000 in a 'native' format CD that will just pop into your sampler's CD-ROM (or Mac/PC for use with ak.Sys) without any form of installation required. Also, of course, fully compatible with Z4/8 and/or MPC4000. See below for further compatibility notes | |
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$55 USD (plus $8 worldwide
p+p) |
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| Audio Demo | A selection of sounds fromthe PPG colection |
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All company, trade and brand names shown, listed or implied above are the property of their respective owners. COMPATIBILITY All these sounds are fully compatible with the Akai Z4, Z8 and MPC4000. These sounds are also known to load directly into Kontakt 2.2 and Mach 5. The actual samples themselves should also be able to be loaded into other samplers though you will have to do the keyboard mapping, etc.. Given the differences in feature sets and/or user-interface implementation between the different sampler formats, 100% compatibility cannot be absolutely guaranteed and some minimal 'tweaking' of some sounds may be required depending on the chosen destination format. Of course, you will probably want to tweak the sounds to your requirements anyway. |
| Loops created at Hollow Sun are seamlessly powered by Antares Infinity
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