Behringer ventures into the vintage hybrid synthesizers and the BBG Wave, iconic for its lovely pads sounds will be the first instrument they will revive as a clone.
Now the digital synthesizers are coming from Behringer. More precisely the hybrid units that based on digital and analog synthesis. The first clone is the PPG Wave, which was developed and released by synth legend Wolfgang Palm in the early 80s. The BBG 2.2 will probably be feature-wise a PPG 2.0, 2.2, or 2.3. The core engine is based on digital samples of wavetables but supported by analog VCA envelope and filter (VCF) sections. These gave the digital synth a classic and warm sound.
However, the PPG Wave 2.2 and 2.3 were more mature and had better engines. The 2.2 offered 2000 different single-cycle 8-bit digital waveforms, deeper wave edition options, or even an 8-track sequencer with automation. Later the PPG Wave 2.3 featured enhanced sample-playback capabilities that supported 12-bit digital waveforms, 8-parts multitimbrality, and MIDI implementations. Thanks to vintagesynth.com for this vintage information.
It is not known which PPG Wave will be cloned by Behringer for the BBG Wave. But I hope the 2.3 version, which offers a lot more. The engine may be expanded with newer features, sample playback in different formats including the vintage ones and other sound-shaping options. At this point, we can only speculate about the feature set because Behringer only publishes a statement and two pictures.
Official Behringer Statement (Facebook)
It’s alive! Some time ago we showed you the internal design of a new synth which one of our eight synthesizer engineering teams is working on.
Today we like to share with you the first working prototype which also marks our first wavetable synthesizer – modeled after the iconic PPG Wave.
We are still far away from a product release as the firmware is extremely complex but we can already tell you that it sounds truly amazing.
Would you be interested in this synth?
It will be interesting how Behringer implements the PPG Wave. Cloning analog synthesizers is easier than cloning code in my opinion. One device with all PPG Wave (2.0, 2.2, 2.3) characteristics in one device or only one with the same features from the past? Questions, questions… But more importantly, what does Wolfgang Palm think about this clone? That would be interesting to find out.
More information will follow: Behringer
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Only interested if they really solder SSM Filters (or the new SSI´s) into the device. Same Behringer-ICs wont Sound so much different if theres just the 1000th other Case around and the Circuits varies.