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The Wave 2.3 has a lot wrong with it: it's notoriously unreliable (every PPG owner has probably had to get it repaired AT LEAST once), it's limited (a lot of modulation options are on/off rather than by amount), the LFO timing is dodgy and programming it involves memorising a large number of inscrutable abbreviations.
For example, possible settings for the BD (bender destination) parameter are 0..7. You have to remember that 0 is off, 1 is oscillator pitch, 2 is cutoff, 3 is waveform, 4 is suboscillator pitch etc...Not exactly memorable stuff, and since there are many parameters that are just as bad, programming (at least deep programming) requires having the manual in front of you.
So what's right with the synth? Well, it sounds fantastic. And it sounds DIFFERENT. For context, I own - or have owned - a Prophet T8, Pro 1, Xpander, Juno 6, Wavestation, CS50, SX240, TX802, K5000S, M1, Prodigy, Prophecy and an MS2000R, and the PPG sounds utterly different from any of them. It can do sweet, delicate pads and gut-rumbling basses. It can also rip your ears off with the most aggressive shrieks and blasts that I've heard from any synth. Perfect for ambient and just as perfect for techno or industrial.
So I have a love/hate relationship with mine (which is currently in need of repair - again). I spend weeks frustated with its shortcomings and just when I'm thinking I should sell it, it provides a slice of magic that nothing else could some close to and I'm right back, head-over-heels in love with it again.
I also tried the software Wave from Steinberg: it's quite nice in its own right, but it doesn't provide the magic sound of the PPG. Not a substitute at all.
Harry
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