Palm Productions GmbH (1975 - 1987)
PPG or 'Palm Productions GmbH' was created by Wolfgang Palm in Hamburg, Germany, 1975. PPG's early models included the Model 300 synthesiser, the PPG 1002, which Palm called "the first programmable synthesizer",the 340/380 System and the 360 Wavecomputer.
Palm began experimenting with all-digital synthesizer designs in 1977. Between then and 1980/81 he developed the first digital wavetable synthesizers.Deciding that the technical limitations of the period prohibited an all-digital design Palm opted for digital wavetable oscillators feeding into analogue filters and VCAs. The resulting instrument was the 'PPG Wave 2', which in turn developed into the 'Waveterm' and the 'Wave2.3' in 1985. Palm had designed a unique proprietry communication protocol for his instruments called 'PPG Communication Buss', unfortunately this was discontinued when the slower MIDI protocol became an industry standard a year later.
Palm's last product for PPG was the 'realizer', an innovative 16-bit/44.1Khz hard disk recorder and FM/wavetable synthesiser in 1986, this model never went into production and PPG closed in 1987. Palm continued his work with the German company 'Waldorf Electronics' supplying them with designs for the wavetable chip used in the 'Waldorf Microwave'.
The PPG wavecomputer
The PPG Waveterm
The PPG Wave
The PPG 300 Synthesiser