PPG Wavetables, Dada & UFOs

US We talk to Ingmar Koch of Liquid Sky Artist Collective      04/09/25

Synthesizer enthusiasts might recognize the swirly logo of PPG (Palm Products GmbH) and recall legendary instruments like the PPG Wave, Waveterm & 300 Series. Wolfgang Palm's original company folded in 1987, but he remained active in synthesizers - contributing to the Waldorf Microwave & a number of respected iOS synths. In 2025; sudden rebirth! A PPG-branded reissue of the legendary 1002 monosynth, plus an equally exciting Eurorack module, based on the PPG Wave 2.2 were announced. The intriguingly-named Liquid Sky Artist Collective have acquired the rights to produce PPG-branded hardware, so sit at the centre of these exciting projects, alongside Cornel Hecht of Hell Modular.

Whilst the PPG W2.2x4 module - a true 8-bit design, shares a passing resemblance to it's sibling - the V4CO, it boasts a number of unique features:

"W2.2x4 Eurorack module, a 3U dual wavetable oscillator featuring all the original wavetables from the iconic PPG Wave 2.2. Each oscillator is equipped with a sub-bass generator, overdrive, and a built-in VCA, delivering the classic PPG sound in a modern modular format. The PPG W2.2x4 can sound extremely true to the original or introduce new sonic nuances through its VCA/overdrive section."

There's also a companion module called GLITHc, which affords you individual access to each bit of the wavetable, plus MIDI and extra logic. You can read more about the W2.2x4 here, but we thought it might be cool to chat to Ingmar Koch and find out more about the mysterious, Dadist, UFO-emblazoned collective behind these instruments.

Paulee: Thanks for talking to us about the Liquid Sky Artist Collective!

Ingmar: I heard you were a walking 8-bit Mysterium, so I feel like I'm in good hands!

Paulee: Heh, thanks! So one of the first things I took from the website (aside from your aesthetic language) is your dedication to environmentalism - planting trees?

Ingmar: Yes! We've got our own pick 'n' place and soldering robots, 100% powered with solar energy. 75% of our profit goes into reforestation (the plan is 27027 x 2727 trees). I'm against expansion just for the sake of expansion, and feel it's not "greenwashing" - its an essential part of all our activities. We have 22 hectares of property for the reforestation.

Some people said "how come that Liquid Sky got the permission and not a real company?"

Well...Native Instruments love the reforestation and how we handle things.

Paulee: That's Fantastic, it actually reminds of one of my favourite films. Your forest will be amazing!

Ingmar: Maybe you could come over next year (with your wife?) and we could produce a special of our underground tv show with you? The only rule for the interviews is: its allowed to speak 27 seconds about the past. All the rest is about today and tomorrow.

Paulee: That sounds like a lot of fun - and I like that rule! So back to synths for a moment, what started you on the path to bleepdom?

Ingmar: When I was 14, I heard the early Synthpop, and knew my way through life. At 16 i heard Holger Czukay for the first time on the radio and early Cabaret Voltaire - and then i knew my style.

Paulee: It was Synthpop for me too! What about the Liquid Sky Artist Collective? How did that form?

Ingmar: It was founded in Sao Paulo, 1986 by Claudia Rey and Carlos Soul Slinger. They went to New York and opened a fashion shop. Of course, it was all influenced by the Liquid Sky movie which brought together electronic music, sci-fi, drugs, video synths (the first appearance of the fairlight video synth in a movie, i heard), fashion and make-up.

So we brought Liquid Sky to Cologne, Germany. which became one of the biggest hype sofa-techno underground clubs in Cologne in just one day. Our guests were like Blur, Coldcut, Phil Collins, David Bowie, Eros Ramazotti, Public Enemy, Spearhead, Iron maiden, Kraftwerk and so on - a lot of famous people came to have a beer at Liquid Sky.

The DJs and live acts were placed between the guests - no stage. Holger Czukay was resident live artist. We played Cologne style - mixing the Cologne experimental electronic roots (Eimert / Stockhausen) with techno and acid and breaks.

We were the first at that time who organised "no-DJ" parties, all female artist nights. We booked the girlfriends from famous techno stars as DJs (who did not know how to spin records AT ALL) and the techno stars behind the bar, mixing cocktails (which they never did before!)

Paulee: Groundbreaking stuff! So a trail has been blazed through clubbing, performance art and now; instruments. Who or What informs the Liquid Sky design process?

Ingmar: We make huge modules on purpose! Instruments which you can use without a microscope. "Glithc" is an endless field for experiments - Thilo Goldschmitz is a musician and journalist, he invited GLITHc. Most people don't understand it, but I guess you, as a walking 8-bit Mysterium, will!

We have more modules coming now which will group around V4C0 / PPG W2.2x4 and Glithc. So the journey has just started. Adrian Sherwood said in one interview that the Zen Delay is the best dub delay on the market and Cinematic Orchestra and Odesza said the same. Aphex Twin is using our equipment and was collecting my records back in the days, and both Depeche mode and Nine Inch Nails use our instruments and software.

A dedicated rack is coming later this year:

100 HP wide,

3 Rows 3U,  3 Rows 1U,

GPS position marker,

2 LED Goosenecks,

Our own custom power solution - It's slightly heavy but CE certified,

And when you take out the modules, you will find out that skeletons crawl on the eurorack power bus and it's blue illumninated!

And it's covered in Dada retro sci-fi UFO hieroglyphs!

Paulee: Ah yes, Dadaism - I studied this school of Art of University, how did this passion form?

Ingmar: Dada emerged as a direct response to the horrors of World War 1, the Spanish flu pandemic, and an ignorant society dominated by bourgeoisie, nationalists, and fascists. It combined visual arts, poetry, performance, sound, and experimental film to challenge traditional aesthetics, inspiring music genres like noise, ambient noise, musique concrète, and their experimental descendants.

In many ways, Dada can be seen as the grand granddad of pop art, techno and modern electronic music.

Dada offers a way to laugh at the absurdity of the world instead of sinking into despair. Laughing instead of complaining / crying. Because "jammern ist out" (liquid sky cologne hoodie design, 2001).

Paulee: "You have to laugh" is saying I've perhaps heard most from people immersed in struggle. Dadaism informs your own music as well, right?

Ingmar:  Yes, from this year. It took 6 years and 4 months to record it - 550 tracks.

My friend Matt Black from Coldcut was sitting here on the terrace, and asked if i had recorded some music lately. I said "Yes. around 4500 tracks - but i didn't release the stuff as no one cares." Matt said, "The music doesn't get better when its not getting released." - so i released that 550 tracks album and 10 normal albums.

Paulee: That's a wild length for an album, what a statement. You've also won awards for your short films. It appears you've been using AI tools? I am resistant to AI (I long to be valued, and I feel that AI may erode my status and social currency) - but I will admit, it seems that you are at least doing crazy and interesting things with the tech.

Ingmar: I use AI. I steal anyway. Pop Art is about stealing the ideas from others, ask Andy Warhol.

I was stealing with samplers. Back in the days - I worked for a record company and it was NORMAL that the A&R director played some mega hit to some producers and said "produce something like this - but not in a way that we can get sued" - millions of bands sound like other famous bands, and we all got sampled a hundred thousand times.

Most of the DJs don't play their own music, thousands of artists use ghostwriters.

I wrote in the liquid sky group some years ago:

Jazz? The End of Music!!!!

Rock'n'roll? The End of Music!!!!

Rock? The End of Music!!!!

Punk? The End of Music!!!!

DJs? The End of Music!!!!

CD DJs? The End of Music!!!!

The "sync" button? The End of Music!!!!

Analog synths? The End of Music!!!!

Digital synths? The End of Music!!!!

Samplers? The End of Music!!!!

Techno? The End of Music!!!!

Ableton? The End of Music!!!!

AI? The End of Music!!!!

It's the end of music ANYWAY.....we love to talk about the end instead of the beginning - as we all (of course and obviously including me) are DRAMA QUEENS. The end is so much more catchy than "lets start this and that" - but this would mean we actually have to do something, complaining about the end is so much easier.

Paulee: Well that's certainly something to think about - should we complain less and do more, what do you think?

Thanks to Ingmar for this interview, and check out https://www.liquidskyartistcollective.com. I'll be checking out V4CO & GLITHc soon, so watch this space!

Posted by MagicalSynthAdventure an expert in synthesis technology from last Century and Amiga enthusiast.

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