Photo credit: Meghan MacKrous, courtesy of the National Music Centre

Waldorf Electronics GmbH

ActiveWaldorf, West Germany

BiographyWaldorf Electronics GmbH, known since 2003 as Waldorf Music AG, was founded in 1988 by Wolfgang Düren, the former German distributor of the Hamburg-based Palm Products GmbH (PPG), which ceased operations in 1987. Since its inception, Waldorf has focused specifically on the production of sophisticated digital synthesizers, using PPG’s groundbreaking Wavecomputer of 1980 as their basis, and related software technology that has been licensed to companies such as Digidesign and Terratec. Among the firm’s notable hardware products are the Microwave synthesizer of 1989, the Wave synthesizer of 1992, the Pulse monophonic analog synthesizer of 1995, and the Q virtual analog synthesizer of 1999. In 2000, Waldorf reissued the PPG Wave, a hybrid synthesizer produced in the early and mid 1980s. The company continues to operate out of Waldorf, Germany (formerly West Germany), producing various software plugins and virtual instruments.