The German-based company Lawo has recently announced that its founder, Peter Lawo, passed away on November 24, 2022, at the age of 85.

His career began in the 1970s, years in which Peter Lawo developed an electronic sound processor for the music of contemporary composer Karl-Heinz Stockhausen. His contacts with musicians led to the first projects with the regional public broadcaster Suedwestfunk (SWF) and installations in the station’s so-called “Experimental Studio”. He then developed the first audio mixing system for SWF.

Already in the early 1980s, Lawo used computer technology in its mixing consoles and built the “Programmable Audio Control” (Programmierbare Ton-Regie, PTR) with analog signal processing and digital control of all mixer settings, for which Lawo developed motorized faders in-house. The PTR was followed in 1994 by the first fully digital mc mixing console series, which achieved great success on the German and European markets.

In 1999, Peter Lawo handed over the reins of the company to his son Philipp Lawo, under whose leadership Lawo became one of the pioneers of IP technology in broadcasting and one of the world’s leading suppliers of network, control, audio and video systems.

The company states with beautiful words and deep condolences that “the company has lost a passionate engineer, ingenious inventor and dedicated entrepreneur, who put his heart and soul into the well-being of his company even after his retirement from management.”