Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...

[Razmo]

Recieved my long awaited Waldorf Pulse 2 synthesizer today... 1½ years after they said it would be released... good Things come to those WHO wait they write on their homepage... and surely... even though it was an irritatingly long wait, they're right

Made a Little test between Pulse 1 and 2, and yes there are differences, but it's mainly in the resonance and crossmod parts as far as I can hear... different, but close... more on some presets than others.

You can hear the comparison here;

http://razmo.ziphoid.com/Pulse1&2.mp3

The first machine is Pulse 2, then Pulse 1 right after.

I've not yet decided if I'll sell my Pulse 1... need to do some more testing to see how close they can get in comparison... the demo was made by simply sending Pulse 1 SysEx directly to the Pulse 2, so maybe some tweaking can make it even more close in comparison on the presets that sound most different.

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[Commie_User]

Well that's nice. I wouldn't mind running snips of that through Kontakt, for a flavour of the feel myself.

I suspect you'll end up selling the old one when you've used it in session some more, especially after sampling some of the differences.

I love the grittiness, very age-old. Especially when I compare to the Synthcart and Commodulator.

[Commie_User]

..And here's a question - do they import samples and if so, how do they compare or behave? Any special qualities?

[Razmo]

Waldorf Pulse 1 & 2 are analog synthesizers, so they do not import samples in any way... for that you'd use their Blofeld synthesizer.

[Chris Abbott]

Blofeld? But zat is just what they would be expecting... Meeeester Razmo...

[Razmo]

A "small" demo of some of the Pulse 2's presets... these are not comparisons with Pulse 1, but showcase the Pulse 2's own features.

This synth really sounds nice to my ears.

[Commie_User]

Some great sounds and noises. If they don't scream '80s, then I don't know what will. In places they sound very Commie, even Atari 2600. (Don't remember if I said that before about your other synths.) Which just equals winner to me.

But how does it fare playing many parts at once? How do the sounds meld with simultaneous drum, bass and lead parts?

[Razmo]

Some great sounds and noises. If they don't scream '80s, then I don't know what will. In places they sound very Commie, even Atari 2600. (Don't remember if I said that before about your other synths.) Which just equals winner to me.

But how does it fare playing many parts at once? How do the sounds meld with simultaneous drum, bass and lead parts?

I guess that the resemblance to ATARI sounds has more to do with the way the presets have been programed... the depth and sonic character of this synth certainly surpass any ATARI computer in my opinion, that's for sure... but you have to lilsten to the Pulse2 thru some speakers that can go REALLY low to hear the difference probably...

How it sounds together with other instruments I don't know yet because I've not yet tried scoring with it... I'm currently making an editor for it in SoundDiver, and it took some time because Waldorf has not yet given out any SysEx specifications, so I had to "reverse engineer" the Program Data Structure to know what bits and bytes did what in a dump... but the Program Editor is now finnished, I only need some specs about the Global Data which I've written Waldorf about.

[Commie_User]

Oh, it went low Razmo. I only used JBL Control One's with volume so low that I couldn't hear it feet away. But out on the landing I thought the neighbour had his hifi up loud.

And of course these things can outclass the Atari. I just love the oldy-worldy FX sounds you get. I can't hear 1970s synth albums without thinking Atari on some tracks.


But I'm not sure you understood the other question. Put another way, the SID played the sound of its own band. Can the Waldorf?

[Commie_User]

How's the organ coming, by the way?

[Razmo]

The Eminent is still a Work in Progress... I still need to fix the Orbitone Chorus, the Tibias and the routing problem of the Bass Pedals... but I don't know when it'll be done... at the moment I've lost interrest in it, but one day the interrest will be there Again, and I'll continue fixing it.

[Razmo]

Just got an Email from Waldorf this mornin' saying that I won this months video competition

So now I'm the happy owner of two Pulse 2 synths, as the price was a Pulse 2... but I'm going to sell one of them... don't need two of these.

Waldorf has a passage in their manuals of both the Blofeld and Pulse2 that states their finish is elektron absorbing (one of their typpical jokes), so I took that statement a bit further... you can see the video here:



Nothing special, and the video was done with a crappy mobile cam... but it was obviously enough

Music is my own... it's Dark Ambient/Drone, exept for the last bit which is a try (my first actualy) at making some dubsteb like horror music with a funny twist.

Maybe this post should have been in another forum, but it's still related to my studio ramblings, so... well...

[Chris Abbott]

Hey, well done!

[Razmo]

Thanks Chris

[Commie_User]

I like the irony of having a silent film for a synth video. Nobody else ever thought of that.

.....Oh, I didn't flick this switch. Ah, there it is.