Waldorf releases Pulse 2 Analog Synthesizer

Waldorf has released the Pulse 2 Analog Synthesizer, a "cutting-edge reincarnation of the company's Pulse series".

As an all-new, all-analogue synthesizer design, Pulse 2 delivers three analogue oscillators living in harmony with a VCF (Voltage- Controlled Filter). The filter circuits in the Pulse 2 offer 12dB Highpass and Bandpass modes in addition to 24dB/12dB Lowpass for strengthened sound-sculpting flexibility, while Waldorf has added analogue Filter FM, two Overdrive circuits, and Ring Modulation from OSC 3, together with Paraphonic and Unison modes allowing up to eight-voice chords — a feature found on Waldorf's recently-released Rocket Synthesizer.

Like Waldorf's Blofeld before it, Pulse 2 is housed in a sturdy metal desktop casing. Alongside its 128x64-character backlit LCD, eight stainless steel knobs are available to navigate through the parameter matrix — laid out across the front panel to be seen at all times.

Connectivity includes USB, MIDI In, MIDI Out, Ext In (external analogue signal input), line OUT, and headphone output, as well as CV Out (supporting both the V/octave and Hz/V standards) and Gate Out (V-Trigger- and S-Trigger-compatible), allowing suitably equipped older (or newer) synths to be connected to the Pulse 2 to mirror whatever MIDI 'note' information is being played by the Pulse 2, including the output of its powerful ARP (arpeggiator). The CV Out can even be modulated in the eight-slot modulation Matrix, making for more tone colours and performance possibilities.

Alongside analogue must-haves like a noise generator, Pulsewidth modulation, and hard Sync, other notable features include an Alternating Pulsewidth Modulation mode new to the Pulse 2 (designed to offer a dense PWM sound without affecting perceived loudness), and an XOR Osc mode (that is a binary XOR combination of two PWM oscillators with two distinct output levels — high and low only — capable of producing inharmonic spectra).

There are 500 onboard sound programs that are backwards-compatible with the original Pulse series, so original Pulse owners can quickly transfer their favorite sounds to their new Pulse 2 via MIDI (dump).

Price: €461.00 / $610.00 (excluding tax).