Waldorf Pulse 2: officially released (OS updated to v1.18)

[acidfever]

By the way, acidfever - what should happen when one actually moves a knob with this composite display? Should the preset name line change showing full name of the parameter and value? What would happen to the feedback row on top - would it stay there, would it hide?

Haha, this is extremely cool!

I think what currently happens is that the patch name right below the patch number is replaced by a line showing the actual valua (from the top of my head). Could be the lowest "category" line or both as well. Will check that out for you when I get home.

One way or the other....obviously the values above need to update when you change them.

[EvilDragon]

I saw it in the video - patch name line changes with current parameter name and value. Category line doesn't change.

[synnys]

I took the liberty of complete disassembling my pulse2 that i got in the mail today, now you all can see where the extension board is gonna be located

also some raw sound demo's here that i just recorded https://soundcloud.com/synnys/waldorf-p ... emo-sounds

The editor that i'm working on is alomst finished btw, more info soon.

The links are the same pics but than 4 times the resolution.

Pic 1
Pic 2
Pic 3
Pic 4
Pic 5

[Uncle E]

also some raw sound demo's here that i just recorded https://soundcloud.com/synnys/waldorf-p ... emo-sounds

Excellent! I like that arpeggiated bass sound. The resonance on the other sounds triggers my tinnitus terribly, though maybe that's what you were after?

[EvilDragon]

Ouch, tinnitus is a bitch.

[sinkmusic]

I took the liberty of complete disassembling my pulse2 that i got in the mail today, now you all can see where the extension board is gonna be located

also some raw sound demo's here that i just recorded https://soundcloud.com/synnys/waldorf-p ... emo-sounds

Nice demos, Synnys.
On every demos i have heard so far, i find the sound to be a bit cold and harsh (not in a bad way... let's say more on the Sherman side than on the mellow side )

The Pulse2 will have expansion boards ?

[Uncle E]

The Pulse2 will have expansion boards ?

Here are the expansions I'd like to see:

7 additional filters to make it fully polyphonic AND multitimbral
Wavetables add-on
USB or Firewire audio for total integration
Kriminal preset pack

[EvilDragon]

I think it will be just one expansion board, and it will contain effects. Because that's how it's called in the Utilities information menu (FX BRD: None).

[Ingonator]

Hi,

just took a photo of the analog circuits in my Pulse 2 (my testing unit misses the CV out which will be fixed soon).

The major parts (OSCs, Noise, Filter, VCA, etc.) are printed at the board. I replaced those with red text to make them better readable.

Here is the picture (for full size either click on the link or open the picture with "open in new window):

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/532 ... ls%201.png



The Signal flow is from right to left (OSCs, Filter, VCA, Drive/Distortion).
The "Shapes" part seems to correspond to either the Drive curves or the envelopes.

UPDATE:
Started to identify some of the ICs used for the analog circuits:

CPU: 1 x Freescale Coldfire MCF51JM128VLK
Filter: 3 x LM3046M BJT Transistor Array, 1 x LM13700 Dual Operational Transconductance Amplifiers with Linearizing Diodes, 2 x TL064BC Low Power J-Fet Quad Operational Ampflifier, 1 x HJ4051 High Speed CMOS 8-Channel Analog Multiplexer/Demultiplexer
VCA: 1 x LM13700 Dual Operational Transconductance Amplifiers with Linearizing Diodes, 1 x HJ4052 High Speed CMOS Differential 4-Channel Analog Multiplexer/Demultiplexer
OSCs: 3 x HJ4051 8-Channel Analog Multiplexer/Demultiplexer, 2 x HJ4053 Triple 2-Channel Analog Multiplexer/Demultiplexer, 4 x TL064BC : Low Power J-Fet Quad Operational Ampflifier, 1 x TI HC86 Quadruple 2-Input Exclusive-Or Gates
"Shapes": 1 x TL064BC : Low Power J-Fet Quad Operational Ampflifier, 2 x TL047C : Low Noise JFET Input Operational Amplifier



The CPU in the Pulse 2 is a Freescale Coldfire MCF51JM128VLM which is more powerful than that in the Blofeld. Besides that i did not find anything like a dedicated DSP chip (like in the Blofeld) yet.



The Pulse 2 filter seems to be based on those 3 transistor arrays and not on single transistors.

- That kind of filter design also seems to be used in the Moog Minimoog Voyager:
http://till-kopper.de/voyager.html
Not sure but the same design is maybe used in the Little Phatty too.


For further comparison here are pictures of the Pulse 1 and a few other synths (e.g. Matrix 1000, Poly Evolver rack).:
http://midibox.org/forums/topic/7648-in ... ted/page-2



Ingo

[synnys]

I find the pulse 2 to be ridiculously buggy to be honest.

- when i turn the rotary encoder for switching patches a bit too fast (which isn't that fast, believe me) it starts to skip, a lot.
- when switching patches from let's say P100 to P001 using the buttons too fast, the whole unit can freeze up.
- there's basically no fast way of going from patch 250 to 001 or vice versa.
- it seems to want to load each patch that you pass while switching which makes switching a real pain in the ass.
- switching patches while still receiving midi notes can cause some serious noise and note hanging.

i made a video of this last point.

[EvilDragon]

Well, bugs have always been an important part of Waldorf's history.

[Ingonator]

I find the pulse 2 to be ridiculously buggy to be honest.

- when i turn the rotary encoder for switching patches a bit too fast (which isn't that fast, believe me) it starts to skip, a lot.
- when switching patches from let's say P100 to P001 using the buttons too fast, the whole unit can freeze up.
- there's basically no fast way of going from patch 250 to 001 or vice versa.
- it seems to want to load each patch that you pass while switching which makes switching a real pain in the ass.
- switching patches while still receiving midi notes can cause some serious noise and note hanging.

Most of those seem to reported at the Beta forum as being reported by a customer, maybe that was you?.
It seemed to be difficult to replicate most of those in OS v1.09 and the latest OS 1.10.

I had no note hanging problems myself changing patches while keep on playing.
Also never had a freezing unit while browsing trough patches.

Which OS did you use? Latest official one is OS 1.10 for which i posted my corrected patches here recently.


Ingo

[Ingonator]

- Filter: 3 x TI LM3046M Bipolar Transistors, BJT TRANSISTOR ARRAY
datasheet: http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/lm3046.pdf
1 x LM13700M : Dual Operational Transconductance Amplifiers with Linearizing Diodes

The Pulse 2 filter seems to be based on those 4 transistor arrays and not on single transistors.

- That kind of filter design also seems to be used in the Moog Minimoog Voyager:
http://till-kopper.de/voyager.html
Not sure but the same design is maybe used in the Little Phatty too.

Other newer Moog synths seem to use the "old" design again:
- This is a picture of the ladder filter in the Moog Minitaur:
http://till-kopper.de/minitaur/Minitaur ... dder_i.jpg
- A picture of the ladder filter in the Taurus 3 (one transistor hidden under the cable):
http://till-kopper.de/taurus-3/Taurus3_ ... ection.jpg

Already wanted to check in my Slim Phatty myself but found those pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/psychlist1 ... otostream/

The filter is where the Ladder symbol is shown and where "Climb the Ladder" is printed.

You could see that the Ladder filter in the Slim Phatty is built with the same
LM3046M Transistor arrays like in the Pulse 2 (also see my post with the picture above). Not sure if the whole circuit for the 24dB LPF is the same. Anyway in the Pulse 2 the Transistor arrays are part of a multimode filter, opposing to the Slim Phatty.

UPDATE:
As someone mentioned in another forum Transistor array are used mostly due to a higher temperature stability of those and the whole circuit. With those arrays it also seems to be possible to generate a kind of temperature controller/regulator to increase the stability.


Ingo

[EvilDragon]

Using the same transistor doesn't mean much - if the topology is different (and it is), it will sound different.

[synnys]

i used 1.10, but i already got a reply from waldorf with 1.11 included which is supposed to fix it.