Pulsar Modular P42 Climax Line Amp

[Ploki]

it's a whopping 249$ (or 200something €) saturator.

https://www.pulsarmodular.com/product/p ... -line-amp/

Gearslutz is going berserk over it, it's supposedly the best thing ever since sliced bread and the most analog ITB saturator to ever exist.

since there isn't even a thread here i thought it open it to see what KVR thinks.


note: this is not the same Pulsar as the one who makes Mu, Echorec and 1178. Although it has a similar logo.

[gentleclockdivider]

Gearslutz go berserk over everything .

[dasoundjunkie]

For what its worth, this is my opinion on the P42.

Let me start by saying that I wasn't sold at the beginning. I tried just the saturation section vs AAs BLACK and in that test they sounded in the same ball park (Difference being that Black was free and this was $250). I only used the saturation because I thought that the EQ and filters were just addons to fix whatever short comings the plugin may have had. After I heard a couple of examples using the whole thing I decided to give it a second chance and yeah, for me this works and works well.

I use a lot of Acustica with all the compromises they have as far as CPU is concerned (audio gridder and I have a good relationship). The P42 gives me the same type of soundstage/depth/tone possibilities as AA without the CPU penalty. Caveat, you HAVE to really learn it to get the most out of it. Fortunately it has a 40 day period to try it out thoroughly. The plugin consists of the saturation section (the slider does 3rd harmonic and the input gain plays with 2nd harmonic). It also has 2 very smooth hi/low pass filters and 2 extremely broad shelves that go well into the midrange as well as an air band that boosts up to 10db from 5 to 12k.

I would recommend you use this as the first plugin in your chain (aside from stuff like a gate or other utilitarian plugins that have nothing to do with sonics), do your tone balancing/saturation/hi and low pass filtering and then use your usual tools for mixing. Don't be shy with the saturation. If you dedicate the time to learn it and you still don't feel like it works for you then that's that.

Me? Its become indispensable to my workflow and the lack of a significant CPU hit means that I work very comfortably without having to freeze to get the tone I want. Is it worth $250? That is completely dependent on what you want from your tools. I currently have most of AAs lineup, an 18 core intel machine with 128 of ram and 4 UAD Octo pcie cards with over 100 UAD plugins. I do this for a living and really try my best to work without compromise. The P42 is always the first plugin on every channel and buss of every mix I do since I acquired it.

YMMV

[Ploki]

Okay but AA is an extreme example of cpu usage.

I tried it here and it eats pretty much same cpu as Tone Projects Kelvin, except Kelvin does - much - more and sounds better. And oh - it's cheaper.

[Effectsworks]

It's funny... I was in a similar position as the OP. At 211euro I thought there's not a chance in hell. But I had to demo it to see what all the fuss was about. I ended up buying it with the coupon for 159 euro. Here's what I said in my GearSLUTS review:

"I generally don't do reviews of products, but I feel this one certainly deserves one. I'm obsessed with saturation plugins and I have a rake of them. I can't say that this is the best one I own, but it's certainly close to the zenith.

So why take the time to review this particular one? Quite simply put, its sounds (and behaves) more like hardware than anything else I've heard for the type of plugin it is. It’s somewhat hard to explain, but after trying this on various sound sources it makes a big difference. First off, it adds a very natural 'weight' to the low end, and this is adjustable. Which makes it sound fantastic for bass and kick drums, etc. It also really shines in the mid-range while adding a very nice, but pleasant 'grit'. Which sounded much better than a lot of the harsh and more digital sounding saturators. You can also dial this grit to taste. From being pleasant and fat to being pretty aggressive while still sounding like the hardware.

For me the P 42 really shines on individual instrument tracks as well as being placed for analog summing over multiple tracks. I was also happy with it on the master but I dialled it back (luckily there's a mix knob). I make a variety of heavy genres and I see it being equally useful for my band as well as my personal electronic material (it’s fantastic on synthetic drums).

So what are the downsides? Well, not much. The only quibble I really have is that some of the controls are a little less responsive than I’d like (as I said in the thread). Lastly, and this is only in my opinion, that the price of the plugin is too high at $249. This is unfortunate, as it may put quite a few people off and I think this plug deserves to be heard. However, I purchased it at 159 Euro (with the intro discount). Which I was happy to pay given the plugins great sound quality."

[Ploki]

I tried it more than once already, and there's simply nothing it does that i can't do with saturators i already have and none of them were so ridiculously expensive.
funny you'd say synthetic drums, Microtonic was the first source i slapped it over and it went off as quickly as it went on.

[El°HYM]

Looking at the Price - point, people should keep in mind that they can also get a pretty decent DI - Box or Boutique Pedal, for the same Amount.

[Synthient Sound]

I've been using it as a beta tester for a while and some of my presets come in the factory bank along with some of Ziad's great presets. The whole Wolfbox thing it does is pretty cool, but beyond that I have been using on just about everything. Because it sounds good and is low CPU I've been experimenting with using it as the sole tone source for guitar and bass (along with an 1176 compressor plugin). Also sounds good before and after amp sims (like NeuralDSP or Amplitube).

My secret combo for drum machine and soft synths has been P42 Climax and either Lunar Lander or Mr. Wiggly Incinerator. Can bring static sounds or samples some breath and life.

I wish it were a little cheaper just so more people could get it, because I've been pretty astonished at the results using it both for light saturation and equalization. I haven't tried it on mastering yet, but for mixing/tracks it is one of my staples now.

[plexuss]

<condescension on >
It's interesting to watch all the various kinds of self-imposed biases we all love and hate. If you think it's all that then great, you got your money's worth. It's just interesting to observe from a human behavioural point of view.
<condescension off >

[markmann]

P42 Climax is one of the very best ITB saturators and tone enhancers available. In my opinion, it's worth the amount the company is charging. Yes, I've bought a bunch of $49 plug-ins like everybody else. Is this worth 5 of those crappy plug-ins I never use? Yes.

[tomheavybeats]

It's nice but the price is crazy. I'm wondering if it's just clever marketing, a high price makes me think it's naturally going to be high-end stuff and I'm definitely intrigued. I demoed and there isn't the wow factor that I get when using Tim Petherick pre and saturation Nebula libraries but respectable people say its good so I will give it a more critical demo

[dionenoid]

Reverse psychology is definately at work here. Ask a really high price and some ppl will believe that it's really that good.

In the meanwhile it has no oversampling (or os options), is clearly unfinished, has a terrible gui plus weird workflow, and almost everybody complains about the registration/authorization system. Every other plugin would be killed here on KVR, and even on GS. But now ppl only seem to discuss the price.

My past experience with this company (i have their Lunar Lander plugin) is mixed. On one side the dev is friendly and seems to be listening to customers, plus the plugin sounds good and is often very useable. But on the other hand backwards compatibility has been broken more than once, progress is very slow, and the dev is often stubborn especially when it comes to implementing basic stuff (still no overall mix knob, still huge differences in volume between modes etc)

As someone who does music for a living, i need reliable tools. Backwards compatibility and finished products are important to me. And i don't see that happening anytime soon with plugins from this company. For that reason i'm not interested in this plugin, while i have no doubt that it sounds good. But if you are basically asking your customers to be beta-testers, don't charge these high prices.

[asstudioton]

i am owner of p42. when you activate trial, you will receive 25% discount code valid in the next 10 days i think..
plugin is superb, and worth that money because its very significant easy on CPU but with sound power like eats all processor recommended to try and fill that power

[itanever]

I haven't demoed it and while I'm sure it sounds good, I'm hard-pressed to believe that it's so much better than some of the competition out there, regardless of what the dev would have you believe. How they price their products is their business and doesn't really concern me, though, all I'm saying is that I'm not really convinced.

And no oversampling? I'm honestly a little bit surprised the aliasing police hasn't issued a ticket yet.

[Tchad Froom]

Demo'ing and liking it so far. I do hope that oversampling will be implemented at some point. Come on BF sale!