Pulsar Modular P42 Climax Line Amp

[Niowiad]

I've been meaning to stay out of this for weeks/months, but the discussion keeps and keeps on going

I was initially happy with the acquisition because that meant the modular softsynth was being ported to Windows, but the whole operation started taking a really weird turn very quickly when the new guy started saying "the P900 will be the most expensive softsynth on the market", exactly as if it was a product feature to brag about.

It was originally being sold for $130 or similar, now it's planned to be re-released at $500.
It's clear as day that prices are being inflated to increase perceived value (tried and tested solution on any market), and there's always going to be a niche of people getting massive boners over massive price-tags, especially on GS.

He also said (on that GS thread) his plugin are competing with hardware, not other plugins. YAY.

The original policy (don't know if it changed now) of giving free licenses to anyone willing to review the plugins on YouTube in some ways can sound smart, in some other ways it sounds way too desperate and it's not a good look.

Last but not least, the fact that a saturator was released in 2021 without oversampling (and soon added due to users pointing it out) makes me question if they fully know what they're doing.

The P42 plugin could be considered good, very good, excellent, all you want, but it's sure as hell not shitting on products from other top devs listed at $50 or less, like some guys on GS try to make it sound like. "Mixing ITB 2.0 has just begun"... WTF

I wanted to stay out of this, failed miserably, but hope it's my final waste of time on the matter at least for quite a while, regardless of any kind of reply I could receive.

[nichttuntun]

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.

Hi Ploki, just for fun...a small entertaining "challange".

I love Microtonic. Would you mind selecting an officially integrated preset (not one from the countless Patternarium presets).

I will mix it using only (!) P42 on all 8 outputs.

And than you try to replicate the legit vividness with only (!) one other "saturator".

The rules:
- microtonic preset stays completely untouched!
- only P42
- only one other "saturator"
- 8 channels gain staged to -18dB VU-meter and -6dB Peak-level
- no M/S processing!
- no additional compressors (even if they are build into the plugin, like with Blyss)
- no additional EQ whatsoever
- no DAW channel tools are used
- no efx, wet or dry like ER or reverb
- no parallel processing, except for the complete stem/(group-channel)
- plugins are put on every 8 channel
- it´s allowed to do 2 complete insert row lanes (serial)
- one additional dual-mono setup L/R on the stem
- the other plugin must be revealed
- on / off must be level matched with a LUFS meter (integrated)
- a screenshot must be taken of that complete session
- no tricks (!!!)

Are you ready? I got time doing so this evening. I think that would be not only exiting but also interesting.

Please don´t understand it as a penis-length comparison. Its really not ment as a muscle comparison or so and it is really not ment as a provocation. I´m just exited about the plugin and want to know what people can achiev with other tools. I say it from muscian to musician and its ment as a sporty, friendly-minded "competition" (I don´t like the word competition, but don´t know what else to say).

Cheers

[Ploki]

I’m at seaside so won’t be able to do it till next week, but i guess pick VT-808 or VT-909 preset and default A pattern from it

[nichttuntun]

I’m at seaside so won’t be able to do it till next week, but i guess pick VT-808 or VT-909 preset and default A pattern from it

Okay. Cool

I choose one of those 2 and stick with the original preset pattern which comes up.

Forgot to say...Session should be 48/24.

Thank you for being in. I appreciate it. It´s always learning for me and I´m also already exited of the outcome. And of course for your result as well

Just one question, does KVR allow 48/24 uploads? If not we should think about a platform to upload it. Cheers

[Mik_lo]

Tbh I'm completely underwhelmed. Seems like I can get in the ballpark with other saturators for a fifth of the money. Apparently the developer thinks it's better than hardware (I suppose what hardware), and the price is justified because of that, even though there are no materials, no assembly, no testing every product, no shipping etc. Save your money, don't be a mug, treat your Mrs/Mr instead.

Edit: I mentioned this in the gearspace thread and got kicked out the thread. Lol. It appears you are not allowed a point of view there.

[nichttuntun]

Tbh I'm completely underwhelmed. Seems like I can get in the ballpark with other saturators for a fifth of the money. Apparently the developer thinks it's better than hardware (I suppose what hardware), and the price is justified because of that, even though there are no materials, no assembly, no testing every product, no shipping etc. Save your money, don't be a mug, treat your Mrs/Mr instead.

Hey, than join Ploki and mine small fun-time experiment.
The more results, the more interesting it will get for interested listeners. Including the exchange about how things are done and what different approaches exists and such.

PS
no, you and the other guy (who hit GS the same time as you) analogously said on GS, it would be a scam and people are ripped off and all is just about fooling people with marketing buisiness. Just like that. After 28 pages of discussion and not a slightest justification or any clear reason for the statements. But I´m not here to discuss anything further about that. I´m here as an interested musician, wanting exchange with other musicians about their experiences and experiments. Thats why I am a member of forums.

[Mik_lo]

I haven't microtonic I'm afraid

[Mik_lo]

I stand by that. Trying to stop people getting ripped off.

[nichttuntun]

I haven't microtonic I'm afraid

If you can, buy it and support Sonic Charge. So worth. He´s a one man running show (edit: actually they are two brothers) and a genious imo and Microtonic still is one of the most awesome drum machine ITB i know. And I own The Softube Moduar as well as Sugar-Bytes DrumComputer and several more. You can´t go wrong...it´s a killer.

Further more, Sonic Charge is still updating it with cool features after all those time. It recently got an update making it sound like a Linn, a TR909, 505 or a 808 and far more, as well as new scripts, which allows further tweaking stuff.

[e@rs]

Sonic Charge are two brothers actually, but agree with the rest.

[nichttuntun]

Thank you e@rs. Didn´t know that. Always had contact to one of them.

[Effectsworks]

Sonic Charge are two brothers actually, but agree with the rest.

Anything those guys do is top quality.

[nichttuntun]

Absolutely yes. And they keep maintaining it. All their stuff (except Synplant) got partly huge updates recently. Concerning their re-engineering chip-emulation based abilities, they are in a similar league with Plogue, Art et Technologie imo.

[plexuss]

Tbh I'm completely underwhelmed. [snip...]

Edit: I mentioned this in the gearspace thread and got kicked out the thread. Lol. It appears you are not allowed a point of view there.

Maybe you need to learn more about how to use the internet. I posted similar to you on GS and my post is still there. Heres what I posted:

Demoed. I understand why people like this. It's not for me.

That and the UI/UX are horrible for me in terms of workflow. I'd never spend that kind of money on such an amaturish release from that perspective. $325 Canadian for this. No.

Sonically its ok but not what I am looking for. I can do most of what I am hearing with other tools I already have. I don't generally like distorting my audio especially busses. I am not getting any kind of magical soundstage impact more-so than other tools I have. I see P42 as another sonic option for vibe and colour, however for the price I can't justify it. I see it as equal to Kush, so in the $100US range regular price. The UI and workflow UX would need to be addressed.

Congrats on the tool and thanks for the demo but its' not for me.

[n9n]

I'm not sure what your test will prove. It will show that the p42 saturates and that these other plugins do too.

Anyway, I can see how folks would see this and figure that it is pretty much the same as the many other saturators on the market and, I wouldn't disagree with this: It is "pretty much the same" as everything from SoundToy's decapitator, to the Kush preamp emus and the REDDI, to the Arturia preamp emus, to the Waves preamp emus, to Softube's overstayer, or Saturation Knob, or the overdrive features on the British A Class or... PA's Black Box or Iron, or... so many things and I didn't even mention Waves. It is "pretty much" like those.

But it isn't the same. When I play guitar or Rhodes through this plugin it sounds remarkably good in ways that I've not been able to get these other plugins to sound. It is subtle, yes, but it makes all the difference for me. That's it. I figured it was snake oil or cognitive distortion because of price, I figured that the folks on GS might be doing the shill thing (one thing to note, though, is that the GS people also celebrate low cost and free tools... look at AirWindows.) I figured it was just a bunch of horns and no steer like a lot of things are (like, say, pretty much all the tape sims..) But to me it was pretty clear after I spent the time to properly gainstage that there is something here that just sounds much better and works much better than these other plugs. Lunar Lander has the same kinds of things going on. The BBD model in that thing sounds 1. much more like my BBD hardware that I have been using for 30 years and 2. sounds better than the competition, including Vintage Delay's analog mode to my ear.

I think sometimes that a lot of these debates are really debates between people that are players and folks that are sequencers. The drum machine test is an indicator. I'm a player -- I perform on guitar and piano and rhodes into my processing chain. I've traded in my Buddha Modded 1970 Twin for a 1966 Twin at great expense because the 66 sounded better. Would they sound the same if my kid played both? Probably. Or if I played a drum machine through both? yup. Sometimes it is a matter of touch.

Now: I've spent more time than makes sense on this. These two plugins are imo really good. I was a harsh skeptic but I was won over. Now I want to know why the saturation stages on my other software *don't* sound as good.

(and one more thing: the aliasing/oversampling issue isn't a big deal all the time, every time, with plugins like this... Decapitator was slammed for the same thing but it didn't end up making that big a difference. Hell VintageWarmer v1 aliased like crazy and it sounded better than v2, which didn't.)