PULSAR-23 by SOMA

The Lounge Other Gear
#877

Hi all,

As seems to be the norm when I’m awaiting a piece of gear, I need to do a bit of reconnaissance ahead of a new kid on the block joining the current rabble.

At the moment I’m running my Moog 3 tier and Lyra into my SSL Six, filling up all but one of the main channels.

I’ve been studying the looper / clock tutorial so far and not really delved into the Pulsar routing. So I’m actually wondering about the possibilities for wiring up the Pulsar in a few ways.
For example, routing some of the channels out separately into the SSL channels, but somehow being able to route my Moogs and/or Lyra into the Pulsar.
Or else use one of my Moogs (Sub Harmonicon for example) to sequence the Pulsar.

I’m sure I’ll find my own way in time, wiring things up to taste, but I am kind of curious (and ignorant) about the routing / controlling possibilities in this respect.

Of course, some of the audio solutions might well be as much about exploring the SSL Six beyond its current utilisation, but if anyone has any idiot’s-guide light to shed on things, it would be most gratefully received.

1 Like
#878

Pulsar has very flexible routing capabilities. I’ve never used the SSL Six, but you can definitely route your external gear into the pulsar, and route channels individually out. You have up to 7 outs if you include the main out. Additionally, you have 8 ins/outs depending on how you use the 1/8 alligator converters. There is also midi-in, so you can certainly sequence the pulsar with external gear as well.

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#879

You can easily exclude any voice from the main mix and route it to one of the external outputs.

You can add any sound to Pulsar’s main mix just by connecting your external source to one of the 6 ins/outs on the back or to one of the 8 jack to pin converter and then connecting it to the Mix pin. You can also connect it to one of the EXT pins to process it with that channel.

You can sequence the Pulsar via MIDI, I mainly use a Digitakt for this and despite my absolute ignorance about anything MIDI related I never had any problem setting it up.

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#880

While running seperate outs is awesome I’ve found that pulsars real magic (for me) is the interplay between CV, audio and feedback. Running seperate outs kinda ruins that magic, so I’ve been running it via the main out only…

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#881

Marvellous, thanks all!

So, basically, pretty darn versatile by the sounds of it.

Pleased to read this.

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#882

Just saw a very cool video featuring pulsar

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#883

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These will come in handy.

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#884

You can use the Pulsars individual outs not only for sound but also cv and clock. The Pulsar has a ton of options to control your Moogs. Envelopes, Lfos, sample and hold circuits, vca’s and a cv mixer. It’s a full blown modular environment.

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#885

Nice, SOMA instruments popping up everywhere. A pink Lyra 8 was shown in Apple’s MacBook Pro launch event yesterday.

#886

Yes, interesting but i can‘t watch it because I get nightmares from that notch on the new macbook. ( watching and writing this on iphone xs with notch and that screen protector that doesn‘t fit completely… cough)
Just give us a normal screen and touch id, touching is nice, as soma shows. I sometimes have to lick my fingers before touching pulsar conectors to work, modern man-machine interaction…

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#887

Just received an email from Music Store after I paid for an expected delivery date later this month…a 1-2+ month delay due to supply issues…

Guess it might be closer to Xmas at this rate, bah humbug, harrumph etc

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#888

I’ve started to re-think the Pulsar 23.

I love almost everything about it, the midi implementation, cross modulation etc.

But I don’t like the sound. Or particularly I don’t like the BD, I’m much more drawn to sine waves and having a square wave BD sounds to “murky” for my taste…

When it comes to drum machines I much more enjoy metallic FM sounds, snappy tight and wild.

So I’m debating whether I should sell it or not. I’ve really started to get a feeling for how I want to work with my set up… and the gist of it is using longer melodic samples on Octatrack and then having a drum machine on the side to work with… the pulsar has been great in this setting for everything but the sound…

This won’t be a quick decision seeing as if I sell it I most probably won’t ever get it back again…

Decisions decision…

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#889

Sounds like fairly easy one bro, you simple don’t like the sound, no crime in that but good luck whatever you decide.

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#890

I like the sound of it but I can imagine it to be a chore digging through the harsh noise to find something useful. seems like one of those boxes youd play with for ages and find a really cool sound but its mixed with other horrible harsh noises that are impossible to seperate. I hear lots of cool stuff made with it, but also a whole load of crushed distorted noise which other people seem to enjoy. I can make horrible noise for less than 2 grand. problem with those impossible-to-separate noises is that when youre lost in the synth you think youve got something great but when you turn it off and come back to the recordings tomorrow it sounds absolutely terrible

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#891

You immefiatly become an industrial noise artist with the Pulsar… and honestly that not really my vibe.

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#892

You’ve done some really awesome stuff with the pulsar in your setup, so it’s a bummer to hear that the sound isn’t quite what you’re looking for. That’s a tough spot. I hope you figure out what can fill that role.

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#893

Thanks man, appreciate that!

Yeah it’s a bummer, cause I think the core concept is brilliant, Vlad is obviously a genius.

#894

This is an awesome combo. I also have a Pulsar and SiX, but my SiX is used very differently.

I would say, based on the way you’re using the SiX now, one clever way to integrate them would be to run your Bus B stereo output to two of the 1/4 jacks on the Pulsar. This would be a way to send any audio signal you want from the SiX to the Pulsar on a per channel basis, or combined (it’s a bus output, after all.) Very cool idea.

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#895

That sounds like a sweet idea, I haven’t routed anything that way yet so it could be a good opportunity to break out of my current set-and-forget configuration with the Six.

I’m interested to know what happens to the signal once it hits the Pulsar too!

Sequencing the Pulsar using the Subharmonicon’s rhythms could also be fun.

I’ve been steadily watching various videos from Vlad and also a few others.
My sense is that once it arrives (November now apparently, yay!) there’s going to be a big degree of exploring and just patching stuff here and there, rather than trying to get close to fully understanding what everything does. That’s been my experience with patching the Moogs so far, so I imagine it’ll be something similar, yet completely different.

#896

If you’re into trash jazz noise stuff here’s a set i played with a drummer this weekend. I’ve really loved this combo of pulsar thru a mood pedal.

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