Creamware Pulsar II

R

rdeboer

New member
Hi all,

Who is working with the Pulsar II from Creamware. I plan on getting one instead of the Yamaha DSP2416 I'm using now.

Is it working OK? Does it really fully integrate with the VST environment. When I bought the DSP factory card i was told that it integrate fully. After installing the card it partially integrated. Most importes issue for me is that I'm not using any of its DSP power at the moment since it is somewhat difficult to use.

So that's why I want to try the Pulsar II, since i (as they say ;)) truly integrates with VST and also integrates with the VST-i instruments.

Any comments?

Cheers,

Ryan
 
No working with version II, but still with version I. I don't know what you mean by VST integration, but if you mean running VST plugins on pulsar, then you need the pulsar xtc. Standard, xtc does not have any IO.

One thing to bear in mind is that pulsar does not have any memory on the card. So this will stress your pci bus to the limit (and even over it) by transfering samples to/from your main memory.
 
I recently attended a workshop where the Pulsar was demonstrated (shitty presentation). But what I saw (and meant in my first thread) is that you can select the Pulsar's fx in the VST environment. You can select them and use them for other sources then the onboard Pulsar synths.

What I did hear is that the onboard fx are not that great. I heard that from someone who worked with V1.2. What is your opinion on that?

Concerning the PCI bus, do you happen to know whether this works correctly with my system? I have a 1,4 GHZ AMD, Gigabyte DXR-7 motherboard and 512 MB DDR.

A last question is about the compatibility with any VIA chipset. My motherboard holds an AMD 761 south bridge and a VIA north bridge. I read in an article (http://www.futureproducers.com/articles/reviews/pulsar2/page2.shtml) that it might not take full advantage of the Pulsar card once you work with such a motherboard.

Do you have any difficulties with that?

Cheers,

Ryan
 
Well, there are 2 possibilities to use the effects.

First: you use the effects in a send return loop. In this case, pulsar acts as and outboard fx. You then have to assign a wave i/o of your application to pulsar as you would do when using a real fx box besides your pc. In this case you still have all the pulsar synths, fx, routing and i/o.

Second: you use pulsar as a vst accellerator. In this case pulsar is running the vst fx. With ver 3.0 of the system that is just out, you can run you pulsar II this way. I have not yet used this last possibility. In this case you appear to lose i/o to the outside world.

About the quality, this is really a matter of taste, but they are indeed a bit basic. Don't expect the included fx to knock you over.

I can not comment on your system, as it is very different of mine. But there seem to be a lot of problems with the via chipsets and the pci bus, but these seem also be driver related. A good place to find out lots about pulsar is www.planetz.com follow the links to pulsar and the pulsar only related forum. There you will find lots of info on that issue.
 
Thanks again for your answer.

The article I read is from Planetz and I already bought powertweak utility to optimize the VIA chipset.

So if I understand you correctly it is better to use the pulsar only for audio then for external gear if you want to ad extra fx to your audio recordings. Or in my case (I have quite some external gear) use the pulsar for controlling the external gear and use the VST mixer for audio traxx?

I got the idea that the Powercore is much better with its fx then the Pulsar. The only problem is is that I need such a card right away since I encounter difficulties with my processor. The Powercore pc version won't be released until December 2001...
 
To sum up:

If you already have a lot of outboard gear and are happy with it, and you use the pulsar for nothing else than routing, there are cheaper alternatives for doing that. Like RME.

If you want to use your pulsar for running fx (native pulsar fx, not VST on pulsar) then you have the outboard gear and the pulsar fx. And you have also the pulsar synths and mixer.

If you use the pulsar for running vst, you will need a second card to connect your outboard fx.
 
Thanks again.

I already started a discussion on planetz about the Pulsar's fx and the Powercore's fx. This gives me enough information about the quality of the fx from both cards.

Seeing all the reactions I think I'll buy the Pulsar card in combination with the TC/Native Bundle. I think this way I get best of both worlds...

Any thoughts?

Cheers,

Ryan
 
Thanks for the tip!

Do they ship overseas? I'm from Europe.

What do you get for a "classic street"?

Cheers,

Ryan
 
Ryan,

"Classic street" just means that this is the regular discounted street price. The retail price is always higher. It is a regular Pulsar 2 card with analog I/O. The most expensive Pulsar+ version has balanced analog XLR connectors instead of unbalanced RCA pin analog. Link on Soundchaser and see what their overseas cost would be. They are very good at returning emails.

Chuck
 
Just to second what was said earlier the RME Hamerfall card are meant to be truly superb. The best audio carda available according to many (including Sound on Sound magazine) but it is not a DSP card (which by the sound of it is what u are looking for).
 
Yeah, I read this article in SOS and found out that it wasn't for me.

I still plan on getting me a Pulsar. For the native fx and processing I bought a TC/Native Bundle pack to get me going for now.

Any experience with that?

Cheers,

Ryan
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top