And the best Pulsar device is......

Spirit · Post by **Spirit** » Wed Aug 15, 2001 11:33 pm

The Device forum lists dozens of great synths and effects, and if you take the time to trawl through it there are some good comments and discussions. Some of the standouts seems to be Zarg Ambient and Rotor, Mod2, Filther, and the Transplanet.

But what are your three top devices and why?

My favourites are:

1) The ModV2
This is a brilliant piece of work, can play wavs, simulate most types of hardware synth and drum machines, be as big or small as you want - the list is long. The only negative I can think of is that it could do with an update, especially the sequencer modules. A pity too that there are so few third-party plug-in modules. But is still an absolute standout.

2) Syncrotron
A nasty little beast. The EQ and distortion can mess up the sweetest sounds, but if you want sweet it can do that too. Only mono, but nice effects and a very powerful 16-step sequencer on board. Great for riff generation and techno.

3) ZS404
A great free synth that never seemed to get out of the beta stage. But it works well anyway. It only does one thing well, and that is creating extremely detuned drones, prods and bleeps. Very metallic. An interesting feature of this device is the LFO speed, these oscillate so fast that you can create some truly unique sounds. A pity that so few other devices have thought to do this.

cheers,
Spirit

algorhythm · Post by **algorhythm** » Thu Aug 16, 2001 5:18 am

1a). i do not count the Mod2, because it is so much more than a single device. It would obviously get my first vote though, as it can do so much.

1b). three devices on my "hit list" that might make it here if i had them: synchronotron, sts5000, ambient.

*real* votes (in no particular order):
1). Rotor 48 v3.11 by Zarg - super slick device, and nothing quite like it, anywhere AFAIK. This will chew up your drum loops, create complex pads with oscillators (now that it has multioscs in v3), and throw your cool pad samples through a blender. absolutely great for pads, as it has so much motion and variation, but works for all of your "audio mulching" needs. inspiring.

2). Transplanet by DeFex - also super cool. The fragment oscs are also quite different compared with most synth oscs. Quite unique also (it does sorta reminds me of the "morph" feature on my yamaha CS2X). very flexible: from pads to leads, but always so morphable.

3). Tie between Hummel Blue Synth (which has incidentaly just been updated), and Saturn. I have always liked the features of the blue synth, and the hummel version gives it the oscillators which it should have had.
The Saturn is the mega-virtual-analog-fatness-synth, as you probably already know. my biggest-baddest bass patches always seem to come from this beast.

that is me votes!

Peezahj · Post by **Peezahj** » Thu Aug 16, 2001 9:43 am

The zs-404 is a copy of a doepfer analog module that had the same high-frequency lfo's, it didn't sound especially great but was deceptively versatile thanks to this feature.

Spirit · Post by **Spirit** » Sun Aug 19, 2001 3:02 am

Not a very chatty lot we Pulsar users. Thought this topic might get some harmless conversation going and lead people into a few new avenues. Ah, well.

Sort of like the ModV2 download area where HUNDREDS of downloads happen and only about 2 per cent of people actually post a comment - and even fewer vote.

Thanks anyway Algorythm.

Stubbe · Post by **Stubbe** » Sun Aug 19, 2001 3:27 am

Cheer up mate, don't be so gloomy

Maybe this has to do with the enormous amount of devices you can actually download test and end up using.
Personally, I have become much more choosy as to what to download, simply because otherwise I can easily spend all my time evaluating devices.

Consider this a positive problem

Here are my current favorites :

1: Rotor 48 by Zarg : Simply astonishing what you can get out of this baby! Normally, when I use samples, I feel I have to be very careful to find the right range of notes to use. On the Rotor 48, the useable range is for some reason very much larger, maybe due to the high level of mixing with other bits and pieces.

2 and 3 : Free devices such as hummel/wavelengths LoFi, Miniscope WE haven't have the time to fiddle with bluesynth WE yet), three O three by Orbitone (a much used device in my setups), Saturn by the german KEYBOARDS magazine (huge, really huge!), the UKNOW 007 ver 1.12 by someone mysterious (??) This one has such a fat sound, I have almost lard coming out of my speakers

. There are many more, too many to mention.

The people making free devices are the unsung heroes of the community, supplying people like me with not too much doe to expand the usage of my gear.

Thanks a lot everyone !

Cheers
Stubbe

Spirit · Post by **Spirit** » Sun Aug 19, 2001 4:04 am

You're right Stubbe - there are masses of downloadsable devices around yet I find myself using only a tiny handful of favourites.

And yeah, I suppose I was being a bit gloomy, but Pulsarians do seems to be a pretty serious lot

The Rotor seems to have many fans - I'll have to check it out.

willi · Post by **willi** » Sun Aug 19, 2001 4:33 am

the zarg devices are really good, but every device in the pulsar envirement is nice. Me I like and I use the FM Monster Patch at the moment.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: willi on 2001-08-19 05:34 ]</font>

ronaldmeij · Post by **ronaldmeij** » Tue Sep 04, 2001 7:33 am

i would say that the pro 1 is also a devil in black.

This baby rocks with his internal seq en arp !

greets

ronald

BertyF32k · Post by **BertyF32k** » Fri Sep 07, 2001 9:32 pm

My top 5
1) Modular 2 - Once you get your head around the modular concept you end up daydreaming about making 8 oscillator monster synths with 24dB filters and....etc.etc.

2) Saturn - Very hungry but the best synth in my arsenal. It finds it way into just about everything I do...

3) Orbitone three-o-three - Everyone needs one.

4) WS Design exciter v0.9 - I never listen to cds 'straight' anymore.

5) SB404 - I just love these sequenced bass line things.

siriusbliss · Post by **siriusbliss** » Mon Sep 10, 2001 3:19 pm

My NEW top 5

1) DSPDEV GoldVerb - smooooooth

2) yes! the WS Design exciter - expands everything

3) z.matrix - an amazing approach to surround sound applications and lots of live possibilities

4) DSPDEV VRS - similar paradigm to the z.matrix, but based more on reverb algorhythms - the binaural effect is NICE

5) WS Design Mastering Processor - robustifies mixes very well

algorhythm · Post by **algorhythm** » Mon Sep 10, 2001 5:33 pm

link to the WS design exciter?
pretty please?

dbmac · Post by **dbmac** » Mon Sep 10, 2001 6:41 pm

I never found much use for WS's exciter (though I like much of his other stuff), so maybe Sirius is referring to something else. Anyway, Wolfgang's site, with lots to check out is:
http://www.steckenleiter.de/

/dave