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so what is this "PULSAR XTC" thing i am hearing about?

Subject: Re: pulsar xtc?

Posted by Photek on the Nuendo User Forum:

Pulsar XTC - DSP Power and plug-in suite for VST systems

At Musikmesse 2001 in Frankfurt, CreamWare will disclose Pulsar XTC, a revolutionary DSP accelerator for VST-compatible software systems under Windows and MacOS.

With Pulsar XTC, users of VST-compatible recording software can expand their system with massive additional processing power. Available directly within the familiar working environment (e.g. Cubase VST, Logic, Nuendo…), Pulsar XTC provides the power of six 32-bit SHARC DSPs and an extensive
software package with effects and virtual instruments.

Thanks to the seamless integration of massive DSP power with native systems, the host CPU is unburdened and the audio computer is transformed into a highly professional music production system.

Included in the software package is a collection of high-quality virtual synthesizers and sample-players, as well as a multitude of professional 32-bit effects (compressor, limiter, gate, delays, chorus, flanger, phaser, equalizer…). Furthermore, Pulsar XTC can easily be expanded with additional plug-ins from the Pulsar /SCOPE platform. There are already more than 100 DSP plug-ins available from CreamWare, 3rd party developers and users of the SCOPE development system. All Pulsar XTC plug-ins are computed by the DSPs on the hardware. Hence, the processing power of the host CPU stays free for VST effects and other tasks which can be performed simultaneously.

If required, the Pulsar XTC PCI-card can be expanded with audio inputs and outputs, so that no additional sound card is required. Three options are available, each of which features anywhere from 20 to 24 I/Os and 24-bit / 96 kHz support. Furthermore, the processing power is freely scalable via the addition of further DSP cards to the system.

Pulsar XTC is the ideal addition to any VST-compatible recording program. An upgrade to Pulsar II with its additional features, such as unrestricted and latency-free signal routing or "live" mixing functionality, is possible
at any time.

Pulsar is expected to be available in April 2001 at a recommended sales price of 999 US$ for Mac and PC.

Subject: some thoughts on a rainy morning! pulsar I, pulsar II,...III

hi,
it seems like the time spending on pulsar I-cards will get a sad reminding part of the past. how much ours spending with crackles and problems - and no real hope to get upgraded to that more stable systems today without spending another thousand marks of money... always spending more money for more stable crads and equipments!
no one is really talking about the less upgradeble compability of the cards of the first ours...

that´s a real problem... all the experience (and not always good experience!) is getting lost by less support and less service in a time where service is not the same in germany it was! so, always promisses-more stable and what for good and better, normally best cards WILL come... not much time left for the cards, that got sold....

some thoughts on a rainy morning...

greetings

t.

Subject: Re: some thoughts on a rainy morning! pulsar I, pulsar II,..

I don't fully understand your problem. Of course it is possible that a faster new card is available shortly after you bought something - this surely can be annoying but it is the way life is in the computer industry.

However, with our cards you don't have to replace anything. The latest software still runs on the very first boards, and only very few of the new features are for technical reasons possible only with the new boards (e.g. lowest ULLI settings, S/MUX). You can add new hardware any time without having to replace the old one (this way you also get all the new features like the low ULLI settings). The money you have once spent is not wasted.

On native systems, a new CPU often requires a new motherboard, and possibly new RAM modules, a new video card or even new HDs and so on.

Ingo,
CreamWare

Subject: exactly

and, also important to say: creamware has managed to get products on the market that cover all price-classes and are fully extendable with all other products and al the new features. well done, CW! i like the idea of spending some bucks for a small card like luna, just to get into that stuff. and when i need more, i can easily upgrade, with an up-to-date-board, without loosing the power of the first card.

myself bought the pulsar, when it was coming out. my card was in the second delivery to the music store. one and a half year later pulsar 2 came out, and there was that fine upgrade-possibility, 400€ and the old card against a new p2-board. i was very happy about that. well, otherwise, if i had have the money, i would have bought the p2 additional to my p1 (which would result in 10 dsp´s and also all new featuers).

so i don´t think CW has to defend themselves against these opinions like ingo actually did...

Mo (looking forward to new CW products - as long as the old ones stay compatible [; )

Subject: holleradiho - will this be able to be done on Pulsar I too ?

Sounds great to me - will this be software, or only possible on that special board ???

Martin

Subject: Re: holleradiho - will this be able to be done on Pulsar I t

They won't tell yet. We just have to wait until the Messe.

Subject: upgrade P1 board?

Mo writes:
"...one and a half year later pulsar 2 came out, and there was that fine upgrade-possibility, 400€ and the old card against a new p2-board. i was very happy about that...."

I never heard of that offer - was it limited to Europe? If it still exists, I'd be very interested.
/dave

Subject: funny, yes! i know... :!

yes ingo, that´s right-i know about that things!

Subject: mo, you know what rod stewart sang?

... "some guys have all the luck, some guys have all the girls...." ))))

Subject: To Ingo

Hello Ingo:
We have talked about this matters sometimes in private, but what you are publishing needs some public comments.

1) What's about the "famous" software that will enable to port registered plugins from one board to other.

2) What's about a professional ADC/DAC that could work with CW's Fire Wire connector?.

Luna is far to be a professional converter, if you wish to know what I'm speaking about, read one of the last issues of MIX magazine (english version) , in where they test all converters that are considered professional gear.

Luna was not there.

3) What's about a full MIDI implementation of Pulsars, allowing to use ALL the messages of the MIDI protocol and to include in a project external hardware MIDI interfaces?

4) Related with #3, what's about a decent automation system (that could be MIDI or not MIDI)?

5) What's about the noticeable unaccuracy of the vumeters?

You know that these and other related questions where done to you in private mails, and also are the type of questions that usually do people that use Pulsar as a recording system .

---------------------
CW could repply that they have no interest in do these upgrades, a valid anwser, but instead of this CW NEVER define NOTHING about this matter.
---------------------
Also CW continue releasing new products without giving to the users of the olders a solid and complete platform.

Is true that CPUs , Motherboards , HDs & memories change frecuently, but each time I have changed my computer hardware for complete, as you sayed, IT WORKS.

I can't say the same of Pulsar.

Now CW will release a new board for Cubase/Nuendo users:

Why instead of this CW don't creat a Pulsar II with enough memory onboard, for avoid the overload of the PCI bus?

This seem to be a more gentle decision for the users, even knowing that it could be more expensive than a standard Pulsar.

How much more time must we wait for these type of upgrades?????

Subject: Re: holleradiho - will this be able to be done on Pulsar I t

It is a new interface of the software so...


Ingo,
CreamWare

Subject: will i be able to use vst plugins?

i did't understand one thing...
i have a pulsar 1 card and i use cakewalk, not cubase.
will i be able to use vst instruments and plugins (there are a lot of free vst plugins!) with my setup?
if yes... i just can't wait april....!

Subject: Re: To Ingo

>but what you are publishing needs some public comments.

You don't comment what I wrote at all, but talk about complete different things instead (!!??)

>1) What's about the "famous" software that will enable to >port registered plugins from one board to other.
In work.

>2) What's about a professional ADC/DAC that could work with >CW's Fire Wire connector?.
..
>Luna is far to be a professional converter...

Pablo, your definition of professional seems to be simply balanced XLR IOs and 19" box...
Some people don't want to pay for this because they do not need it. The Luna IO box is a budget solution but with good converters and good sound.

Maybe we will make a more 'professional' (and more expensive) converter box later.


>3) What's about a full MIDI implementation of Pulsars, >allowing to use ALL the messages of the MIDI protocol

What do you mean with 'full' and 'all'?
BTW, at the moment we are changing the handling (and control) of some device parameters anyway.

>and to include in a project external hardware MIDI >interfaces?
A Soundcard MIDI source/dest module makes sense to me. As we are improving our system all the time, I would not be surprised to see such a thing one day.


>4) Related with #3, what's about a decent automation >system (that could be MIDI or not MIDI)?

Might be one of the next logical steps, let's see

>5) What's about the noticeable unaccuracy of the vumeters?
At least the numerical indicators are accurate


>You know that these and other related questions where done >to you in private mails,
So why do you post them here again?

>and also are the type of questions that usually do people >that use Pulsar as a recording system .

Different users ask different questions...

>CW could repply that they have no interest in do these >upgrades, a valid anwser, but instead of this CW NEVER >define NOTHING about this matter.

CW replies that they always have great interest (and enthusiasm) in improving their systems. We came a long way since v. 1.0, and we won't stop continuing.

>Also CW continue releasing new products without giving to >the users of the olders a solid and complete platform.

Our new products expand our SCOPE technology line and give the users more choice to get the product that fits their needs best. However, all products are members of the SCOPE family, which means developing a new product automatically leads to improvements on others. The best example is the new Pulsar XTC which adds a new VST interface to our technology.

I recommend reading the document on "What is SCOPE technology?" in our FAQ section to better understand these aspects.

>Now CW will release a new board for Cubase/Nuendo users:
see before

>Why instead of this CW don't creat a Pulsar II with enough >memory onboard, for avoid the overload of the PCI bus?

With our new boards, some users can load 10 or 11 reverbs with their system, that's probably much more than it would be possible with on-board RAM.

Best regards,

Ingo,
CreamWare

Subject: Re: will i be able to use vst plugins?

With the new VST interface Pulsar XTC can add all its DSP devices to the VST plug-in menu of the host software. However, Cakewalk does not support VST instruments yet. Maybe they will support this interface in the future, I don't know.

Ingo,
CreamWare

Subject: vst support

damn! so i have to wait fot vst support with cakewalk!
as i told before here and in dsp forum on creamware, i think the best solution for vst-support-for-all is making a windows program that connects to pulsar via asio in/out, and can process incoming midi and audio event to vst instruments and effects.
in simple word, just a vst host for using only plugins and vst instruments, with asio in and out...
what do u think about this idea?

Subject: uuuh... latency...

well, we did this on a separate computer, but the latency of the whole system got so bad, that i have to think now it´s not quite a good idea... [;

i believe vst can be only used well within cubase.

and, cakewalk won´t support vst, i´m quite sure about that.
look out for cakewalk SONAR.

Mo

Subject: Re: holleradiho - will this be able to be done on Pulsar I t

let them this little surprise... it´s just a few days...

Subject: Just a few days...

Just a few days he says! Do you know how slow the days went by since I read the news about the Pulsar XTC?

Subject: just to ask

i don´t have to 'comment', just to ask a few things... (ok, i could ask that on messe, but [; ...)

>>1) What's about the "famous" software that will enable to >>port registered plugins from one board to other.
>In work.
isn´t there a bigger danger than before that cracks of the devices get available in the net...?

>The Luna IO box is a budget solution but with good >converters and good sound.
>Maybe we will make a more 'professional' (and more >expensive) converter box later.
yes, please. just symm. inputs would be great, with a little higher SNR... (don´t need the racksize)

>>and to include in a project external hardware MIDI >>interfaces?
>A Soundcard MIDI source/dest module makes sense to me. As >we are improving our system all the time, I would not be >surprised to see such a thing one day.
ähm, it would be far more comfortable for many setups to get something like the AMT integrated.

>The best example is the new Pulsar XTC which adds a new VST >interface to our technology.
i had to read this time and time again [; sounds fine.

>With our new boards, some users can load 10 or 11 reverbs >with their system, that's probably much more than it would >be possible with on-board RAM.
do you mean the second board generation? could you recommend a chipset? (i´m using intel bx, is solano better for using more reverbs, because of the hub structure? what about the server-sets? does pulsar run in pciX-slots?)

Mo