Creamware Pulsar 2 2024

PC Configurations, motherboards, etc, etc

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Ziolek
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Creamware Pulsar 2 2024

Post by Ziolek »

I have a dilemma. It's 2024, and I own a Creamware Pulsar 2 card. I will need to build a computer, and I'm not sure whether to build it around this card or give up on it and buy a new interface. What would you advise? Does this card meet your requirements with Windows 10? How does it work with FL Studio, and is the audio quality good without crackles and latency? It's been a while since anything was written about computer configurations. Could someone suggest a newer configuration with a PCI slot for stable performance? Thanks, regards.
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LunaMan
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Re: Creamware Pulsar 2 2024

Post by LunaMan »

Well due to the PCI slot requirement you will effectively be building it around the card, since motherboards with PCI slot have not been mainstream for many years. However there are always companies like this : https://adek.com/products/atx-motherboards-pci

There’s a button there where you can contact them for an online quote.
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garyb
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Re: Creamware Pulsar 2 2024

Post by garyb »

there are socket 1150 and socket 1151 motherboards with PCI slots. these are old, but they support reasonably fast processors.
Ziolek
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Re: Creamware Pulsar 2 2024

Post by Ziolek »

The card still works. I would like to create music in my home studio, recording vocals and guitar. It used to work under XP. It still works to this day, but I would like to upgrade a bit and get a computer with Windows 10 64-bit. Scope costs some money, so I'm not sure whether to invest in Scope v7 or buy a new interface. I know the card is worth little on the market, so I have a dilemma whether to keep it and build a computer that would run on an Intel i5 processor or higher.
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garyb
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Re: Creamware Pulsar 2 2024

Post by garyb »

"i5" is a big subject, but there are certainly socket 1150 and socket 1151 motherboards that run i5 and i7 processors.
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valis
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Re: Creamware Pulsar 2 2024

Post by valis »

You will need to ask a current FLStudio user (there are some here, not sure who at present) how well it works with Scope 7 right now. I would defer to GaryB as well. I haven't seen anyone complain about that combo so I can't comment on that further.

Scope7 will get you much further than otherwise, and support S|C to continue to develop it further.

The card itself is fine, pops & clicks are an issue 1-2 decades behind us, once the computer is properly configured. And what needs to be done in this era is minimal with a properly functioning system.
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valis
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Re: Creamware Pulsar 2 2024

Post by valis »

This is indeed how I have worked for decades, though I did upgrade my Scope boxes as the older machines degraded much faster than the Scope cards.
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yayajohn
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Re: Creamware Pulsar 2 2024

Post by yayajohn »

FL Studio 21 w/Scope ASIO working fine on AMD Athlon(tm) II X4 640 Processor 3.00 GHz 16GB Ram
Windows 10 home 64bit
Pulsar 1 Scope 7
Ziolek
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Re: Creamware Pulsar 2 2024

Post by Ziolek »

Has anyone here used a PCI-e to PCI adapter?
nebelfuerst
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Re: Creamware Pulsar 2 2024

Post by nebelfuerst »

I used an older magma pcie to pci-rack with 13 and 3 slots. It works flawless, but the masterverb-test showed less verbs compared to a native pci.
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Ziolek
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Re: Creamware Pulsar 2 2024

Post by Ziolek »

How much can I sell my broken Creamware Pulsar 2 card for?😪 The drivers install correctly, but when launching Scope, it shows problems. I have the cables and two installation discs with Scope 3.1c for both Windows and Mac.
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Bud Weiser
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Re: Creamware Pulsar 2 2024

Post by Bud Weiser »

Ziolek wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2024 9:46 pm How much can I sell my broken Creamware Pulsar 2 card for?😪 The drivers install correctly, but when launching Scope, it shows problems. I have the cables and two installation discs with Scope 3.1c for both Windows and Mac.
Who wants broken cards ?
Which problems and/or related messages do you recognize when launching Scope ?
Screenshots ?

IMO, Scope 3.1c installation discs aren´t worth much and according to "MAC" you won´t find many users running very old Mac PPC w/ OS6 or 9.
Scope 3.1c for Windows is pre Win XP since Scope 4 and 4.5 were for Win XP.
Do you have any Scope keyfile available ?
A Scope seller has to provide keys !

It might be possible to get Scope 4.5 keys for the card,- but Scope 5.1 or 7.0 were the way better sales arguments.

:)

Bud
Ziolek
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Re: Creamware Pulsar 2 2024

Post by Ziolek »

I have a key for version 3.1. I also installed version 7, but it showed errors. My computer has an ASRock Z370 Pro 4 motherboard, 16 GB RAM, and an Intel Core i5 9th generation. I specifically bought this computer to run the old Pulsar on Windows 10. The drivers installed correctly, the card was recognized properly, but when starting Scope, it showed errors.

Win Xp- ,,A communication error with Pulsar2 (board 0) has occured. This problem can normally be corrected by reloading the DSPs. Do you want to try that?''

Win10-1. ,,Installation error

Pulsar2 (brd O) SRAMTest failed: data 0x00400000 reads Ox795e6647.

Please check hardware for conflicts.''

2.,,System error

cannot switch to DSP 1, word clock or communication stalled on Pulsar2 (brd O).''
😭😭😭😭
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Bud Weiser
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Re: Creamware Pulsar 2 2024

Post by Bud Weiser »

I don´t have any experience w/ this motherboard, just only recognize, there´s only ONE PCI slot.
Are you sure it delivers 5 Volts for the PCI card,- and not just only 3.3V ?
Does the card get it´s exclusive IRQ ?

"Communication Error" is ASYNC,- means not enough bandwidth between DSP chips and/or host computer RAM.

I also wonder if Scope v3.1 works w/ WinXP SP2 / SP3.
When I started using Scope it was v4.0 (for Win XP).

When you mention "version 7" above,- you mean Scope v7.0 x64,- or x86 (32Bit) ?

The SRAMTest failure is for the hardware experts.
I´m not when it comes to broken cards and repairs.

Did you clean the card´s contacts w/ a rubber, Deoxid or 99% (100%) Isopropanol already ?

What about capacitor conditions ?
Maybe this guy https://scopeusers.com/using-scope/repair-service.html can help.

:)

Bud
nebelfuerst
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Re: Creamware Pulsar 2 2024

Post by nebelfuerst »

The first step is to check, whether your card is correctly detected by W10 and has the correct driver assigned.

If you look into device manager, you should see the scope card under audio.
You can also check the driver version. (I think it should show a date round 2017.)

Don't autostart scope and don't set a project to be loaded in background of windows.
Your card should show up like the other devices in devices manager.

I had many pulsar1,2,luna, scope cards, but never came accross an SRAM-error. Typically caps slightly decrease at high temperatures. But if some electronics were not switched on for almost a decade, some electrolytic capacitors also tend to fail.
I only once had to replace a voltage regulator and once the pci slot of a PC was broken.

For the mainboard, I don't remember that a modern board was "too modern" to run scope. PCI always stayed backward compatible.
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st1
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Re: Creamware Pulsar 2 2024

Post by st1 »

Ziolek wrote: Thu Aug 01, 2024 11:24 am Win Xp- ,,A communication error with Pulsar2 (board 0) has occured. This problem can normally be corrected by reloading the DSPs. Do you want to try that?''

Win10-1. ,,Installation error

Pulsar2 (brd O) SRAMTest failed: data 0x00400000 reads Ox795e6647.

Please check hardware for conflicts.''

2.,,System error

cannot switch to DSP 1, word clock or communication stalled on Pulsar2 (brd O).''
😭😭😭😭
My experience with the boards is that when Communication Errors and similar pop up, then it is a sign that the caps (electrolytic capacitors) on the board are reaching their end-of-life.
This affects at least 3 of my Pulsar 2's.

These boards are 20+ years old, and the net (and this site) is rife with stories of Pulsar caps having dried up.
I will be recapping several of those in the near future to get rid of crackling and comms problems.
(My Luna boards don't seem to be affected as much, but their time will probably come too.)

If you are happy (re-)soldering you may consider getting your board re-capped.
There are even how-to videos on youtube for this.
This may remove a lot of (installation) noise, and you can get on with finding the real integration problem.

If you are not comfortable with re-capping (and I can understand that as it is a bit of a fiddly operation), then consider if you really need SCOPE.
Alternative is to get a new(ish) computer with a modern USB audio interface as a DAW, and rely on the power of software to serve your needs.
Even a three-year old workstation with a CPU-upgrade will have a lot of oomph while also a lot of life in it.
And no need to worry about PCI-slots etc.

So the interesting question is:
Do you crave the SCOPE synths and effects, or do you just want a DAW with a high-quality audio interface?
Ziolek
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Re: Creamware Pulsar 2 2024

Post by Ziolek »

Are there any services that buy "damaged Pulsar 2 cards"? There are probably other components on this card and cables attached to it that can be used. To be honest, for the price of the software for Scope v7, I can get a new audio interface with a microphone and headphones from Arturia and a lot of free software, so maybe it's the end of the nerves. Either I will sell this card as damaged and someone will repair it, or it will just lie somewhere and wait, I don't even know for what 😪.
st1
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Re: Creamware Pulsar 2 2024

Post by st1 »

Ziolek wrote: Sun Aug 04, 2024 11:18 am Are there any services that buy "damaged Pulsar 2 cards"?
Not to my knowledge.
But then again, I am just a fringe user...
Ziolek wrote: Sun Aug 04, 2024 11:18 am There are probably other components on this card and cables attached to it that can be used. To be honest, for the price of the software for Scope v7, I can get a new audio interface with a microphone and headphones from Arturia and a lot of free software, so maybe it's the end of the nerves. Either I will sell this card as damaged and someone will repair it, or it will just lie somewhere and wait, I don't even know for what 😪.
The real value proposition of the Creamware boards comes from the software that enables synthesizers, effects, and mixing to happen with very low latency due to the DSPs.
That's the SCOPE platform.

If you don't need the SCOPE platform, but just need an audio interface, do get a modern USB device.
(I like the Steinberg/Yamaha boxes - they're really good. But others are fine as well.)

I can repair the board for you, if you want.
But there is a cost associated (shipping, components, labour), so I need to know if you need SCOPE, or just a high-quality Audio Interface.
Ziolek
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Re: Creamware Pulsar 2 2024

Post by Ziolek »

https://www.piekarz.pl/?q=47uF+16V
I found capacitors with similar parameters on this site, the fourth position from the top. If this is the correct capacitor, there won't be any problem with the replacement.
st1
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Re: Creamware Pulsar 2 2024

Post by st1 »

Ziolek wrote: Sun Aug 04, 2024 12:43 pm https://www.piekarz.pl/?q=47uF+16V
I found capacitors with similar parameters on this site, the fourth position from the top. If this is the correct capacitor, there won't be any problem with the replacement.
Yes, that looks like a suitable replacement.
And do note that there are several types of capacitors on the board and daughterboard (at least 3 AFAIR).

For a discussion about how to replace the capacitors, check this thread:

viewtopic.php?t=37233

And watch Asktoby's great video on how to do it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dcZLVWpHcw

Just as a disclaimer - there's no guarantee that this will fix your problems.
There could be other damage to the board, and there's a whole world of SW issues with old versions.
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