If you're looking for an easy to use monophonic synthesizer the Pulse Plus from Waldorf has to be the number one choice. Packed with innovative and groundbreaking features it had the staff here at electronicmusic.com fiddling with it for the whole week we had it at our office.

Firstly, we want to make it clear that our reviews will generally be aimed at those who are either completely new to the world of electronic music or those who have used electronic musical equipment and are looking to move on. If you need technical details simply check out the technical specifications below.

The first thing we checked out was the interface design. This is what let's you access and control all the features of the instrument. If the interface is badly designed you'll be spending more time trying to figure how to operate it than you will actually making and manipulating sounds, which is what a synthesizer is designed to do, create sounds.

The interface of the Pulse Plus is very well layed out, with a large LED display that lets you know what sound program you are currently listening to and also what is going on when you decide to change or make your own sounds.
There is also a very well designed control matrix that is very easy to use and also gives you instant access to all the sound parameters that are available on the synthesizer. By simply shifing from one column to another you can use any of the six rotary controls to alter any sound in any way you want.
As soon as you have the sound you are looking for all you have to do to store it into one of the 40 user-programmable memory locations by pressing a button and selecting the memory bank you wish to store it to. The sound you created will be there whenever you need it again.

We then listened to all the sounds stored in memory by going through all 99 sound programs. There are some amazing factory programmed sounds in there already and every so often we would use the control matrix to alter the sound in some way. There is also a built in arpeggiator that allows you to control the movement of the constituent notes of a chord. By making the synthesizer run several notes one after another in quick succesion, and by adjusting the filter and all the other controls, you will very quickly find yourself in full control of a very expressive instrument indeed.

Another great feature is the Audio In. This means you put the audio output of any external device into the Pulse Plus where it can be processed by its synthesizing engine. You'll be processing the sounds of everything from the radio through to your own voice before the day is out, and you'll be mixing it in with your favorite presets.
There is also a CV/Gate interface for connecting analog synthesizers, as well as full MIDI compatibilty.
You can also make great use of the stereo outputs, making the output of the VCA pass from left to right (and back again) as slowly or as quickly as you like by adjusting the modulator.

All in all we found the Pulse Plus to be a very versatile and easy to use synthesizer. We also know that it's finding its way into many studios around the world which demonstrates it's importance as a tool for musicians and record producers needing to be able to produce new and exciting sounds.

If you are new to synthesizers and electronic musical equipment we can think of no better way to get started.

Technical Specifications

Three Oscillators with variable waveforms
Oscillator 1, frequency range from 2Hz to 8.5kHz pulse with variable pulse width, saw, triangle.
Oscillator 2, frequency range from 2Hz to 8.5kHz pulse with variable pulse width, saw, triangle, cross modulation (pulse waveform that is xor-ed with oscillator 3) sync to oscillator 3
Oscillator 3, frequency range from 2Hz to 4.25kHz, pulse, saw, triangle
New Waldorf 24 dB lowpass filter with resonance up to self-oscillation, frequency range 25Hz to 35kHz.
100 programs, divided into 59 ROM presets, 40 user programs and one random sound
Two envelopes each with selectable trigger modes
Two LFOs frequency range from 0.008 Hz up to 261 Hz
LFO1, tri, sin, saw, pulse and sample&hold
LFO2, tri and delay parameter
Internal Arpeggiator, tempo from 50bpm to 300bpm
Note values from 1/1 dotted, 1/1 tuplet, 1/1, 1/2 dotted, 1/2 tuplet ... to 1/32 note
16 predefined rhythm patterns, four arpeggio modes, each with ascending note assignment or manual note assignment depending on the incoming note order. Up, Down, Alternating and Random (only one assignment mode). 10 octave maximum range (automatic repetition). Hold function.
All parameter changes sent/received as MIDI controller
Four routable modulation units with adjustable source, amount and destination
16 modulation sources: Off, LFO1, LFO1 * Modwheel, LFO1 * Aftertouch, LFO2, LFO2 * Envelope, Envelope 1, Envelope 2, Velocity, Keytrack, Pitch follow, Pitchbend, Modwheel, Aftertouch, Breath Control and Control X
16 modulation destinations: Pitch, Osc1 Pitch, Osc2 Pitch, Osc1 Pulsewidth, Osc2 Pulsewidth, Osc1 Level, Osc2 Level, Osc3 Level, Noise Level, Cutoff, Resonance, Volume, Panning, LFO1 Speed and Mod1 Amount
Large 3 x 7 segment LED display
Six knobs and four buttons for convenient editing
19" 2HE Rackmount
Stereo Line out
MIDI In/Out/Thru
External 12V DC Power supply

To contact Waldorf check out their entry in our Manufacturers department

electronicmusic.com/features/reviews/hardware/pulseplus.html