Pulsar Modular 900 Series User manual

Pulsar 900 Series Modular Synthesizer
Owner’s Manual
First Edition, 21/04/16
Introduction
Congratulations! You have purchased a powerful tool for synthesizer
performance and composition. The Pulsar 900 Series Modular Synthesizer is
the result of painstaking analysis and emulation of classic, large format
(MU), synthesizer modules. !
!
Great care has been taken to make sure that both sound and operation is
as close as possible to actual hardware. Some minor differences are
intentional for better ease of use. Most of the modules are modeled on
modern updates, while some are original designs.
License
When first installed, the P900 will run in demo mode until a valid
license has been activated. In demo mode, the license activation dialog
will display each time the plug-in UI is opened, and intermittent noise
bursts will appear after a few minutes of use.

User Interface
The P900 features a hardware accelerated, high resolution, user interface
that allows arbitrary panning and zooming within the confines of the
virtual rack, while interacting with controls. It is rendered at a high
frame rate to ensure immediate feedback and smooth operation.
Navigation
Track pad two finger gesture, used for panning.
Track pad pinch gesture, used for zooming.
Right click + mouse move, used for panning.
Command key + mouse move, used for zooming.
Controls
Right click + mouse move, linear mapping used for control knobs.
Right click (right or left) used for toggle switches.
Cable connections

Right click and drag, used for patch points.
Right click white/input connector, used for disconnecting patch points.
!
Note: Outputs can have any number of connections. Inputs can only have
one connection.
Menus
View/Reset - Restores the original rack view.
View/Zoom Lock - Disables zooming capabilities, so that the rack is
always aligned the the window.
Rack Size - Configures the size of the virtual rack.
Antialiasing - Controls oversampling. The default is 2X which is fine for
most situations. Some audio rate modulation, certain filter
configurations and ring modulation may benefit from more aggressive
oversampling. The antialiasing setting applies only to synthesizer
modules. The effects modules do not benefit from oversampling and are
therefore excluded.
Show/Hide Patch Coords - Controls patch cord visibility. The colored
plugs are still displayed which helps to show connections.
Show/Hide Patch Notes - Controls the visibility of the patch
documentation window. The support rich text and may include images as
well. If enabled, the window can still be closed and will only reappear
when the next patch is loaded.
Clear Patch - Removed all rack connections.
Clear Rack - Removes all installed modules.
License - Displays the license management dialog.
Rack configuration
Double click, used enter slot editing mode.
Double click, used to install the currently visible module.
Once in editing mode you can either use:
Track pad two finger gesture, to scroll up/down in the module library.
Right click + mouse move, to scroll up/down in the module library.
Right click menu, to directly install from a list of modules.
Right click menu, to eject the module in the current slot.
Right click menu, to cancel the editing operation.
View Menu (Logic Pro)
This menu is part of the AU spec and may be implemented in different ways
depending on the host. The P900 supports alternative window size
configurations through this menu, to show either a single row, or two
rows of modules.
Modules
The P900 includes a variety of different modules. However, because of CPU
processing limitations and also due to the limitations of the v2
AudioUnit parameter spec, it has a fixed set of modules available as
indicated below.
The P900 will only process the audio and control paths that are actually
connected. Unused modules or unused module inputs/outputs in the rack do
not incur any processing overhead. In addition, it is tolerant of
connection loops and will simply detect and ignore them."

!
BLANK PANEL
Blank panels are automatically installed in each free
slot, when a rack is cleared, and when modules are
ejected.

930: MIDI/CV CONVERTER (1X)
The MIDI/CV module is where all MIDI events from the
host DAW get converted into (virtual) CV/Gate
voltages and injected into the modular engine, which
runs at the host sample rate or some multiple thereof
when oversampled. Smoothing filters are used where
needed to avoid audible steps when generating high
resolution control voltages from (course) MIDI data.
In addition to the 6 outputs, the MIDI/CV module has
a few other functions as well. It stores MIDI
programs (patches) and displays relevant MIDI CC
events (pitch bend, modulation, velocity and pressure
events) as they are received.
This is also where you configure which type of voice
allocation to use for the current patch. Mono and
Legato both use a single voice where the former will
emit gate signals that can be used to re-trigger
envelopes for each new key press when a key is held.
Both modes use last note priority.
The P900 also supports fully polyphonic
configurations in either 4-voice or 8-voice mode.
There’s quite a structure under the hood to make this
possible in a free form modular environment. In order
to mimic the behavior of classic polyphonic
synthesizers, certain modules must run in a ‘global
space’ such that they are perfectly in sync for each
voice. Currently, this applies to the 924 LFO and the
928 S&H modules. What this does is to make it
possible to program the kinds of modulations that
exist on classic polyphonic synthesizers, where LFOs
and some other shared functions are global in nature
and are located on the motherboard instead of in each
voice card. Secondly, it simply sounds better for
most uses.!
!
However, since the 921-B oscillator also can function
as an LFO, it is still possible to get non-
synchronized, per-voice modulation.
!
I/O Specification
PITCH
Keyboard CV
1V/Oct
GATE
Keyboard Gate
5V
BEND CV
Pitch Bend
-6V to 6V
MODULATION CV
Mod Wheel
-6V to 6V
VELOCITY CV
Key Velocity
-6V to 6V
PRESSURE CV
Channel Aftertouch
-6V to 6V

921-A: OSCILLATOR DRIVER (1X)
As with hardware modules, the 921-A oscillator driver
has a hidden internal connection to each 921-B
oscillator. It contains an exponential converter that
controls the base pitch and also the pulse width of
all connected oscillators.
The semitone/octave switch sets the scale used for
the frequency control, either +- 6 semitones or +- 12
octaves.
I/O Specification
FREQUENCY
Controls oscillator pitch
1V/Oct
WIDTH
Controls pulse width
-6V to 6V

921-B: OSCILLATOR (4X)
The 921-B oscillator’s frequency control allows
modifying the base pitch by +- 12 semitones.
The range switch modifies the base pitch in 1 octave
steps, except for the LO setting which disconnects
from the driver and uses a base pitch of 1 Herz.
I/O Specification
SYNCH IN.
Oscillator hard sync
A/C
A.C. MODULATE
For A/C pitch modulation
A/C
Will block D/C.
D.C. MODULATE
For D/C pitch modulation
D/C
SINE
Sine wave
Audio
TRIANGULAR
Triangle Wave
Audio
SAWTOOTH
Sawtooth Wave
Audio
RECTANGULAR
Pulse Wave
Audio
PW set by driver.

CP10: MIXER (3X)
The CP10 is a “clean” mixer. It
will not clip or saturate and has a
gain of 6 dB. It can be used to mix
either A/C or D/C signals.
I/O Specification
OUTPUTS
A/C or D/C
Inverting output
preferred for filter.
INPUTS
A/C or D/C

904 A/B/C/D/E: FILTER (2X)
The 904 filter module comes in 5
different flavors:
904-A: Transistor Ladder Low Pass
904-D: Diode Ladder Low Pass
904-E: OTA Low Pass
904-F: State Variable Multimode
904-G: Sallen Key Low Pass
The frequency range switch controls
the range of the fixed control
voltage according to:
1: 1Hz to 5kHz
2: 4Hz to 20kHz
3: 16Hz to 80kHz (limited by SR)
I/O Specification
SIGNAL INPUT
Audio In
Audio
SIGNAL OUTPUT
Audio Out
Audio
CONTROL INPUTS
Filter Cutoff CV
-6V to 6V
Inputs are summed.
NOTCH
Notch filter output
Audio
904-F only.
BANDPASS
Bandpass filter output
Audio
904-F only.
HIGHPASS
Highpass filter output
Audio
904-F only.

911: ENVELOPE GENERATOR (3X)
The 911 envelope generator has a general shape
matching the analog equivalent, however the Pulsar
version has modified timings with an attack rate
closer to that of the Minimoog (which the author
happens to like better). Some hard pluck sounds
included in the factory presets could not be done
without it.
Note that the 911 controls are laid out differently
from the typical ADSR. Here you have from top to
bottom: Attack, Decay, Release, Sustain
I/O Specification
TRIG IN
Gate signal
5V
OUT
Envelope signal
0 to 6V

995: ATTENUATOR (3X)
As in the original hardware, the 995 attenuator is
internally connected from top to bottom. With only
the first input connected, each output is active and
can have different gain settings.
Insertions break the internal connections and they
become independent attenuators.
I/O Specification
IN
A/C or D/C
OUT
A/C or D/C

902: VOLTAGE CONTROLLED AMPLIFIER (3X)
The 902 VCA has two modes, linear and exponential.
Linear is normally used for the amp envelope and
exponential mode is useful for CV signals.
One example of the latter is pitch modulation
controlled by a mod wheel. To get a smooth response
you route an LFO through a VCA in exponential mode,
controlled by the mod wheel CV. Several factory
patches do this. They also show how use the fixed
control voltage to offset the modulation CV, so that
it starts at 0. That way you get an immediate
response from the mod wheel. The VCA reacts to CV
only from 0 to 6V, so you would otherwise need to
bring the mod wheel up to its center before you get a
response.
Note that the first output is inverting per original
spec!
I/O Specification
SIGNAL INPUTS
Audio In
Audio
Inputs are summed.
SIGNAL OUTPUT
Audio Out
Audio
First output is inverting.
CONTROL INPUTS
Amplifier CV
0 to 6V
Inputs are summed.

923: FILTERS (1X)!
The 923 module has two 1-pole non-resonant filters.
Both the low pass and the high pass filter has a
cutoff range from 10 Hz to 10 Khz.
The module also includes white and pink noise
generators.
I/O Specification
LOW PASS IN
Audio In
Audio
LOW PASS OUT
Audio Out
Audio
HIGH PASS IN
Audio In
Audio
HIGH PASS OUT
Audio Out
Audio
NOISE SOURCE
Audio Out
Audio

934: RING MODULATOR (1X)
This is an original Pulsar module that features two
independent ring modulators.
I/O Specification
X
Audio In
Y
Audio In
XY
Audio Out

924: LOW FREQUENCY OSCILLATOR (3X)
Original Pulsar module. It outputs 4 different wave
forms and features CV control of the LFO frequency.
The LFO frequency ranges from 0.1 to 80 Herz. The CV
input control attenuates the CV signal.
The reset input responds to a gate signal by
resetting the cycle of the LFO waveforms. This is
useful when you want the LFO to restart on each key
press, for example.
I/O Specification
SINE
Sine wave
Audio
TRIANGULAR
Triangle wave
Audio
SAWTOOTH
Sawtooth wave
Audio
RECTANGULAR
Rectangular wave
Audio
CV INPUT
Frequency CV
-6V to 6V
RESET
Gate signal
5V

928: SAMPLE & HOLD (1X)
The 928 S&H module samples the input and outputs (a
held value) at the rate of either the internal clock
or an external clock.
The glide control allows for exponential glide
between sampled values, at the specified rate.
I/O Specification
TRIG IN
Clock signal
LF Audio
CLOCK OUT
Clock signal
LF Audio
IN
Audio In
OUT
Audio Out

938: OUTPUT MODULE (1X)
The 938 stereo output module provides routing to the
inputs of the host DAW. This module has several
functions:
It’s a summing amplifier that sums all the voices of
the P900. Each voice has summing amp input gain stage
with saturation of two different types, Class A/B and
Class A.
The saturation is variable and an overload indicator
shows how much it’s engaged. Both saturation types
add harmonics and can be very useful for thickening
the sound and generally providing ‘color’.
The bottom section is where effects are plugged in as
inserts. Only effects can be plugged in here.
Without effects, you would normally plug the same VCA
output into both inputs. With effects and a mono
patch, you normally only plug into the left output
and use the Plate Reverb produce a stereo signal for
the effect returns that join the stereo bus feeding
the DAW inputs. Of course, you have many options
available to create a stereo patch; using two filters
for example, in which case you can feed the reverb
input a stereo signal.
All effects have wet/dry mix options to blend the
effect with the dry, or previously effected, signal.
I/O Specification
LEFT INPUT
Left input to DAW track
Audio
RIGHT INPUT
Right input to DAW track
Audio
LEFT SEND
Left effects send
Audio
RIGHT SEND
Right effects send
Audio
LEFT RETURN
Left effects return
Audio
RIGHT RETURN
Right effects return
Audio

931: ANALOG DELAY (2X)
The 931 Analog Delay is an
emulation of a Bucket Brigade Delay
(BBD) - a discrete-time analog
delay line popular in the 1970s and
the early 1980s. The emulation
includes the filtering, distortion
and noise typical of such delays.
The BBD control allows the
distortion and noise part of the
emulation to be mixed in as
desired. When fully attenuated you
have a clean delay that can be just
as useful as the BBD distortion
that provides an interesting color.
Clock Rate sets the rate at which
the stored input signal is moved
one step along the delay line.
Regen sets the amount of delay
feedback.
The Modulation Depth/Rate controls
a built-in LFO that modulates the
delay line, allowing for some
chorus-like effects.
The Wet/Dry Mix blends the effected
signal with the dry signal."

933: PLATE REVERB (1X)
The 933 Plate Reverb is using a
reverberation network topology
similar to those used in high end
early 1980s digital reverberation
processors, with modulated reverb
tails. It is a very good sounding
and flexible reverb algorithm for
which 3 different plate size
configurations are provided.
The Bandwidth control is a variable
bandpass filter that cuts both low
frequency and high frequency content
from the effect signal.
When provided with a mono signal,
the plate reverb generates a pseudo
stereo signal. However, it also
supports true stereo processing.