Waldorf Pulse oscillators

[marino]

A simple question: I seem to remember that someone on the forum said a while ago that the Waldorf Pulse monosynth have digital oscillators.

 

I played one recently, and they didn't sound digital to my ears, maybe just a little clinical sounding, German-style. (The filter is analog for sure, unless my hearing got seriously damaged lately!)

 

So I went to the original Keyboard and Sound on Sound reviews, and they both stated that the audio oscillators are, indeed, analog. The Waldorf site simply calls it an "Analog Synthesizer", but doesn't go onto details.

 

Does anybody know the truth for sure?

 

I'm asking partly because the little beast really impressed me with its great, big sound!

 

Carlo

[aeon]

Waldorf Designer Wolfram Franke said:

...the Pulse had to have three oscillators! However, the three waveforms are made differently, and only have one thing in common -- they aren't processed by a D/A converter. The oscillators are not digital, but analogue. The pulse waveform is controlled digitally; the clock stipulates when the pulse waveform has to be at its maximum or minimum point. If you use pulse width modulation or cross modulation, this is also generated by the clock itself. The clock has only a 0 and 1 position, so the Pulse's cross modulation is mathematically identical with ring modulation. The sawtooth waveform is voltage-controlled; the voltage is generated from the D/A-converted clock signal, with additional parts creating the ramp. The triangular waveform is the most complex one; it's a combination between the sawtooth waveform and additional parts that process the down-ramp.

so DCO with a little VCO flavor, hehe

[mooghead]

Ciao Marino!

 

I always thought it has analogue oscillators...I think I once read the manual and there it was clearly stated...

 

Ciao,

Andrea.

[marino]

Originally posted by aeon:

The sawtooth waveform is voltage-controlled; the voltage is generated from the D/A-converted clock signal, with additional parts creating the ramp. The triangular waveform is the most complex one; it's a combination between the sawtooth waveform and additional parts that process the down-ramp.

so DCO with a little VCO flavor, hehe

 

Very interesting - thanks Aeon. Maybe I would call them "digitally clocked VCOs" or something, but the interesting thing is, that's exactly what they sound like! Maybe with genuine VCOs, the Pulse could do a much better Mini impersonation. The filter is superb...

I think it was Mike Peake who raised the DCO issue in an old thread. I also did a search on Analogue Heaven on the Pulse and learned a few things.

Come stai Andrea - it's true, Waldorf doesn't explain the hybrid nature of their "analog" oscillators anywhere. Not the best behaviour if you ask me.

 

Carlo