Via Chris Blais (@nordmach) and Gear Junkies post I discovered Waldorf’s announcement on their Pulse 2 Analog Synthesizer!
Pulse 2 is a completely analog synth with three oscillators in a metal case similar to that of the blofeld desktop.
Overview
Here is some info from Waldorf’s Product page:
Sometimes they do come back, and this time, it's with even more brute-strength power onboard. You are looking at a completely analog synthesizer that accurately delivers what synthesizer enthusiasts around the world truly crave. Pulse 2 is the reincarnation of it's legendary ancestor, the Waldorf Pulse, that dominated the electronic music of the 90s.
Three analog oscillators in combination with a true analog cascading filter is what Pulse and Pulse 2 have in common. But we didn't stop there. The filter circuits now also offer Highpass and Bandpass modes. We added analog Filter FM and Ring Modulation along with paraphonic modes that allow up to eight voice chords.
Like the Blofeld Synthesizer, the Pulse 2 is housed in a sturdy metal desktop case. Besides its large LCD display, 8 stainless steel knobs are available to surf through its clearly arrayed parameter matrix, set master volume and edit display accessible parameters.
Specifications
- 3 analog oscillators + 1 noise generator
- Pulse width modulation
- Hard sync
- Filter FM from Oscillator 3
- Ring Modulation from Oscillator 3
- XOR Osc Mode
- 8/4 Voice Paraphonic modes
- Cascade Filter
- 24dB/12db Lowpass, 12db Highpass/Bandpass filter modes
- Powerful Arpeggiator
- 8-slot Modulation Matrix
- USB
- MIDI
- External analog signal input
- Stereo line out
- Headphone out
- Backwards compatible with classic Pulse
- 128×64 character backlit LCD
- 8 stainless steel knobs
- 500 Sound Programs
- Electron-absorbing black case
All specifications subject to change without notice
I’m looking forward to seeing some videos coming from NAMM.
Mark Mosher
Electronic Music Artist, Boulder, CO
www.ModulateThis.com
Official Web Site: www.MarkMosherMusic.com
Listen/Download Albums: www.MarkMosherMusic.com/music.html
Mark Mosher 
5 responses to “Waldorf Announces the Pulse 2 Analog Synthesizer”
Yes we should! As far as which networks people are narrowing to, it’s pretty much Facebook. It’s nearing 1 billion members, making it (and YouTube) the McDonald’s of social networking. The next closest contenders for people narrowing to only one are Twitter, WordPress and Tumblr. LinkedIn seems to be (for most people not in the HR or recruiting fields) a once a month site.
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I did consulting year back for a Thoreau scholar and for the Thoreau Society so simplification is something I always try to remember :^) Which social network?
Regarding blofeld and UN – They are bit apples and oranges.
The Blofeld has a deeper synth engine. Over the UN it has FM synthesis, comb filters and can do 16 multimode split, and the has 60 MB of non-volatile sample ram. It’s not a sampler but you can load samples in splits and layers and use them as oscillator sources. You can also load your own waveforms. Downside, it isn’t a soundcard, can’t process audio, doesn’t have a factory computer editor – although there are third party editors and the one on windows are pretty good. You don’t really need them though as the interface is fantastic with real-time updating graphic display of envelops, filters, etc… You can get it as a desktop as well. Desktop requires a 99 software update to access the sample ram.
Keyboard version of blofeld has 49 keys (UN is 37). The case is steel not plastic.
There are more wavetables on blofeld has 68 single cycle waveforms per wavetable to UN’s 9.
I used to gig in bands, and Blofeld would be great for this since you can load samples, do 16 splits.
No touch encoders on blofeld, although the visual feedback and matrix are easy to use live. Blofeld is a little more fidgety and less modern for moving patches back and forth. You use sysex not a nice integrated plugin.
Here is the video that sold me on blofled a few years back http://youtu.be/4IJTKuVPnww?t=4m49s.
We should really skype on this :^)
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That’s a cool idea (simplification). A lot of folks are doing that in all aspects of their lives lately, from dropping cable TV to reducing social media usage to only one network. Is the Blofeld better to use (for you) than the Novation? Or is it just different and the Waldorf is fitting your current style?
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There is a rumor it might be ready by Musikmesse. FYI since December I’ve been doing a voluntary simplification experiment. Not for composition, but for sound design from INIT, I’ve been working with only 1 soft and 1 hardware synth. Absynth 5 for software, Blofeld for hardware. I’m really hoping they implement a full graphical interface with Pulse 2 like with blofeld. I’m such a huge waldorf fan I too will be saving up. I’m working on soundsets for Absynth and Blofled as well.
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“Available summer 2012”. I know what I’ll be putting pennies away for!
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