Pulsar II DSP: how much?

edmann · Post by **edmann** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 10:08 am

Greetings Everyone -

how much ~real world~ DSP can I expect to have available with a Pulsar II card and the stock synths/FX that come with it? I really have no clue how much DSP any of these things use. One dealership told me I could easily have " a bunch of stuff" loaded and functioning....but I am beginning to question that having read some of the inferences in these posts

I appreciate your input!

thanks

Ed

Immanuel · Post by **Immanuel** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 10:32 am

There is a little bit of information here (ups forgot the link) http://www.planetz.com/forums/index.php?viewcat=5

It depends a lot on, what you do. Some effects are easy - some are not. Synths also vary a lot in DSP-usage.

If you work like me, you will reach the sealing and have to make workaround - bouncing is the most efficient one. This makes it less of a "real time" environment. Some are very happy about their 4 DSPs. I couldn't get a workflow with only four. 6 may have done it.

There is a tendency lately (IMO), that new devices need more and more DSP - this is for increasing audio quality though.

[ This Message was edited by: Immanuel on 2004-02-01 10:39 ]

edmann · Post by **edmann** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 10:54 am

thanks Immanuel -

I was searching thru the "DSP" section and I see the patched etc but no associated DSP % - am I missinfg something?

Otherwsie from what you say it sounds like a 15 DSP is the *only* way to go (?)

Ed

kensuguro · Post by **kensuguro** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 11:30 am

I work on a Pulsar II, but I only use it for mixing. If I were to use Pulsar synths, I'd usually load all my synths, record it, and then load my mixing project and mix in there. I would imagine that with 15 dsp's it's you'd be able to do everything in one go.

coc999 · Post by **coc999** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 12:41 pm

Depends also of polyphonies you put on your synths with a big mixer , miniscope synth 6 polyphonies and uknow 000007

with 4 poly dsp are overloaded....
So it is a balance to find between what you really need and the number of shaaarrrkkksss .

for info this is the dsp overload limit
with 4 dsp and a simple project (big mixer + 1 synth )
_____________________________________
SYNTH NAME NUMB OF POLYPHONY
Miniscope 10 poly max
Blue synth 9 poly max
ezsynth 16 poly max
inferno 14 poly max
miniscope mk2 10 poly max
sampleplyer F 16 poly max
sample player 16 poly max
uknow 0007 12 poly max
---------------------------------------------------------------
for patched synths
----------------------------------------------------------------
110 FTM monophonic 8 poly max
andromeda og 5 poly max
cs 10 monophonic 12 poly max
cs15 tm 7 poly max
fmclassic 7 poly max
fmanalog+modular 9 poly max
jblmodular voicing set 7 poly max
lorello 8 poly max
-----------------------------------------------------------------
so it opens you some combination considering that we have 10 fingers ...

my 3 cents

[ This Message was edited by: coc999 on 2004-02-01 13:10 ]

edmann · Post by **edmann** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 1:41 pm

thanks everyone - I am a bit confused over the "4 DSP" thing - Is that a Luna card? No - right? and a Pulsar II Card has 6 DSP....so what is the "4 DSP" reference? I have seen it in other threads too

but I am still learning the system

thanks again!

Ed

borg · Post by **borg** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 1:52 pm

pulsar I was the first pulsar and has only 4 chips. it's not being made anymore, but you can still find it second hand a lot. it's a 'first generation card' and has a minimum latency of 13ms. apart from that and the missing two dsps, it's the same as a pulsar II, i guess. it's a nice card to upgrade your system if you already have a CW card: 4 extra dsps, the physical in/outputs, and the 'second generation card' can/should be 'master' so you still have ULLI (ultra low latency interface (?)).

the percentage in the dsp forum is the percentage of the first voice of that particular synth and the synth itself. this is percentage of ONE sharc. you also have a percentage of a dsp power for every added voice.

_________________
andy
 the lunatics are in the hall 

[ This Message was edited by: borg on 2004-02-01 13:56 ]

edmann · Post by **edmann** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 3:15 pm

I see -

so (for ex) a synth that has a DSP rating of 64% means that (if one were using a Pulsar II card) they could get approx 9 voices - and that would use almost all of the DSP on the card - is this correct? or do I misunderstand?

thanks again

Ed

scary808 · Post by **scary808** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 6:09 pm

sorry double post!

[ This Message was edited by: scary808 on 2004-02-01 18:10 ]

scary808 · Post by **scary808** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 6:09 pm

With a PulsarII you could easily run 3 synths with 5 notes of polyphony each, 4 or 5 dynamics processors, a couple of delays & a reverb. Keep in mind these aren't the "cream of the crop" SFP synths but still superior to most VSTis & hardware virtual analog synths. The pulsar is more or less to act as an add-on to your existing setup. You can always record the synth then remove it from the project to free up DSP. If you want to run all synths & effects "live" into your DAW, look into the PowerPulsar.

borg · Post by **borg** » Mon Feb 02, 2004 6:42 am

On 2004-02-01 15:15, edmann wrote:
is this correct? or do I misunderstand?

correct... allmost.
the consecutive voices usually take less dsp power (there seem to be some exceptions. so, in your example, you'd probably get 11 or 12 voices on 6 dsps.

indeed it sounds like it's not that much, but then you have to concider the sound quality blablabla...
if you can afford it, get a powerpulsar, or a pulsar II and find a second hand pulsar I, XTC, SRB, or whatever...
depends on what you want to do of course: synths, mixing, or both...

Immanuel · Post by **Immanuel** » Mon Feb 02, 2004 11:08 am

I see it this way:

When I want a synth, I get a top quality synth. When I want a mixer, I "sell" my synth and "buy" a mixer. Then I add some processing. Maybe I "sell" the mixer and "buy" a sampler later on.

It is a bit like allways having 1000-4000€ worth of equipment (Pulsar2 is great value). And if you need some other equipment, you have to "deliver back" the first equipment to get some new.

I hope you understand me.

kimgr · Post by **kimgr** » Mon Feb 02, 2004 12:27 pm

Here's the (old) Voice count on my dual Scope system:

BlueSynth: 2x16+4 =36
EDS16i: 6x16 =96
EDS8i: 13x8 =104
EZSynth: 5x16+14 =94
Inferno: 3x16+10 =58
LightWave: 2x16+2 =34
MiniScope: 2x16+12 =44
MiniScopeMKII: 2x16+9 =41
Poison: 2x16+3 =35
Prisma: 16+3 =48
SB404: 14x1 =14
U KNOW 007: 3x16+4 =52
Vectron: 16+13 =29
Vectron Player: 16+13 =29
STS2000P: 7x16+14 =126
STS3000: 3x32+16 =112
STS4000: 64+59 =123
STS5000: 64+34 =98

Kim.

edmann · Post by **edmann** » Tue Feb 03, 2004 2:45 pm

thanks Kim

would you mind breaking this down for me? I am not quite sure how to interpret your list

thanks again

Ed

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Tue Feb 03, 2004 3:01 pm

Lemme give it a try.

"BlueSynth: 2x16+4 =36" means:
-2 bluesynth's with max polyphony: 16 voices is maximum in SFP.
-one bluesynth with 4 voives.
So 36 voices of bluesynth are available on his dual Scope system.

borg · Post by **borg** » Wed Feb 04, 2004 2:24 am

On 2004-02-03 15:01, at0mic wrote:
So 36 voices of bluesynth are available on his dual Scope system.

which means 36 voices on 30 dsps (2*15 dsps, however, if you have big boards, one dsp is taken for the system managment...)
just to be complete and clear.

Spirit · Post by **Spirit** » Wed Feb 04, 2004 4:16 am

OK, my turn at this ....

With good synths (subjective I know) you'll get bewteen 0.5 and 1 voice per DSP. So with a Pulsar II you'll get from 6 - 12 voices with the better synths.

edmann · Post by **edmann** » Wed Feb 04, 2004 1:19 pm

I see.....well that is a bit more than I anticipated - I guess one really needs a 15 DSP card to cruise easily.

but the Pulsar II should be here today so I will inevitably be posting results and questions

thanks everybody

Ed

Immanuel · Post by **Immanuel** » Thu Feb 05, 2004 8:51 am

Happy working Ed