Newbie buying advice

tobidamoby · Post by **tobidamoby** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 1:57 pm

Hello,

i´m planning to join the creamware club, i´ve already sold my old audiocard...but my budget is limited..

...if i buy 2 used Luna II/Home cards..would that be a good starting point?
do they have the same power as one PulsarII ?
because I don´t need many inputs..

..and i`m working with energyXT..any users here?..any big problems?...especially i´m planning to integrate one of the mixers as eXT has no real mixer...

tobidamoby

[ This Message was edited by: tobidamoby on 2005-12-03 13:59 ]

[ This Message was edited by: tobidamoby on 2005-12-03 14:04 ]

[ This Message was edited by: tobidamoby on 2005-12-03 14:05 ]

[ This Message was edited by: tobidamoby on 2005-12-03 14:06 ]

[ This Message was edited by: tobidamoby on 2005-12-03 14:07 ]

Shroomz~> · Post by **Shroomz~>** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 2:25 pm

Erm welcome ... to a community you are already a part of ... If I'm not mistaken.

This is really funny

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 3:03 pm

Hoi tobidamoby,

2 Luna/Home cards have 6 DSP together, and these will work exactly like a Pulsar2. Here's some thoughts on the differences.

With the Luna's you get more IO, but the audio IO connection on the Luna is a small jack, like most consumer soundcards, and the Pulsar2 has usually cinch/tulip connections. With 2 Luna's you could hook up 2 mono external fx units, guitar pedals are cheap and fun.
A benifit of the P2 is that the IO sit on an exchangeable daughterboard. This makes P2 more flexible, for example for use with balanced (XLR) IO as on the Pulsar2+.
A con of the Luna card, can be that they're connected with STDM. STDM introduces a (couple) sample(s) delay. This can make for phase problems, a no-go for some while others would never notice. A search here on phase problems can elaborate.
[edit] Then there's software differences. The Creamware software licences are registered on a card's serial number. This means that with 2 Luna's, you'll be entitled to 2 Scope OS's- and have all/most device registrations double. The Pulsar2 comes with a more extensive package of registered keys, has more devices, and 100% same OS. Software/plugin wise, the Pulsar2 will -from stock, depending on what the previous owner sells with it- have more devices: better synths, better mixers.

In your place I'd make a choise based on the amount of IO you need (you get more on 2 Luna's), the quality of the IO (Pulsar has cinch standard, optional to XLR), and the phase thing. Next, Ebay or the Pulsar Purchasing forum will come up with different prices, and a best buy can be deceided...

Good luck, and welcome to planetz

at0m.

_________________
more has been done with less

[ This Message was edited by: at0m on 2005-12-03 15:13 ]

Shroomz~> · Post by **Shroomz~>** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 3:21 pm

Inside job, highly suspiscious indeed, but should I be completely wrong, welcome tobymaboby. Welcome to PlanetZ where you will get lots of help & advise from the community.

tobidamoby · Post by **tobidamoby** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 3:41 pm

..okay thanks so far..

what about the older Pulsar I?... I have seen it very cheap sometimes (around 200€)...what´s the difference between PulsarI and II except that it has only 4 DSP?...i´ve heard it has bad latency (13ms), that would be too much for me...

...and what about this dsp expansion card? is it worth buying it, too..any software benefits?

..how much would you spend for a used PulsarII or 2xLunaII (in Euro) and are there any charges for "Reregistering" the software (i don´t know the right english word

)

..and i forgot to mention..i own a preamp with optical Output..can i connect it to a Pulsar?

tobidamoby

[ This Message was edited by: tobidamoby on 2005-12-03 15:43 ]

[ This Message was edited by: tobidamoby on 2005-12-03 15:45 ]

[ This Message was edited by: tobidamoby on 2005-12-03 15:50 ]

Shroomz~> · Post by **Shroomz~>** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 4:07 pm

Other than what you've mentioned & included software packs (which DO change) the only real difference would be that the Pulsar2 has 2 STDM busses. The appearance of dual busses 'should' mean that you can double the DSP communication throughput between cards, thus doubling the max number of inter-card connections. This has yet to be verified to me though, despite posting a thread for people to post their STDM configs, which was mostly mocked & interupted.

Post by **garyb** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 5:33 pm

the i/o and pci bus usage on a pulsar2 are much better than on the p1. you do get the benefits of the newer card when the old card is mixed with the new, however. they are two very different cards.

next to nothing · Post by **next to nothing** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 5:36 pm

On 2005-12-03 15:03, at0m wrote:

With the Luna's you get more IO, but the audio IO connection on the Luna is a small jack, like most consumer soundcards, and the Pulsar2 has usually cinch/tulip connections.

have to correct u here. Luna II cards have stereo regular "big" jack inputs and outputs, not mini-jacks.