Got my PolyPulse, Questions, Comments and Review

PolyPulse
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Hello! So my PolyPulse came in today. I am attaching quick room audio video (unlisted YouTube link) of tonights experiments. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FeP7mx5EDbM

So first the good (or great even). The Sound of the engines and what you can do are absolutely brilliant. Any reservations I had about the capability of the sound engines when mixed with effects and modulation have been quelled. The unit has a fidelity and punch that is rare for digital products these days. I wonder if its partly due to the obvious extensive internal analog mixer… It has the punch of a Jomox drum machine. The fidelity is just beyond top tier.

However, I have CPU overload much quicker than I expected. With just two tracks being triggered by midi (with effects and some modulation) I was getting digital CPU clipping even with polyphony set as low as 3 for both tracks. I wonder if it really has trouble handling midi input on two or more tracks at once. As I really want to use this as a pad machine this is problematic for my usage. Obviously this wasn’t its main focus but I really wanted to play some at least 3 note chords live (using two tracks…)

And my only other concern is the file saving structure is so complicated I am going to get lost in project saves. In fact so far everytime I save a project when I reload it says project contains no files. But the individual instruments do save but this is becoming a cumbersome mess of saves and I’ve only had it for one day. It really needs a save all to project option. I also notice the track settings (like midi input) don’t save. So this has been a bit of a headache.

Also I wish the manual was clearer. Many things I could find but some I couldn’t, like what the three envelopes in the subtractive engine are set to, I’m guessing amp ADR for Both osc in group A and 3rd envelope for Group B? The File saving part of the manual isn’t clear. It seems you have to save every single separate thing individually like note lists, sample lists, instruments, morph, and project?

So I am both in love and frustrated. In love because the sounds are amazing, yet frustrated because of saving issues and CPU overload when just using two tracks for even just 3 notes. The synth engines have huge depth for pad but for me really only as they become layered.

That said I am impressed with the sound of the filters, effects, fidelity, everything, the whole concept, it is a modern masterpiece. I do not understand why it doesn’t have more exposure on line. The sound quality, punch, modulation, sequencer, even the look. I think once more demos show what this can do it will really open up peoples ears and wallets to this thing.

It is beautiful.

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Yup, as soon as I listened to your YouTube track, my first question was going to be about your CPU usage. You make some great sounds there, but long envelopes due to long attacks or releases that overlap with others will gobble up CPU. It’s unfortunate, as the first thing I tried on my PP was, basically, 7-note chord drones. You have to keep an eye on the polyphony count and CPU, and that’s your lot. I wonder if it will be possible in the future for the user to upgrade the CPU as more powerful ones are released over the years. I don’t think Ward designed it with user-upgradable CPU’s in mind though.

Offloading CPU cycles is why I’m looking forward to MIDI out, and I guess why Ward has made that his top priority. I also use external FX for reverbs and delays, saving the onboard ones for stuff that I want to morph. The PP is a nice balance of several features that have to be managed, and I’m happy to watch these threads for tips and tricks.

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I really hope some enhancements can squeeze out a bit more for the evolved synth sounds as that is my primary use scenario haha. I want to be able to host an ambient night at the school I teach at and send different tracks to different speakers so ideally I bought it for its standalone (no extra effects) capabilities. I have too many synths and a HAPAX sequencer already so I can do a lot in studio but that isn’t portable. None of this takes away that PolyPulse has some definite beautiful unique things to it but it would be my ultimate all in one if there was a better way to manage CPU,. It’s really a unique sound design dream

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The sounds in that video are just two tracks both set at 2 voice polyphony with one monophonic note list pulse each and the CPU hit was 84% across the board

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84% means you weren’t clipping, I expect. That’s not an uncomfortable number to see at all, particularly when you’ve hard-limited total polyphony to 4. You just just have to become used to managing the polyphony limitation in relation to your FX usage. In my case, I really wanted to have per-track FX chains instead of master FX sent to track 5. CPU limits what you can do there, so I’m quite happy to go with my high-end external multi-FX box, Fractal Axe-FX III Turbo, to process PP tracks individually by routing. That’s not a feasible solution for most people due to cost and bulk of the Axe-FX, but it allowed me to liquidate every single one of my many FX devices over the past few years.

I’ve had the crazy notion of adding a second PP, but even aside from the expense, the footprint issue breaks the deal. And “playing” two PP’s simultaneously might be more pain than fun because even if they sync clocks, you can’t share note lists in real time. I wonder if Ward can create some sort of chain mode using the ethernet ports.

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yeah, it didn’t clip from the sequencer but did from midi input. it was two basically monophonic tracks which had 2 polyphony each to allow envelopes to play out some, and a few effects (including reverb and delay on track 5). I will have test more but I don’t see how I will be able to get, as Ward wrote in another thread “only 16 voices for the whole machine + 2 FX per track t… only 8 voices in total + 4 FX per track it would make people who want to do big chords unhappy.”

If I can hit those numbers I will be happy. As I said, I have plenty of outboard effects and plenty of synths (too many…) The point of this box is very much to be standalone for what I bought it for (and at the price…) It’s too expensive for me for it to just be a sequencer of my other synths (especially since I already have a HAPAX, a Toriaz, Digtakt etc. etc.)

However it is absolutely the most unique and forward thinking new piece of tech that has come out in the last few years. It is completely original in a landscape that is often recycling incrementally advanced versions of what came before. Maybe once I sample my synths in, using those in the granular engine will be more CPU forgiving. I am still getting to know it so I am sure it will surprise me with some of what it can do. But its $2,100 dollars so if I can’t get at least 6 voices out of it when utilizing its effects etc… Well I am an ambient artist so its sample drum algorithmic groove box aspects are secondary. If it can do 8 voices in total with 4 effects per track like Ward stated elsewhere than it’s a 100% a keeper. Even at 6 voices and 3 effects per track. Much more experimentation to do…

These comments do not take away that I think this is an amazingly forward thinking incredible piece of gear. It’s offering many things into my setup I hadn’t considered before so I won’t be able to judge their value until I experiment them. So far I’ve been an ambient synth guy so I am relating to it first from my own limited field of vision. However it also had commercial value, I planned to use it in a multiple speaker setup for creating background music for Yoga classes etc,.

Right now my immediate concern is project saving lol.

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Hey this sounds great!

You should be able to just save a project which saves all relevant data.

If you save something and then shut down the PolyPulse by simply pulling the plug it could result in files being corrupted: they seem to exist but they don’t contain any data. By pressing [edit]+[settings] and selecting shutdown PolyPulse the machine makes sure all data is properly written to the disk. This is the same principle as shutting down computers or safely ejecting USB-drives.

The tracks settings such as (audio routing and MIDI input settings) are saved with tracks if saved as part of a project.

You can save individual files but in most cases just saving the project is all you need to do.

Let me know there are still problems with getting projects to correctly save/load.

Yes so subtractive with group A in quad RM mode (currently the only mode) has 4 oscs split into two groups, each with an AHD envelope. The third AHD env is indeed for group B.

Thanks for all the kinds words!

I do understand and feel the frustration of offering all these possibilities and seemingly limitlessness in the design but coupled with a CPU that sometimes gets in the way.

In general sample based sound engines have better performance in comparison to the synthesis based sound engines. As for sound effects, fade delay, delay and reverb tend to use more CPU in comparison to other effects. For ambient I would encourage you to play with fade delay as it is a sort of blend between delay and reverb, and has a sort of internal feedback compressor so it can sustain (and evolve) very long.

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