not worth the time or money
poor sounds, limited uses
Retro beats
The Pulsar-ES does has its flaws but so does vintage electronic music gear. With this in mind it adds to the experience with its simplistic interface.
Not a lot to tweak but the real gem is the sound… it is very analog and retro low fi sounding.
I did find that using it in AUM the temp was a fraction lagging. Not bad, just slightly behind a 4/4 bass drum supplied from GR16.
5 star for authenticity
Not a lot to tweak but the real gem is the sound… it is very analog and retro low fi sounding.
I did find that using it in AUM the temp was a fraction lagging. Not bad, just slightly behind a 4/4 bass drum supplied from GR16.
5 star for authenticity
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Great responsive developer!
I’m still working on editing my initial review, it’s not letting me do so per the instructions, so as a stop-gap I wanted to and another to say this is a great app, it sounds distinctive, and as a replication of an esoteric piece of vintage hardware is a lot of fun to use. As a preset drum machine, effects like delay and replicant 3 can really open up the possibilities of the sounds. I really like it. Definitely worth the money. Things like this should be understood for what they are, not what they aren’t. They are great places to start a process as it puts you somewhere you wouldn’t usually be. Thanks again and I’ll try to get my old review off the store. I shouldn’t have been as critical as I was, given that people are sometimes not as understanding as they should be as to what they’re getting for the money. But hanks so much for being so responsive!
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Response from developer
Thank you for your review. We have fixed all the bugs that you mentioned. Please check the latest update of the app. We are dedicated to addressing any issues and are open to hearing any feature requests.
Fun app
Great little app to get started with. Love the authentic beats, pretty much like ones I looked up on original device recordings. Lots of potential.
Decent
It’s definitely a decent app. Not amazing but, maybe with some updates and whatnot it’ll be more usable.
Like the idea, needs some work
Something like Pulsar I find useful to just get a beat going and jam along.
So, Pulsar should be good for this.
However, just playing with it for a few minutes discloses some issues.
1. You can have sound, or have MIDI out . Not both. Correction; not on an iPhone or as an AUv3 in AUM, but it does as a stand-alone on an iPad.
2. The AUv3 extension doesn’t display properly on an iPhone in AUM. You can’t see the controls and the GUI doesn’t resize to show the whole front panel. The parameters aren’t exposed for external control, so I can’t see it currently working in AUM.
Switching to IAA on an iPhone does result in being able to access the controls, but we’re passed IAA aren’t we?
3. Setting the BPM is hit-or-miss. It’s OK having a slider for authenticity, but I find that when I lift my finger after arriving at my preferred BPM, the speed often jumps a few beats in value, and although the BPM is displayed in the top right, it is not possible to enter a value.
4. The BPM doesn’t seem correct to me. A supposed 120 BPM sound more like 60 BPM - I will confirm this later after I’ve captured the MIDI.
5. On an iPad Air 2. The GUI doesn’t display properly at full size in AUM
6. I’m finding that when I restart AUM the app isn’t loading. Need to reload it each time.
7. More fundamentally, it isn’t working correctly as an AUv3 in AUM. The beat is glitchy and sounds like there are notes randomly repeating. There’s a lag between the transport Play button press and any sound.
I appreciate that AUM is not universal but it’s used by a lot of people.
8. Tried it in Garage Band. Similar problems with GUI. Didn’t seem to function; no response to Play on host or on app. Also Cubasis 3. Similar issues.
I probably could find more problems if I carry on. But I think the comments I’ve made are an indication it needs more work and is currently not particularly useful.
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I’ve initially given the app three stars. Given the above this might be generous.
I’m not sure I will be keeping the app.
So, Pulsar should be good for this.
However, just playing with it for a few minutes discloses some issues.
1. You can have sound, or have MIDI out . Not both. Correction; not on an iPhone or as an AUv3 in AUM, but it does as a stand-alone on an iPad.
2. The AUv3 extension doesn’t display properly on an iPhone in AUM. You can’t see the controls and the GUI doesn’t resize to show the whole front panel. The parameters aren’t exposed for external control, so I can’t see it currently working in AUM.
Switching to IAA on an iPhone does result in being able to access the controls, but we’re passed IAA aren’t we?
3. Setting the BPM is hit-or-miss. It’s OK having a slider for authenticity, but I find that when I lift my finger after arriving at my preferred BPM, the speed often jumps a few beats in value, and although the BPM is displayed in the top right, it is not possible to enter a value.
4. The BPM doesn’t seem correct to me. A supposed 120 BPM sound more like 60 BPM - I will confirm this later after I’ve captured the MIDI.
5. On an iPad Air 2. The GUI doesn’t display properly at full size in AUM
6. I’m finding that when I restart AUM the app isn’t loading. Need to reload it each time.
7. More fundamentally, it isn’t working correctly as an AUv3 in AUM. The beat is glitchy and sounds like there are notes randomly repeating. There’s a lag between the transport Play button press and any sound.
I appreciate that AUM is not universal but it’s used by a lot of people.
8. Tried it in Garage Band. Similar problems with GUI. Didn’t seem to function; no response to Play on host or on app. Also Cubasis 3. Similar issues.
I probably could find more problems if I carry on. But I think the comments I’ve made are an indication it needs more work and is currently not particularly useful.
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I’ve initially given the app three stars. Given the above this might be generous.
I’m not sure I will be keeping the app.
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