The Sound Board

A name not often mentioned — in fact, I can’t immediately recall it ever being mentioned here or on V.I.-C — is Pulsar Audio, a small French plug-in developer with a small number of products (only three): Pulsar Echorec, Pulsar Mu and Pulsar Slammer. All three very much in the mock-retro/vintage/analog area of signal processing.

Even if you have only a slight interest in this type of processing, definitely hop over to the Pulsar website and do some reading and listening. Of special interest is the Echorec, a software emulation of the iconic magnetic disc echo/delay unit of the same name produced by the Italian brand Binson in the 1960s.

Anyway, Pulsar is having a Black Friday sale and until December 6th, their 3 plugins (Echorec, Mu & Smasher) are respectively 70%, 67% and 60% off.




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I'm pretty sure you must have mentioned this once before Piet - because I am on their mailing list - and now this post. Seems like you really dig their Echorec and I looked into it at one point, but thought $99 was too much for something I didn't think I would use much. But now, at $29 - seems like a no brainer.

I have a strict no purchase thing going on right now, but this may tip me over the edge. I'm going to explore and see if it is something I would find useful.
Cheers

If there’s anyone here to whom I would heartily recommend the Echorec, it is you, Kayle. If a big part of your music output relies on evoking the recorded sound of past era’s, it would almost be inexplicable not to get this plugin at its current price.
While I’m fairly sure that one can get pretty close to what the Echorec’s doing with a clever combination of other plugins — which is why I agree that $99 could have left one doubting —, there’s something very appealing (and creatively stimulating) about simply inserting a single plugin into a track and have it instantly produce the exact effect and sound you’d hope it would produce. (And the more I’m doing these pseudo-retro sounding projects, the more I am convinced that the right delay, much more than the right reverb (whatever that may be), is the key to that 50’s-60’s-70’s sound and atmosphere.)

The Pulsar Mu is a good one too. For the same reasons. Me, I’m not a fan of compressors that can make sounds whack and slam — I just don’t like that sound — but I’m very much a fan of compressors that can stir up, so to speak, the inner energy of a track — like when you use a bellows to blow air into a fire — and the Mu is just that: a sort of sonic bellows. (It can handle other compressor duties as well of course.)

If you’re not convinced yet, just spend a few more hours with the demo versions of the software. Or not, if you fear what the outcome — viz. a purchase — might be.

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If I did not already have these kinds of sounds covered with UAD equivalents, I would be very interested indeed at these prices.

This might be the coolest Binson Echorec emulation I've heard! I love the UA tape echo plugins, and I actually turn to the Cooper Time Cube most often (never had the real deal). The u-He Satin gets a lot closer than I'd have expected, and SoundToys Echoboy also does a nice job. I'm also playing with their Crusher, but I think I have that covered.

At 29€ this is 'bout as close to a no-brainer as I've seen in a while. (disclaimer - I really am a sucker for a cool delay). I will spend a couple of days with the demo, and compare it to the Audiority T7E (roughly the same price). I remember trying the Overloud version Echoson, and it was cool, but at the time I did not think the bang for the buck was there.

It sticks in my mind that I have heard the name Pulsar Audio before, so take a bow Piet! And thanks!

The Mu is currently my go to compressor. It just makes everything sound wonderful.