…would be nice to hear what it’s capable of 
Sound really nice:
But looking at the layout the sound editing is basically the same as on the Blofeld. One of the main reasons I’ve sold my Blofeld was the menu diving, so…
Friggen shite gearlust. I want, but I do know its no good for me…
Here’s a short 7 minute video showing how easy and quick it is to set-up multiple arps; multi’s on the Blofeld and how the very large graphic display actually leaves nothing to guesswork or confusion. There’s just as much “menu-diving” on our beloved Elekton Machines. This matrix/grid programming is massively improved on new Pulse 2 in comparison to the Classic Pulse+ I have where the matrix/grid is just fine but we have only a three digit LED display…compare that to this same large editing display Blofeld has, it’s not hard at all. Deep and very capable synths require one to think and sometimes think much differently than one’s used to, such are great Elektron Machines as well. This is all subjective but then again, if you want to experience difficult interfaces, try a DX7 or a Kawai K5000S, or any of the synths from period of late 80’s to early 90’s where you were lucky to even have a volume knob and a tiny screen to do deep editing.
One big letdown with the pulse 2 large display is that they have completely thrown away all the visual filter and envelope graphics feedback used in the Blo - in fact there is next to no indication on screen as to parameter values until you touch an encoder 
The display is basically permanently displaying the patch number in 3/4 of the screen except in the mod matrix and global menus. Big waste of screen space, hopefully they’ll improve this in the 2016 firmware update
Sounds great though - and much less complex to edit as they have improved the flow and obviously there’s less parts to edit than the Blo. My guess is they decided to start from scratch rather than port any of the nice Blo visuals over from its buggy, unfinished OS.
I had a Pulse a few years ago and sold it and a bunch of other kit when I got a Supernova II. I did seriously love the sound but I go for synths with built in FX now. External FX boxes all have to be MIDIed up for prog change and delay clocking, L&R audio ins and outs, power supplies etc etc. The spaghetti was getting right out of hand!
Want value for money from Waldorf? Wave plus iPad takes some beating.
There’s also a new O.S. posted on Waldorf website…might take a look because I too noticed in the text file of update that it looked like a bunch of new parameters and FX are or will be added with this. O.S. 1.10
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Reading the oscillator section in the manual it appears they are using a programable array of some sort.
“The following shapes are currently available…”
FYI–The MicroQ and Blofeld synth are not trying to be analog…at all. The Blofeld is quite wonderful for ambient atmospheric music, much better than something like the Solaris or similar software with a box and knobs that sounds weak, and both the Classic Pulse and new Pulse 2 are as real analog you can get from subtle to rip your face off aggressiveness and Classic Pulse is still used by Nine Inch Nails in studio and current tour, Front Line Assembly, and even Brian Eno.
It’s no slouch in the ballsy bass department and will eat both the Bass Station and Mopho as an appetizer.
My Waldorf Q is still much deeper and lethal synth than both of my Virus.
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Well you are right. Maybe it was wrong looking for that analog sound when I used Waldorf stuff. I was a bit disappointed as the sound was rather thin. But I didn’t create pads and atmos at that time. Thanks for your post!
FYI–The MicroQ and Blofeld synth are not trying to be analog…at all. The Blofeld is quite wonderful for ambient atmospheric music, much better than something like the Solaris or similar software with a box and knobs that sounds weak, and both the Classic Pulse and new Pulse 2 are as real analog you can get from subtle to rip your face off aggressiveness and Classic Pulse is still used by Nine Inch Nails in studio and current tour, Front Line Assembly, and even Brian Eno.
It’s no slouch in the ballsy bass department and will eat both the Bass Station and Mopho as an appetizer.
My Waldorf Q is still much deeper and lethal synth than both of my Virus.
[/quote]
Well you are right. Maybe it was wrong looking for that analog sound when I used Waldorf stuff. I was a bit disappointed as the sound was rather thin. But I didn’t create pads and atmos at that time. Thanks for your post![/quote]
surely not trying to emulate the analog sound of analog synths. the XT/Q/Blofeld simply use different synthesis methods (wavetable synthesis and FM synthesis, and you may even get close enough to analog sounds 
) … the Pulse is a real analog synth and that makes things a bit different. i hope the Pulse 2 comes with an improved user interface so to make all the available parameters (especially the matrix ones) more easily accessible…if that’s the case, i may think of getting one, but for the moment, i’ll stick to my beloved (old) Pulse 
I particularly like the bit in the manual that says when the user selects program number 500 the unit creates a random patch, much quicker than the usual shift/utility menu biz from the other Waldorfs… Be nice to see hear that randomisation on an analogue beef burger. Mmm, I shall keep my bea®dy eye on this slab -_•
Waldorf included the old random function from the org pulse
really shaping up as a must buy !!
Does anyone know what the new O.S. 1.10 for Pulse 2 posted few days ago adds exactly? there’s no ‘inf.’ file describing anything and reason asking.
From what I read in manual, as soon as you select program 500 an automatic random patch is generated, whereas on my Pulse+ one had to hit a few buttons while program 99 was on LED screen. Cool stuff.
It also seems unclear how one is to update the pulse 2–by USB? Does one need to use the Spectre Program? Love Waldorf instruments but they really need to improve communication to their customers…and that’s why asking if anyone that owns Pulse 2 knows what new O.S. adds!?!
Lastly, to those that may own Pulse 2, does the large screen display graphically the envelopes, filter, drive curve, oscillators, and detailed Arp programming?
Thanks in advance. Avidly interested but learned that unlike my Pulse+, which has cv/gate IN and three cv/gate OUTs; the new Pulse 2 only has cv/gate OUT, more or less acting as a midi/cv converter. Whereas my Pulse+ having the cv/gate in makes for a great CV Track synth for Analog Four.
Analog Four REALLY NEEDS full midi out, which as much as I love it, seems like a bit of a crippling omission for we that have all hardware synth set-ups. Would love for it to have the same external midi tracks as the MnM has to perhaps drive something like the Pulse 2.
OS 1.10 = bugfixes and some under the hood features such as additional sysex support (sysex needs a bit of work here and there).
Updating the Pulse 2 is as simple as running the OSX tool they provide or sening the .sex file to the Pulse 2 using any tool that supports sending sysex files. You can offer the sesex to the USB of midi ports. The device will recognize that a new OS is offered and start updating itself.
The Pulse 2 does NOT draw envelope, filter or drive curve on the screen. It does provide a pretty detailed ARP programming screen but I think it is different compared to the Blofeld.
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The bug fixes in the new OS include a fix to the distortion volumes that were a bit quiet at very low levels, and a midi fix that caused the arp to stick.
The screen is under utilised - huge screen mostly displaying the patch number = meh.
But - it sounds incredible and is tight as a gnats chuff
Maybe this time waldorf focused on features and not eyecandy. Maybe the screen will get a makeover when all features are stable.
^^ agree - for example, I think they did a good job of improving the matrix workflow - it’s extremely quick to edit compared to the Blo - surely because less complex, but everything is literally at your fingertips in this matrix - they just need to fix the fact that you can’t see any param values at all until you turn an encoder - that screen is really wasted, I can’t stress that enough - it’s actually quite dumb as an info screen right now, unless your eyes are bad and you really really need to know that your on preset “P.101” or whatever.
After my complaint about this in a KVR-VST topic and the discussion following from it forum member EvilDragon created this example:
This is not just some random idea. He actually calculated the exact pixels needed for every character and made sure it fit the actual screen.
In my opinion this would immediately solve most of the feedback issues. Visual feedback for drive curves, filter curves and envelope curves are nice to haves but not essential.
The animated gif above was sent to Waldorf as a suggestion, let’s hope they think it’s a great solution too!
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Anybody else have any experiences with the Pulse 2 that they would like to share?
also curious about this: How are the encoders on the PII? Do they have the same problems as the blofeld?