10 The Pulsar-23 Notebook : Reference & Guide
Overview
1
1.5 Glossary of Terms
While you may think this should be hidden at the back of this book, understanding the terminology
associated with these topics and especially the Pulsar-23 will help unlock it’s power and
performance. It makes sense to become familiar early with the essential terms to help embed into
your workow.
Attenuator: A function which can control a signal by
turning it down thereby attenuates the signal. Think
of a volume control as an attenuator. Pulsar-23 can
attenuate both CV and Audio signals.
Bank: The organisation of looper recordings,
structured in banks, accessible with the
REC.CONT Recording control. There are 4 banks,
each of which consists of 4 loops.
Capacitor: An electronic component that stores
energy when charged and releases energy to the
circuit when required. Adds character within the
circuit bending options of Pulsar-23 and changes a
signals shape.
Clock: The element that manages the timing of the
Pulsar-23 controls, and affects loop lengths. The
CLK - Clock signals can be patched to create and
control loops and sequences.
CV: Control voltage is commonly found in modular
systems and allows patching and interconnection
between functions using voltage ranges to control
parameter settings and create modulation.
Pulsar-23 has +10V patching options and uniquely
on board CV and Audio can also be patched to
interact creatively together.
Diode: An electronic component that passes
current only in one direction and operates with a
non-linear resistance. Adds character and cool
features within the circuit bending options.
Envelope: An ENV - Envelope is used to modulate
and shape parameters and audio over time.
Pulsar-23 has an ATT - Attack and REL - Release
envelope assigned to each of it’s four voices.
External. External controls and audio can be
connected from another separate device to
Pulsar-23. The MIX IN and EXT patch points allow
audio patching while MIDI and CV patching offers
control interfacing.
Feedback: This is a technique often found within
effects and electronic instruments where the
output from a sound (or part of) is fed back into the
input. Delays for example use FB - Feedback to
develop an echo effect.
Filter: A lter is a function that cuts (attenuates) or
boosts FREQ - frequencies at selected points in
the audio spectrum to help shape the sound. The
key elements represented in Pulsar-23 are FR -
Frequency cutoff point and Q - Resonance, which
boosts the level at the frequency cutoff point.
FX: A number of master effects are provided
including REV - Reverb or DLY - Delay as
congurable effects as well as a distortion effect.
Gate: Similar to a trigger but more typically a more
sustained ‘on’ pulse that initiates an event until the
gate is ‘off’. Pulsar can transform gates to triggers
within the circuit bend section.
Inverter: A function which takes an input and
inverts and changes it on its output. For example a
signal range of 0-10 on the input would become
10-0 at its output.
LED: Light Emitting Diode. An illuminated light that
provides a visual indication of a state.
LFO: Low frequency oscillator which is normally
used to modulate parameters for sound design
and movement but in Pulsar-23, can be used to
generate sound.
Loop Recording: The process of replaying audio or
a pattern continuously in a dened cycle e.g. start
to end then start to end. Sounds can be triggered
to REC - Record in loop mode. The on-board
functions, REC.CONT - Recording control and also
the LRST - Looper restart support loop control.
Loop recorder is sometimes called LR.
