The Pulsar system from CreamWare is a Software / Hardware DSP-based music production environment for your PC. The hardware component is a PCI board for PC devices and MAC. The Pulsar DSP board brings it all together - integrating mixing, effects, sampling and synthesis, all at the highest digital standards, in one ultra-powerful and compatible DSP environment. This works with software integrating and giving you control of the mixing, effects, sampling, synthesis, routing, automation and so much more! And because it has 4 dedicated SHARC processors there is no audible latency, and no power is drained from your host processor.

For your external equipment, Pulsar functions just like a mixer - with 20 channels input you can connect your external effects and your sampling and synthesis hardware to Pulsar's I/Os and use them as inserts within the Pulsar environment. Pulsar features 'total recall' for easy storage and retrieval of your set-ups and mixes. The Pulsar is highly flexible and can function as a hub of your Midi studio where every driver, every physical I/O and every "device" (i.e. synths, effects etc.) is represented as a module that has audio (and or MIDI) connections ("pads"). Every audio pad can connect to any other audio pad connecting the different pieces of gear you use in your studio setup.

The Pulsar features a Modular Synthesizer section. It offers over 100 synth components or modules that you can freely connect and interconnect to design your own sounds, with virtually no limits! Patches for the Pulsar Modular can be saved and exchanged with other Pulsar users. The modular elements include a sample player, inserts and the Pulsar DSP effects. You can even use some Windows software source as an oscillator element. The Pulsar ships with a bonus Waldorf 3rd party 2-oscillator module using their famous wavetable synthesis.

The Pulsar also features a professional quality digital sample player. Load banks off of AKAI-compatible sound CDs with envelope and filter settings from your CD-ROM drive of your computer. It has a filter section, up to 64 stereo-voices and all the functionality of a pro-sampler.

Finally there is the 32-channel digital mixer. The mixer can be freely connected with other modules - such as external audio sources (via the I/O input channels), Pulsar software devices (e.g. a synth), or Windows software outputs (via virtual card drivers). Each channel strip of the 32 channels has 4-band parametric EQ, four Pulsar effects inserts, and 8 auxiliary busses for internal or external effects. The Mixer also has 16 record busses/subgroups allowing you to input the record signal via your Windows software. The master section of the Pulsar mixer features dithering to 16-bit. That helps to get your 24-bit productions down to 16 bit while maintaining the quality advantage.