Origins
The Waldorf Pulse Plus emerged in 1997 as an enhanced version of Waldorf's highly successful Pulse synthesizer, which had taken the electronic music world by storm upon its release in 1996. Waldorf Electronics GmbH, founded in 1988 by Wolfgang Dueren in the German town of Waldorf near Bonn, had already established itself as a serious synthesizer manufacturer through its Microwave wavetable synthesizer series. The company carried forward the legacy of PPG (Palm Products Germany) after that pioneering wavetable company ceased operations in 1987.
Design Philosophy
The Pulse Plus was designed by Wolfram Franke and the Waldorf engineering team with a clear mission: to create the ultimate analog monosynth for the MIDI era while maintaining connectivity to the pre-MIDI vintage synthesizers that many producers still cherished. The original Pulse had already won acclaim for its three powerful oscillators, snappy envelopes, and that 'morbidly obese' 24dB low-pass filter that could rival a Minimoog. The Plus version added the two most-requested features: a comprehensive CV/Gate interface and an external audio input.
The synthesizer's architecture centered on three digitally-controlled analog oscillators (DCOs) that combined the stability of digital control with the warmth of analog sound generation. The oscillator design was particularly clever - Waldorf determined that three oscillators were optimal because two could occasionally phase-cancel each other, while a third oscillator filled in the sonic gaps. The filter, based on Minimoog-style cascade circuitry but using more stable modern components, offered keyboard tracking across approximately 10 octaves without the thermal drift issues that plagued vintage designs.
The CV/Gate Interface
What truly distinguished the Pulse Plus was its extensive CV/Gate implementation. While many contemporary analog synthesizers included basic CV/Gate connections, the Pulse Plus offered a remarkably comprehensive solution with eight parameters for fine-tuning. It supported both Oct/Volt (Moog, Roland, Sequential) and Hz/Volt (Korg MS series, Yamaha CS) standards, with four selectable triggering modes. A second CV output (CV2) could be assigned to any of the 15 modulation sources, effectively turning the Pulse Plus into a dual-channel MIDI-to-CV converter. The interface could even be assigned its own MIDI channel, operating independently of the synthesizer voice.
Sound and Capabilities
The Pulse Plus excelled at the fundamental analog synthesizer tasks: thunderous basses, searing leads, and squelching filter sweeps. Its envelopes, with an update rate of 523Hz (1.9ms), were among the fastest in the analog world, delivering punchy, percussive attacks that suited dance music perfectly. The two LFOs offered an exceptionally wide frequency range from 0.0008Hz to 261Hz (MIDI note C3), with LFO 1 gaining MIDI synchronization in later OS versions.
The external audio input opened new creative possibilities, allowing producers to route external signals through the Pulse's filter and overdrive circuitry. When combined with the arpeggiator - which could sync to MIDI clock and offered 16 pattern variations - the Pulse Plus became a powerful tool for processing and transforming external audio sources.
Notable Users
The Pulse Plus found its way into the rigs of numerous electronic music producers. Notable users included Hardfloor, the German acid house duo who appreciated its TB303-emulating capabilities; 808 State, the Manchester acid house pioneers; Sneaker Pimps, the British trip-hop act; Nine Inch Nails, who utilized its aggressive industrial tones; Moby, who incorporated its sounds into his electronic compositions; and Jimmy Edgar, the electronic musician and producer known for his work in IDM and techno.
Production History
The Pulse Plus was released in early 1997, following closely on the heels of the original Pulse's late 1996 debut. Production continued through the late 1990s, though exact discontinuation dates are unclear. Waldorf Electronics GmbH declared insolvency in February 2004, effectively ending production of all their instruments from this era. The Pulse Plus was never officially superseded within the original Waldorf Electronics lineage - though the company would eventually release the Pulse 2 in 2013 under the new Waldorf Music GmbH, this was effectively a different instrument with paraphonic capabilities and a desktop form factor.
The original Pulse Plus remains sought after on the used market, particularly by musicians who value its CV/Gate interfacing capabilities and its position as one of the finest analog monosynths of the late 1990s. Reviewers at the time praised it as potentially 'the best analogue monosynth I've ever owned - even including my Minimoog,' a testament to its exceptional sound quality and modern integration capabilities.