P42 Climax MOD
Overview
Pulsar Modular P42 Climax is an innovative multifaceted powerstrip for tone shaping/coloration, saturation and conjures more of the idea of working with multiple pro-grade audio hardware units. P42 Climax begins with the heartbeat of a hardware line amp, and ends on every single track because it has the cpu coverage to do so (more than 300 instances in a single session). Sculpt your perfect sound whether processing a single instrument, grouped tracks, the 2-bus or even when mastering. The sound is simply… unbelievable!
P42 Climax is a chameleon like, able to assimilate many different coloring hardware devices, but never intended to copy any single one! P42 Climax works magic on drum bus, snare, and of course the bass guitar. Inserting P42 on the 2-bus track, immediately opens up your mix and exposes hidden gems in your mix. With its Mid/Side processing and detailed metering (peak, RMS and LUFS) and Auto. Gain Compensation workflow, P42 fits nicely into your mastering signal chain, making it an essential tool to most Mastering engineers around the world.
Features
- Organic hardware-like feel & behavior.
- Pulsar Modular signature Shelving boost EQ (Low & High).
- Switch shelves to proportional boost EQ.
- Signature LPF and HPF.
- Tube-like odd harmonics saturation slider.
- Super low cpu tax and zero sample latency!
- Works with Mono, Dual Mono or Stereo signal.
- All parameters are exposed to your DAW for automation.
- macOS: AU, AAX and VST3 formats.
- Windows: VST3 and AAX formats.
- Linux LV2 format coming soon!
Videos
Audio Examples
Artist Reviews
Scott Weiser (AKA Jackal & Hyde)
Lunar Lander is INCREDIBLE! Realistic BBD Delay behavior.
Scott is responsible for some of the most head strong electrocore bass-bangers such as Dark Star, Go Bang, Beyond, This is the Sound of Underground and Bad Robot.
Marc Codsi
Extremely lush melodic plate reverb emulation. I use it when I want to add character to a sound.
Marc Codsi is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and film composer.
Jérémie Regnier
I am stuck on Lunar Lander plate reverb 3- so much cream – Wow!
Composer, producer and performer.
Specification
Supported Plugin Formats
AU, VST3, AAX (Apple Silicon ready).
Supported Operating Systems
macOS 10.14+
Windows 10+
Mac
Apple Silicon M1 Native and Intel CPU (Universal 2 Binary)
PC
x64-compatible CPU
System Requirements
Display resolution: 1440 × 900px or 1280 × 960px or higher
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Copy Protection
A one-time challenge & response over the internet. License works on up two separate machines.
Downloads
Latest User Guide
For previously authorized computers
Please deauthorize before upgrading to v5.6.4
- PEAK RMS or Avg RMS are now displayed without a switch button.
- Dual Mono code CPU optimized and improved sound. The sound difference can be characterized as more open, less edgy.
- New stable authorization routine for Windows.
- Upgraded analog behaving circuitry (taken from P440).
- Dual-mono and Transformer (TX) are now accessible from the horizontal menu bar.
- Re-implemented the SHIFT-INPUT or Output Drive with auto compensation from the MAIN OUT Knob (Locks best in PT then Logic and to a lesser extent in Live).
- Fixed P42 Oversampling in Steinberg WaveLab Pro.
- Updated User Guides.
Users need to deactivate P42 first.
1) Deactivate P42 v4 mod upgrade, if you have.
2) Deactivate P42 license.
3)Then install the new version.
- French user guide added.
- Updated Japanese user guide.
- Fixed Windows Operating System losing authorization in certain computers.
WINDOWS users ONLY: deauthorize before the upgrade. If stuck, Email support.
- 100% compatibility with v4
- More headroom and clarity.
- Additional precision with the Saturation knob.
- Save each instance of the Plugin Window size and location within your DAW.
- HPF starts at 15 Hz at any DAW sampling rate.
- Italian and Japanese user guides were added.
- LPF and HPF values recall fixed.
- Proportional bands recall fixed.
- Mono compatibility for DAWs that work in Stereo.
- Infrasonic HPF (below 20 Hz).
- Cleaner Low end.
- GCC gives a better approximation (when not using the Low Shelf).
- Input Drive now goes to +24 dB instead of +12 dB (Please note, that with the new implementation of the INPUT KNOB going up to +24 dB instead of +12, if you have automation on the INPUT KNOB, then the automation values will be different. Again, this will only affect automation on the Input Knob- if automated).
- Spanish User Guide added.
- Code optimization.
- Address bugs specific to certain users’ installations.
- Air Band goes up to 16 kHz.
- Delta Solo allows you to hear what the plugin is doing.
- Additional MOD features:
- Based on your DAW sample rate, LPF can go up to 40 kHz.
- Dual Mono behavior for DAWs that do not support dual-mono plugins.
- Switch the shelves EQ to proportional Q.
- Official release. Compatible with Prev. version 2.
- Dual GUI.
- Many features you can check in the User Guide.
- GCC is now a parameter ready for automation.
- Real-Time Gain Compensation Calculation (GCC).
- Extensive set of metering: Peak Hold, RMS, RMS Peak and LUFS values.
- Additional M/S signal routing.
- Updated GUI.
- Disengage HP and/or LP Filters.
- Updated preset management indexing.
- HPF up to 500 HZ
- AIR freq point variable from 5 to 12 KHz
- Up to +12 dB DRIVE knob
- Saturation is @ Input or @ output (currently at output)
- Oversampling
- Main out knob now goes to -24 dB
- P42 works at any audio sampling rate.
- Mix Dry/Wet now smooth transparent blending.
- Smooth knob and slider movement.
- Trial period- remaining days left.
- Optimized GUI refresh rate, helps with DAW GUI metering redraw.
- Improved movement of the dials and sliders with your mouse.
- Hovering the mouse over a dial exposes its value.
- AAX plugin for macOS is now working.
- Extended the saturation slider to 150%
- AAX on Windows still not ready. Next update.
- This version has a non working AAX for macOS.
- Fix phasing issues when inserting P42 on mono track for DAWs that support Mono tracks (Logic Pro, Pro Tools, Cubase)
- Zero sample latency implementation
- A Mix knob to blend in the Dry signal
- A polarity flip switch.
- Release Version with Mid/Side bug fix
- Added Air switch.
- Soft release.
40-Day Free Trial
To start your 40-day fully functional trial for 2 computers, Press the "add to cart" Trial button and complete the checkout. Follow the instructions you will get by email. No dongle required.
Whether you are after that Motown sound, tone shaping, creamy saturation or advanced mastering workflow, you will find all of that and more in P42 Climax. Don’t underestimate the power under the P42 hood.
With every full version purchase, a gift of custom handmade real calf hide wallet (lighter, softer and finer grain than cowhide) made here in Türkiye by a local artisan shop.
P42 Climax MOD (Full Version)
MOD Upgrade (for v1, v2, v3)
*For v4 users. v3 to v4 update is free of charge and available in the download section.
MOD upgrade enables dual-mono behavior for DAWs that do not support this functionality.
MOD upgrade allows you to switch shelves to proportional boost EQ bands.
Customer reviews
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Throughout the past year, P42 Climax has found its way into countless of my projects. It sounds great, uses delightfully little CPU, and can add ‘that little something’ onto pretty much any sound source with a few clicks. As a saturator, it is easily one of my favourites, and its filters add enough versatility for it to find its place on many tracks regardless of whether the colouration one is after is very subtle or something stronger.
Mind you, while it is relatively versatile, P42 Climax does not offer as many distinct styles of saturation as some of its competitors. So if you’re looking for a one-size-fits-all saturator with tapes, fuzzes and various circuit emulations, you may want to look elsewhere. That being said, the one style P42 has, does sound very pleasing to the ear, and often enough I haven’t felt the need to use anything else for my saturation needs.
There is also no denying that the plugin’s quality is reflected in its pricing, and it is not cheap by any means. Still, if you can make the investment, I’d say it is worth it. But as always, since these things are subjective, I recommend you try the demo first to see if it’s a good fit for you.
I have enjoyed using it a lot, and since it is one of the few saturation plugins on the market that can do very subtle saturation very well, I imagine it will be a favourite of mine for many years to come.
If you don’t spend money on advertising and marketing, where does the price tag come from. Make your product more affordable. Or give the opportunity to buy in installments like LiquidSonics did. A 25% discount is ridiculous given your price tag. Not everyone is ready to give that amount right away.
Great product though!
I was very skeptical after watching several Youtube reviews and not hearing much improvement in the demo sound. I downloaded the demo of the plugin last week and it really sounds amazing! It just brings a track to life! You notice it especially when you have it on and then bypass it and everything falls flat without it. Detail is kept while adding a really nice saturation! Highly recommend!
I like the P42 Climax. I compared it with other similar plugins. I think the difference is how easy it is to get a great sound with P42. With few adjustments, everything sounds good. Also noteworthy, is the fact that the plugin is CPU-friendly. Is the amount charged fair for these attributes? I think not; but then it’s up to each one’s pocket. For me, who live in a country with a devalued currency, the acquisition was very difficult.
So apparently there has been some “controversy” with this developer pertaining to his pricing structure and not wanting to bend to the common thread. This type of attitude is very much show cased in not just the P42 Climax, but as well as LunarLander and the sleeper – the P914 FFB. The developer takes the approach of creating professional tools at, a professional price, but a very generous non-crippled demo policy of 40 days.
I’ll keep my review strictly to the P42, pricing controversy aside.
Sound – hearing the evolution of the developer take a hands on approach to modifying the original design from other user reviews put this as a strong contender for daily tracking, channel work, or even on the master. Due to the generous demo period, non crippling audio dropouts or inability to save allowed me to really dig in and hear the alterations of the plugins development based from a lot of positive user feedback. I
Once the ability to remove the HP/LP made me realize this can be a first insert tone shaper that doesn’t coat the sound in harmonics but becomes apart of the sound.
There are many other excellent tonal shaping tools that I own (Kelvin, everything by Fuse, and many others), this can be used on every channel and actually when place as the first insert everything else down the chain generally operates better from a sonics perspective. The tonal shaping qualities really don’t leave much to be desired and can enhance, tame, dampen, or blow up (in a good way) pretty much any type of musical, atonal, rhythmic, or percussive sounds.
The price tag you’d expect something that doesn’t sound like “fake harmonics” or a basic waveshaper, you expect a professional useful tool that you wouldn’t hesitate on using for anything you can throw at it from demos to well funded commercial projects.
Speaking of speech, this is excellent on dialogue and vocals. Overdrive/distortion really either shines or falls apart concerning the human voice, the P42 holds it together.
GUI – Compared to the other product offerings it really doesn’t feel like it fits from a graphical perspective and seems a bit gimmicky.
Personally can’t stand things that take up precious real estate, and on the other token tools that don’t have any form of graphical user interface are just as obtuse. If you look even at the knobs of every other offering (the P914 and LunarLander) they’re beautifully done and compliment each other. Looking at the P42 the GUI in no way shape or form reflects the sound quality. Everything from the fonts, color scheme, the faux transistor graphic, to knobs that have no universal theme of values makes it very difficult to get to the point of initially learning the tool, and in use. I think the developer should stick to the theme and vibe he has going from his other product line (since they’re much better done). Considering the LunarLander’s GUI is awesome and completely conveys the visual aspect to the sonic shaping aspect.
Overall – From a generous demo period, no compromise on the sonic vision, but still takes user feedback seriously, this is a developer to support. Professional tools may come at a professional price, and to the pearl clutchers on price that secretly love the sound but can’t afford it (I know times are tough for some of us), save your pennies or use many other available tools. Because not owning this won’t prevent you from making an amazing sounding production, it’s just that using this makes it a heck of a lot easier.