P42 Climax Line Amp
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Overview
Pulsar Modular P42 Climax is an innovative multifaceted powerstrip for tone shaping/coloration, saturation and conjures more of the idea of working with hardware. 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!
Don’t underestimate the few parameters in P42 Climax. It is 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.
Don’t get scared by the price tag- a comparable hardware unit for a single channel costs around $1,700. Check the Audio examples below as we compare P42 Climax plugin tone shaping against the Neve 1080, Studer A812 Tape recorder, WolfBox DI and other hardware devices.
Features
- Organic hardware-like feel & behavior.
- Pulsar Modular signature Shelving EQ (Low & High).
- 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
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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.
Supported Operating Systems
macOS 10.12+
Windows 7+
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
- 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.
How do you get the Motown sound? You will need the Wolfbox DI made in the late 60s and used by the recording studios at that time for the signature bass guitar sound and the soft electric guitar sound. The Wolfbox was driven by a Triad A-11J or A-12J, which are not produced any longer. This is what drove the legendary Motown sound. It’s the sound of James Jamerson, Dennis Coffey, Robert White, Joe Messina, and the Funk Brothers- Motown’s legendary in-house rhythm section.
P42 Climax extended functionality is able to nail the sound of a Neve 1080. The 1084 is one of the most revered hardware units ever designed. It sounds like a 1073, and it gives you that beautiful Neve sound thats so sought after.
Customer reviews
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Showing 48 of 53 reviews (5 star). See all 53 reviews
dancorpmusic –
So simple to use yet the sound quality is excellent. Important part of my mastering chain.
Victor Jacquemont –
It’s amazing.
jake (verified owner) –
I’ve been using the P42 Climax for 4 months now in the studio, and I think it’s ended up on every track that’s been done. It’s a fantastic bit of kit. Very low cpu usage. The new GUI is great. And (for me) what’s most important is the sound, and oh boy does this deliver! It’s amazing! and sound/tone shaping is just so flexible & easy. I’ve heard some people say it’s expensive. Well it isn’t cheap, but then again what top quality items do come in cheap!?!? IMO It’s well worth it. It sounds like great hardware to me, and It puts a big smile on my face. You really should check it out.
Allan Klinbail (verified owner) –
I’d been searching for the perfect saturation plugin to add some weight in mastering that sounds convincingly analog but has the flexibility of digital.
Even at version 1 P42 was better than anything I had ever tried and from the first moment I tried it in a mastering chain I knew I was going to be using it a lot.
At version 3, the flexibility is all there. Switching in or out filters, a bit of shelf filtering an improved airband and gain compensation.
For mastering I tend to be very gentle and it definitely lets you do that, add just enough seasoning but not destroying the flavour of the mix. There’s been a couple of masters where all I’ve had to do is combine it with one EQ and a limiter and the artists have loved the results.
In mixing it can work in the ‘pre-amp’ role, making digital synths sound more analog, and even making very linear analog synths sound fatter. I’ve also used it to really saturate a drum buss, with glorious results. Amazingly it uses so little CPU you can afford to use it everywhere.
Check it out, you won’t regret it.
Allan
http://www.steam-mastering.com
George A Mandigo –
This is about as good as it gets for saturation and more. You can very quickly and simply dial in a great, robust, natural sound. It’s incredibly expensive, but I just could not pass it up! It is cpu friendly and worked well enough on my 2 bus to make it worth my while.