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8200

99

The paragon of EQs, reinvented.

LEGENDARY TRANSPARENCY

Pulsar 8200 is a faithful emulation of the legendary GML 8200 designed by George Massenburg*, the inventor of the parametric EQ. Full EQ control is a formality today, but it was a dazzling novelty back in the days.

Just like the original machine, Pulsar 8200 gives you a tight and solid low end, a crystalline high end, and surgical control over the frequency spectrum. He perfectly replicates the all-discrete, Class-A analog electronics that made the original machine famous in the 80s, and still used today.

Its parallel topology, coupled with unique filtering shapes, allows an intuitive and unique spectrum shaping, resulting in smooth curves, and a more natural result compared to classic digital EQ, maintaining its own “analog personality”.

Walkthrough

LEGENDARY TRANSPARENCY

Pulsar 8200 is a faithful emulation of the legendary GML 8200 designed by George Massenburg, the inventor of the parametric EQ. Full EQ control is a formality today, but it was a dazzling novelty back in the days.

Just like the original machine, Pulsar 8200 gives you a tight and solid low end, a crystalline high end, and surgical control over the frequency spectrum. He perfectly replicates the all-discrete, Class-A analog electronics that made the original machine famous in the 80s, and still used today.

Its parallel topology, coupled with unique filtering shapes, allows an intuitive and unique spectrum shaping, resulting in smooth curves, and a more natural result compared to classic digital EQ, maintaining its own “analog personality”.

Walkthrough

Play Video

AN UPDATED LEGEND

The best-of-both-worlds approach – old and modern

Pulsar 8200 comes with a complete on-screen curve editor and spectrum analyzer. This best-of-both-worlds approach gives an accurate overview of your EQ changes while highlighting the singular behaviors of the original unit. The easy-to-use graphic interface allows for a much faster workflow in mixing applications.

Get a polished result by removing sibilance and harshness as part of your EQ process thanks to the built-in de-esser. Tame aggressive vocal sibilance or control high-frequency transients in overheads with Frequency, Amount and Band Type controls.

Pulsar 8200 Bands

Pulsar 8200 is a component-accurate model of the original unit, perfectly emulating its original unique filters shapes and parallel EQ behavior, producing natural-sounding corrections even for EQ moves that other units would struggle to keep up with.

Go further than the hardware with more Pulsar-added benefits. We’ve added high and low-cut filtering, a Tilt filter to adjust the overall tonal balance of the entire spectrum, and Air and Sub bands to operate at the extreme ends of the audio range.

Pulsar 8200 takes full advantage of modern CPUs to do more with less. Despite the tremendous amount of complexity in its audio algorithms, you’ll be able to use numerous instances. The resizable interface, coupled with the generous offering of modern features, will make Pulsar 8200 your go-to transparent EQ.

Pulsar 8200 in Studio

Listen for yourself

Craig Bauer

Grammy award-winning mixer & engineer | Producer

Kanye West | Rihanna | Lupe Fiasco | Steve Cole

“As a one time owner of the hardware, the 8200 is a brilliant model of that legendary EQ. And.. with the added features of the plugin, It’s an absolute no-brainer. It is one of those plugins that you absolutely must have after listening to it for all of 30 seconds.”

How does it sound?

Mastering

Precise & versatile, Pulsar 8200 is the superstar EQ of your master bus. It offers clinical precision when you want to open up the side and focus the center of your mix. The tilt feature allows you to effortlessly adjust the tonal balance of your mix. You can easily create complex EQ curves that can take your mixes and masters from slightly corrected to noticeably polished.

Orchestral / Acoustic

Designed to enhance the natural and lively character of acoustic instruments, live recordings, organic percussion, and vocals. Its filter shapes and parallel topology make Pulsar 8200 ideal for fine-tuning acoustic pianos and carving out specific frequencies to reveal the instrument's full potential. With this EQ, you can easily maintain the natural and ‘living’ feel of acoustic sources, ensuring that your mix sounds great every time.

Electronic Music

Whether you’re fighting the war for loudness or just pushing the frontiers of what bass can do, shaping low-end frequencies in a kick-drum or a bass track is essential, especially in electronic music or modern pop. Pulsar 8200 is a game-changer in this endeavor thanks to its unparalleled sonic accuracy. You can even make subsonic corrections (15Hz) to achieve a cleaner and more powerful low end.

Vocals & Guitars

Make vocals shine by removing the sibilants between 6 and 8 kHz thanks to the onboard de-esser. This feature can also be used to gently compress the harmonic content of an electric guitar track that is overly aggressive in the 2k to 4kHz range, preserving the energy of the highs while eliminating any bothersome frequencies.

ANDREA LEPORI

Producer | Mixing Engineer

U2 | The Rolling Stones | Jack Savoretti

The 8200 sounds so close to the hardware is been modelled from, that has already become an integral part of my mix setup. A very transparent eq that can quickly turn into my favourite mangler thanks to the outstanding extra features it’s been equipped with. It’s like having all the top elements of every other eq plugin in one place and they’re all sounding much much better here!

Main Features

Visual curve editing

Manipulate a peculiarly shaped analog EQ curve in an intuitive way. The curve editor is extremely easy to use, with a clear and concise overall frequency response display. You can edit all properties of any filter – including its assigned name – without touching the lower panel.

De-esser

An embedded simple-but-efficient de-esser gives you full control over the aggressive or harsh transients of the spectrum, to get a more polished and professional result. In the central panel, choose the frequency, the amount, and the filter type (bell or shelf).

Mid-Side processing

Make EQ changes to a signal’s centre or stereo information by operating in mid/side mode. The Listen buttons help audition each signal in isolation, and the screen displays only the channel you’re working on, so you always know what you’re doing.

Auto-gain

This control compensates for volume changes introduced by equalization, keeping output level consistent with input. It uses a C-Weighting-based algorithm to introduce a level compensation based on EQ curve analysis. Since this compensation only depends on your EQ settings, it won’t change during playback.

Tilt filter

Some things can’t be done with just bells and shelves. We’ve added a complex 6-pole tilt filter to adjust the tonal balance of your whole mix in a natural and analog-style way with a single knob.

Sub & Air band

The Air & Sub bands, inspired by the philosophy of parallel passive equalizers, allow you to fine-tune the extreme high-end and low-end of the spectrum without adding any mud or harshness.

Metering & Spectrum analyser

The on-screen analyzer displays the audio spectrum in real-time (fast and slow window settings) or over the long-term with the Infinite Spectrum setting. In addition, peak metering provides insight into overall dynamics, and RMS meters let you monitor loudness and level matching. An overall gain meter is also available.

Gain scale

For wholesale reduction or increases in gain, the Gain Scale control lets you accentuate or reduce an entire EQ curve, acting like a multiplier for all bands’ gain settings.

System Requirements

 
Windows

CPU

  • Intel Core i3 / i5 / i7 / i9 / Xeon or AMD Quad-Core minimum

Memory

  • 4 GB RAM
  • 1 GB free disk space​

Operating System

  • Windows 7 with SP1 64 bit
  • Windows 8.1 64 bit
  • Windows 10 64 bit​
  • Windows 11 64 bit

GPU

  • OpengGL 2.0 compatible GPU​

Monitor

  • Resolution: minimum 1024×768, recommended 1920×1080
  • Refresh rate: 60 Hz
 
Mac OS

CPU

  • Intel Core i3 / i5 / i7 / Xeon / Apple Silicon (M1, M2)

Memory

  • 4 GB RAM
  • 1 GB free disk space​

Operating System

  • MacOS 10.9 and higher

GPU

  • OpengGL 2.0 compatible GPU​

Monitor

  • Resolution: minimum 1024×768, recommended 1920×1080
  • Refresh rate: 60 Hz

Compatible plugin formats

AAX

AAX Native
Windows: 32/64 bits
Mac: 64 bits only

Audio Units

Audio Unit
64 bits only

VST2

VST 2.4
Windows: 32/64 bits
Mac: 64 bits only

VST3

VST 3
Windows: 32/64 bits
Mac: 64 bits only

Downloads

Our software is protected with PACE Anti-Piracy, so you will need an iLok account to use it. On Windows, our installers will automatically install the iLok License Manager on your computer. You can find additional information and support on the PACE iLok website.

Main Features

Topology Preservation Technology

Our modelling technology guarantees a perfect emulation of the original device’s behavior. From the saturation of diodes, transistors or tubes, to the slight internal filterings, to the tiny calibration defects, everything is perfectly reproduced. What's more, we can reproduce all these behaviors without going through a complete simulation of the circuit, thus saving CPU power.

Saturation stage

Push the signal further using one of four saturation flavours, and adjust the processing strength. Tape emulates the character of magnetic recording technology; Warm offers subtle distortion that’s great for high frequencies; Triode emulates a Class A tube amp, adding mostly odd harmonics; Clip offer digital clipping for heavy-handed action.

Mid-Side processing

Pulsar 1178 comes with built-in optional M/S encoding and decoding, enabling a signal’s mono and stereo information to be processed separately with different settings. The Listen buttons simplify the setting by allowing you to listen to Mid or Sides signals in isolation, and the modern visualization can be set to monitor only the channel you’re working on, so you always know what you’re doing.

Look ahead, look behind

Bring the compressor’s detection action forward in time – practically impossible in an analogue signal path – or delay its action by up to 10ms to help transients to pop through. You set the exact timing of the Look-ahead or Look-behind delay stages, up to 20ms for the former or up to 10ms for the latter.

Powerful sidechain EQ

High-passing the sidechain is possible with Pulsar 1178, but so is a lot more, thanks to an entire sidechain EQ section. Five filter types are available here, as is band solo and sidechain audition to help perfectly tailor your signal and arrive at the ideal detection response.

External sidechain

Pulsar 1178 allows to define an external sidechain input, as all compressors should in the digital age. This opens a very wide range of applications: ducking, de-essing, filtering the sidechain signal with your favourite EQ, or even applying dynamic processing.

Advanced metering section

Gain reduction, input level and output level are all visible in different ways. The scrolling gain reduction meter offers a view of gain reduction and the audio signal; VU-style metering shows instantaneous gain reduction for both stereo channels; and LED-style input, output and gain reduction is available to calibrate peak and RMS loudness.

Smart GUI

Pulsar 1178 comes all wrapped up in a responsive and resizable interface. Just drag the resize handle to set it to your preferred size, from nice and compact to highly visible. What’s more, in most DAWs, loading Pulsar 1178 on a mono channel will open the plugin with a streamlined interface that shows only a single channel of operation.

Downloads

Our software is protected with PACE Anti-Piracy, so you will need an iLok account to use it. On Windows, our installers will automatically install the iLok License Manager on your computer. You can find additional information and support on the PACE iLok website.

System Requirements

Windows

CPU

Memory

Operating System

GPU

Monitor

Mac OS

CPU

Memory

Operating System

GPU

Monitor

Compatible plugin formats

AAX

AAX Native
Windows: 32/64 bits
Mac: 64 bits only

Audio Units

Audio Unit
64 bits only

VST2

VST 2.4
Windows: 32/64 bits
Mac: 64 bits only

VST3

VST 3
Windows: 32/64 bits
Mac: 64 bits only

Andrea Lepori

Producer | Mixing Engineer

U2 | The Rolling Stones | Jack Savoretti

“Pulsar >Massive gives a whole new and more modern appeal to the sound even when used in the more ‘traditional’ boost/cut way – that made the original unit so unique, but it also adds the flexibility of actually sculpting sounds to their core in a super musical way that is, to me, unmatchable by any other of this kind”

John Nathaniel

Producer | Composer | Mixer

OneRepublic | Gwen Stefani | Madison Beer | Kygo

This eq is incredibly cool! It gives you the vibe and sonics of an analog EQ, but you can also control it like a modern slick digital EQ, taking full advantage of the digital power!

FREE Full-feature 14-day trial

These installers set up the complete plugin version and allow to start a full-featured 14-day trial period.

* The GML 8200 is a hardware product and a registered trademark of George Massenburg Labs, with which we are not affiliated or associated in any way, nor are we in any way officially connected. Discover their excellent products on their website: https://www.massenburg.com/