I can understand the shape mod/pulse width thing a bit. And being analog, though I've never had any other analog synth (inc old VCO like polysix that were way out of calibration) that exhibited this issue! Voice to voice could vary...
slightly. But the pulse issue is like just one voice is completely off, way off, to the point it falls silent while the others don't. If I dial back the shape mod to hear that voice, it still continually sounds thinner/weaker than the other 7 voices, which is really obvious until you get it back to 50%. I guess if you were modulating it it wouldn't matter at all, you want that movement and variety, and analog-ness, but if you are doing a static pulse tone where you want each key/note/voice to at least trigger and you have the shape mod above 50 then it presents a problem with a sound that has this glaring flaw.
Similar with the triangle, in many cases it's never an issue and you could use the other osc instead for when it's most obvious (a single osc soft triangle sound when that one, in my case, voice pokes through more like a saw which ruins the sound), the issue is that some other people don't have this issue! If we were all on the same page here it wouldn't be such a big deal I guess, but as some don't have it and some do, and some don't have the pulse issue (as much or on the same amount of voices) etc it makes me worried that in future it will become known as an infamous issue with the rev2 and put second hand buyers off buying my unit to seek out one that doesn't have that issue. And while I do not plan on selling it, never say never, have bought and sold many many synths over the past 10 years and am always honest about issues on ebay.
DSI have been very helpful and are working with on this, they tested a new board for me and said the pulse issue is still there as it's 'meant to be' that way (but whether it's just on one voice, 7 voices or w/e I don't know) and apparently the triangle issue isn't present on the new board (so I assume that means each voice sounds similar without one being a lot brighter)
as said I've had many analogs DCO and VCO and the only time I recall anything like this was in an MKS-50 that had a filter chip out of calibration and had to go in and tweak some pots, it wasn't 'normal' and it wasn't really accepted as normal or "as per analog". Analog has subtle variances, these issues just sound out of calibration to me and we have no way of user calibrating them (not talking about the menu soft-calibration). On that mks-50 1 out of 6 voices would sound a lot brighter (filter opening too far for that voice), the synth was sold dirt cheap (to me) due to that issue, easy fix for me but it does show that buyers and synth nuts are aware when something isn't quite right on a voice to voice basis.
If all the voices varied a little on repeated keys (triangle issue going brighter or shape modded pulse falling silent) then it would be more tolerable, even welcome, but when it's just ONE it stands out like a sore (saw?
) thumb and definitely doesn't feel anything like what I'd think of as an analog "bonus".
I'm not sure how to proceed at the moment as having the board sent out to me, and me having to return the old one from the UK to the US + fitting it etc is quite a bit of hassle considering the synth is just over 2 weeks old, which I wouldn't mind if the new board was 100% a some others have claimed theirs are. So is it worth it just to fix the triangle issue but not the pulse one?? or should I return it to the retailer and try another unit from them (free). I'll let you guys know what I decide. Am gutted though because I really love this synth and thought I'd found my 'keeper' (workhorse) after years of many synths.