Prophet 6 Announced at NAMM 2015

[chysn]

http://www.davesmithinstruments.com/product/prophet-6/

This is a very pretty instrument, with a somewhat simpler architecture than we've seen from DSI. For example, only a single LFO, and far fewer modulation destinations than we've become used to.

[Benzebub]

I'm liking it.
Was sort of surprised that they only added one oscillator and reduced the modulation capabilities, but I suppose that was to get it closer to "knob per function" and reduce the menu diving.
Also, a happy surprise to see Dave using VCO's again. Was worried that he had moved on completely. This fits nicely among his other synths.
Glad to see that even when doing sort of a revisit, DSI still manages to make something new instead of just a carbon copy of something old.

Great job Dave and company!

[Martin]

Hi all,
if you read this and got an gearslutz account, please tell the guys there that the stepping in the filter is most likely a feature to get the frequencies in harmony with the scales via Keytrack. This implementation is the best there ist because cuttoffknobtweakeritis should be done vie modwheel and then there are no steps.


Sorry and thanks


Martin

[Fuseball]

While it's not something that bothers me particularly, it isn't possible to sweep the filter with the mod wheel on the P6. Mod wheel is hardwired to LFO amount I believe. I think it can be done by aftertouch though.

[namnibor]

That somehow just seems strange that it's not possible to sweep the filter with the mod wheel...that's as basic of a routing for ANY analog synth, and pretty sure I could do that on my SCI Prophet 600...no way to test this currently as it's about to go to Wine Country for a stint at "synth rehab" and new GIGI Processor, et al.

Maybe the P6 does not step if the LFO sweeps the filter? I am also thinking that with the P6 being a no menu basic analog poly synth, that once it's shipping one would think the P6 would be in pretty much a "feature complete" synth. I do not recall ever having to acquire a new update that was performed using cassette tape, for the SCI Synths for earlier days once it shipped.
However, with the digital effects section, can totally see where perhaps some tweaks could be needed, but again, am thinking that once P6 ships, DSI/Sequential will be working on the needed updates/bug fixes of P2/P12....but what do I know? All speculation until P6 is actually truly out in the wild.

Anyone else notice a pattern in last few years in that *every time* DSI is starting to ship a new instrument, the "other forum" ALWAYS goes down for a significant amount of time as it's been now? Same for P12 and P2. I am also seeing people trying to sell their P12's on Ebay USA for the price of a new P2...a significant loss, more than likely to fund the P6. Seeing some incredibly low P2 prices used, of course.

[Benzebub]

Anyone else notice a pattern in last few years in that *every time* DSI is starting to ship a new instrument, the "other forum" ALWAYS goes down for a significant amount of time as it's been now? Same for P12 and P2. I am also seeing people trying to sell their P12's on Ebay USA for the price of a new P2...a significant loss, more than likely to fund the P6. Seeing some incredibly low P2 prices used, of course.

It has been down several time when no new instruments have been announced as well. It really needs to be moved to a more stable platform than where it is now. *hint*: start posting here instead, people. *hint*

*by more stable platform I mean:
• A hosting that is not severely limited on disk space for the database which means it does not crash ever so often.
• Somewhere with an administrator that can be reached and who is on top of things. Not that this forum has seen a lot of traffic yet but so far chysn has done an excellent job.
• A place with a moderator that does not work for DSI so that there is no yelling of "conspiracy" as soon as a thread is being moderated and also someone (or rather more than one) who has time and dedication to keep a forum moderated. Unfortunately now at the other forum discussions turn very ugly quickly and as soon as Chris does any moderation he gets attacked by people accusing him of bias which leads to basically no moderation at all.

[Martin]

While it's not something that bothers me particularly, it isn't possible to sweep the filter with the mod wheel on the P6. Mod wheel is hardwired to LFO amount I believe. I think it can be done by aftertouch though.

Hi,

page 32 explains the initial amount

Martin

[chysn]

page 32 explains the initial amount
Martin

DSI's manual-serving system appears not to be functioning at the moment. Here's a direct link to the Prophet 6 manual: http://www.dsi-lifeboat.com/manuals/Prophet-6-Operation-Manual.pdf

[Strange Quark Star]

It's amazing what a kerfuffle this filter cutoff quantization "issue" is causing on the forums. As Carson pointed out and should be obvious to owners of previous DSI instruments, the cutoff frequency snaps to musically relevant steps when fine-tuning the frequency knob. If you use the potentiometer as a performance control, that is sweep it around while playing, the software smoothly interpolates the values and provides a response free from stepping.
There will be a point where the line is drawn between "sweeping" and "adjusting", so if you turn it too slowly you may notice stepping. I don't have a Prophet~6 at hand and I'm currently away from my Prophet '08 so I can't verify the precise point at which this happens, but I don't remember this ever being an issue for me on my P'08.
If too many people keep complaining I'm sure that a different interpolation scheme could easily be implemented. Though I'm certain that DSI did think this whole thing through and arrived at the current state for good reason.

[Benzebub]

It's amazing what a kerfuffle this filter cutoff quantization "issue" is causing on the forums. As Carson pointed out and should be obvious to owners of previous DSI instruments, the cutoff frequency snaps to musically relevant steps when fine-tuning the frequency knob. If you use the potentiometer as a performance control, that is sweep it around while playing, the software smoothly interpolates the values and provides a response free from stepping.
There will be a point where the line is drawn between "sweeping" and "adjusting", so if you turn it too slowly you may notice stepping. I don't have a Prophet~6 at hand and I'm currently away from my Prophet '08 so I can't verify the precise point at which this happens, but I don't remember this ever being an issue for me on my P'08.
If too many people keep complaining I'm sure that a different interpolation scheme could easily be implemented. Though I'm certain that DSI did think this whole thing through and arrived at the current state for good reason.

Agreed. On all the DSI-synths I own (Mopho x4, Tempest and Pro 2) I can get very smooth filter sweeps thanks to how it is smoothened despite being 7-bit values. The closest thing to stepping I hear is when it sweeps through harmonics but that also happens on my Sub Phatty (that uses 14-bit values) and the MS20 Mini that is not digitalized at all so for me it works really well. I think many confuse the harmonics with filter stepping.