The Official Sequential/Oberheim Forum

SEQUENTIAL/DSI => Pro 3 => Topic started by: tboheir on February 16, 2021, 08:57:10 AM

Title: I'm too inexperienced in Synth programming so I must ask:
Post by: tboheir on February 16, 2021, 08:57:10 AM
Why is it almost every patch I make myself, is so much quieter/lower in volume than the factory presets on my Pro 3? Is there something I'm not adjusting properly? I don't seem to have this issue on my two other synths (a Moog Sub Phatty and Arturia Micro Freak) but the Pro 3 has many more options than either of those so, I figure I'm overlooking something.

Addt'l Detail: It seem this occurs when I start with the Basic Program patch. If I start with a pre installed patch and edit it then the volume is ok. On the other two synths, I never start from a basic patch, I'm almost always tweaking a preset.

Thanks!
Title: Re: I'm too inexperienced in Synth programming so I must ask:
Post by: chysn on February 16, 2021, 09:29:06 AM
The Pro 3 basic patch starts off with only one oscillator turned up. Maybe that's it...?
Title: Re: I'm too inexperienced in Synth programming so I must ask:
Post by: tboheir on February 16, 2021, 09:32:53 AM
The Pro 3 basic patch starts off with only one oscillator turned up. Maybe that's it...?

Thanks I will check that out. I believe I've adjusted the volume of the other two in some of my various explorations but It's as good a place as any to start :-)
Title: Re: I'm too inexperienced in Synth programming so I must ask:
Post by: guyaguy on February 16, 2021, 02:01:33 PM
One of the first things I noticed was that the presets were LOUD. Not sure if they wanted to impress people with volume or it’s just that Dave is losing his hearing.  ( :-* ) But they all seemed to be programmed to be at a very high, consistent volume. 
Title: Re: I'm too inexperienced in Synth programming so I must ask:
Post by: chysn on February 16, 2021, 02:28:18 PM
One of the first things I noticed was that the presets were LOUD. Not sure if they wanted to impress people with volume or it’s just that Dave is losing his hearing.  ( :-* ) But they all seemed to be programmed to be at a very high, consistent volume.

Yeah, the presets really throw the kitchen sink at the synth. I don't try to compete with them.
Title: Re: I'm too inexperienced in Synth programming so I must ask:
Post by: timboréale on February 16, 2021, 02:42:44 PM
Distortion adds volume*, and the Pro3 has loads of it in various places. Feedback can also significantly increase the volume, as can filter resonance, depending on how it's used. There is a healthy amount of headroom in that synth so that it can take advantage of these features, so it's normal that an init patch with all of these down or off would be significantly lower in volume than a patch with them cranked up, that's the nature of a high headroom design and is a feature.

* partly by bringing up the average energy in a signal due to the RMS/peak ratio increasing, and partly by just actually increasing the signal volume to the clipping point, depending on which circuit is used and how the distortion is modelled. Compression is a natural side effect/bonus of this, as any guitarist can tell you, too.