Hi guys,

I'm new to this forum, relatively new to synthesis, and have recently got a Rev 2, which is my first proper synth.  I'm loving it so far.

So, my question for today is:

If I have a stacked sound, is there a way to change a parameter for both layers simultaneously? For example, say I have a patch programmed that is using layer A + B and in a live situation, and I want to play around with the filter cutoff for the whole sound. Right now, I can only change the cutoff for layer A or B, but not both at the same time... I'm sure there is an easy solution to this, but in scanning the manual I couldn't find a solution.

Thanks guys!

I think the Prophet X's approach is less about the samples themselves but more so how you use them and manipulate them. That being said, I think the onboard samples are fantastic sounding. There's some really unique stuff in there that you wouldn't usually find in a hardware synth. The Ambience category alone could be a goldmine for Wavestation type sounds.

 

Sadly, it wasn’t just the sample utilities that formed my final opinion.  Here are a few more.

 - You can’t see the sample when editing which makes it very hard to find zero crossings
 - The sample only has a limited number of points where you can place a start/stop/loop point.  I believe 9999?  This becomes an issue if you are using a long sample as you now have far less granularity, which makes it harder to not find said zero crossings or a placement exactly where you want it.

The Prophet X wasn’t really conceived as a sampler with the kind of detailed editing you were looking for.  The sample accurate editing generally occurs upstream, when preparing an instrument on a computer long before it reaches the keyboard.  The loops defined at this stage are communicated with single-sample precision to allow perfect loops to be imported as the “default” loop for each sample.

The 0-9999 range is a way of quickly overriding this, not a substitute for a full sampling experience.  I’d like to see more flexibility in modulating loop points, myself, but with crossfading enabled you can still get musically useful results by overriding loops (and some fairly unique capabilities, like tempo-matched loop lengths.)

- In my opinion the 150GB of samples provided are limited.  I get it.  Deep sampling which means very large files, and limited choice.  That said, I find my Montage more engaging on its diversity of samples from a sample library that is only 6.7GB in size.

The factory samples can be hit-and-miss.  Their strengths are in providing the complete natural decay for instruments that don’t sustain indefinitely, and in astonishing stereo imaging in many cases due to the flagrant disregard for the space required.  Some of the variety isn’t readily apparent because they it’s hidden in the sample-per-key categories like sound effects and ambient environments.  I could definitely have done with less of the near/far mic’ed alternatives but I haven’t had trouble finding interesting content to work with, especially when user samples can round out gaps.

I completely understand not gelling with an instrument or the user interface.  I’ve passed on any number of instruments others find compelling, too.

As I noted in another forum, I was fortunate enough to preview this one, and it’s right up my alley as the kind of raw content I think suits the Prophet X beautifully. What I’ve listened to so far has that classic razor-edged bite that screams PPG, sampled by capturing a wide range of underlying tonalities rather than baking in decisions that should be made later when building presets.

After all, the Prophet X has both a perfectly fine analog VCA and the modern recreation of the SSM 2044 filter used in the PPG. The bite can be tamed to the sorts of wam, silky smooth sounds you might expect - but it’s easy to create presets that let you dig in and find that aggressive tone lurking underneath. Really nice stuff.

Where are these installed?

As delivered, they’re set up to install in the User 8 bank and that’s where the presets rely on finding them.  If you don’t care about the presets or are prepared to update them, the samples can be installed in a different User bank.

And the presets are they installed into A1,A2,A3 etc... or one of the user preset banks ?

The presets install in U4.

I record both 2 main outputs as it gives me stereo control..By recording 1 channel you get a mono output..

Both of you record the Tempest as 1 audio channel?