P8 Sound Sets

Yavn

P8 Sound Sets
« on: December 16, 2016, 08:26:10 AM »
I just picked up a Prophet 8 Keyboard to keep my Tetra company! 

Are there any good sound sets available (commercial or free)?  I’ve been programing my own but would love to hear what others have done and find some sounds that really show off what the synth can do. 

Also, please feel free to pass on tips for getting the most out of the P8. 

Thanks,
Yavn

Jason

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Re: P8 Sound Sets
« Reply #1 on: December 16, 2016, 11:43:23 AM »
Other than the ones at the website (http://www.davesmithinstruments.com/prophet-08-factory-sounds/)
and the eXode patches on the Tetra page (http://forum.davesmithinstruments.com/index.php/topic,95.0.html),
I also found some good ones on the old DSI forum.

As far as suggestions go, I think the best are found on the "The Prophet '08 Among Prophets" thread, especially those given by Sacred Synthesis... including his use of a second Prophet '08 (module) with panning to create a far richer sound than what can be achieved with one alone. I also learned a lot about some of the best uses of PWM there.

I will add that, among users of the '08, many of us think that it is a best synthesizer choice there is... and yet, it seems like most keyboardists (who don't own one) don't agree. Why the incongruity??

To me, it all comes down to the Factory Sound Presets. Among those who insist on hearing a synthesizer in person, many make a trip of some distance to the closest city to find a store big enough to carry the keyboard in question. (For me, I would be traveling to New York or Philadelphia). They then spend a half hour going through the presets to get a sense of how it sounds compared to whatever else they can get their hands on. (For many of us, time is at a premium because our family is along.) This is why the factory presets have failed the '08 in such a big way. Most players are not gifted at programming, and so when they hear only a few really great patches at the store, they walk away thinking that they don't like the '08 as much as...

On other threads we have talked about how to keep the Prophet '08 in production, including ways that it could be updated. I think all we need to do is launch a campaign to get all the best '08 sounds into one place and then get DSI to start using them.

I download every patch I have found, and I also attempt to try as many of the suggestions that I can find. After over a year, the programs that I now use are so much more satisfying than what I originally heard the first time I played the '08. I'm not a brilliant programmer, so why should the brass, strings, analog, etc. sounds that I have now be so much better than what was shipped with my Prophet '08? The setup that I have now, which utilizes S.S.'s method of stereo panning, sounds better than anything I hear in a store. So when I play Prophet-6 or OB-6 in a store, I walk away thinking that they sound good, but not better than what I have.

If we could get some of the best sounds available into the ears of the person shopping in the closest Sam Ash or Guitar Center, DSI would be selling many Prophet '08's for many years to come.
« Last Edit: December 16, 2016, 11:47:08 AM by Jason »

Yavn

Re: P8 Sound Sets
« Reply #2 on: December 16, 2016, 02:59:07 PM »
Jason,
Thanks for suggestions and insights.  I’ll try those links and watch the videos. 

I completely agree that the presets don’t do the instrument justice. It’s such a bummer because it's so deep and full of potential.  Not to mentions that the knobs really make it a joy to program. 

Does it make sense to try and create a “pot luck” style community bank?  Have everyone send over a few sounds and put them together into a bank.

Years ago I bought a Jupiter 6 that came with some extra sound banks.  When I tried loading in new sounds I inadvertently erased everything in memory and could not get anything to load back in (oh the joy of cassette loading ….).  I ended up throwing a patch party - I supplied food & drinks,  and everyone programed in a few sounds.  It was a lot of fun and I still use most of them today.   

Just a thought.

Long live the 08’!

Re: P8 Sound Sets
« Reply #3 on: December 16, 2016, 04:44:20 PM »
I did a sound set too: https://mikehiegemann.com/sound-design/prophet-08-sounds/

Sorry for the shameless self promotion.  ;)

Re: P8 Sound Sets
« Reply #4 on: December 17, 2016, 07:16:57 AM »
If we could get some of the best sounds available into the ears of the person shopping in the closest Sam Ash or Guitar Center, DSI would be selling many Prophet '08's for many years to come.

If one could get a Prophet '08 into a Sam Ash or Guitar Center store, that would be an accomplishment in and of itself; their in-store synthesizer selections are wholly abysmal*.

Frankly, though, the specialist synthesizer retail market has changed so substantially over the last five years as to having reduced the national bricks-and-mortar retailers to an afterthought; you'd have a better chance trying out a DSI unit via a Craigslist seller than by way of an actual retail shop.

* - probably due to their creditworthiness, at least in GC's case.
Sequential / DSI stuff: Prophet-6 Keyboard with Yorick Tech LFE, Prophet 12 Keyboard, Mono Evolver Keyboard, Split-Eight, Six-Trak, Prophet 2000

Re: P8 Sound Sets
« Reply #5 on: December 18, 2016, 07:13:33 AM »
Here is a sound set I did a while back.
Sequential P6; SCI Pro-One; Moog Minimoog Model D

Re: P8 Sound Sets
« Reply #6 on: January 06, 2017, 01:51:01 AM »
I got a lot of use out of the Psalm37 sound banks. I think he might still sell them on eBay.

Re: P8 Sound Sets
« Reply #7 on: January 11, 2017, 06:13:52 PM »
If one could get a Prophet '08 into a Sam Ash or Guitar Center store, that would be an accomplishment in and of itself; their in-store synthesizer selections are wholly abysmal*.

I have found that for GC it varies quite a bit from store to store.  I live in St. Louis where they have 2 stores, 1 in Crestwood and 1 in Bridgeton (both are St. Louis suburbs).  The Bridgeton store has very little analog synth stuff.  The Crestwood store has a more but it is mostly stuff in the range like a Minilogue, Mininova, Roland Boutique stuff etc.  I never see any high stuff in there.  I was recently in Cupertino on a business trip and went to the Santa Clara GC and it was awesome.  They didn't have a Prophet 08 but they did have a Prophet 6.  They also had a Sub Phatty, a MS20 Mini, a Mother 32, an OB-6 and a Sub-37, all out on the floor setup to play with.  I was in town for 6 nights and went to GC 4 of those nights. ;)  I had never been anywhere where I could fiddle with all of these things in person.  Playing with their Prophet 6 helped me get off the fence and buy a Prophet 08 which I just got last week.  I love it.

Re: P8 Sound Sets
« Reply #8 on: January 17, 2017, 10:51:28 PM »
I DL's all the patch banks on the DSI site, and using the librarian took my favorities and made a pretty good bank out of it.  Then I'm using Bank B for my own sounds