Your thoughts on the Prophet 12

Sacred Synthesis · « **Reply #40 on:** December 22, 2015, 11:00:06 AM »

Yes, I've heard that one. Not bad.

dslsynth · « **Reply #41 on:** December 22, 2015, 12:59:46 PM »

I think I have seen this one before, eXode and it may possibly be via forum or DSI twitter. Have heard it a number of times today and really liked some of the bits. Nice to hear Prophet 12 sound design evolve and also to experience the synth herds evolve towards liking this digital front end machine.

Sacred Synthesis · « **Reply #42 on:** January 15, 2016, 09:19:44 AM »

I was intrigued by this last post by "Hoegge" on the old forum and was hoping for a more detailed response from others, either there or here:

http://dsiforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&p=66330#p66326

What do you Prophet 12 users think of his descriptions? Does he have a lemon of a unit, not know what he's talking about, or are his descriptions of the waveforms accurate?

BobTheDog · « **Reply #43 on:** January 15, 2016, 12:33:01 PM »

A single post slagging of the P12.

He says he has noise at 12db, I guess he meant -12db on three different P12s. A load of crap in my opinion.

The waves sound pretty normal to me, the square and saw without filtering are slightly buzzy compared to some other synths but when the filter on the P12 is open it is really open unlike many synths.

Sacred Synthesis · « **Reply #44 on:** January 15, 2016, 12:58:18 PM »

I'm asking because I thought the "digital sheen" issue that so many users had complained about had been resolved with updates. Maybe he has an old OS.

BobTheDog · « **Reply #45 on:** January 16, 2016, 01:03:59 AM »

They did make some improvements to the 11K spike with one of the updates. There were also some boards manufactured that had more of a problem I think and DSI replaced these.

On mine with volume up full the 11K peak is between -98db and -106db depending on what is going on. This spike is post filter as well so you cannot filter it out but in reality you have to really try to hear it by monitoring at an extremely high volume level and not actually playing anything!

yewtreemagic · « **Reply #46 on:** January 16, 2016, 08:16:15 AM »

I've examined the waveforms on mine, and the sinewave is very good, with a tiny 0.7% THD (mostly 2nd harmonic), while the strongest non-harmonic aliasing spike (around 3.1kHz) is around 60dB lower than the fundamental.

Yes, the sawtooth and pulse aren't quite their classic mathematical shapes (like various other synths), but are fairly close, and rolling off the top end of the filter makes the waveform look slightly better if you're into that sort of thing.

Meanwhile background noise is 80dB below peak level when no notes are playing.

By the way, I see absolutely no 11kHz spike on mine - and as mentioned above, this 3.1kHz spike is inaudible to me when notes are playing.

EDIT: 11kHz spike has since put in an appearance on some programs, but at a very low 85dB below peak note levels

I consider all these very good results, and am quite happy with the fidelity of my P12.

Martin

BobTheDog · « **Reply #47 on:** January 16, 2016, 08:44:17 AM »

Is your 3.1 spike always in the same place or is it note dependent?

yewtreemagic · « **Reply #48 on:** January 17, 2016, 04:25:32 AM »

Quote from: BobTheDog on January 16, 2016, 08:44:17 AM

Is your 3.1 spike always in the same place or is it note dependent?

It does move about a bit as you play across most of the keyboard, but stays in the 3kHz region.

Here's a screengrab of Basic Program, but with sawtooth switched to Sine, playing a 100Hz note. Peak level of the fundamental with a single note is -20dB, while playing 12 simultaneous notes raises the total peak level to around 0dB, for correct gain staging.

Notice the low THD (Total Harmonic Distortion) reading of 0.8%, and the two non-harmonic spectral lines around 3kHz around 60dB lower than the fundamental and then at even lower levels at their own harmonics of 6 and 9kHz.

Yes, that topmost spectral line is the infamous 11kHz, at a miniscule -95dB, i.e. a huge 75dB lower then the 100Hz fundamental.

Martin

BobTheDog · « **Reply #49 on:** January 17, 2016, 09:36:17 AM »

Very strange, I don't get that 3K one at all, my 11K one is a little bit louder than yours but not significant.

Very weird, are you sure it is definitely originating in the P12?

yewtreemagic · « **Reply #50 on:** January 17, 2016, 12:37:11 PM »

Quote from: BobTheDog on January 17, 2016, 09:36:17 AM

Very strange, I don't get that 3K one at all, my 11K one is a little bit louder than yours but not significant.

Very weird, are you sure it is definitely originating in the P12?

Oh yes, here's another screengrab where I add another 11 notes one after the other - you can see that the combined peak level (upper right bar meter) is now close to 0dB as previously mentioned, while each note contributes its own clutch of lines around 3, 6, 9 kHz, which suggests to me that they may actually be harmonically related to their fundamentals.

They are still all low in value though (nearly 60dB down on the note fundamentals), and I can't actively hear them in context. Bear in mind also that this is a very lab-related test - continuous sinewaves = which doesn't bear much relation to what we actually do when playing the P12

Martin

BobTheDog · « **Reply #51 on:** January 17, 2016, 11:13:34 PM »

Very strange.

I get the same effect on the 11k signal when I play multiple notes but I do not have the ones around 3K or 6K at all.

It might be worth you emailing DSI with that graph and asking them what is going on as it really does' look normal to me.

Jinsai · « **Reply #52 on:** January 28, 2016, 10:05:33 AM »

Quote from: Razmo on November 14, 2015, 04:02:43 AM

How is this done then?... is it purely via software, making the range broader

Yes. Exactly.

As for making new chips...making chips is crazy expensive and difficult. You need like, electron tunneling microscopes and things like that. You really are much better off using other people's chips sold at volume (because volume is basically the only way chip-manufacturing makes any sense).

I'm speculating, but it is possible that lack of good/suitable chip parts is as much a driver of the new "discrete" DSI as the market preference for discrete over chips (because of the incorrect assumption/belief that "tiny chips can't carry or make big sound the way fat components can!")

cr73645 · « **Reply #53 on:** September 07, 2016, 05:56:36 PM »

Reviving this topic just to thank everyone who answered here.

Giving you guys some feedback, I just want to state that a Prophet 12 is really, without a question, exactly what I need for my music and sonic explorations.

I'm currently working with ambient and electronic music, and the P08 just can't do everything I want. Maybe I'll add a P6 module someday... for now, just selling it. Love the sound, but I'm choosing this because of lacking space in my men-cave.

I discovered that the P12 is an outstanding pad machine and will fill my need for deeper synthesis options, and a small amount of my FM fixation. I've heard some excellent new demonstrations of sounds that I didn't want before, but now certainly do. These metallic sounds and also big ambient pads and textures are exactly what I need.

Once again, thank you all for your help. I really appreciate it.

Cheers!

AdamPloof · « **Reply #54 on:** September 11, 2016, 08:21:39 PM »

Sweet! I'll be interested to hear what you cook up after some time with your P12.

nikwal · « **Reply #55 on:** September 24, 2016, 12:26:53 AM »

I find that when I listen back to what I played with the p12, its more expressive than I intended. The sound engine is like, simple enough to use and understand fast and direct and complicated enough to do deeper stuff if you want..

mikeka · « **Reply #56 on:** October 07, 2016, 04:56:46 PM »

A bit late to the thread ..... I've owned a P12 (keyboard) for over a year now and absolutely love it. This thing IS phat! I can program Moog leads and basses easily. I do like the oscillators for the additional (beyond the usual analog waveforms) tones possible. Build quality is excellent and programming is so much fun. I do use it live as well as in the studio. The touch sliders and pedal mod possibilities are great and are used frequently. Excellent synth!

cr73645 · « **Reply #57 on:** November 21, 2016, 02:10:38 PM »

Hey guys, I'm back. Just sold my Prophet 08 for a fair value...

I'm sad about it, but it had to go so I could open space for a Prophet 12.

Now it's time to search YouTube for every new video since June.

Once again, thank you all for your input. It was really much appreciated and I've read all of them several times. One interesting thing I'll do as soon as it gets here is compare some sounds I've used a lot inside the 08 and convert them by using Patch Morpher so I can use them on the P12.

If anyone wants to say something new about the 12, I'm all ears.

Cheers!

Paul Dither · « **Reply #58 on:** November 21, 2016, 02:32:59 PM »

Congratulations, cr73645! Let us know how everything works out. I'd definitely be interested in your thoughts about how the patches compare between the '08 and the 12.

Also: Now it's your turn to post some YouTube videos.

Sacred Synthesis · « **Reply #59 on:** November 21, 2016, 02:34:25 PM »

Quote from: Paul Dither on November 21, 2016, 02:32:59 PM

Congratulations, cr73645! Let us know how everything works out. I'd definitely be interested in your thoughts about how the patches compare between the '08 and the 12.

The same goes for me! I'd love to hear your thoughts on how the two instruments compare.

Your thoughts on the Prophet 12

Sacred Synthesis

Sacred Synthesis

Sacred Synthesis

Sacred Synthesis