Brand new Prophet 6 has absolutely NO LOCAL CONTROL

[JohnS]

Hello all, sorry my first post is apparently one of many "_____ is a not working on my Prophet 6"

Brand new, out of the box. OS 1.4.0 on it. (Not sure why an analog synth needs an OS, but that's what it has after double checking.)

I am simply trying to use it without being in any type of preset and have it set to Global, Local Ctrl. Nothing works. No sounds, nada. None of the buttons respond, the on/off to the effects does nothing, the LFO sync button or Freq 1 & Freq 2 does not turn on when pressed, I cannot change the LFO wave shape by rotating the pot and it's stuck on triangle at the top, tap tempo does nothing, Arpeggiator will not turn on, nor the Aftertouch selections or oscillator buttons Sync, Low Freq & Keyboard, Misc Parameters and on and on. It is completely unresponsive and is stuck on whatever is lit. I really don't care much for presets, even though THEY work and are okay, but I do want to be able to set it myself and play it in any mode. Like a Moog. This is my first DSI product, so I don't know what's happening with it.

Fortunately, I live in San Francisco, so if there is no silver bullet to resolve this I am going to take it straight over for a fix or replacement. Yes, I'm frustrated. Sorry for my tone. It just should not be this complicated IMHO and it's not a great way to start out with what was an exciting new synth in my collection.

Thanks in advance for any positive advice or solution.

[JohnS]

Okay, well, so much for that. A collective shrugging of shoulders everywhere I've inquired or various "tricks" that bring it to life short of poking a stick at it. I am returning it to the vendor for a full refund and they can send it back for theirs, use it for a boat anchor or whatever. I already have a Jupiter 80 for an OS controlled synth full of presets. This is just a another computer with a keyboard, wrapped in nostalgia. Thanks to the 30 something of you that have viewed my post. Moving on to a Matrix Brute instead and appreciating my through hole components, true analog Voyager all the more. Best of luck to you all.

[abstrktd]

Bummer.
Have you tried with your Patch button switched off?

Patch on = preset/bank mode
Patch off = live Panel mode, WYSIWYG pot position dictates your sound - a good mode to troubleshoot in.

 If you haven' t already, check pages 56+57 in the current manual. DSI recommends running the calibration on new P6, then you could reset the Global params, and if needed reload the factory banks - resetting global does not erase bank/patch data, just the main synth settings.
Manual: http://www.davesmithinstruments.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Prophet-6-Operation-Manual.pdf?x72411

If it was me, I'd also try testing MIDI out to other gear, as well as MIDI in from another keyboard just to make sure that's working.
Or return it, but IMHO you'd be missing out on a great synth. Good luck either way

:J

[JohnS]

Bummer.
Have you tried with your Patch button switched off?

Patch on = preset/bank mode
Patch off = live Panel mode, WYSIWYG pot position dictates your sound - a good mode to troubleshoot in.

 If you haven' t already, check pages 56+57 in the current manual. DSI recommends running the calibration on new P6, then you could reset the Global params, and if needed reload the factory banks - resetting global does not erase bank/patch data, just the main synth settings.
Manual: http://www.davesmithinstruments.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Prophet-6-Operation-Manual.pdf?x72411

If it was me, I'd also try testing MIDI out to other gear, as well as MIDI in from another keyboard just to make sure that's working.
Or return it, but IMHO you'd be missing out on a great synth. Good luck either way

:J

"Patch" button?  Mine has a "Preset" button. It's off. As for troubleshooting in "live mode" , aka Global / Local Control, My ENTIRE POST is about it being unresponsive in that mode, it does not function at all in that mode and the only thing that does work is the Presets. I don't really use Midi that much, I don't use DAWs. I did the calibration and all of that first thing. If it's dead because of factory presets and global settings needing to be reset, that's a huge red flag to me and pretty scary that it can shut the whole thing down. Thanks, anyway.

[JohnS]

UPDATE:  It WORKS!

I decided to calibrate it one last time and factory reset the Global Parameters again before packing it up. And, whatever happened.. it now seems to be okay and functions in a complete local, non preset mode. Very odd, but I hope this did the trick. I do not know what was done differently to unlock it, but it now definitely works. The buttons still do not work or respond, i.e. the Effects On/Off or others that select LFO, OSC, etc. when I am in Global (yellow)/ Local Ctrl mode, but when Global and Preset buttons are all off, they do work and allow adjustments and selections. I will dig further into the manual to see if this is correct. I'm guessing the control is left to do via Midi in this mode. Please clarify if you like.

My apologies to you all for being a b*tch about this. Just that for what these cost, it was a rough way to begin the relationship with it and very frustrating. I will give it a chance and hopefully have a prosperous and creative experience from here on.

[abstrktd]

Hey, that's great. Thought you meant local MIDI control off, rather than Preset off.
Hope it all keeps working. Not all the presets have FX on, but I'm sure you've tried several.
Or try enabling FX or other LED params and Write/save them and see if they're saved after a power cycle?
One other thought. DSI OS updates are sometimes separated between Main and Panel. Maybe the last Panel update failed, or needs to be redone? DSI support can probably assist. Just a thought.