Prophet X Speculation

[Razmo]

I see a few comments about the X having both synth oscillators and sample oscillators, and thinking only sample oscillators would have been better... I initially thought this as well but when thinking about it, this configuration is one of the things that will set this hybrid apart... why?

1. You can obviously audio rate modulate the two with each other... only few synths have had that option, like the Yamaha SY/TG77 for example.

2. You can create less "stale" sounds when having a pair of synth oscillators on top of a sample that normally trigger exactly the same at each keypress... this is one of the reasons that synths sound more organic... the constant running oscillators... but in addition to that, you can create the typical D50 type sounds with it... the D50 used small sampled transients, and combined these with synth oscillators that did the sustain part... it opens up lots of 80's inspired sounds because of these extra synth oscillators.

So I do by no means consider the synth oscillators as a "bonus"... they are as vital to the flexibility of the Profet X as the sample oscillators are in my opinion expanded quite a bit on both the amount of sounds it is capable of creating, as well as making those sounds more lively and organic... samplers with only sample oscillators can get quite stale and static sounding. By having the synth oscillators you can create these types of sounds without having the need of layering it with other synths, and you can save the sounds as an integrated sound... i like that idea really.

[Razmo]

Can anybody clarify what FATAR keybed the X has? .. .is it the same as in the REV2?

[Paul Dither]

Can anybody clarify what FATAR keybed the X has? .. .is it the same as in the REV2?

Yep. It's a Fatar TP/9S.

[chysn]

This instrument seems like a good opportunity to pull off the band-aid and completely omit a system exclusive specification.

[Razmo]

This instrument seems like a good opportunity to pull off the band-aid and completely omit a system exclusive specification.

Yes... if they include a full spec'ed editor with sample management to compensate for it

[chysn]

This instrument seems like a good opportunity to pull off the band-aid and completely omit a system exclusive specification.

Yes... if they include a full spec'ed editor with sample management to compensate for it

Certainly. And an open protocol would also be nice.

[LoboLives]

I do wonder the tuning ability of the samples. Can each Instrument be detuned or tuned to a different pitch as if it were an oscillator? Also curious, if you take keyboard tracking off does one instrument become a single pitch like how one of the P6's oscilators does when you take VCO two out of Keyboard mode?

[dslsynth]

This instrument seems like a good opportunity to pull off the band-aid and completely omit a system exclusive specification.

Fun fact is that such specifications are not terribly difficult to make with the right tooling.

[Paul Dither]

I do wonder the tuning ability of the samples. Can each Instrument be detuned or tuned to a different pitch as if it were an oscillator?

Yes.

Also curious, if you take keyboard tracking off does one instrument become a single pitch like how one of the P6's oscilators does when you take VCO two out of Keyboard mode?

You can't deactivate the keytracking for the instruments and oscillators.

[Lady Gaia]

You can't deactivate the keytracking for the instruments and oscillators.

Can you effectively counteract the default key tracking by modulating instrument frequency with an appropriate negative amount sourced from the key number?  Or is the frequency modulation linear (where you’d need something exponential to pull this off)?

[cbmd]

You can't deactivate the keytracking for the instruments and oscillators.

This is incorrect.  You can set the oscillators and samples to not track the keyboard and only play at their root pitch.

[Paul Dither]

You can't deactivate the keytracking for the instruments and oscillators.

This is incorrect.  You can set the oscillators and samples to not track the keyboard and only play at their root pitch.

Sorry for the confusion, I stand corrected. 

There is indeed a "Key Follow" option in the according menu tabs that can be activated or deactivated.

[Razmo]

You can't deactivate the keytracking for the instruments and oscillators.

This is incorrect.  You can set the oscillators and samples to not track the keyboard and only play at their root pitch.

Sorry for the confusion, I stand corrected. 

There is indeed a "Key Follow" option in the according menu tabs that can be activated or deactivated.

I'm glad you were wrong, because that feature is what makes stuff like sync/ringmod/FM and other audio rate modulations interesting

[Razmo]

I have a thing I've been wondering about the sample playback engine of the Prophet X, that maybe DSI can answer:

What sample frequency does it run at?, and does it have any kind of sample interpolation in the playback? ... I'm thinking of pitch transposition here... when you use a steady sample rate and pitch down, and you play back at say; one octave lower than the root key, if you have no interpolation you just play the same sample twice to get an octave lower... does the PX interpolate in these cases, making the deeper transpositions sound less "quantized"? ... or will the analog filters be what makes up for that?

[Differencetone]

From what I can see in the manual, you can't map samples to individual keys until the software comes out in December, even 8Dio included samples? I am right? If so, this is a shame but I could be wrong.

[LoboLives]

From what I can see in the manual, you can't map samples to individual keys until the software comes out in December, even 8Dio included samples? I am right? If so, this is a shame but I could be wrong.

This is correct but the software will make that possible. Not a huge deal cause the synth will have more than enough to experiment with until the software comes out.

[hoodoo_ray]

Is the synth engine effectively the same as the Rev 2 or another DSI synth (under the hood I mean, not in feature set), does anyone know?

[LoboLives]

Is the synth engine effectively the same as the Rev 2 or another DSI synth (under the hood I mean, not in feature set), does anyone know?

These are digital oscillators, not analog. Similar layout, different engine.

[hoodoo_ray]

Thanks.. but don't the P08 and Rev2 have DCOs too?

[Paul Dither]

Thanks.. but don't the P08 and Rev2 have DCOs too?

DCOs are digitally controlled analog oscillators, where the clock source (the external frequency reference) is digital, nothing else. The oscillators of the Prophet 12, Pro 2, and the Prophet X are DSP-based digital oscillators.