I really appreciate having the manual available. Thank you! It gives the obsessive among us with pre-orders something to digest. It certainly clears up a few things and makes the scope of the instrument obvious. It also leaves plenty of mysteries to explore when mine finally arrives, but that's inevitable. I think it does a great job as is of giving an overview and making clear how the instrument is intended to be approached. Nicely done.
I took quite a few notes while doing my first pass through that might be useful for doing some quick editorial changes for the next revision:
ERRORS
Page 20 “TAB 3 - Inst Loop” under Loop Mode it states you can change the size of the pitch period by pressing Soft Key 3 (Inst1 Edit), but the diagram above shows Inst1 Edit as Soft Key 4.
Page 29 “TAB 2 - Panning” lists the value ranges for Osc 1 Pan and Osc 2 Pan as -64L…64R when presumably both should be -64L…63R.
Page 57 “Modulation Examples” in the mod wheel vibrato example suggest Soft Knob 3 has two different behaviors. In step 4 it’s used to set the modulation amount, and then in step 5 to scroll through destinations. Presumably one of these is intended to be Soft Knob 4 instead?
Page 57 “Modulation Example” in the filter cutoff example Soft Knob 4 as described as adjusting modulation amount and selecting destinations. One of these is clearly intended to be Soft Knob 3.
TYPOS + FORMATTING
Page 59 “Effects” is missing a space after the comma in the phrase “for best performance,run the flangers”
Page 69 “Additional Sequencer Parameters (Display Menus)” “Set Length” is doubtless intended to be bold like the other items listed.
Page 81 “Modulation Wheel” the word hold is misspelled “hod” in the shortcut text.
Page 118 “Exporting Programs and Banks” describes Dump Current All Banks as a command, but the extra word “Current” is clearly incorrect.
SUGGESTIONS
Page 7 “Creating a Program from Scratch” step 3 describes a shortcut, but presumably this is a shortcut for steps 1-4 and not just this single step. Perhaps this should be listed after all four steps?
Page 16: "Sample Playback Parameters (Front Panel)” says to hold down the group button to select between factory and user samples. This is likely incomplete, as on page 122 under “Importing Add-On Samples/Instruments” the manual states that you press Group and turn the Type knob. Perhaps both should be corrected to state that you need to hold Group while turning the Type knob?
Page 22 “Oscillators” describes oscillators as providing the raw building blocks of the Prophet X’s sound. While true on most DSI instruments, here it seems out of place since sampled instruments are also raw building blocks for sound. Perhaps “provide additional raw building block” or similar?
Page 65 “Clock Parameters” the Tap Tempo description says “for best results” tap the button 4 times, where previously the manual states that the Tap Tempo button must be pressed four times. Which is it?
Page 116 “Using USB” states that MIDI Out and USB can be used at the same time and transmit the same data. This is in conflict with Page 141 “Appendix E: MIDI Implementation” which describes MIDI Out Select as allowing one or the other, but not both, to be selected.
NITS
Page 25 “Oscillator Parameters (Front Panel)” under Slop 1&2 the manual asserts that the oscillators are stable and will not drift. This seems odd given the next statement. Perhaps “will not drift unless configured to do so” or similar?
Page 30 “TAB 3 - Hack/Deci” states that Bit Hack reduces bit depth from 16-bit down to 1-bit. Perhaps it should be clearer about the bit depth actually being selectable? Something like “reduces the bit depth of the original 16-bit samples by a selectable number of bits, so a value of 15 results in nasty 1-bit fidelity” or similar?
Page 87 “Synthesis 101: Synth Bass” describes a sine wave as having very few harmonics. A perfect sine wave has no harmonics, only its fundamental pitch. What is this trying to convey?
Page 116 “Using USB” references Mac OS X. Apple has rebranded their modern operating systems as macOS, but understandably that might not be familiar enough to be clear. Still, just FYI.
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