Whenever I program my Prophet '08 or Tetra, in the final steps I almost always add a little bit of keyboard note modulation to my LFO's. I have found the LFO can respond in a similar manner as "cross mod" on an OB6 or "polymod" on the Prophet 6. Because the Prophet 08 has 4 LFO's per note, each one can have a different rate determined by the key that is struck. This always adds flavor to my final patches! If it's Oscillator tuning, a lazy slow triangle filter in the lower registers to a quick LFO in the upper registers, a delay created that has different settings depending on the key that is hit, I find myself reaching for the mod section and setting:
MOD (1-4) Source: Key Number, Destination: (LFO 1-4 Freq), Amount: Whatever sounds best!
I like to use the LFO to create a delay in much the same manner as the bouncing stereo delay I described above, only varying the LFO's frequency with the key that is hit. Let me give you an example of what I mean. I create bell-like FM sounds with audio mod, with the filter set to 4-pole mode, and audio mod at 127, osc mix set to 127, and osc 2 shape to off. I will occasionally set OSC2 to a much higher tuning, and to a square or triangle wave to give that initial percussive ringing at the attack, set up envelope 3 destination as OSC Mix, adjusting the decay and resonance to pretty snappy, and balancing ENV3 amount to give me that initial snappy-clicky attack. If I am setting up a plucked instrument, I will sometimes set ENV3’s destination as noise level to emulate the randomness that comes from plucking a string. It just depends on the sound I am looking for. I set OSC1 shape to a triangle wave to give us the FM filter sound. Then turn resonance to 127 and generally I experiment with different OSC1 frequency tunings, filter cutoff, and key amount settings. I adjust the filter and amplifier envelopes as necessary. When I have a good bell or plucked instrument sound, I make LFO 1 act as a delay by setting LFO1’s destination as “LOW PASS” and amount as similar to the Filter envelope amount so it sounds like the bell is being struck multiple times, or the instrument is being plucked at different rates. Here, I will adjust the Amplifier release time to give me long or short delays.
Now, I will setup the following: MOD1 Source: Key Number, Destination: LFO1 Freq. I will set the amount to something that sounds like rapid fire on the higher registers, as if it is a little hand held bell is being rung, and slow on lower registers to act as if a very large bell is being rung. It physically takes longer for the pendulum to hit each side of the bell! I might have to balance the LFO 1 Frequency with the MOD1 amount to find some happy medium so it is not too slow nor too quick in all the registers. I find that if I play the keyboard carefully, it will create a sound like a santur! If I am looking for that true santur sound, I will set up ENV3’s destination as LFO1’s Frequency, and adjust either the attack or the decay/release to an appropriate setting so as to emulate the mallet hitting the strings fast and then slow, or slow and then fast! I will then play around with the velocity on ENV3 to make it so when the key is really struck fast, the percussive sound will be rapid fire, and when it is hit slow, the sound rings out slowly. So, we have three things that are altering LFO1’s frequencies, the key that is played, ENV3 and how hard the key is struck! Wow!
DSI truly made an impressive synthesizer with the Prophet 08. There are so many things you can do with 32 independent LFO’s and 4 assignable, 4 fixed modulation slots, I am afraid I haven't even scratched the surface of the modulation possibilities! I am jealous when I think of those with the Prophet rev 2 and 8 assignable, 4 fixed mod slots! I know that breath control is a mod slot, but I don’t have a breath controller. Happy synthing! ; )
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