Vintage Prophet 5 rev.2

[Infa Red]

Hi all, I was hoping someone here could upload a owners/users manual for the Prophet 5 rev.2 ? I see ones for the Rev.3, but not 2.

Right now I am mainly looking for detailed instructions on how to do Cassette Saves on my rev.2. I read the Rev.3 manual and if they are the same, thats great, but still have questions, as it seems to say only how to save each Bank (5 banks total each individually) but not how to save all 5 banks under one simple 40 preset save.

Does anyone know about this ? Thanks for all help in advance !

[Manbird]

Hi all, I was hoping someone here could upload a owners/users manual for the Prophet 5 rev.2 ? I see ones for the Rev.3, but not 2.

Right now I am mainly looking for detailed instructions on how to do Cassette Saves on my rev.2. I read the Rev.3 manual and if they are the same, thats great, but still have questions, as it seems to say only how to save each Bank (5 banks total each individually) but not how to save all 5 banks under one simple 40 preset save.

Does anyone know about this ? Thanks for all help in advance !

While the P5 I now live with is a Rev.3, I still have the manual for the Rev. 2... I can take a photo of the Saving To Tape page and send as PM... I don't see any notes regarding one bank or all, so I assume this is for saving all banks at once to tape.

[Manbird]

Hope this is what you're looking for...

[Infa Red]

Hope this is what you're looking for...

Dude ! Your awesome for that. Thanks.

If possible the whole section would be helpful as I'd like to follow the load procedures too.

You must have something different than what I was reading, because like I said, the one I read was talking about how to save only 1 bank at a time.

For sure PM me brother ! Appreciate it.


-------EDIT------

Oh your quick, lol you sent it while I was writing that above. Yes thats all I need and that IS indeed different than what I read before so you helped a lot. And its ok, you do not need to take any more photos. I was just saying that before you did it in case.. but its cool. THANKS again !

[Manbird]

Hope this is what you're looking for...

Dude ! Your awesome for that. Thanks.

If possible the whole section would be helpful as I'd like to follow the load procedures too.

You must have something different than what I was reading, because like I said, the one I read was talking about how to save only 1 bank at a time.

For sure PM me brother ! Appreciate it.


-------EDIT------

Oh your quick, lol you sent it while I was writing that above. Yes thats all I need and that IS indeed different than what I read before so you helped a lot. And its ok, you do not need to take any more photos. I was just saying that before you did it in case.. but its cool. THANKS again !

I'm really glad to help. I sold my dead Rev. 2 for parts almost twenty years ago, but kept the manual for, at the time, sentimental reasons.  It's handy for many things to do with the Rev. 3 we have now, but obviously there are differences between the synths.

[StephenJamesBennett]

Just in case you have the problems I had with my Rev  2—see below. I had problems loading and saving using digital tools. My DAW didn't work, so ...

I managed to save the internal memory of the Prophet onto my ZOOM H4 using autogain and the line inputs.

Playing back this recording from the headphone socket at full volume loads the saved sounds back perfectly.

Trying it from the Mac directly didn't work - I tried a lot of gain/EQ settings but to no avail.

Using the factory sounds above, I played these out of the Mac into the Zoom then used the Zoom to transfer the audio back into the Prophet.

Result! It loads perfectly.

Stephen




Dude ! Your awesome for that. Thanks.

If possible the whole section would be helpful as I'd like to follow the load procedures too.

You must have something different than what I was reading, because like I said, the one I read was talking about how to save only 1 bank at a time.

For sure PM me brother ! Appreciate it.


-------EDIT------

Oh your quick, lol you sent it while I was writing that above. Yes thats all I need and that IS indeed different than what I read before so you helped a lot. And its ok, you do not need to take any more photos. I was just saying that before you did it in case.. but its cool. THANKS again !
[/quote]

I'm really glad to help. I sold my dead Rev. 2 for parts almost twenty years ago, but kept the manual for, at the time, sentimental reasons.  It's handy for many things to do with the Rev. 3 we have now, but obviously there are differences between the synths.
[/quote]

[Infa Red]

Hope this is what you're looking for...

Dude ! Your awesome for that. Thanks.

If possible the whole section would be helpful as I'd like to follow the load procedures too.

You must have something different than what I was reading, because like I said, the one I read was talking about how to save only 1 bank at a time.

For sure PM me brother ! Appreciate it.


-------EDIT------

Oh your quick, lol you sent it while I was writing that above. Yes thats all I need and that IS indeed different than what I read before so you helped a lot. And its ok, you do not need to take any more photos. I was just saying that before you did it in case.. but its cool. THANKS again !

I'm really glad to help. I sold my dead Rev. 2 for parts almost twenty years ago, but kept the manual for, at the time, sentimental reasons.  It's handy for many things to do with the Rev. 3 we have now, but obviously there are differences between the synths.

Hey thanks again Ant of 12047 ! It works perfectly. I just figured the load process would be the same except to press "From Tape" instead of "To Tape". Sure enough, I was able to save all my presets, and load them back and load others I've found on the internet as well all thanks to you brother ! Right on. There are 3 different factory sets btw.

I guess now I will try the other way of saving only 1 bank. I'm curious if this will work for the rev.2, cause the place I read the instructions for that was in the Rev3 manual. lol I guess we will see.

Just in case you have the problems I had with my Rev  2—see below. I had problems loading and saving using digital tools. My DAW didn't work, so ...

I managed to save the internal memory of the Prophet onto my ZOOM H4 using autogain and the line inputs.

Playing back this recording from the headphone socket at full volume loads the saved sounds back perfectly.

Trying it from the Mac directly didn't work - I tried a lot of gain/EQ settings but to no avail.

Using the factory sounds above, I played these out of the Mac into the Zoom then used the Zoom to transfer the audio back into the Prophet.

Result! It loads perfectly.

Stephen

Thanks for chiming in for some input Stephen. Much appreciated. I did get it to work fine. I just recorded into Pro Tools as I already got a "Cassette Saves" session made for all my gear that uses such a thing. Its always worked best for me. The cassette outs for all the gear I've used so far has all been at a "instrument" level. So I just route to a Pre Amp before Pro Tools and get the gain exactly where I need it (-.1db at peak)

Play back then is as simple as hitting play with no level adjusting, cause on the way back, it wants a line level I notice.

Thanks again for all help guys ! But lets keep the thread going for anyone who wants to discuss, learn or have questions about the vintage Sequential Circuits Prophet 5's.

[StephenJamesBennett]

Weird isn't it? I just could not get that to work through my Metric Halo and Sound Devices interfaces.

Glad you got it sorted.

Now let's talk tuning :-)

Oh and Effects processing!

Stephen

[Infa Red]

Weird isn't it? I just could not get that to work through my Metric Halo and Sound Devices interfaces.

Glad you got it sorted.

Now let's talk tuning :-)

Oh and Effects processing!

Stephen

Omg, tuning for this thing is kind of a b**tch. I am sure the rev 3's are much better for that. But, what I do for mine and it works fine is I just have to let it warm up for about 30-40min. People say about 10-15, but thats right when I notice the tuning is a little better, but the intonation/scaling is funny. Like I will fine tune it in perfectly and the octave I tuned in stays fine, BUT 2 octaves up is sharp and 2 octaves down is flat. And incrementally worse as you travel key by key further away from the key I first tuned it to.

After about 40min though, once the rear is steaming hot !, lol I hit the tune button again, then I can fine tune adjust it so the higher octaves are just a little sharp and the lower octaves are just a little flat and thats about perfect. Works good for most songs. Oh and about ever hour or so I adjust the fine tuning again to keep it good.

[StephenJamesBennett]

I haven't done it myself yet—but I really need to.

Slightly confused by the online/manual info—do you have a step by step guide?

Thanks for the temperature suggestion though!

Stephen

Weird isn't it? I just could not get that to work through my Metric Halo and Sound Devices interfaces.

Glad you got it sorted.

Now let's talk tuning :-)

Oh and Effects processing!

Stephen

Omg, tuning for this thing is kind of a b**tch. I am sure the rev 3's are much better for that. But, what I do for mine and it works fine is I just have to let it warm up for about 30-40min. People say about 10-15, but thats right when I notice the tuning is a little better, but the intonation/scaling is funny. Like I will fine tune it in perfectly and the octave I tuned in stays fine, BUT 2 octaves up is sharp and 2 octaves down is flat. And incrementally worse as you travel key by key further away from the key I first tuned it to.

After about 40min though, once the rear is steaming hot !, lol I hit the tune button again, then I can fine tune adjust it so the higher octaves are just a little sharp and the lower octaves are just a little flat and thats about perfect. Works good for most songs. Oh and about ever hour or so I adjust the fine tuning again to keep it good.

[Infa Red]

I haven't done it myself yet—but I really need to.

Slightly confused by the online/manual info—do you have a step by step guide?

Thanks for the temperature suggestion though!

Stephen

Oh man, my bad Stephen, I was just referring to normal tuning. As in pushing the tune button, then using a guitar tuner and adjusting the "fine tune" knob until its all good. I'm sorry if I wasn't more clear about that. I am just a musician man, I don't try to do the actual "calibration" type tuning that it sounds like you are describing. I took mine to a professional Sequential Circuits tech we have here in San Francisco and he did all that for me a while ago. Been fine ever since. But what I was talking about is even after that, tuning for each song I use it on becomes a task ! lol Gotta wait and get it good and then keep tuning it here and there. The thing drifts man ! Plus not every key sounds like the other, like they each have their own character. lol Hard to explain.

[StephenJamesBennett]

No my bad!

Unfortunately, my P5 has gone from 'artistically' to 'argh' wrt to tuning.

My tech takes ages, so I need to have a go.

When I've worked it out I'll post a 'how to' here.

Stephen

I haven't done it myself yet—but I really need to.

Slightly confused by the online/manual info—do you have a step by step guide?

Thanks for the temperature suggestion though!

Stephen

Oh man, my bad Stephen, I was just referring to normal tuning. As in pushing the tune button, then using a guitar tuner and adjusting the "fine tune" knob until its all good. I'm sorry if I wasn't more clear about that. I am just a musician man, I don't try to do the actual "calibration" type tuning that it sounds like you are describing. I took mine to a professional Sequential Circuits tech we have here in San Francisco and he did all that for me a while ago. Been fine ever since. But what I was talking about is even after that, tuning for each song I use it on becomes a task ! lol Gotta wait and get it good and then keep tuning it here and there. The thing drifts man ! Plus not every key sounds like the other, like they each have their own character. lol Hard to explain.

[Infa Red]

No my bad!

Unfortunately, my P5 has gone from 'artistically' to 'argh' wrt to tuning.

My tech takes ages, so I need to have a go.

When I've worked it out I'll post a 'how to' here.

Stephen

That'd be great to show us Stephan... keep us posted on that when you get a chance.

[Infa Red]

I'm also personally curious if its possible to change out the original solder tab battery for a surface mount battery holder that allows for quick easy non-solder tab battery exchange. I know the Juno60 can. Seemingly, every synth should be able to. Just a matter of finding a surface mount battery holder thats compatible with the battery the synth uses.

The Juno 60 uses a CR-1/3N battery with solder tabs. But they make CR-1/3N batteries with no solder tabs (for cameras and stuff) and they are way easier to find and less obsolete and currently still manufactured. Awesomely enough, there is a surface mounted battery holder for CR-1/3N non-solder tab batteries. So taking the original battery out and replacing it with this battery holder is easy for a tech, as its the same work as changing the battery with solder tabs. But then after that, the owner can easily change batteries with no soldering needed !

It would be great to be able to do this on the vintage Prophet 5's we have. Anyone know if this is possible ? And if so, the parts numbers ? Or links.

[StephenJamesBennett]

Why not drop these http://www.winecountrysequential.com or http://www.winecountrysequential.com a line? They may be able to help.

Stephen

I'm also personally curious if its possible to change out the original solder tab battery for a surface mount battery holder that allows for quick easy non-solder tab battery exchange. I know the Juno60 can. Seemingly, every synth should be able to. Just a matter of finding a surface mount battery holder thats compatible with the battery the synth uses.

The Juno 60 uses a CR-1/3N battery with solder tabs. But they make CR-1/3N batteries with no solder tabs (for cameras and stuff) and they are way easier to find and less obsolete and currently still manufactured. Awesomely enough, there is a surface mounted battery holder for CR-1/3N non-solder tab batteries. So taking the original battery out and replacing it with this battery holder is easy for a tech, as its the same work as changing the battery with solder tabs. But then after that, the owner can easily change batteries with no soldering needed !

It would be great to be able to do this on the vintage Prophet 5's we have. Anyone know if this is possible ? And if so, the parts numbers ? Or links.

[Infa Red]

Why not drop these http://www.winecountrysequential.com or http://www.winecountrysequential.com a line? They may be able to help.

Stephen

Wine Country has really fallen off over the last 5-10 years. When you call them, they even admit it. All the old true sequential tech employees there have left and they are just slowly selling the last bit of parts and stuff they have left. No one there really knows anything anymore. They are nice, and helpful if they got what you need, but the true OG's all left so the in-depth knowledge has been lost.

Furthermore last I spoke with them, they had nothing I needed and they said it obviously can not be gotten anymore and they kinda have a attitude of "these things are all dying and they won't be around soon and its all over and your lucky yours is still working". And for me, a vast vintage synth collector and user/music producer, thats a attitude I don't need around me.

[StephenJamesBennett]

Thanks for the update though, useful.

Stephen

Why not drop these http://www.winecountrysequential.com or http://www.winecountrysequential.com a line? They may be able to help.

Stephen

Wine Country has really fallen off over the last 5-10 years. When you call them, they even admit it. All the old true sequential tech employees there have left and they are just slowly selling the last bit of parts and stuff they have left. No one there really knows anything anymore. They are nice, and helpful if they got what you need, but the true OG's all left so the in-depth knowledge has been lost.

Furthermore last I spoke with them, they had nothing I needed and they said it obviously can not be gotten anymore and they kinda have a attitude of "these things are all dying and they won't be around soon and its all over and your lucky yours is still working". And for me, a vast vintage synth collector and user/music producer, thats a attitude I don't need around me.