Chysn's Gear Rant Thread...

[chysn]

How do you give a Prophet 5 an arpeggiator? Get a Pro 3!

My Pro 3 and Prophet 5 are in different rooms right now, but are linked together via Bluetooth using WIDI Jacks. I set both synths to the same MIDI channel and press the Arpeggiator button on my Pro 3. Then on the Prophet 5, I set Local to "SOn" to allow panel controls to work. Now MIDI notes are flung through the air from Prophet 5 to Pro 3, where the Pro 3 plays an arpeggio and flings it back to the Prophet 5. It's a lot of fun, and takes much of the opportunity cost away from going with P5 over Trigon 6.

The temporary downside is, with the Pro 3 in my office, I don't have immediate access to tempo, arpeggiator mode, etc. Fortunately, I just ordered a two-tier stand, and my instruments will soon be united. I'm still going to have all my connections via Bluetooth, even when the synths are in close proximity. There's no latency that I notice, and I can seamlessly bring in my computer or iPad or whatever.

Of course, this technique also works with the sequencer. I've had a little taste of sequencing Prophet 5 parameters by assigning MIDI1 CCs to sequencer tracks, but I'll need to dig in a bit more on this to make it really useful.

I had originally considered selling off my Pro 3 to get a Hydrasynth, but I don't think I'm going to do that. I have tons of time invested in the Pro 3 (and I'm still learning!), and the two synths make a lovely pair.

[chysn]

Weekend Interoperability Fun, Part II

Also tested CV. I had to wait a little while because I needed a mono 1/4" to 3.5mm adapter to use my eurorack cables. In this case, I patched a simple pitch/gate CV pair from my MicroBrute to the Prophet 5. It worked as expected, and everything was in tune. Don't take being in tune for granted when you use CV!

Prophet 5 has a nice CV implementation. It always assigns the same voice when gate comes in, meaning that I can play the other 4 notes while the MicroBrute's sequencer is running, without the chance of "stealing" the sequenced voice.

VCF isn't quite as useful as pitch under CV control. The input is slewed by a significant amount, so you can't get nice, rhythmic filter effects via CV. My old Mopho keyboard was the same way. It is, after all, intended for pedals, and most people don't have as smooth of control over their feet as they think they do. It would be nice to be able to change this behavior, but it's probably done with capacitors at the input; otherwise, Sequential would already have offered such a setting.

[Quatschmacher]

Also worth checking the Yorick Tech LFE as a means for getting arpeggiator, sequencer and extra LFOs and envelopes into the Prophet. It integrates perfectly, gives patch name display. The guy who makes them is constantly adding useful new features to it. I still haven’t got one as I need to shift a few small bits of gear to fund it but I’ve been corresponding with him and visited him last weekend and he’s already implemented about four or five feature ideas I suggested to him. These include things like being able to turn a knob on the synth to quickly assign a mod destination, being able to press sustain pedal to alter the length of the envelopes’ release times, being able to use aftertouch as a sustain pedal, being able to see the name of an associated split/stack patch.

[chysn]

Also worth checking the Yorick Tech LFE as a means for getting arpeggiator, sequencer and extra LFOs and envelopes into the Prophet.

It's an interesting box. From a financial priorities perspective, I'd probably start by buying the 5-voice expansion, as that's a lot of bang for the buck. And then, instead of LFE, I'd probably put that money into a Hydrasynth. And then a Strymon reverb. And maybe some better monitor speakers. And then... 

Something like the LFE is really more of a DIY project for me, in that all the parts are in the basement and I'd just need to decide what I want it to do. But right now, I'm finding the Pro 3 to be an excellent Prophet 5 expansion box. And then, I'm just discovering the crazy things that Ableton can do with automation and probability.

Everything I can do seriously makes my head spin, if I think about it too much. Meanwhile, when I walk by my Prophet 5, all I want to do is play and turn knobs.

[chysn]

For most of this year, I've been going round and round about how I actually want to make music with my Prophet 5. I've been using Ableton with an old MacBook Pro and audio interface. I've gritted my teeth and learned how to use it pretty well. But not unlike sentiments I've seen echoed by other I.T. professionals, I have a bit of distaste for coming home from work (um... figuratively) and doing a hobby on a MacBook Pro. No, that's not really it; it's that Ableton feels like work, no matter how well I get to know it.

So I took a leap based on lots of information from member LPF83 and others (but mostly LPF83) and bought the new Akai MPC One+. It professes to be a "standalone" production center. I've found it to be pretty much exactly what I was hoping it would be. I don't need a box as powerful as Ableton, and the MPC provides plenty of resources to make complete musical pieces starting from MIDI sequences.

I've found the workflow to be easy to understand and fun. Most operations are efficiently implemented. I've still got a lot to learn about it, but I think it'll fit in just fine as the center of my home studio.

Also, I've learned that Prophet 5 makes an excellent main controller keyboard. The keyboard is highly expressive with other instruments. The only real downside is that you can't change octaves from the Prophet 5 itself; that must be done on the receiver's end. Not much of a hardship with everything so close together.

[chysn]

A big test of the MPC today. I do much of my composing in Finale, and use MIDI files in Ableton, and assign these to synth parts for recording.

It turns out that the MPC can import MIDI files from Finale, enabling pretty much the same process. Finale MIDI files are strange, in that Finale adds program changes to the start of every track, and also a MIDI volume change message of 100%. Both of these messages have caused trouble in Ableton, especially the volume message.

But the MPC's MIDI setting overrides the program change, and the volume change doesn't seem to be sent. So all I need to do is drag Finale's MIDI file onto an SD card and bring it over to the MPC. I can audition the piece with plug-in instruments like Stage Piano, and then start recording synth parts.

MPC doesn't send a note-off message when a legato note is repeated, which is slightly annoying. But MPC's piano roll-type event editor makes it easy to edit huge swaths of notes at once, so not a serious barrier.

So far, MPC has been able to do everything I've thrown at it.

[chysn]

35 years of synth swapping; sprawling setups in my childhood bedroom, compact dorm-room setups in college, having to sell almost everything to pay rent as a young man trying to find a job, looking for space in a little house, trying to go all-analog in my 40s, it all now comes down to this.

A Prophet 5 and an MPC. A couple weeks in and it's been a revelation. The Prophet 5 can do what Prophet 5s do, a solid foundation of analog sound. Or, the Prophet 5 can be raw material, a starting point for mangled experimentalism or huge-sounding wave sequences. These two instruments together, I hardly know what to do with all the possibilities. They're both so fun to play with individually, and then putting them together? It's almost too much.

Hopefully I can get some stuff done. August isn't going to be a very friendly month for free time. But the goal right now is to really learn the MPC.

[LPF83]

35 years of synth swapping; sprawling setups in my childhood bedroom, compact dorm-room setups in college, having to sell almost everything to pay rent as a young man trying to find a job, looking for space in a little house, trying to go all-analog in my 40s, it all now comes down to this.

Sometimes less really is more when it comes to creativity.  One thing I hate about lots of gear choices is that it usually equates to more complex troubleshooting, more trying to remember how one piece of gear does what, and that all gets in the way of making music.

[Quatschmacher]

35 years of synth swapping; sprawling setups in my childhood bedroom, compact dorm-room setups in college, having to sell almost everything to pay rent as a young man trying to find a job, looking for space in a little house, trying to go all-analog in my 40s, it all now comes down to this.

A Prophet 5 and an MPC. A couple weeks in and it's been a revelation. The Prophet 5 can do what Prophet 5s do, a solid foundation of analog sound. Or, the Prophet 5 can be raw material, a starting point for mangled experimentalism or huge-sounding wave sequences. These two instruments together, I hardly know what to do with all the possibilities. They're both so fun to play with individually, and then putting them together? It's almost too much.

Hopefully I can get some stuff done. August isn't going to be a very friendly month for free time. But the goal right now is to really learn the MPC.

Yes, saw you’d listed your Pro 3 and pared right down. Must be quite liberating.

I’ve been contemplating a similar move, partially to fund and concentrate on acoustic piano. Not sure I can get to just one synth but with a Model D due soon, I probably won’t need the Pro 3 or Subsequent 37. I think I’m generally aiming for fairly simple MM sounds most of the time anyway (though I do love the SVF). Most of the other stuff is wasted on me (I’ve never even touched the sequencer).

Polys may be a bit trickier; currently got a Summit, P10 and DX7. Also have a Hydrasynth Deluxe and a Juno 106 on loan. Totally smitten with the Roland; don’t think I’ll miss the HS.

Have already been having a purge of (bass) guitar effects and I feel a synth purge is also in order.

[Shaw]

35 years of synth swapping; sprawling setups in my childhood bedroom, compact dorm-room setups in college, having to sell almost everything to pay rent as a young man trying to find a job, looking for space in a little house, trying to go all-analog in my 40s, it all now comes down to this.

A Prophet 5 and an MPC. A couple weeks in and it's been a revelation. The Prophet 5 can do what Prophet 5s do, a solid foundation of analog sound. Or, the Prophet 5 can be raw material, a starting point for mangled experimentalism or huge-sounding wave sequences. These two instruments together, I hardly know what to do with all the possibilities. They're both so fun to play with individually, and then putting them together? It's almost too much.

Hopefully I can get some stuff done. August isn't going to be a very friendly month for free time. But the goal right now is to really learn the MPC.

Inspirational post.  Less can of course be more.

[chysn]

I have sold my Pro 3. I'll miss it, but Prophet-5 has everything I need in a hardware synth. And the MPC has everything else.

I expect that my next gear purchase will be the Prophet-10 voice board for my Prophet-5. I'll do this when the divorce is finalized....

[Shaw]

I'll do this when the divorce is finalized....

Ha!……  (I hope that was a joke)

[Quatschmacher]

I have sold my Pro 3.

I’ve been thinking of doing the same for a while. I do love it and that it can do but it’s overkill for what I use it for. I get much more enjoyment out of simpler synths that inspire to play and write music than ones where I can spend a whole day tweaking a sound in infinitesimal detail. 

[chysn]

I'll do this when the divorce is finalized....

Ha!……  (I hope that was a joke)

I'd love to get the expansion right now, but I can't really make any big moves until that $#!T is out of the way. August!