P5/10 Rev 4 VS Prophet 6

[LPF83]

You could just transpose the target instrument... be it hardware of software.

Quite right! I was thrown off in Logic and found myself trying to tweak the pitch of the piano samples themselves, which created some rather dreary results! But of course, I can tweak the MIDI channel in Logic. I was hoping there was a simple solution - thanks!

I'm a big fan of simple solutions und fortunately for most things there is one  . I used my DAW to arrange whole layer/split configurations this way. I'm an Ableton Live user rather than a Logic guy, but it would shock me if Logic was not able to do such things.

I've been using Pro Tools for 15 years, but am new to Logic. I'm liking it so much that I seem to have drifted over to doing 90% of any new work in Logic. Overall, it's pretty - uh - logical! Still, there are a few things that drive me crazy, but that's life overall. The instruments and sampler included are fab and have changed the music I make. Having an instant "drummer" always ready to go makes demos sound like songs from the start.

But back to the Prophet 5...

Since you may be one of the few active posters here that has both a P5 Rev4 and vintage Rev3 side by side, I'm curious on your thoughts on the "authenticity" of the Rev4?  Would love to hear your thoughts on this subject.

I personally have not been disappointed in comparisons between my P10 and the vintage units I hear on YT, but that's not really a fair benchmark.  Duplicating patches based on visually matching knob dial settings has convinced me that it's a faithful recreation, although I have found that knob position can be very deceiving on some patches... very slight nudges in one direction or the other can make a big difference on these knobs.  I think very slight pot positioning differences are a big factor in why conventional wisdom says no two analog synths of the same model sound exactly alike.

Easiest thing I can say is that it's a Prophet 5! When I had the rev 3 and rev 4 next to each other a few days back, I got a bit bored matching up tones... sort of like I'd assured myself and now I was just being redundant. I'm never too scientific or engineer-ish in anything I do, but with a subtractive polysynth that I've been playing for years, I could hear that the rev 4 could nail certain patches while others were different by *this* much. Now that I have the new P5 in a room away from the other, I haven't had any moments of "But the other one sounds more...". A funny footnote to this is that I was amused how perfectly I could match the Prologue's sawtooth to the P5's w the rev 2 filter. Not that that's any great test, but the tones were exact to my ear.

With all this said, I'm simply thrilled to have a slick new Prophet 5 with everything working and sounding as it should. The rev 3 we have has been intended for repair for about 3 or 4 years now. The keys are so clanky that they're louder than the audio output and Osc A has no sense of decency, tuning-wise. Etc. That's the other half of the joy of vintage gear. I've watched my synth collection grow in recent years to include more and more bits of new gear and I'm quite happy to be au courant for once in my life!

Great feedback, thanks!

To circle back to the question about transposing, earlier today a possible solution came to mind for your need, related to jok3r's idea about simply transposing in the DAW:

I use a StreamDeck Elgato for Cubase, with custom keyboard shortcuts as a way to accommodate my own workflow when I am on a synth, and don't want to swivel around to get on the PC keyboard and mouse.  In effect it is an easy-to-customize controller, in addition to transport controls I have it set up to navigate cycle markers and arranger sections (which I use to designate sections/patterns within a track and get Ableton-like functionality).  I mount it on one of those flexible-arm tablet holders so its always in easy reach.  You could do something like that within Logic I'm sure, where you could transpose up or down an octave quickly in real time.

[Manbird]

You could just transpose the target instrument... be it hardware of software.

Quite right! I was thrown off in Logic and found myself trying to tweak the pitch of the piano samples themselves, which created some rather dreary results! But of course, I can tweak the MIDI channel in Logic. I was hoping there was a simple solution - thanks!

I'm a big fan of simple solutions und fortunately for most things there is one  . I used my DAW to arrange whole layer/split configurations this way. I'm an Ableton Live user rather than a Logic guy, but it would shock me if Logic was not able to do such things.

I've been using Pro Tools for 15 years, but am new to Logic. I'm liking it so much that I seem to have drifted over to doing 90% of any new work in Logic. Overall, it's pretty - uh - logical! Still, there are a few things that drive me crazy, but that's life overall. The instruments and sampler included are fab and have changed the music I make. Having an instant "drummer" always ready to go makes demos sound like songs from the start.

But back to the Prophet 5...

Since you may be one of the few active posters here that has both a P5 Rev4 and vintage Rev3 side by side, I'm curious on your thoughts on the "authenticity" of the Rev4?  Would love to hear your thoughts on this subject.

I personally have not been disappointed in comparisons between my P10 and the vintage units I hear on YT, but that's not really a fair benchmark.  Duplicating patches based on visually matching knob dial settings has convinced me that it's a faithful recreation, although I have found that knob position can be very deceiving on some patches... very slight nudges in one direction or the other can make a big difference on these knobs.  I think very slight pot positioning differences are a big factor in why conventional wisdom says no two analog synths of the same model sound exactly alike.

Easiest thing I can say is that it's a Prophet 5! When I had the rev 3 and rev 4 next to each other a few days back, I got a bit bored matching up tones... sort of like I'd assured myself and now I was just being redundant. I'm never too scientific or engineer-ish in anything I do, but with a subtractive polysynth that I've been playing for years, I could hear that the rev 4 could nail certain patches while others were different by *this* much. Now that I have the new P5 in a room away from the other, I haven't had any moments of "But the other one sounds more...". A funny footnote to this is that I was amused how perfectly I could match the Prologue's sawtooth to the P5's w the rev 2 filter. Not that that's any great test, but the tones were exact to my ear.

With all this said, I'm simply thrilled to have a slick new Prophet 5 with everything working and sounding as it should. The rev 3 we have has been intended for repair for about 3 or 4 years now. The keys are so clanky that they're louder than the audio output and Osc A has no sense of decency, tuning-wise. Etc. That's the other half of the joy of vintage gear. I've watched my synth collection grow in recent years to include more and more bits of new gear and I'm quite happy to be au courant for once in my life!

Great feedback, thanks!

To circle back to the question about transposing, earlier today a possible solution came to mind for your need, related to jok3r's idea about simply transposing in the DAW:

I use a StreamDeck Elgato for Cubase, with custom keyboard shortcuts as a way to accommodate my own workflow when I am on a synth, and don't want to swivel around to get on the PC keyboard and mouse.  In effect it is an easy-to-customize controller, in addition to transport controls I have it set up to navigate cycle markers and arranger sections (which I use to designate sections/patterns within a track and get Ableton-like functionality).  I mount it on one of those flexible-arm tablet holders so its always in easy reach.  You could do something like that within Logic I'm sure, where you could transpose up or down an octave quickly in real time.

Glad the P5 feedback was right-on! I'm so happy with the 5.

And thanks much, LP, for the tip. The Elgato looks intriguing, though perhaps too much "tech" for my subtractive head!! With the discovery of the per-MIDI track Transpose option in Logic, I'm in decent shape. I'm not finding such in PT, but I use Pro Tools far less frequently these days, so I can live with whatever workarounds I stumble into, I reckon. Meanwhile, my new space is so small that I only need a 1/4 swivel to get from synth to screen!

[dr.sax]

You could just transpose the target instrument... be it hardware of software.

Quite right! I was thrown off in Logic and found myself trying to tweak the pitch of the piano samples themselves, which created some rather dreary results! But of course, I can tweak the MIDI channel in Logic. I was hoping there was a simple solution - thanks!

I'm a big fan of simple solutions und fortunately for most things there is one  . I used my DAW to arrange whole layer/split configurations this way. I'm an Ableton Live user rather than a Logic guy, but it would shock me if Logic was not able to do such things.

I've been using Pro Tools for 15 years, but am new to Logic. I'm liking it so much that I seem to have drifted over to doing 90% of any new work in Logic. Overall, it's pretty - uh - logical! Still, there are a few things that drive me crazy, but that's life overall. The instruments and sampler included are fab and have changed the music I make. Having an instant "drummer" always ready to go makes demos sound like songs from the start.

But back to the Prophet 5...

Since you may be one of the few active posters here that has both a P5 Rev4 and vintage Rev3 side by side, I'm curious on your thoughts on the "authenticity" of the Rev4?  Would love to hear your thoughts on this subject.

I personally have not been disappointed in comparisons between my P10 and the vintage units I hear on YT, but that's not really a fair benchmark.  Duplicating patches based on visually matching knob dial settings has convinced me that it's a faithful recreation, although I have found that knob position can be very deceiving on some patches... very slight nudges in one direction or the other can make a big difference on these knobs.  I think very slight pot positioning differences are a big factor in why conventional wisdom says no two analog synths of the same model sound exactly alike.

Easiest thing I can say is that it's a Prophet 5! When I had the rev 3 and rev 4 next to each other a few days back, I got a bit bored matching up tones... sort of like I'd assured myself and now I was just being redundant. I'm never too scientific or engineer-ish in anything I do, but with a subtractive polysynth that I've been playing for years, I could hear that the rev 4 could nail certain patches while others were different by *this* much. Now that I have the new P5 in a room away from the other, I haven't had any moments of "But the other one sounds more...". A funny footnote to this is that I was amused how perfectly I could match the Prologue's sawtooth to the P5's w the rev 2 filter. Not that that's any great test, but the tones were exact to my ear.

With all this said, I'm simply thrilled to have a slick new Prophet 5 with everything working and sounding as it should. The rev 3 we have has been intended for repair for about 3 or 4 years now. The keys are so clanky that they're louder than the audio output and Osc A has no sense of decency, tuning-wise. Etc. That's the other half of the joy of vintage gear. I've watched my synth collection grow in recent years to include more and more bits of new gear and I'm quite happy to be au courant for once in my life!

Great feedback, thanks!

To circle back to the question about transposing, earlier today a possible solution came to mind for your need, related to jok3r's idea about simply transposing in the DAW:

I use a StreamDeck Elgato for Cubase, with custom keyboard shortcuts as a way to accommodate my own workflow when I am on a synth, and don't want to swivel around to get on the PC keyboard and mouse.  In effect it is an easy-to-customize controller, in addition to transport controls I have it set up to navigate cycle markers and arranger sections (which I use to designate sections/patterns within a track and get Ableton-like functionality).  I mount it on one of those flexible-arm tablet holders so its always in easy reach.  You could do something like that within Logic I'm sure, where you could transpose up or down an octave quickly in real time.

Glad the P5 feedback was right-on! I'm so happy with the 5.

And thanks much, LP, for the tip. The Elgato looks intriguing, though perhaps too much "tech" for my subtractive head!! With the discovery of the per-MIDI track Transpose option in Logic, I'm in decent shape. I'm not finding such in PT, but I use Pro Tools far less frequently these days, so I can live with whatever workarounds I stumble into, I reckon. Meanwhile, my new space is so small that I only need a 1/4 swivel to get from synth to screen!

I´m using the retrokit smart midi cable to add an arpeggiator to my P10 just via a loop with the cable from midi in to midi out plus setting the P10 to local off. Lots of fun. It might also be possible to program the cable to transpose. There are a couple of templates on their site to try.