P5 Rev 4 as a controller for OB6 Desktop ?

[engineerjoel]

I’m thinking about getting the OB6 Desktop; where by, it will be controlled by my P5 Rev 4 keyboard. The location of the OB6 module (in my keyboard rig) will not be in a convenient location for me to easily grab OB6 knobs and buttons. I do understand that there is not a 100% 1-to-1 relationship between the P5 and OB6; but, I am hoping that I could use as many of the P5’s knobs and buttons to access most of the OB6 parameters.

My Question:  are all the knobs/buttons on the P5 mapped to the same equivalent knobs/buttons on the OB6? 

Just a few examples:   
— Is the Glide Rate knob on the P5 mapped to control the Portamento Rate on the OB6;
— Is the Unison button on P5 mapped to turn on/off the Unison on the OB6; 
— Are the Cutoff-&-Resonance knobs on the P5 mapped to controlled the Filter Frequency-&-Resonance on the OB6;
— Is the Volume knob on the P5 mapped to control the Volume on the Ob6;
— Are the P5’s Oscillator A/B Mixer knob’s mapped to the control the OB6’s VCO 1-&-2 Mixer?
— Are the Filter-&-Amp EG’s on the P5 mapped to the Filter-&-Amp EG’s on the OB6
etc, etc, etc.....

[LPF83]

I’m thinking about getting the OB6 Desktop; where by, it will be controlled by my P5 Rev 4 keyboard. The location of the OB6 module (in my keyboard rig) will not be in a convenient location for me to easily grab OB6 knobs and buttons. I do understand that there is not a 100% 1-to-1 relationship between the P5 and OB6; but, I am hoping that I could use as many of the P5’s knobs and buttons to access most of the OB6 parameters.

My Question:  are all the knobs/buttons on the P5 mapped to the same equivalent knobs/buttons on the OB6? 

Just a few examples:   
— Is the Glide Rate knob on the P5 mapped to control the Portamento Rate on the OB6;
— Is the Unison button on P5 mapped to turn on/off the Unison on the OB6; 
— Are the Cutoff-&-Resonance knobs on the P5 mapped to controlled the Filter Frequency-&-Resonance on the OB6;
— Is the Volume knob on the P5 mapped to control the Volume on the Ob6;
— Are the P5’s Oscillator A/B Mixer knob’s mapped to the control the OB6’s VCO 1-&-2 Mixer?
— Are the Filter-&-Amp EG’s on the P5 mapped to the Filter-&-Amp EG’s on the OB6
etc, etc, etc.....

Unfortunately the MIDI CC#s are different so I don't believe you'll be able to achieve this controlling the OB6 from the P5 without something to modify the MIDI Out data before it gets to the OB6.  This works well when I control my OB6 from my P6 because the CC#s are the same, but same is not true from my P10.  Perhaps the Rev4 MIDI numbers were chosen for compatibility with the original P5.

[engineerjoel]

Thank you, LPF83 for your reply and info.   Though, I wonder what that “something” would be that you mentioned that I’d need to “modify the P5’s midi out data”. Hmmm.

[LPF83]

Thank you, LPF83 for your reply and info.   Though, I wonder what that “something” would be that you mentioned that I’d need to “modify the P5’s midi out data”. Hmmm.

I'm a studio-only DAW guy, so if I were to do this I would probably use the MIDI "Transformer" in Cubase (basically MIDI filter/mapping, its just a built in track insert option) to just remap the P5 MIDI number to the corresponding OB6 equivalent.   I'm fairly certain all DAWs can do this, and my experience has been that pretty much for every option that exists in software, someone has created a hardware equivalent.  I have no experience doing this with hardware, but maybe this device would interest you if computer connectivity isn't an option?:

http://www.midisolutions.com/prodevp.htm

[indrsur]

tossing up between these two. i've demoed the prophet extensively and it is a GORGEOUS machine. i haven't managed to get my hands on an OB-6 but from the demos i'm hearing it has a fantastic sound too, and i feel like it might be a bit more versatile?

[Lord123]

I’m thinking about getting the OB6 Desktop; where by, it will be controlled by my P5 Rev 4 keyboard. The location of the OB6 module (in my keyboard rig) will not be in a convenient location for me to easily grab OB6 knobs and buttons. I do understand that there is not a 100% 1-to-1 relationship between the P5 and OB6; but, I am hoping that I could use as many of the P5’s knobs and buttons to access most of the OB6 parameters.

My Question:  are all the knobs/buttons on the P5 mapped to the same equivalent knobs/buttons on the OB6? 

Just a few examples:   
— Is the Glide Rate knob on the P5 mapped to control the Portamento Rate on the OB6;
— Is the Unison button on P5 mapped to turn on/off the Unison on the OB6; 
— Are the Cutoff-&-Resonance knobs on the P5 mapped to controlled the Filter Frequency-&-Resonance on the OB6;
— Is the Volume knob on the P5 mapped to control the Volume on the Ob6;
— Are the P5’s Oscillator A/B Mixer knob’s mapped to the control the OB6’s VCO 1-&-2 Mixer?
— Are the Filter-&-Amp EG’s on the P5 mapped to the Filter-&-Amp EG’s on the OB6
etc, etc, etc.....

No, the knobs and buttons on the P5 are not mapped to the same equivalent knobs and buttons on the OB6. Each synthesizer has its own unique layout and control scheme, and the knobs and buttons on the P5 are designed to work with specific parameters on the synth.

[Quatschmacher]

There are hardware and software solutions to this: you can route the MIDI out of the prophet and have those CCs be translated to the equivalent knobs on the OB-6 (where there is a direct equivalent). However, there are knobs on both synths which are unique to those models so you would either have to map a knob with a function which exists on one but not the other (such as LFO source mix knob on P5 mapped to something like the filter state knob of the OB-6), or use an external knob array to get the extra controls.

This may not be the ideal solution for you though if you’re already having trouble finding a convenient space for the desktop.