Prophet-6 changes patch when sent midi from DAW

[sascrob]

Hi there,

New Prophet-6 owner here, so apologies in advance if the answer to my question is obvious or has already been addressed elsewhere, but I'm just getting a bit baffled by a small issue...

When sending midi to the Prophet-6 via din or usb from my DAW, the patch on the synth switches to 'x00' of whatever bank I'm on when I press play or record. E.g. I want to record a take using patch 263, when I press play or record the Prophet reverts to patch 200 as soon as it receives the first midi message and I have to manually navigate to the correct patch to record the correct sound. It's happening in Ableton, Reaper, Logic and Pro Tools, so don't think it's a software issue, but I'm not 100% sure what setting to look for on the Prophet.

Can anyone tell me how I can stop this from happening? Not the end of the world, but most likely something simple I'm yet to figure out.

Many thanks in advance!

Sam

[LPF83]

Hi there,

New Prophet-6 owner here, so apologies in advance if the answer to my question is obvious or has already been addressed elsewhere, but I'm just getting a bit baffled by a small issue...

When sending midi to the Prophet-6 via din or usb from my DAW, the patch on the synth switches to 'x00' of whatever bank I'm on when I press play or record. E.g. I want to record a take using patch 263, when I press play or record the Prophet reverts to patch 200 as soon as it receives the first midi message and I have to manually navigate to the correct patch to record the correct sound. It's happening in Ableton, Reaper, Logic and Pro Tools, so don't think it's a software issue, but I'm not 100% sure what setting to look for on the Prophet.

Can anyone tell me how I can stop this from happening? Not the end of the world, but most likely something simple I'm yet to figure out.

Many thanks in advance!

Sam

What MIDI channel is the P6 set to?  First thing that comes to mind is maybe something else is sending a patch change on that channel.

[sascrob]

Thanks for the reply. I did think it was something to do with midi channel, but I've tried several different channels (and ALL) and seem to get the same issue regardless. Must be something I'm overlooking...

[thirteen_engines]

I had that problem with my DAW (Cubase 9.5) some time ago. Turns out it was in the midi track. For some reason there was a program change instruction right at the beginning. Very hard to see too.

Keith

[LPF83]

I had that problem with my DAW (Cubase 9.5) some time ago. Turns out it was in the midi track. For some reason there was a program change instruction right at the beginning. Very hard to see too.

Keith

That's a good point -- with any DAW it is possible that a program change happened while in record mode and is there in automation.  But the fact it's happening in any DAW makes me wonder if some other device is communicating on the same channel and sending the program change to it on MIDI start.

[sascrob]

Thanks guys. I think it is definitely something to do with the midi track itself, as opposed to a setting in the Prophet etc. which is good. I've done some more testing and it doesn't happen with written/drawn in midi regions, only with recorded midi (e.g. played in, not written in). It definitely happens when exporting midi from Sibelius or similar, which of course has an 'instrument' sound set at the beginning of the exported midi file.

I'm sure I'll figure it out now - good to know it's not a setting or something on the Prophet I'm missing anyway!

[LPF83]

Thanks guys. I think it is definitely something to do with the midi track itself, as opposed to a setting in the Prophet etc. which is good. I've done some more testing and it doesn't happen with written/drawn in midi regions, only with recorded midi (e.g. played in, not written in). It definitely happens when exporting midi from Sibelius or similar, which of course has an 'instrument' sound set at the beginning of the exported midi file.

I'm sure I'll figure it out now - good to know it's not a setting or something on the Prophet I'm missing anyway!

What I usually do in Cubase is put a MIDI monitor insert on the track to see the data being sent.  Most DAWs have a way to see this.  What you said about the drawn in region leans me even more about the theory regarding the transport start potentially causing something else to trigger it (since presumably you're start takes place before the cursor enters the drawn region).  Sounds like youre close!

[sascrob]

That's a good idea! Like you say, it's definitely a message sent at the beginning of a region... Will get there!

[Quatschmacher]

That's a good idea! Like you say, it's definitely a message sent at the beginning of a region... Will get there!

You could simply use midimonitor.com in a browser to see what’s being sent out.