PROPHET 6 TUNING

PROPHET 6 TUNING
« on: February 14, 2022, 09:44:25 AM »
Hello I have a problem with the tuning of my prophet 6. Even though I set it up by pressing "preset" + "0" it's still out of tune and sounds horrible with my other synth. When I put a tuner on my prophet it says the note is a bit flat... What can I do ?
thank you

Re: PROPHET 6 TUNING
« Reply #1 on: February 14, 2022, 12:27:50 PM »
Hello I have a problem with the tuning of my prophet 6. Even though I set it up by pressing "preset" + "0" it's still out of tune and sounds horrible with my other synth. When I put a tuner on my prophet it says the note is a bit flat... What can I do ?
thank you

Don't be shy about re-running the calibration routine many times.   Each time, it will store a new calibration index for the current temp of the synth.   (Note:  from powering on cold to reaching fully warmed up temperature, that process may take 30 minutes or more, and rise from room temp ~23 celcius / 74 fahrenheit (depending on your room) up to ~58 celcius / 144 fahrenheit.    You may want to run the calibration right after it turns on, 15 minutes in, 30 minutes in, 45 minutes in, and an hour after powering on... to set a bunch of calibration indexes that will kick in as the synth warms up.

Best practice for the most stable tuning is to let the synth warm up for a bit before playing, and perhaps just run a new calibration right before you're ready to record or play live. 

I made a bunch of observations and recommendations here:
https://www.presetpatch.com/article/Prophet-6-and-OB-6-Tuning-Calibration

Also, as a side note:  This is a VCO synth, so it should be expected that even right after calibration each voice and each oscillator may be +/- 2 cents from nominal, depending on which octave you are playing in.  That's just the natural performance variation of VCOs.   But if its more than 2-3 cents off, definitely re-run calibration. 
« Last Edit: February 14, 2022, 01:02:07 PM by creativespiral »

OB-X8, Pro 3, P6, Rev2, Take 5, 3rd Wave, Deepmind, PolyBrute, Sub 37
Sound Sets:
https://sounddesign.sellfy.store/
Free Patches:
https://www.PresetPatch.com/user/CreativeSpiral

LPF83

  • ***
  • 1520
Re: PROPHET 6 TUNING
« Reply #2 on: February 14, 2022, 01:57:06 PM »
I might also suggest recalibrating the wheels if nothing else works.  It's possible to knock them out of calibration with some accidental button presses and of course in the case of pitch wheel it can manifest as a tuning issue.
Prophet 10, OB-X8m, Prophet 6, OB-6, 3rd Wave, Prophet 12m, Prophet Rev2-16, Toraiz AS-1, Pro 2, Korg Polysix, Roland JP-8080, Roland System-8, Virus TI2, Moog SlimPhatty, Hydrasynth desktop, Roland SPD-SX SE / Octapad, Maschine, Cubase/Ableton/Akai MPC

werner_54_

  • *
  • 2
  • Hi there
Re: PROPHET 6 TUNING
« Reply #3 on: February 16, 2022, 05:10:59 AM »
Hello I have a problem with the tuning of my prophet 6. Even though I set it up by pressing "preset" + "0" it's still out of tune and sounds horrible with my other synth. When I put a tuner on my prophet it says the note is a bit flat... What can I do ?
thank you

Don't be shy about re-running the calibration routine many times.   Each time, it will store a new calibration index for the current temp of the synth.   (Note:  from powering on cold to reaching fully warmed up temperature, that process may take 30 minutes or more, and rise from room temp ~23 celcius / 74 fahrenheit (depending on your room) up to ~58 celcius / 144 fahrenheit.    You may want to run the calibration right after it turns on, 15 minutes in, 30 minutes in, 45 minutes in, and an hour after powering on... to set a bunch of calibration indexes that will kick in as the synth warms up.

Best practice for the most stable tuning is to let the synth warm up for a bit before playing, and perhaps just run a new calibration right before you're ready to record or play live. 

I made a bunch of observations and recommendations here:
https://www.presetpatch.com/article/Prophet-6-and-OB-6-Tuning-Calibration

Also, as a side note:  This is a VCO synth, so it should be expected that even right after calibration each voice and each oscillator may be +/- 2 cents from nominal, depending on which octave you are playing in.  That's just the natural performance variation of VCOs.   But if its more than 2-3 cents off, definitely re-run calibration.

Hi.
I had a similar issue, i tried a solution from the helpdesk, and that was : Hold PRESET and press 3.  Worked fine for me.
Best regards,
wm

    Reply
    Quote
    Notify


Re: PROPHET 6 TUNING
« Reply #4 on: July 01, 2022, 12:47:06 PM »
Don't be shy about re-running the calibration routine many times.   Each time, it will store a new calibration index for the current temp of the synth.   (Note:  from powering on cold to reaching fully warmed up temperature, that process may take 30 minutes or more, and rise from room temp ~23 celcius / 74 fahrenheit (depending on your room) up to ~58 celcius / 144 fahrenheit.    You may want to run the calibration right after it turns on, 15 minutes in, 30 minutes in, 45 minutes in, and an hour after powering on... to set a bunch of calibration indexes that will kick in as the synth warms up.

Best practice for the most stable tuning is to let the synth warm up for a bit before playing, and perhaps just run a new calibration right before you're ready to record or play live. 

I made a bunch of observations and recommendations here:
https://www.presetpatch.com/article/Prophet-6-and-OB-6-Tuning-Calibration

Also, as a side note:  This is a VCO synth, so it should be expected that even right after calibration each voice and each oscillator may be +/- 2 cents from nominal, depending on which octave you are playing in.  That's just the natural performance variation of VCOs.   But if its more than 2-3 cents off, definitely re-run calibration.
Hey, man.

I wanted to take a moment to say thanks for your post. Just got the Prophet 6, and the oscillators in all the presets sounded terribly out of tune with each other, like almost half a semitone. I'm an old classic rock guy and I thought the heavy detuning was an intentional stylistic thing for modern music.

However, while playing around creating new sounds today I had to turn fine tuning on osc 2 to 2:00 to get them in tune, at which point I figured I was missing something. It never even occurred to me to run calibration (I'm not all the way through the manual yet). Followed your suggestion and suddenly it's all in tune and the presets sound, well, awesome. Your article on tuning was also most informative. Every day is a school day.

Anyway, I appreciate folks like you who take the time to help others and just wanted to say so.
Chris Duncan
Prophet 6 / OS 1.75
Korg Kronos 2
More guitars than I probably need (my primary instrument)