Prophet 12 Music

Re: Prophet 12 Music
« Reply #80 on: June 27, 2017, 12:06:32 PM »
@WytchCrypt

This is really an awesome project. The P12 is well suited to these pieces and it's clear you put in a lot of work to bring this together. Well done!

Thanks Adam and Araucaria for your kind words  ;) 

This all started last year when I began recording a P12 only take on Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons".  I was very happy with it, but wanted to take on a bigger challenge...and I thought what could be bigger than "The Planets"  8)

It took a few months of work and I finished the album back in late March.  I think the P12 is an incredibly versatile instrument that can cover anything from old school analog to modern day complex digital if you take the time to really dig in and experiment.  I guess I just got sick of reading negative reviews saying it can't do 70's analog sounds and wanted to prove them wrong :)
« Last Edit: June 27, 2017, 12:08:16 PM by WytchCrypt »
Mutiny in Jonestown, Progressive Rock Since 1987:

Website: https://wytchcrypt.wixsite.com/mutiny-in-jonestown
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Sacred Synthesis

Re: Prophet 12 Music
« Reply #81 on: June 27, 2017, 03:28:46 PM »
« Last Edit: June 28, 2017, 07:57:22 AM by Sacred Synthesis »

Re: Prophet 12 Music
« Reply #82 on: June 27, 2017, 08:54:23 PM »
@WytchCrypt

This is really an awesome project. The P12 is well suited to these pieces and it's clear you put in a lot of work to bring this together. Well done!

Agreed.  Really enjoy the work!
Jim Thorburn .  Toys-  Dave Smith: Prophet 5, Rev 4; Prophet 08; Pro 2; Prophet 12 module; EastWest Orchestral soft synths; Yamaha S-90; Yamaha Montage 8, Yamaha DX-7; KARP Odyssey; Ensoniq ESQ-1.  All run through a Cubase DAW with a Tascam DM-24 board.

dslsynth

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Re: Prophet 12 Music
« Reply #83 on: June 29, 2017, 11:16:46 AM »
Great videos, Sacred Synthesis. Its interesting to see how one's appreciation of the instrument evolves over time as users gain more experience with the instrument and some of us perhaps get more to terms with its overall sound not having the same analog impact as the Evolvers. Had the Prophet 12 been sound-per-channel multi-timbral and my finances permitting it I would surely get a Prophet 12 Module.
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Sacred Synthesis

Re: Prophet 12 Music
« Reply #84 on: June 29, 2017, 12:24:34 PM »
Maybe we could split one between us.  :D

dslsynth

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Re: Prophet 12 Music
« Reply #85 on: June 29, 2017, 12:36:43 PM »
Maybe we could split one between us.  :D

I could easily use a six voice so yes. Not sure how feature preserving that chainsaw would be though!
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Re: Prophet 12 Music
« Reply #86 on: June 30, 2017, 04:05:38 AM »
dsisynth can you explain 'Had the Prophet 12 been sound-per-channel multi-timbral' please? I thought that was what I was doing with it.

Re: Prophet 12 Music
« Reply #87 on: June 30, 2017, 05:41:16 AM »
dsisynth can you explain 'Had the Prophet 12 been sound-per-channel multi-timbral' please? I thought that was what I was doing with it.

Might have been referring to multi- (i.e., greater than two, like a Tetra @ four-part multi-timbral) vs. bi-timbral operation (Prophet-12, Prophet '08 / Rev2 split/layer).
Sequential / DSI stuff: Prophet-6 Keyboard with Yorick Tech LFE, Prophet 12 Keyboard, Mono Evolver Keyboard, Split-Eight, Six-Trak, Prophet 2000

Re: Prophet 12 Music
« Reply #88 on: June 30, 2017, 06:59:28 AM »
Sorry, I'm not familiar with other synths but I am running Cassandra (my P12) in quadraphonic with two expression pedals allowing me to change the timbre of each of the four outputs in two distinct ways. To be honest I sometimes have problems finding the appropriate 'sweet spots' (should I want to) in this maze of options - I can't imagine anything more multitimbral. I guess this is a language issue and 'Multitimbral' has some tightly defined technical meaning.

Re: Prophet 12 Music
« Reply #89 on: June 30, 2017, 10:44:23 AM »
I guess this is a language issue and 'Multitimbral' has some tightly defined technical meaning.


I always believed the definition of multi-timbral to mean synths that can process 2 to 16 unique midi channels at one time and play as many assigned notes as possible up to the total polyphony.  According to the manual our P12's are bi-timbral, which to me would be a subset of multi-timbral  ;)
Mutiny in Jonestown, Progressive Rock Since 1987:

Website: https://wytchcrypt.wixsite.com/mutiny-in-jonestown
Bandcamp: https://mutinyinjonestown.bandcamp.com/

dslsynth

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Re: Prophet 12 Music
« Reply #90 on: June 30, 2017, 12:37:40 PM »
dsisynth can you explain 'Had the Prophet 12 been sound-per-channel multi-timbral' please?

I mean sound-per-MIDI-channel multi-timbral which allows for a separate and optionally layered sound on each MIDI channel. This have a wide range of applications ranging from sequencing over electronic percussion to per note expression in its various forms.
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Re: Prophet 12 Music
« Reply #91 on: June 30, 2017, 03:36:04 PM »
Thanks for explaining, I've not been using midi because of the latency and the desire to play everything live (in real time). I guess I've not moved far from my Tape recorder roots.

Mr Kay

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Re: Prophet 12 Music
« Reply #92 on: July 08, 2017, 12:18:18 PM »
Hi

Here's another song with a heavy use of Prophet 12 :)

https://soundcloud.com/babel-17/always-on-the-run

Re: Prophet 12 Music
« Reply #93 on: July 10, 2017, 09:48:43 PM »
Jim Thorburn .  Toys-  Dave Smith: Prophet 5, Rev 4; Prophet 08; Pro 2; Prophet 12 module; EastWest Orchestral soft synths; Yamaha S-90; Yamaha Montage 8, Yamaha DX-7; KARP Odyssey; Ensoniq ESQ-1.  All run through a Cubase DAW with a Tascam DM-24 board.

Sacred Synthesis

Re: Prophet 12 Music
« Reply #94 on: July 29, 2017, 06:06:04 PM »

Mr Kay

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Re: Prophet 12 Music
« Reply #95 on: July 30, 2017, 04:30:36 AM »
When I eared what you made with the Prophet'08 and the PEK, I was ready to bet it'd be a piece of cake for you to make beautiful sounds on the P'12   :)



Sacred Synthesis

Re: Prophet 12 Music
« Reply #96 on: July 30, 2017, 07:46:32 AM »
Yes, it's almost a piece of cake to make decent sounds with the Prophet 12, but it did take the old stereo treatment to get it to an acceptable point.  As is, I found it rather lifeless, just as I had found the Prophet '08 lifeless years ago.  So, I used the two pair of output jacks to create a stereo signal, and that brought it to life, although it also obviously reduced it to a six-voice instrument.  It was worth it, though.

Most surprising of all, I found the Character section not to be useful in creating the sorts of patches I use.  This is contrary to what I've read from others over and over again.  Allegedly, Girth and Air were essential in creating pads with any degree of warmth and old school character.  By no means.  In the pads I was designing - in which warmth and prettiness were foremost - I found the section to work much like an EQ, with Decimation, Drive, and Hack adding much as the terms imply.  Sorry, not for me.  I could certainly see how the whole Character section could be used in creating very different types of sounds, but I preferred to leave everything at "0," as I did in the above recording.

If I were to buy a Prophet 12, it would be only with the intention of pairing it with a P12 Module, in the usual way.  But with this arrangement, I have to say, it would be a superb synthesizer.

The real issue for me is, which will be the better instrument, the Prophet 12 or the Poly Evolver Keyboard?  I think everyone who wants to speak about DSI synthesizers as if they know something should be required first to play for a few hours an eight-voice Poly Evolver Keyboard with good programs.  Among the whole line-up, I still say that the PEK is the exceptional instrument - so much so that I find myself always trying to emulate its strengths on other synthesizers.  For me, that's the only test the Prophet 12 must pass: could it fill a PEK's spot?  There's just nothing like a Poly Evolver.  That's why the question - Will Dave ever issue a PEK II? -  remains a question on this forum.  I realize the standard reply is always that the P12 is that PEK II, but I have to call that claim debatable.  The problem is, with DSI, Dave started out very very strong.

« Last Edit: July 30, 2017, 12:09:20 PM by Sacred Synthesis »

Re: Prophet 12 Music
« Reply #97 on: July 30, 2017, 03:58:08 PM »
I think everyone who wants to speak about DSI synthesizers as if they know something should be required first to play for a few hours an eight-voice Poly Evolver Keyboard with good programs.

...and therein lies the problem - without a quad set of Evolver Desktop (or the more-difficult-to-find Poly Evolver Rack) unit(s), you can't get eight voices out of a standard Poly Evolver Keyboard.

For live performances, stereo voice architecture is not a huge selling point, but for studio use, it's an absolutely beneficial arrangement which allows one to get far more depth out of the voice architecture.
Sequential / DSI stuff: Prophet-6 Keyboard with Yorick Tech LFE, Prophet 12 Keyboard, Mono Evolver Keyboard, Split-Eight, Six-Trak, Prophet 2000

Sacred Synthesis

Re: Prophet 12 Music
« Reply #98 on: July 30, 2017, 04:42:09 PM »
I realized I was asking for the impossible.  Still, a PEK and PER pair would make a useful reference point for much of our discussions.  It's unfortunate that most of us missed the big one.

Many people say that they've tried a PEK and didn't like it because it was thin-sounding.  I just have to laugh at that, because it's most likely due to their having listened to the factory presets which, I admit, are terribly caustic.  It's a shame the PEK wasn't given a longer production run and a fresh set of banks.  It was around only while DSI was a very small company, so the marketing probably was lacking.  But if it had better programs, a longer production life, and even one more voice for a total of five, it might have been much more popular.  Such a masterpiece.
« Last Edit: July 30, 2017, 08:10:28 PM by Sacred Synthesis »

Mr Kay

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Re: Prophet 12 Music
« Reply #99 on: July 31, 2017, 03:31:01 AM »
So, I used the two pair of output jacks to create a stereo signal, and that brought it to life, although it also obviously reduced it to a six-voice instrument.  It was worth it, though.

Yup, I was implicitely meaning that most of the P'08 tricks also work on the P'12  ;)

For the stereo, have you tried to modulate the panning on the delay lines? Modulating it with an LFO, I managed to program a ping-pong. Another very cool feature is the lowpass filter on these lines  :)


I could certainly see how the whole Character section could be used in creating very different types of sounds, but I preferred to leave everything at "0," as I did in the above recording.

I don't use this section a lot... For me, the most useful feature is by far the overdrive, very cool to make the sound beefier (the pot value between 7 and 15).


I think everyone who wants to speak about DSI synthesizers as if they know something should be required first to play for a few hours an eight-voice Poly Evolver Keyboard with good programs.  Among the whole line-up, I still say that the PEK is the exceptional instrument - so much so that I find myself always trying to emulate its strengths on other synthesizers.

The first DSI I ever used was a PEK in a store 10 years ago and I was blown away. Sadly, it was only 4 voices and I didn't have nor the room, nor the budget for a 8 voices solution  :(

So to tell you which one is the best between the P'12 and the PEK, I'd say the norman answer "m'ybe the PEK, m'ybe the P'12!", both are fantastic but structurally different, then they don't fulfill exactly the same needs...