Help please! Voice issues with brand new P6

[Mahob]

Hi everyone. After literally years of thinking about it, I finally pulled the trigger for a P6 that I got today from Sweetwater.
After testing that every knob key was correctly working, I started testing the presets and in many of them (for example 002 among many others) when I play the same key it works well the three first times, but 4th and 5th time there is a clear decrease in volume and attack. Then the 6st time it goes back to normal. It does not happen in all presets but in those that happens, it is always the 4th and 5th time. I run a calibration but the issue remains. It seems to be a chips issue but I wanted to make sure that I am not missing anything.
I saw other posts of people having this same issue but only after years of having the keyboard.
My other problem is that I will stay in the US for only 5 days so I need to act quickly and exchange it for another unit or return it.
ANY help will be very appreciated.
Thank you!

[thirteen_engines]

You should make sure that there are no cables other than the power cord plugged in the P6 before calibrating. Also, it can sometimes take several tries before the calibration “sticks”.

Good luck!

[doudou26]

I started testing the presets and in many of them (for example 002 among many others) when I play the same key it works well the three first times, but 4th and 5th time there is a clear decrease in volume and attack. Then the 6st time it goes back to normal. It does not happen in all presets but in those that happens, it is always the 4th and 5th time.

Have you tried to turn the Vintage (Slop Amount) knob to 0, on each faulty preset ?
this feature adds inconstancy (random values on many parameters) through the 6 different voices

[Manbird]

If I'm not mistaken, patch 502 is the same factory patch as 002. It's a brass type patch, and it's got a wide pan spread on it. Each note moves across the stereo spectrum, left and right. If you plug headphones into the headphone jack, you should hear the notes moving as I've described.

Perhaps you're otherwise monitoring the P6 in such a way that you're not hearing the full stereo spread, but instead only the notes that appear in one of the two stereo channels... ? How do you have the P6 hooked up for monitoring?

It does sound like you're in an urgent spot, so if you don't get anywhere here on the forum, write directly to support and/or to Sweetwater...

[Mahob]

Hi all. Thank you all for the replies. Unfortunately I have tried everything but the issue persists. Does anyone have any idea of what are the latest serial number of the prophet 6? I understand that some early units had this same issue and I want to know if the one I got is one of the newest or not. Thank you again!

[Manbird]

Hi all. Thank you all for the replies. Unfortunately I have tried everything but the issue persists. Does anyone have any idea of what are the latest serial number of the prophet 6? I understand that some early units had this same issue and I want to know if the one I got is one of the newest or not. Thank you again!

Have you contacted Sequential support? If you're running low on days to solve this problem, I'd hit them up immediately.

[Mahob]

I did. They do not pick up the phone. Just open tickets, despite the urgency I mentioned. I asked them to call them with no luck. Not the happiest customer right now frankly.

[Manbird]

I did. They do not pick up the phone. Just open tickets, despite the urgency I mentioned. I asked them to call them with no luck. Not the happiest customer right now frankly.

Email is a solid option. I'm sure NAMM is taking up a fair bit of Sequential's focus, but perhaps an email will reach someone who might not be in the SF office... support@sequential.com

Good luck!

[Mahob]

So now I received another unit (8 numbers difference with the previous serial number). It has the same issue, which makes me wonder if there is something I am not getting, or it’s an issue related to the same set of chips. I initialized a sound and played with it, but the issue is exactly the same. Technical support says “statistically” is very unlikely that two boards have the same issue, and that it might be related to my headphones (the only gear I have in the US to try the keyboard). They also say that they feel pretty certain the issue is related to the headphones, which I frankly don’t get how it could be. It’s always the same two notes (4th and 5th), and cannot figure out how it would be related to headphones. I will buy new headphones tomorrow and try them, but at this point I do not feel sure to go back to my country with any of these. Any suggestions are welcome, and thanks again!

[Manbird]

So now I received another unit (8 numbers difference with the previous serial number). It has the same issue, which makes me wonder if there is something I am not getting, or it’s an issue related to the same set of chips. I initialized a sound and played with it, but the issue is exactly the same. Technical support says “statistically” is very unlikely that two boards have the same issue, and that it might be related to my headphones (the only gear I have in the US to try the keyboard). They also say that they feel pretty certain the issue is related to the headphones, which I frankly don’t get how it could be. It’s always the same two notes (4th and 5th), and cannot figure out how it would be related to headphones. I will buy new headphones tomorrow and try them, but at this point I do not feel sure to go back to my country with any of these. Any suggestions are welcome, and thanks again!

What happens if you switch the Prophet 6 to Mono mode? (Press Globals twice, then press the "7" button, then Select - the display should read Mon, for "mono.")

I mentioned earlier that patch 002 utilizes the Pan Spread function... as you play a series of notes, each voice will be heard moving left or right in stereo headphones, at least in properly functional headphones. With the Prophet 6 in Mono mode, you should hear the notes at consistent volume and not moving left and right, but centered.

[Mahob]

String it to mini and maintaining the headphones in their output still show the sound difference. Changing headphones to left and right takes the whole volume quite down and it is hard to tell what happens in terms of voice volume differences. Support says it might be the headphones. I do not have the best headphones with me right now, but still I do not see why the headphones quality would have to do with the lower sound always in the same number of the playing sequence. Am I losing something?