Dave Smith Instruments Sequential Prophet-6 Operation Manual Download

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Operation Manual

Summary of Contents for Sequential Prophet-6

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Page 3: ...Operation Manual Version 1 0 June 2015 Dave Smith Instruments Sequential 1527 Stockton Street 3rd Floor San Francisco CA 94133 USA 2015 Dave Smith Instruments www davesmithinstruments com...

Page 4: ...ept any interference received including interference that may cause undesired operation This Class B digital apparatus meets all requirements of the Canadian Interference Causing Equipment Regulations...

Page 5: ...ing a Program from Scratch 4 Live Panel Mode 4 Saving a Program 5 Canceling Save 6 Moving to the Next Level 7 Connections 8 Global Settings 10 Globals Top Row 11 Globals Bottom Row 13 Oscillators 15 O...

Page 6: ...Programming the Sequencer 37 Sequencer Parameters 39 Distortion 41 Hold 42 Glide 42 Unison 43 Using Chord Memory 44 Write 46 Canceling Save 47 Comparing Before You Save 47 Globals 48 Preset 49 Pitch...

Page 7: ...Wheels 57 Resetting the Global Parameters 57 Using USB 58 Appendix A Alternative Tunings 59 Appendix B Troubleshooting and Support 63 Troubleshooting 63 Contacting Technical Support 64 Appendix C MID...

Page 8: ...ha Corporation Thanks also to Robert Rich for the alternative tunings content And finally a shout out to OMOM Old Men Of MIDI for their support camaraderie and sound design Robert Rich Matia Simovich...

Page 9: ...of Roland asked Yamaha Corporation to consider returning ownership of my original company brand Sequential Circuits to me Yamaha had purchased Sequential s assets when we closed shop back in 1987 Yama...

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Page 11: ...ROGRAM 0 DOWN UP TRANSPOSE GLIDE RATE P WHL RANGE KEY MODE FREQUENCY SHAPE PULSE WIDTH SYNC OSCILLATOR 1 CUTOFF ENV AMOUNT RESONANCE LOW PASS FILTER FREQUENCY FINE SHAPE PULSE WIDTH LOW FREQ VELOCITY...

Page 12: ...ose Master Tune MIDI Channel MIDI Clock Clock Port Param Xmit Param Rcv MIDI Control MIDI Increment Decrement Program bank tens and number selectors Selecting Programs Use the bank tens and program se...

Page 13: ...its front panel editing an existing program is simple just turn a knob and listen to its effect Keep turning knobs and pressing buttons and if you like what you ve created save the program See Saving...

Page 14: ...very useful as a jumping off point for new sounds But it s also useful and educational to create a new sound from scratch The Prophet 6 makes this easy by providing a Basic Preset that you can quickly...

Page 15: ...program 3 The write button LED stops blinking and the program is saved Be careful when write is enabled You can change banks and tens without executing write but once you press a program selector butt...

Page 16: ...re you overwrite it 1 Get ready to save by pressing the write button It starts flashing 2 Press the global button Both LEDs on the button light up indicating compare mode 3 Use the program buttons to...

Page 17: ...Read about Pot Modes and determine which works best for you when you re editing sounds You ll also find information about MIDI setup Read this to more effectively integrate the Prophet 6 into your MID...

Page 18: ...ch to turn the sequencer or arpeggiator on and off Alternatively an audio signal connected to this jack can be used to either control sequencer arpeggiator playback or to gate the filter and amplifier...

Page 19: ...ed you can use the pedal to control the cutoff frequency of the low pass filter to add expressiveness to live performance 8 Audio Outputs Unbalanced inch audio outputs The Prophet 6 sounds great in st...

Page 20: ...indicates that the lower row is active GLOBALS The Globals button 1 0 2 3 4 5 6 7 Local Ctrl Seq Jack Pot Mode Sustain Alt Tuning Vel Response AT Response Stereo Mono Transpose Master Tune MIDI Chann...

Page 21: ...l 0 is centered Steps in semitones up to one octave up 12 or down 12 1 Master Tune 50 50 Master Fine Tune control 0 centered Steps in cents as much as a quarter tone up 50 or down 50 2 MIDI Channel Al...

Page 22: ...ameter transmission since they cover the complete range of all parameters while CCs are limited to a range of 128 6 Param Rcv Off CC NR Sets the method by which parameter changes are received via MIDI...

Page 23: ...d not the audio trigger With t g trigger gate selected an audio signal connected to the sequencer jack will trigger and gate the envelopes while you hold a note or chord Additionally pressing the sequ...

Page 24: ...sustain pedal and sequencer jack input ports There are two types of momentary footswitches normally open and normally closed Either type can be used with the Prophet 6 Not sure which type you have If...

Page 25: ...et 6 s sound by producing waveforms each of which has its own inherent sound charac ter based on its harmonic content The Prophet 6 has two oscillators plus a sub oscillator and a noise generator per...

Page 26: ...all oscillators See Globals Top Row on page 11 for more information Fine Fine tune control with a range of a quartertone up or down The 12 o clock position is centered Steps are in cents 50 cents 1 2...

Page 27: ...tor hard sync Use Poly Mod to sweep the pitch of Oscillator 1 when it is synced to generate the classic hard edged sync sound Low Frequency Off On Turns Oscillator 2 into a low frequency oscillator es...

Page 28: ...racteristically warm and fat Because the Prophet 6 oscillators are extremely stable small amounts of Slop can help impart a very vintage tone to what is otherwise a very stable modern instrument Slop...

Page 29: ...This gives you the option to overload things in interesting ways if you wish to do so If not try reducing the levels of the oscillators in the mixer section the env amount parameter in the Ampli fier...

Page 30: ...time the two filters act as a band pass filter passing only the band of frequencies that fall between the high pass and low pass cutoff points CUTOFF ENV AMOUNT RESONANCE LOW PASS FILTER VELOCITY CUT...

Page 31: ...the env amount is set to a positive value on the low pass filter the harder you play the more the filter will open and the brighter the sound will be Conversely if the env amount is set to a negative...

Page 32: ...be completely static They would stay open or closed by a fixed amount that wouldn t change over the duration of a sound That s not very interesting to listen to and it s not how instru ments behave in...

Page 33: ...e envelope amount parameter is set to a positive value But since this control is actually bi polar it is possible to set a negative amount of modulation In this case the envelopes are inverted and the...

Page 34: ...he Low Pass Filter env amount and different Attack Decay Sustain and Release settings on the Filter Envelope The interaction of these controls is worth exploring for greater flexibility and control of...

Page 35: ...e A typical four stage ADSR envelope shape Attack Sets the attack time of the envelope The higher the setting the slower the attack time and the longer it takes for a sound to reach its full volume Pa...

Page 36: ...e touch sensitive sounds Effects The Prophet 6 effects section allows you to add up to two 24 bit 48kHz digital effects to any sound Though the Prophet 6 sounds great on its own adding a touch of reve...

Page 37: ...Effect A Delay 1 bbd vintage bucket brigade emulation Delay 2 ddl classic digital delay Chorus CHO vintage chorus Phase Shifter 1 PH1 vintage 6 stage phaser high resonance Phase Shifter 2 PH2 vintage...

Page 38: ...ers on each effect type 6 Finally adjust the mix knob to optimize the amount of the effect Full left is completely dry Full right is completely wet a 100 processed signal 7 Repeat as needed to add a s...

Page 39: ...0 and Delay Time is set to Half the expected delay time would be 2 seconds The actual delay time will be 1 second i e 2 seconds divided by 2 Parameter 1 Variable depending on the effect This knob adju...

Page 40: ...nalog signal Adjustable param eters are delay time and feedback amount To recreate a classic bucket brigade time shifting effect try adjusting the time parameter in real time ddl This is a classic dig...

Page 41: ...veshapes including triangle sawtooth reverse sawtooth square and random Though most often used for low frequency modulation the Prophet 6 LFO can actually function at speeds that extend into the audib...

Page 42: ...et when you press a key but is not reset if you press a key while other notes are held Shape Triangle Sawtooth Reverse Sawtooth Square Random The wave shape of the LFO A sixth waveshape noise can be g...

Page 43: ...requencies can create interesting timbres HP Filter Selects the High Pass Filter frequency as a modulation desti nation Modulating the High Pass Filter at high frequencies can create interesting timbr...

Page 44: ...either positive or negative When using osc 2 as a modulation source the modulation character is affected by the waveshape currently chosen for Oscillator 2 triangle sawtooth or square pulse Try setti...

Page 45: ...on played notes are held on and arpeggiated and any additional notes you play are added to the arpeggio as long as at least one key is continuously held You can sync the Arpeggiator to external MIDI c...

Page 46: ...the Effects section the BPM rate affects the LFO frequency and or delay effect When syncing to an external MIDI clock source the BPM setting has no effect Value Selects a basic note value relative to...

Page 47: ...or is disabled ARPEGGIATOR SEQUENCER CLOCK OCTAVES VALUE MODE TAP TEMPO BPM ON OFF PLAY RECORD The Sequencer Arpeggiator An audio signal connected to the rear panel footswitch sequence jack can be use...

Page 48: ...of a note continue to hold down the note s and press the tens increment button repeatedly to extend the note the number of steps you want 5 When you re done press play to listen to your sequence 6 To...

Page 49: ...The tap tempo LED flashes at the BPM rate When lfo sync is turned on the BPM rate affects the LFO frequency When syncing to an external MIDI clock source the BPM setting has no effect Tap Tempo 30 25...

Page 50: ...gram to program Unison sounds in particular can be very loud compared to other programs MASTER VOL The Master Volume knob P WHL RANGE KEY MODE PAN SPREAD MISC PARAMETERS PRGM VOL The program volume kn...

Page 51: ...nt than sounds with fewer harmonics To add distortion use the distortion knob DISTORT AMOUNT The Distortion knob Transpose The up and down buttons in the transpose section transpose the keyboard up or...

Page 52: ...d on and off using the glide switch but the glide amount must also be set If the glide button is on but glide amount is set to 0 glide has no effect GLIDE GLIDE RATE The Glide controls There are four...

Page 53: ...n is on the Prophet 6 functions like a monophonic synthesizer in that only 1 note can be played at a time However that one note can be powered by as many as six voices depending on how many you choose...

Page 54: ...erful chord stabs and hits If you save a program that uses chord memory the chord is saved with the program CHD will then appear as a choice if you step through voice stacking options using the banks...

Page 55: ...nd high retrigger Hir are similar to the low note settings except that the highest note is given priority Last note LAS and last retrigger LAr give priority to the last note played To choose the Key A...

Page 56: ...ning Vel Response AT Response Stereo Mono Pgm Dump Transpose Master Tune MIDI Channel MIDI Clock Clock Port Param Xmit Param Rcv MIDI Control MIDI SysEx MIDI Out Increment Decrement Program bank tens...

Page 57: ...make sure you really want to overwrite it To evaluate a program before you overwrite it 1 Get ready to save by pressing the write button It starts flashing 2 Press the global button Both LEDs on the...

Page 58: ...lobals button To change a Global setting 1 Press the globals button Pressing it once accesses the top row of Global parameters Pressing it twice accesses the top row of Global parameters The LED indic...

Page 59: ...he front panel is what you hear This is a great mode for learning experimentation and instant gratification PRESET The Preset button To enter live panel mode Press the preset button to toggle it off T...

Page 60: ...tes on the keyboard Pitch Mod The Pitch and Modulation wheels Pitch Wheel You can set a range in semitones for the Pitch wheel depending on your playing preference The range is up to 12 semitones 1 oc...

Page 61: ...lator section choose a modulation desti nation as well as a shape and frequency for the LFO See Low Frequency Oscillators on page 31 for more details 2 To apply modulation only when using the Mod whee...

Page 62: ...roader stereo field while playing Key Mode Low Note LO High Note Hi Last Note Las Low Note Retrigger LOr High Note Retrigger Hir Last Note Retrigger LAr Selects the key priority when more than one key...

Page 63: ...itive or negative amount For example if you select the Low Pass Filter as destination filter lp set a positive amount of aftertouch then press the keys harder the filter cutoff frequency will increase...

Page 64: ...uch modu lation destination With a positive amount setting pressing the keys harder will increase the amount of LFO modulation to any destina tion selected in the low frequency oscillator section With...

Page 65: ...all banks in SysEx format via the selected MIDI port This allows you to save your programs so that you can share them or archive them To export a program or bank as a SysEx file over MIDI 1 Press the...

Page 66: ...eral minutes and come to its normal operating temperature before doing so Repeat the calibration procedure as needed over the next few days of use The Prophet 6 learns the range of temperatures at you...

Page 67: ...2 Hold down the preset button and press 7 To calibrate the Pitch wheel s center position With the Pitch wheel centered hold down the preset button and press 8 To calibrate the Pitch and Mod wheel s h...

Page 68: ...e time and transmit the same data USB Notes Under Mac OS X Prophet 6 Keyboard will appear as a MIDI port when connected via USB and can be configured using the Mac s Audio MIDI Setup utility typically...

Page 69: ...able The default Western tuning based on the twelfth root of two 1 Harmonic Series MIDI notes 36 95 reflect harmonics 2 through 60 based on the funda mental of A 27 5 Hz The low C on a standard 5 octa...

Page 70: ...a very narrow palate of good chords to choose from C 1 1 261 625 Hz 1 1 256 243 9 8 32 27 81 64 4 3 729 512 3 2 128 81 27 16 16 9 243 128 8 Just Intonation in A with 7 limit Tritone at D A rather vani...

Page 71: ...nd a creative way to incorporate the inevitable line hum into his scale Bb B 1 1 60 Hz 1 1 1 1 9 8 7 6 5 4 4 3 11 8 3 2 3 2 7 4 7 4 15 8 13 Yamaha Just Major C When Yamaha decided to put preset microt...

Page 72: ...d organs to perform glissando like passages G 1 1 392 Hz MIDI note 67 1 1 81 80 33 32 21 20 16 15 12 11 11 10 10 9 9 8 8 7 7 6 32 27 6 5 11 9 5 4 14 11 9 7 21 16 4 3 27 20 11 8 7 5 10 7 16 11 40 27 3...

Page 73: ...here is a ground hum in the audio output USB can cause ground loops so try to resolve any grounding issues between the computer and the Prophet 6 Or use MIDI which is opto isolated The Prophet 6 is be...

Page 74: ...Prophet 6 on page 56 It is not necessary to run any of the calibration routines on a regular basis You should only run it if you are experiencing problems If you are still experiencing a problem with...

Page 75: ...eceived but not sent Slave Thru i 0 MIDI Clock is received and passed to MIDI Out In No Start Stop n55 Receives MIDI Clock but does not respond to MIDI Start or Stop command When set to in or slave th...

Page 76: ...I data will be transmit ted MIDI or USB MIDI Messages System Real Time Messages Status Description 1111 1000 MIDI Timing Clock Received Channel Messages Status Second Third Description 1000 nnnn 0kkkk...

Page 77: ...011 nnnn 123 0vvvvvvv All Notes Off Clear all MIDI notes 1011 nnnn 121 0vvvvvvv Reset All Controllers Clears all MIDI controllers to 0 MIDI volume to maximum See sections below for additional Continuo...

Page 78: ...2 1011 nnnn 0000 0111 0vvvvvvv Volume When assigned to Pedal 1 or Pedal 2 1011 nnnn 0100 1010 0vvvvvvv Brightness When assigned to Pedal 1 or Pedal 2 1011 nnnn 0010 0000 0vvvvvvv Bank Select 0 9 1011...

Page 79: ...Filter Env Attack 51 Filter Env Decay 52 Filter Env Sustain 53 Filter Env Release 54 High pass Env Amt 58 Arp On Off 59 Arp Mode 60 Arp Range 62 Arp Time Signature 64 Damper Pedal 65 Glide On Off 67...

Page 80: ...MSB 0010 0110 NRPN parameter value LSB CC 0vvv vvvv Parameter value LSB The parameter number can be found in the two tables below one for Global parameters and the other for Program parameters The pa...

Page 81: ...ding NRPN number when sent received individually NRPN Range Description 1024 0 100 Master Fine Tune 1025 0 24 Master Coarse Tune 1026 0 16 MIDI Channel 0 All 1027 0 3 MIDI Clock Mode 0 Off 1 Master 2...

Page 82: ...High pass Key Amt 52 0 1 High pass Vel On 62 0 127 Voice Volume 63 0 127 Pan Spread 64 0 127 Distortion Amt 66 0 127 VCA Env Amt 67 0 127 VCA Env Attack NRPN Value Description 68 0 127 VCA Env Decay 6...

Page 83: ...Off 169 0 63 Seq Length 170 0 1 Seq Mode 171 0 1 Seq Play Mode NRPN Value Description 236 255 32 125 Name 0 19 256 319 12 108 Seq Step 1 64 Note 1 320 383 0 127 Seq Step 1 64 Vel 1 384 447 12 108 Seq...

Page 84: ...e message 0vvv vvvv If MIDI channel is set to 1 16 0vvvvvvv must match unless MIDI Channel ALL always responds if 0vvvvvvv 0111 1111 0000 0110 Inquiry Message 0000 0001 Inquiry Request 1111 0111 End o...

Page 85: ...tatus Description 1111 0000 System Exclusive SysEx 0000 0001 DSI ID 0010 1101 Prophet 6 ID 0000 0110 Request Program Edit Buffer Transmit 1111 0111 End of Exclusive EOX The Prophet 6 will respond by s...

Page 86: ...ription 1111 0000 System Exclusive SysEx 0000 0001 DSI ID 0010 1101 Prophet 6 ID 0000 0011 Edit Buffer Data 0vvv vvvv 1024 bytes expanded to 1171 MIDI bytes in packed MS bit format 1111 0111 End of Ex...

Page 87: ...ata 1 A7 A6 A5 A4 A3 A2 A1 A0 1 00 G7 F7 E7 D7 C7 B7 A7 2 B7 B6 B5 B4 B3 B2 B1 B0 2 00 A6 A5 A4 A3 A2 A1 A0 3 C7 C6 C5 C4 C3 C2 C1 C0 3 00 B6 B5 B4 B3 B2 B1 B0 4 D7 D6 D5 D4 D3 D2 D1 D0 4 00 C6 C5 C4...

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Page 92: ...Dave Smith Instruments 1527 Stockton Street 3rd Floor San Francisco CA 94133 USA www davesmithInstruments com DSI 10079R 06 15...

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