Sequential Prophet-6 User manual
Operation Manual
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
This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to
the following two conditions: (1) This device may not cause harmful inter-
ference and (2) this device must accept 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.
Cet appareil numerique de la classe B respecte toutes les exigences du
Reglement sur le materiel brouilleur du Canada.
Table of Contents
A Few Words of Thanks ...............................ix
Getting Started........................................1
Sound Banks ...........................................2
Selecting Programs ......................................2
Editing Programs ........................................3
Comparing an Edited Program to its Original State ..............3
Creating 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
Oscillator Parameters ....................................16
Slop................................................18
Mixer ...............................................19
Filters ..............................................20
Filter Envelope.......................................22
Changing the Filter Envelope’s Response Curve ...............23
Amplier Envelope ...................................24
Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
Main Parameters .......................................28
Low Frequency Oscillators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
Poly Mod............................................33
Poly Mod Parameters ....................................34
Arpeggiator .........................................35
Arpeggiator Parameters ..................................36
Sequencer ..........................................37
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 and Mod Wheels ................................50
Pitch Wheel............................................50
Modulation Wheel .......................................51
Misc Parameters .....................................52
Aftertouch ..........................................53
Exporting Programs and Banks.........................55
Calibrating the Prophet-6 ..............................56
How and When to Calibrate the Oscillators and Filters ..........56
Calibrating the Pitch and Mod 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: MIDI Implementation .......................65
MIDI Messages.........................................66
NRPN Messages .......................................70
Control NRPN Data .....................................74
The following table lists the Prophet-6’s control NRPN data. It is
received and transmitted but not saved as part of a program. ....74
Sysex Messages........................................74
Packed Data Format ....................................77
The DSI Crew
Ashley Bellouin, Fabien Cesari, Bob Coover, Carson Day, Chris Hector, Tony Karavidas,
Mark Kono, Andrew McGowan, Joanne McGowan, Tracy Wadley, and Mark Wilcox.
Special thanks to Ikutaro Kakehashi and Yamaha Corporation. Thanks also
to Robert Rich for the alternative tunings content. And nally, a shout out to
OMOM (Old Men Of MIDI) for their support, camaraderie, and sound design.
Robert Rich
Matia Simovich
James Terris
Mitch Thomas
Taiho Yamada
Josheph Akins
John Bowen
Richard Devine
Peter Dyer
Tim Koon
Kurt Kurasaki
Kevin Lamb
Jason Lindner
Cord Mueller
Drew Neumann
Credits and Acknowledgements
Sound Design
A Few Words of Thanks
Thank you for purchasing the Prophet-6. We take a lot of pleasure in creating all
of our instruments but bringing the Prophet-6 to life was particularly satisfying.
In many ways it brings my 40-plus years of designing synthesizers full circle. I’ll
tell you why.
In 2014, two events occurred that led to the creation of the Prophet-6. The rst
was a fairly common one around our ofce — our usual informal discussion
about what would be interesting to build next. (We don’t do marketing surveys
around here.) We all agreed that an analog poly synth with true voltage-controlled
oscillators, lters, and ampliers would not only be exciting to design, but would
also almost certainly sound great. So we decided to do it.
Event two transpired when, unknown to me, my old friend and collaborator in the
creation of MIDI, Ikutaro Kakehashi, founder 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.) Yamaha generously agreed and suddenly Sequential was back — almost. All
we needed was an awesome new product to bear the name.
Well, you know how the story ends: with the very synth you’ve just purchased. We
gured that building the best-sounding analog poly synth possible would be a tting
tribute to Sequential’s most famous instrument, the Prophet-5, the poly synth that
started it all.
The Sequential Prophet-6 takes the best qualities of the Prophet-5 and adds some nice
touches that the original never had, such as stereo outputs, velocity and aftertouch
sensitivity, dual digital effects, a high-pass lter, a polyphonic step sequencer, an
arpeggiator, and of course, MIDI. The result is a synth with vintage analog tone and
the reliability of a state-of-the-art, modern instrument.
I hope you enjoy the Prophet-6 as much as we enjoyed designing it for you.
Cheers,
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