Using the Pro-Five/Pro-52
Using the Pro-Five/Pro-52
Using the Pro-Five/Pro-52
Note: The Pro-Five is no longer available. However, Native Instruments has release the Pro-52, an even better virtual synth. Pretty much everything in this article applies to the Pro-52 as well.
I have always wanted a Prophet 5 because it was one of the foundation cornerstone synths of all time along with the MiniMoog. When I first started getting into synths around 1989 the Prophet 5 was going for around $2,000.00 (it originally it sold for around $4,500.00 in 1978) and all my favorite bands or artists were using it so I just had to have one. In the past few years, they have come down in price to about $1,400.00 but for one reason or another I never got around to getting one. What was so great about it was that it was the first polyphonic synth that was programmable, so you could make and recall presets instantly and it sounded amazing for basses, pads and even drums.
Now the people from Native Instruments who brought us Reaktor bring you the P5. A Prophet 5 modeled in software as a VST instrument. Yes, believe it or not all those hardware oscillators, pots, filters and circuit boards can be recreated in software and used on your Mac or PC inside Cubase VST. There are also a few new features that were not on the original keyboard, but best of all, you now have the advantages of not having to plug in power, MIDI or even audio cables which are susceptible to noise and take up more channels in your mixer.
Cool Tip #1 Load it up and play the keyboard
The first time you load up the P5 into your VST Instruments Rack be sure to turn it on and hit edit so you will see the Prophet 5 front panel, just like the original with all the knobs and buttons. To see the virtual keyboard, click on the 'pro-five' logo on the lower right hand side of the screen
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and the keyboard will now pop up. You can play the keys with your mouse, so start clicking.
To play the instrument from your MIDI keyboard, go back to the main arrange page and make a new MIDI track or choose an existing one that is unused. Next click on the output column and choose 'Pro-Five (1)'.
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You might see another number in the parentheses like (2) or (3), which refers to the instrument's position number in the instrument rack if you have more than one instrument loaded at one time. Now you can play the P5 from your MIDI keyboard...but where it the audio coming from or going to? Look in your VST channel mixer and scroll over to the right, just before the groups. Ta da! You will see a new greenish/gray channel strip that says Pro-5. This means that you can play the instrument and run it through all the VST EQ, FX and Plug-ins.
Cool Tip #2 Playing the knobs
Now that you have loaded up the P5, you should start tweaking the sounds with the knobs. You will notice that you have to move the mouse up and down to play it. If you hold down shift and click on the NI logo on the lower left side of the panel and then play a knob, you will notice that now you can play it in a circular motion, like the VST EQ. This way feels more natural, plus the further away you move the mouse from the knob the more it slows down.
Cool Tip #3 Recording the knob movements
All those knobs are on there for a reason. Tweak them! It will make your synth parts come alive and it is fun. As you know, when you click on 'Write' in the VST mixer, you can record all the movements in the mixer, eq, fx sends, plug-ins (actually the first 16 parameters) etc... With the virtual instruments it is different probably because there are more than 16 knobs on the P5 panel and mostly because the knobs send sysex through MIDI. The Virtual Instruments are just like any other MIDI instruments you have as a keyboard or a rack mount module, so you must record knob and button movements on to a MIDI track.
To record the movements with your mouse, first be sure to go to your Options MIDI Setup Filtering and uncheck Sysex.
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Cubase defaults to filtering Sysex (checked means on so it is filtering Sysex. Uncheck it so that you do not filter Sysex since you want to record it). Next make a new MIDI track and choose the same Pro 5 as your output. Now hit record in Cubase (the transport bar) to record your knob movement performance onto this new track. It is best to keep this automation performance on a separate track other than the MIDI performance track since it will be easier to undo, edit or move around the knob performance parts separately.
Cool Tip #4 Recording the knob movements with an external MIDI fader box.
It would be much better to use an external MIDI fader box to tweak the knobs because you can do 2 or more things at once. Unlike using a mouse, you can play cutoff and resonance simultaneously and as many other parameters as your control surface has or as many fingers you have. To do this you will need to use an external MIDI fader box or anything else that is programmable to send MIDI controller numbers. A lot of modern keyboards have 4 or more sliders that are programmable to send standard MIDI controller numbers as well. I have a JL Cooper Fadermaster and it took me about 1 minute to program the faders to play the parameters I use most often: Filter cutoff, resonance, envelope amount, attack and Amplifier attack, decay, sustain and release. If you look in the manual on page 10 you will see the table which tells you which controller number each parameter responds to. In my case they were numbers 70, 71, 72, 74, 81, 82, 83 and 84 for cutoff, resonance, etc... You could also use Keyfax Phat Boy or Native Instruments 4 Control which have rotary knobs, just like the original keyboard.
Cool Tip #5 Loading Banks
You should definitely load the bank of sounds, def.p5a which will be in your ProFivefx folder. It contains the original bank from the Prophet 5 created by John Bowen. To do this you would think that you would load it from the Instrument rack, but no, you must click on the file load button on the front panel of the P5 itself.
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If you try to load it from the Instrument rack you will not be able to see the def.p5a file or the mystery bank. The same goes for saving banks.
Cool Tip #6 Using Oscillator B as a Modulation source
One of my favorite effects and something that is missing from most modern synths and samplers is the ability to use an Oscillator like a LFO for modulation. Sending an LFO (low frequency oscillator) to a filter is pretty cool, but using an Oscillator instead is fantastic. It has a much higher frequency than a LFO which will give you a bright, wobbly, spiky FM like characteristic that is just amazing. To do this, simply click on the 'Filt' button in the 'Poly-Mod' section in the upper left -and corner of the front panel and then turn up the 'OSC B' knob and enjoy.
Hear the P5 in action!
Note: The Pro-Five is no longer available. However, Native Instruments has release the Pro-52, an even better virtual synth. Pretty much everything in this article applies to the Pro-52 as well.
I have always wanted a Prophet 5 because it was one of the foundation cornerstone synths of all time along with the MiniMoog. When I first started getting into synths around 1989 the Prophet 5 was going for around $2,000.00 (it originally it sold for around $4,500.00 in 1978) and all my favorite bands or artists were using it so I just had to have one. In the past few years, they have come down in price to about $1,400.00 but for one reason or another I never got around to getting one. What was so great about it was that it was the first polyphonic synth that was programmable, so you could make and recall presets instantly and it sounded amazing for basses, pads and even drums.
Now the people from Native Instruments who brought us Reaktor bring you the P5. A Prophet 5 modeled in software as a VST instrument. Yes, believe it or not all those hardware oscillators, pots, filters and circuit boards can be recreated in software and used on your Mac or PC inside Cubase VST. There are also a few new features that were not on the original keyboard, but best of all, you now have the advantages of not having to plug in power, MIDI or even audio cables which are susceptible to noise and take up more channels in your mixer.
Cool Tip #1 Load it up and play the keyboard
The first time you load up the P5 into your VST Instruments Rack be sure to turn it on and hit edit so you will see the Prophet 5 front panel, just like the original with all the knobs and buttons. To see the virtual keyboard, click on the 'pro-five' logo on the lower right hand side of the screen
and the keyboard will now pop up. You can play the keys with your mouse, so start clicking.
To play the instrument from your MIDI keyboard, go back to the main arrange page and make a new MIDI track or choose an existing one that is unused. Next click on the output column and choose 'Pro-Five (1)'.
You might see another number in the parentheses like (2) or (3), which refers to the instrument's position number in the instrument rack if you have more than one instrument loaded at one time. Now you can play the P5 from your MIDI keyboard...but where it the audio coming from or going to? Look in your VST channel mixer and scroll over to the right, just before the groups. Ta da! You will see a new greenish/gray channel strip that says Pro-5. This means that you can play the instrument and run it through all the VST EQ, FX and Plug-ins.
Cool Tip #2 Playing the knobs
Now that you have loaded up the P5, you should start tweaking the sounds with the knobs. You will notice that you have to move the mouse up and down to play it. If you hold down shift and click on the NI logo on the lower left side of the panel and then play a knob, you will notice that now you can play it in a circular motion, like the VST EQ. This way feels more natural, plus the further away you move the mouse from the knob the more it slows down.
Cool Tip #3 Recording the knob movements
All those knobs are on there for a reason. Tweak them! It will make your synth parts come alive and it is fun. As you know, when you click on 'Write' in the VST mixer, you can record all the movements in the mixer, eq, fx sends, plug-ins (actually the first 16 parameters) etc... With the virtual instruments it is different probably because there are more than 16 knobs on the P5 panel and mostly because the knobs send sysex through MIDI. The Virtual Instruments are just like any other MIDI instruments you have as a keyboard or a rack mount module, so you must record knob and button movements on to a MIDI track.
To record the movements with your mouse, first be sure to go to your Options MIDI Setup Filtering and uncheck Sysex.
Cubase defaults to filtering Sysex (checked means on so it is filtering Sysex. Uncheck it so that you do not filter Sysex since you want to record it). Next make a new MIDI track and choose the same Pro 5 as your output. Now hit record in Cubase (the transport bar) to record your knob movement performance onto this new track. It is best to keep this automation performance on a separate track other than the MIDI performance track since it will be easier to undo, edit or move around the knob performance parts separately.
Cool Tip #4 Recording the knob movements with an external MIDI fader box.
It would be much better to use an external MIDI fader box to tweak the knobs because you can do 2 or more things at once. Unlike using a mouse, you can play cutoff and resonance simultaneously and as many other parameters as your control surface has or as many fingers you have. To do this you will need to use an external MIDI fader box or anything else that is programmable to send MIDI controller numbers. A lot of modern keyboards have 4 or more sliders that are programmable to send standard MIDI controller numbers as well. I have a JL Cooper Fadermaster and it took me about 1 minute to program the faders to play the parameters I use most often: Filter cutoff, resonance, envelope amount, attack and Amplifier attack, decay, sustain and release. If you look in the manual on page 10 you will see the table which tells you which controller number each parameter responds to. In my case they were numbers 70, 71, 72, 74, 81, 82, 83 and 84 for cutoff, resonance, etc... You could also use Keyfax Phat Boy or Native Instruments 4 Control which have rotary knobs, just like the original keyboard.
Cool Tip #5 Loading Banks
You should definitely load the bank of sounds, def.p5a which will be in your ProFivefx folder. It contains the original bank from the Prophet 5 created by John Bowen. To do this you would think that you would load it from the Instrument rack, but no, you must click on the file load button on the front panel of the P5 itself.
If you try to load it from the Instrument rack you will not be able to see the def.p5a file or the mystery bank. The same goes for saving banks.
Cool Tip #6 Using Oscillator B as a Modulation source
One of my favorite effects and something that is missing from most modern synths and samplers is the ability to use an Oscillator like a LFO for modulation. Sending an LFO (low frequency oscillator) to a filter is pretty cool, but using an Oscillator instead is fantastic. It has a much higher frequency than a LFO which will give you a bright, wobbly, spiky FM like characteristic that is just amazing. To do this, simply click on the 'Filt' button in the 'Poly-Mod' section in the upper left -and corner of the front panel and then turn up the 'OSC B' knob and enjoy.
Hear the P5 in action!