Prophet 600 firmware upgrade revisited

The problem is as old as the invention of patch storage: once you load a patch into the active synth parameters you run into a conflict with the panel controls. These become detached from the patch. Different solutions have been found over the years.  Jupiter 4 : the brute force approach means that if you store a patch you can never change it again. Yes, really! When a patch is selected, the panel controls have no effect whatsoever. I am sure there is more than one person who was close to a heart attack thinking that their Jupiter 4 was totally broken when first experiencing this... One parameter select : with the entry of the DX7 the single parameter editing UI concept became popular where you select parameter to see its value in a display and then use a universal dial or slider to change it. A nuisance, of course, but solving a lot of problems for synth designers, one of many being that the values can always be updated from memory without conflict... Endless dials : a more modern app

The upgraded Prophet 600 offers two envelope shapes: exponential and linear. These are software generated and in versions 2.0 and 2.1 RC3 they are really exactly that: a pure exponential shape and a pure linear shape. Some users argue that a musical choice is somewhere in between. To the ear, the exponential shape drops very quickly at the beginning and then it tails off long. The linear shape on the other hand is thicker in the early decay phase but then it drops hard to zero. The human ear is stunningly sensitive to envelope shapes, even at very low volumes. In a recent nice YouTube video Starsky Carr directly compares the Prophet 5 (rev 4) envelopes to the Prophet 600 addressing exactly this finding:  Prophet 600 vs Prophet 5 // Is the 600 a better value option? - YouTube Now: the 2022 firmware has completely revised linear decay and release shapes, which are linear at the start but then tail off smoothly. To some degree the shape was inspired by the Prophet 5 rev 1/2 envelope shape

Dear all users of an upgraded Prophet 600, The beta release for the 2022 firmware upgrade is now available! You can download the code and new User Manual here:   Release v2022-beta.1 · image-et-son/p600fw (github.com) . *** NOTE: this is a beta release and it is therefore not the final release but rather very close to it ***  *** NOTE: the code and manuals come with no warranty whatsoever, you carry out updates at your own risk. Always secure patches before updating the firmware. ***  Note: in case you're totally new to the GliGli upgrade you would need to modify your Prophet 600. In this case you should consult the documentation provided by GliGli. GliGli's Prophet 600 blog ( My Synthesizer stuff: p600fw (gliglisynth.blogspot.com) ) contains the links to the technical manual. If you're already running version 2.0 or version 2.1 RC3 you should be familiar with the upgrade procedure either by USB or by MIDI. Please also refer to the User Manual. If you want to actively parti

The GliGli upgraded firmware uses a patch parameter menu based on the number pad for changing things like vibrato, additional LFO options, envelope shapes etc. Most users find menu diving a nuisance. Since there are more than 10 parameters in the firmware upgrade and only 10 number buttons (0...9) the firmware even needed two "pages" of parameters. A double press of each number accesses an additional parameter. What's more, the location of parameters on the number pad was not completely systematic, e.g. pressing "2" would access the Vibrato Speed, but pressing "2" twice was accessing the LFO Range. A cheat sheet from Synthgraphics (list of parameters and their location) does help, as does the fact that the parameter name is scrolled through the display. Overall, not ideal but still not something one can't live with. The new 2022 firmware version to be published soon has even more parameters so that two pages are not enough. Therefore a different co

The GliGli firmware (versions 2.0 and 2.1RC3) re-designated the original "Mixer" and "Glide" of the Prophet 600 knobs to control the volumes of oscillators A and B separately. This has the disadvantage that the glide amount needed to go into the - not very user friendly - parameter menu. On the other hand with the GliGli layout, one could (over-)drive both oscillator A and B amps. Personally, I also appreciate the clarity of controlling the two volumes with the two knobs, conveniently positioned next the oscillator sections. There are obviously good reasons for either choice of layout. Now, I have had requests from several users that the original Sequential Circuits layout be brought back. I even had one collector who said he refused the GliGli upgrade because he didn't like the fact the panel control descriptions don't match the control function. And he has a point - not many people got hold of a synth graphics panel overlay to match the GliGli upgrade and

  -- Firmware Development News -- The alpha development is almost finished! This will be followed by a few weeks of beta testing with selected users. The main changes compared to GliGli version 2.1RC3 are New and comprehensive user manual User Control NEW: panel switchable between GliGli and the original Sequential Circuits layout (Mix/Glide) Better responsiveness and smoother action of controls in general Pick-me-up mode (move controls to the stored patch value before they can take effect) Patch management mode  Patch features New envelope routing Revised envelope shapes, inspired by Prophet 5 rev 1/2 Super accurate fine tuning of oscillator A vs. B LFO sync to arpeggiator and sequencer Totally revised vintage function MIDI functions  local off mode extension of MIDI control