Dave Smith Instruments Pro 2 Monophonic Synthesizer the Depth and Complexity of the Pro 2 Could Make It Dave Smith’S Most Sophisticated Monosynth Yet
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ON TEST Dave Smith Instruments Pro 2 Monophonic Synthesizer The depth and complexity of the Pro 2 could make it Dave Smith’s most sophisticated monosynth yet. GORDON REID hen DSI announced the Pro 2, many considered it W to be the long-anticipated successor to the esteemed Sequential Circuits (SCI) Pro One from the early 1980s. Of course, it’s not; its architecture aren’t going and the breadth of its capabilities make to give it at best a very distant descendent. it a chance Nevertheless, the name is well chosen to prove this; because it suggests that this is going I’ve already read to be a cut above any previous DSI comments (many monosynth. Unfortunately, some people written, I fear, by people who have never played one) that dismiss it because DSI Pro 2 $2000 of its hybrid analogue/digital PROS architecture. So let’s be clear: the filters, the audio amplifier and • It looks and sounds gorgeous. • It can produce the dirtiest, angriest the final output stage are analogue. sounds I’ve ever heard emanating from an The oscillators and Character effects integrated synth. are digital, as are the LFOs, the contour • It’s deep but not impenetrable. generators, the modulation matrix and • Paraphonic mode is much more useful than you might imagine. the delay lines. If this bothers you, feel • The amount of analogue connectivity is free to read no further. But it would be unusually high for an integrated synth. a shame if you went for a bevvy now, CONS because there’s lots of exciting stuff to be discovered here. • There are issues with the CV architecture to be addressed. Down The Signal Path • The sequencer would benefit from noise, in addition to the four standard further development. Given its appearance, it’s inevitable analogue waveforms, the Pro 2’s four SUMMARY that people are also going to view the primary oscillators also offer 13 additional Pro 2 as a monophonic version of the Superwaves. These comprise multiple Dave Smith has been asked on numerous occasions to release a modern incarnation Prophet 12. In fairness, there are many instances of the sawtooth and each of the of the Pro One, but the Pro 2 isn’t it. It’s points of similarity, but there are as special waves, and you can detune these much, much more than that. And, although many significant differences between to create chorusing. Because you can a superficial glance suggests that it’s similar the two. For example, whereas the 48 modulate the amount of detune (and do to one voice of the Prophet 12, it’s much, much more than that too. primary oscillators in the polysynth offer so using numerous different modulation 12 Special Waves and three colours of sources acting upon a different 100 January 2015 / www.soundonsound.com Photos: Richard Ecclestone section has been replaced by an even more powerful architecture that consists of a self-oscillating 24dB/oct low-pass filter and a 12dB/ oct, resonant but not self-oscillating, while state-variable (LP/BR/HP/BP) filter that Hack and can be patched in series or in parallel. Decimation Actually, that’s not quite right. At the reduce their word two extremes of the routing parameter length and sample rate you’ll find pure ‘in series’ and pure ‘in before conversion to the parallel’, but you can dial in any value you analogue signals that will be fed fancy between these, blending the signal to the filters. The fifth effect is Drive, filtered by both devices in series with the which allows you to create anything signals processed by Filter 1 alone and by Superwave ranging from a gentle overdrive to (with Filter 2 alone. In addition, you can direct in each of appropriate Hacking and Decimation) the just oscillators 1 & 2 to Filter 1, and just the four oscillator sounds of alien hordes invading. oscillators 3 & 4 to Filter 2. These are not slots) you can generate all Next, the Prophet 12’s powerful filter trivial tricks. manner of sounds ranging from the delightfully subtle to extravagant layers of wibbly mayhem. Add oscillator Paraphonic Mode sync, FM and AM of each oscillator into the equation, and a vast range of Although primarily a monosynth, the Pro 2 Nonetheless, I have three minor complaints echoes instruments such as the Korg Mono/ in this area, although all are operational, not chorused, sync’ed and modulated (and Poly which, back in 1981, allowed you to play sonic. Firstly, I can’t understand why the simultaneously chorused, sync’ed and up to four single-oscillator notes through waveform selector can’t adjust the waves for all modulated) sounds are possible. Now its single VCF/VCA signal path. Happily, four oscillators simultaneously in paraphonic add Osc1’s sine wave sub-oscillator, the Pro 2 is much more flexible than that, mode. Secondly, there’s no ‘All Oscillators noise modulation, and multiple types of because the amplitude of each note can be Shape Mod’ parameter in the modulation portamento that you can apply to each shaped individually by the amplifier contour matrix. Thirdly, there’s no way to sequence generator, and the tone of each can be shaped four-part compositions in paraphonic mode. oscillator individually, and it’s clear that individually using tools such as waveshaping Counter-intuitively, you can record and play the Pro 2 is far more than a modern and sync. I programmed all manner of four-part compositions in monophonic mode hybrid pretending to be a traditional analogue piano and Clavi-style patches as well by turning off Key Follow for oscillators 2, 3 analogue monosynth. as some luscious pads, ensembles, analogue and 4 and then assigning three other tracks Lying between the oscillator mixer and choirs and spacey organs using a combination to control their pitches. But when I tried the filters, there are five waveshaping of dynamic waveshaping, modulation and this, the results didn’t justify the effort. DSI delay, and I suspect that few (if any) listeners told me that they’re considering paraphonic effects derived from the Prophet 12. would realise that they emanated from sequencing for a future update, so I think that Girth and Air accentuate the low and high a paraphonic synth rather than a true poly. I’ll wait for that. frequencies (respectively) of the sounds, www.soundonsound.com / January 2015 101 ON TEST DAVE SMITH INSTRUMENTS PRO 2 Round The Back In addition to its quarter-inch stereo audio thicken the sound or cause screaming chaos. labelled In, Out and Thru/Out2, the action outputs and the associated headphone output, Inputs for a footswitch and expression pedal of the last of which is defined by a Global the Pro 2 offers an Audio In that accepts a wide are also provided and, sandwiched between these parameter. As you would expect, the Pro 2 offers range of signals and injects them into the and the audio I/O, you’ll find no fewer than four extensive MIDI capabilities, and the largest internal signal path via the oscillator mixer. CV Ins and four CV Outs as well as a Gate Out, section of the manual (nearly 40 pages!) is You can also derive control signals from the all on 3.5mm sockets. I would have preferred dedicated to NRPNs which, as well as mapping external signal using the associated Gate these to be quarter-inch too, but DSI appears to all the controls, include such things as the extractor and Envelope Follower. But if no be looking toward the Eurorack market here, as values in each of the steps in each of the tracks cable is plugged into this socket, its Level and evidenced by its own DSM01 filter module. in a sequence. Gain controls determine the amount of final Digital control is provided by a bi-directional, Finally, there’s an IEC socket for the synth’s output signal that’s internally fed back into the class-compliant USB port (MIDI only, not internal, universal (50/60Hz, 100-240V AC) mixer, emulating an old Minimoog trick used to audio) and three five-pin DIN MIDI sockets power supply. Each filter has a dedicated contour a different one for the body of the sound. you add drive, drive and yet more drive... generator to control its cutoff frequency. The only obvious limitation is that you well, if you like to listen to synths scream, From the control panel, you can treat each can’t push Filter 2 into self-oscillation. this is one way to make them do it. as a bipolar ADSR, but the menus provide That’s a shame, but not a problem. You can now pass the analogue access to a delay before the onset of the The next stage in the signal path is an signal unmolested to the final output, Attack (making each contour a five-stage output boost that can drive, overdrive, or which comprises a fourth overdrive and HADSR), plus velocity sensitivity for the even distort the filtered signal before it’s a master volume control. Happily, even contour amount. Naturally, the contour passed to the audio amplifier. This also at maximum distortion and level, the rates can be modulated, and there’s has a dedicated contour generator that, at Pro 2 doesn’t suffer from the oscillator also a Repeat mode that loops the HAD first, appears to echo that of the Prophet leakage that made its way to the outputs stages. In short, there’s a huge amount of 12. But, while the velocity-sensitive, of the Prophet 12, and the signal/noise flexibility here.