5.6. Modulators
The Prophet-5 aimed to pinpoint the modulation sources and routings musicians would find
most useful, building them into a portable “slab” synth that did not require patch cables.
Let’s go over the sections from top to bottom.
5.6.1. POLY MOD
As mentioned earlier, this modulation section is now considered to be a hallmark of the
Prophet’s design and essential to its sound.
The concept was that you could mix two sources (the Filter envelope and/or Oscillator 2) into
up to three destinations. Modulation depth from the sources was controlled with the knobs;
the switches toggled destinations connected or not.
• Filter Env: Controls depth of Filter Envelope as mod source.
• Osc 2: Controls depth of Oscillator 2 as mod source.
• Freq 1: Toggles Oscillator 1 pitch as a destination.
• PW 1: Toggles Oscillator 1 pulse width as a destination.
• Filter: Toggles Filter Cutoff as a destination.
As long as a destination was selected, POLY-MOD was always on, that is, it didn’t require
the player to raise the modulation wheel or another control.
Note that modulating the Filter Cutoff with its own envelope seems redundant, as you can
do this right in the filter section. However, you could now use that envelope on two other
destinations, as well as modulate the Filter Cutoff with Oscillator 2. This made it especially
useful that Oscillator 2 had an LFO mode.
Arturia - User Manual Prophet-5 V - Main Synth Panel 48
To Next Page