Dave Smith Instruments Pro 2 Manuel d'utilisateur télécharger pdf (Page 5)

on the CV inputs as we assume that

a device driving the CV input will have

some amount of its own offset as well.

In this way, one would likely correct for

the overall offset on the external device

or in the Pro 2 itself.” This boils down

to, ‘we’ve allowed an offset error within

the Pro 2 because there might be one in

the external voltage.’ I can’t be alone in

thinking that this is unsatisfactory, can I?

Sequencing & Arpeggiation

Although the claim that the Pro 2’s

“is the most powerful step sequencer

ever designed on a synth” is possibly

overstating the case, the facilities

provided by its 16, 16‑step tracks (which

can also be configured as eight, 32‑step

tracks) place it in the premier division

of on‑board analogue‑style sequencers.

Every patch contains a sequence with

Track 1 connected to the pitch of the

note, and you can then direct every

other track to any of the modulation

destinations. All the usual facilities are

provided — ties, rests, slew, legato

or retriggered notes, variable‑length

sequences, MIDI sync, and so on — and

you can transpose sequences, set them

to loop continuously or play once through

per trigger, or play one step each time

that a trigger is received. Recording is

conventional voltages as standard, and

use the DC offset to push it into more

esoteric ranges if needed. I discussed

this with Dave Smith and he confided,

“We’ve had a handful of requests to add

a Global parameter to shift the CV ranges,

and it’s a possible future feature.” That’s

good news.

I spent many days experimenting with

the Pro 2’s analogue connectivity, and

I particularly liked its ability to scale its

CV Ins and Outs to match synths that

don’t track 1V/oct precisely. But not

all was hunky‑dory. For example, once

‘connected’ in the modulation matrix, the

CV inputs can affect parameter values

even when they’re sitting at 0V. I found

that a DC offset of ‑2 was needed to

correct CV In1 and CV In2, whereas an

offset of ‑10 was needed to correct CV

In3 and CV In4. I contacted DSI’s technical

support team, and they confirmed that

this was normal. They told me that,

“There will be some offset inherent

I measured the voltage produced by

the CV output and, sure enough, it was

3V higher than I had expected. What

was going on? I found the answer in

a DSI Technical Support document that

explained that this wasn’t an error; the

company had taken the decision to

make middle ‘C’ generate a pitch CV of

5V. So I used the modulation matrix to

direct a large, negative DC offset to the

CV output driving the SH101. Actually,

I needed to use two slots to bring the

Roland down to its usual pitch, but then

all was fine.

Similarly, when I patched the CV

and Gate outputs from the SH101 to

the CV In1 and CV In4 on the Pro 2,

setting the latter to be its Gate source,

I obtained a pitch from the Pro 2 that was

approximately 14 semitones above what

I expected. Again, a suitable DC offset

sorted everything out in a few moments,

but I would have implemented the Pro 2

the other way around: set it to generate

Introduced on the Prophet 12, the Special

Waves were added because the engineers

at DSI felt that they extended its range of

timbres in interesting ways. Their names

— such as Boing, Ahhh and Shrill — are

roughly descriptive (of the waveforms,

not the engineers) but their uses are by

no means limited to creating sounds

that go ‘boing’, voices that go ‘ahhh’, or

anything shrill.

However, the real power of the Special

Waves lies in your ability to place three

of them in a line and morph between

them, either playing the static waveform

derived at any given point on the line, or

modulating that position in interesting

ways. This can take the Pro 2 far beyond

the range of sounds that you might expect

from it. I even used the Decimate and

Hack effects to reduce the sample rate

and word length, and then programmed

the Pro 2 in paraphonic mode as

a filterless, four‑voice, 8‑bit wavetable

polysynth, and imitated the legendary

PPG Wavecomputer 360A, a hopelessly

unreliable synthesizer that I nonetheless

bitterly regret selling. A synth nightmare

or yet another accolade to the Pro 2’s

flexibility? You decide.

Special Waves

105

www.soundonsound.com / January 2015

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Dave Smith Instruments Pro 2 Manuel d'utilisateur Page 5

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