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Behringer Pro 800


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This one gives me a mild case of Lemon Puss. I played a pair of Prophet-600s for several years and loved them. If you're gonna do it, do it right, please. The LFO shape situation is a real tsk-tsk thing, for example. Beef it up a little, don't budget the skin off of its potential as a bigger draw.

 

I also question the prominent Poly-Mod section.... as seen on a new Prophet-6. It has a certain aroma about it. Assertively expired cheese comes to mind. :fume:

 "I want to be an intellectual, but I don't have the brainpower.
  The absent-mindedness, I've got that licked."
        ~ John Cleese

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Hmm... looks like they added noise, which is cool. And unison track to the poly-mod section? Maybe a Gligli thing.

 

I had a Prophet 600 for awhile. Dunno if I'd want to go back to that one, but if they increase LFO frequency range and fix the envelopes I might think about it. And that's assuming Behringer can make more reliable membrane switches. Otherwise it's not even a passing thought.

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Update

 

A little more about the Pro 800 and GliGli: Pro800

 

Well for a predicted $600 that's a lot of synth. You get 16 CEM3340 oscillators and 8 CEM3320 low pass filters. Considering the OBXa used the same filter (although it had a 12dB/octave one as well) then this synth should be capable of some great sounds. The Prophet 600/Pro 1 sound might be too aggressive for some people but I have always loved the sound those CEM chips make. As for the issues with the original 600 I can't comment as I only had the P5 but Pro 1 reissue has had a great reviews - and this is essentially and 8 voice version.

 

On a slightly different tack - releasing a CEM based poly synth with memory gives them a chance to road test designs that will probably be duplicated in the UBXa.

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I don't think this is a poly Pro One... My understanding was that the Pro One was essentially one voice of a Prophet 5, and the Prophet 600 this is based on was not identical in its circuitry or its sound to the Prophet 5.

 

Here's a nice Prophet 600 demo...

[video:youtube]

 

And here's one where someone recreated a lot of famous sounds (he's got the GliGli enhancements on his, but I don't know that they're needed for these sounds)

[video:youtube]

I wonder if the unit will be sysex compatible to the Pro600 so that you could directly load these patches.

 

ETA: In listening to that famous sounds demo, I'm hearing things that make me pretty sure that, yes, he was making use of the Gligli enhancements.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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The Prophet 600/Pro 1 sound might be too aggressive for some people but I have always loved the sound those CEM chips make. As for the issues with the original 600 I can't comment as I only had the P5 but Pro 1 reissue has had a great reviews - and this is essentially and 8 voice version.

 

I never thought of my Prophet 600 as aggressive, but as a budget synth there were corners cut that really affected it's usability. The addition of a noise source addresses one of it's shortcomings, and I think the Gligli add-on helps with some of the others - dunno because my 600 left the building long before this Gligli business came about.

 

If anyone in the forum has a Gligli modded 600 I'd be interested in your thoughts.

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Yes you are right there but it"s hard to see from the Pro 800 photos. The P5 had Noise as Mod source and OSC B could be switched to LFO mode with or without Key Track .The P5 LFO could be a mix of Saw, Square and Triangle waves too. If those features are missing from the Poly 800 it's closer to P600 territory.

 

As other posters have said The Pro 1 is very close to one voice of the P5 Rev 3. It doesn"t look like the Poly 800 has retained all the Pro 1 features. We will have to wait for more info and photos.

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Love that GliGli demo. It's nice to see a demo built around song parts. So many product demos of modern synths are mostly a note or chord held, while the LFOs, sequencer and FX do their magic (and the player twisting a filter knob). I'm always like....DUDE, play a song!
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Some details from SynthAnatomy:

https://www.synthanatomy.com/2020/09/behringer-pro-800-analog-clone-of-the-sequential-pro-600-with-8-voices.html

 

I think Tom might be a bit off on the CV I/O - he says there are CV outputs but I only see Phones Out and Audio Out

I see a Filter CV In to the left of the Phones out on the top panel.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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Some details from SynthAnatomy:

https://www.synthanatomy.com/2020/09/behringer-pro-800-analog-clone-of-the-sequential-pro-600-with-8-voices.html

 

I think Tom might be a bit off on the CV I/O - he says there are CV outputs but I only see Phones Out and Audio Out

I see a Filter CV In to the left of the Phones out on the top panel.

 

He claimed there is both CV in and out.

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I'm reading the mini jacks as Sync in, Filter CV in, Phones, and Audio out. The chassis seems to be the same as the Pro 1 - eyeballing pics of both - which would save in manufacturing costs. That would make it around 17" long - about 2 1/2 octaves of a keyboard.

 

There's a USB port on the back. If Behringer includes velocity settings for filter cutoff and VCA level in a Synth Tool editor, I'm done resisting :laugh:

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He claimed there is both CV in and out.

Ah yes. I read "I only see Phones Out and Audio Out" as your not seeing any CV connections, but that's not what you meant, sorry.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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No built-in effects, it seems.

 

The P5 had Noise as Mod source

I remember only Filter Env and Osc B as mod sources in Poly-mod...

Rather, this P800 is missing PWM as a destination.

 

Noise was available from the wheel mod section. It doesn't need to be in the poly mod section because there is only one noise source.

Moe

---

 

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I found the GliGli Upgrade parameters, and it's a pretty mouth watering list if they are included. Amp and filter velocity response is there - as well as fixes to things I didn't like about my Prophet 600 when I had it. If true, this is a definite buy for me.

 

The Prophet 600 'Gligli" Firmware Upgrade rev. 'Stable 2.0" hosts the following improvements:

 

Greater resolution of many of the sound parameters with an improved refresh rate that is making the instrument much more responsive. Forget those lousy stepped cutoff changes!

 

Faster, smoother amplifier and filter envelope generators supporting four different modes:

Fast Linear.

Slow Linear.

Fast Exponential.

Slow Exponential.

 

A new LFO function generator with a wider range from one cycle every <20 seconds> to about 60Hz with four new waveforms in addition to the original triangle and square including sine, random stepped, noise (like on the original Prophet 5, but nonperiodic) and sawtooth (ramp up).

 

Full Midi In control including: Amp and Filter velocity sensitivity with an external keyboard controller.

 

Continuous Controllers (CC) of all sound parameters.

 

A new and improved tuning procedure.

 

Synchronizing the arpeggiator to MIDI clock.

 

Assignable, Random And Up/Down Arpeggiator.

 

A dedicated vibrato which can be controlled by the modulation wheel, or can start progressively after a fixed amount of time.

 

Multiple keyboard modes including last/low/high note priority.

 

Unison detune.

 

Octave, chromatic and free Oscillator coarse pitch control.

 

Mix Overdrive which now allows the output from both oscillators to drive the mix VCAs A and B harder as well as the Curtis 4 pole filter resulting in new sonic possibilities.

 

Pitch Wheel interval selection of plus/minus one octave, a whole tone, a minor third and a fifth.

 

Pitch Wheel reassignment to the VCF and Volume or off.

 

Modulation wheel intensity setting from Maximum to Medium to Minimum.

 

Program change (PC) to choose current preset.

 

Plus/Minus setting for Oscillator Fine Tune and Filter Envelope amount for Poly Mod and Filter.

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No built-in effects, it seems.

 

The P5 had Noise as Mod source

I remember only Filter Env and Osc B as mod sources in Poly-mod...

Rather, this P800 is missing PWM as a destination.

 

I know Noise was not a Poly Mod source but it was available from the Mod Wheel - you could have either LFO or Noise or a mix of the 2. This may also not be available on the P800.

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No built-in effects, it seems.

 

The P5 had Noise as Mod source

I remember only Filter Env and Osc B as mod sources in Poly-mod...

Rather, this P800 is missing PWM as a destination.

 

I know Noise was not a Poly Mod source but it was available from the Mod Wheel - you could have either LFO or Noise or a mix of the 2. This may also not be available on the P800.

 

You are right, I forgot that.

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Both the Prophet 5 and Pro-One have a three knob mixer section with levels for Osc A, Osc B, and Noise/(Ext. Pro-One only). The Prophet 600 has one knob which sets the balance between Osc A and Osc B. As mentioned the P600 Poly Mod only has Filter Env and Osc B as sources and only Osc A Frequency and Filter as destinations while the Pro-One is most flexible with three sources and five destinations all with choice of Direct or Wheel control. P600 Filter Keyboard Tracking only has Full, 1/2 and Off similar to the Oberheim OB series which is an improvement over the P5 On/Off but not as flexible as the continuously variable Pro-One. The LFO on the P5 and Pro-One add a Sawtooth waveform. The P600 has Pulse Width Modulation on Osc A and Osc B simultaneously which might be a minor problem if you want a Square wave on both oscillators but only want one to be modulated. Except for the addition of Noise the Pro 800 appears to be functionally faithful to the Prophet 600.
C3/122, M102A, Vox V301H, Farfisa Compact, Gibson G101, GEM P, RMI 300A, Piano Bass, Pianet , Prophet 5 rev. 2, Pro-One, Matrix 12, OB8, Korg MS20, Jupiter 6, Juno 60, PX-5S, Nord Stage 3 Compact
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Both the Prophet 5 and Pro-One have a three knob mixer section with levels for Osc A, Osc B, and Noise/(Ext. Pro-One only). The Prophet 600 has one knob which sets the balance between Osc A and Osc B...Except for the addition of Noise the Pro 800 appears to be functionally faithful to the Prophet 600.

The pic of the Pro 800 shows separate knobs for levels of Osc A, Osc B, and Noise.

 

If it has all the GliGli enhancements, other things could be altered as well. As mentioned above, it added a sawtooth waveform to the LFO, for example (even though there's no front panel switch for it). Though it was only ramp up. If they include LFO enhancements, I'd hope for a ramp down, which I'd find more useful.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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You are correct. They arranged the level knobs on the Pro 800 so they are on each Oscillator rather than in a separate Mixer section. Since there was no Noise in the original P600 they probably didn't see a need to be able to set both oscillators to zero and were able to cut costs a bit. If desired for some reason like using Filter oscillation alone this probably could be accomplished by not selecting any waveform or setting the Pulse Width of one oscillator to zero.
C3/122, M102A, Vox V301H, Farfisa Compact, Gibson G101, GEM P, RMI 300A, Piano Bass, Pianet , Prophet 5 rev. 2, Pro-One, Matrix 12, OB8, Korg MS20, Jupiter 6, Juno 60, PX-5S, Nord Stage 3 Compact
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Did any of the original gear have effects?

 

I think any low-cost multi-fx is going to be digital, which probably doesn't really make sense to build into an analog board. (Heck, my virtual analog Nord Lead 3 doesn't have any fx!)

 

You could always add the effects you want externally.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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Did any of the original gear have effects?

At the time (1982), built-in effects were unheard of, except for spring reverb.

 

I think any low-cost multi-fx is going to be digital, which probably doesn't really make sense to build into an analog board. (Heck, my virtual analog Nord Lead 3 doesn't have any fx!)

There are *plenty* of analog synths with built-in effects. Starting in the mid-80s with the JX10 and DW8000 (built-in delay units), the Andromeda, all the DSI/SCI stuff, some Moogs, Modal, Hypersynth, Behringer Deepmind and Odyssey, etc. etc.

 

And the spring reverbs on Moog, ARP and EMS synths in early '70s...

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