Pitch Bend Range?

I read the manual, and didn't see any mention of an adjustable pitch bend wheel. Does the Pro-53 even have this feature? I would be really surprised if it didn't....

 

You should be surprised then as it hasn't!

It is a common request though so maybe one day................

 

The original Prophet didn't have adjustable bend range either...

ew

 

That's true but if I remember correctly, and it's been a while, the default range was more than a whole step. I think I have some old 1/2 track tapes somewhere that show this. I don't remember for sure but I think the default was an octave.

Even the GM CL Noiseblaster responds to RPN 0.

 

He, he,- yep that´s right but ther was a big difference:

The PB range of an old Prophet5 ( I had 2 b.t.w.) was a sharp 5th or 6th up and down (or something in between) which opens totally different possibilities regarding musical expression for a real player.

The PB range of +/- 2 semitone steps is made for non musical programmers who don´t care about playing instruments as these should be played.
This is not only happening w/ synth emulation(s) of NI.

Have you ever seen a real instrument like a violin, cello, guitar, fretless bass, which has a limit of 2 semitones for bending/sliding notes ?
A PB range of 2 semitones is absolutely useless for soloing and synth basslines p.ex., it sounds un-natural.

Pitchbending is the real art of playing synths.

KB

 

According to the Prophet Service Manual, the pitch bend was greater than a major third and less than a perfect fifth. The range was not adjustable.

This meant that using the pitch bend was an art that was learned. I played a Prophet 5 early on and learned to use the pitch wheel pretty well. However, there were musicians that really learned it along with the modulation wheel so perfectly that they made them things talk!

Later, I got an Oberheim OB-8 and the pitch (lever) was programmable. Truth is, I always had it set to one whole step. That seemed to be the most useful setting.

Geoelectro

 

About a fifth does sound about right. I knew I got that habit from somewhere. Maybe it was my Prophet 5. That is what I use for default in everything that is programmable. I have a button on one of my control surfaces set to send a fifth to whatever will do something with it.

I'm of an age where I think Jan Hammer taught us what pitch bend was for.

 

Again:
The PB range of my 2 Prophets was around a 6th up and down, regardless what the SM mentions.
The Prophet T8s PB range was a minor third, that was the reason because I never buyed one.

It´s right pitchbending as also usage of the mod-wheel has to be learned,- if you use it for vibrato and/or thrills.
Control of Filter Cutoff w/ the mod-wheel makes no sense to me and I hate to reprogramm all the modern patches for usage of mod wheel w/ vibrato.
I prefer to control filter cutoff by foot-controler or CV-pedal.

The Oberheim levers, I myself had a OB-8 too,- are a misdesign IMO. With these, it wasn´t possible to control different pitchbend intervalls during performance as it is w/ Korgs joysticks and Rolands combined bend-modulation levers.
Definitely you´re forced to set the range to one whole step than to get a musical result.

I like the ribbon of the Yamaha KX5 which behaves very good.

I prefer wheels and buy only controllers w/ wheels. I use the PB wheel w/ my thumb, the left hand attached to the left side of the controllers chassis which results in best physical control,- the way you´d play a Minimoog (I have one in use too).
This is the way Jan Hammer did.

KB

 

Yep, ideal is a 5th for programmable PB controllers. I choose that too with all of my hardware midi synths and modified my Roland MPU101 for usage of my Mini w/ the midi-CV interface and a PB range of a 5th.

Jan is the king !
Listening to his record "The 1st 7 Days" and Mahavishnu´s "Birds of Fire" was the reason to use synths for me when these were released.

So please NI, come up w/ an update of Pro53 and a PB range adjustable in semitone steps to a max of +/- 7

KB

 

If they're going to add it, I'd like to see an octave, that's my favorite setting. Although I'm really disappointed in the action of the pitch bend wheel on my Axiom MIDI controller, it seems to have a dead spot near the upper end of it's range. It seems to apply the maximum set pitch bend before reaching the extent of it's travel, and you don't actually hear the pitch dropping back until the wheel has moved a ways down from it's maximum travel.

 

Anything between 2 semitone steps and an octave would be a plus!
The issue w/ your midi controller might be caused by the built in pot.

KB

 

yeah, that's what I meant, adjustable up to an octave seems to be pretty standard on most synths. Massive goes up to two octaves, that's getting a little crazy, but sometimes that's what's called for : )