Poly Chain- MoPho Keyboard DSI Dave Smith Instruments
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- Опубліковано 20 тра 2010
- The Mopho Keyboard is a compact and affordable-but powerful-monophonic analog synthesizer. The voice architecture is similar to a single voice of the Prophet '08, but with a couple of twists to distinguish it from its award-winning sibling. We have added two sub-octave generators-one per oscillator-for additional girth and crushing basses. It also has an audio input that lets you process external audio and mix Mopho's own audio output back in pre-filter for feedback effects that can range from subtle distortion to extreme skronk. It features the same semi-weighted keyboard action as the Prophet.
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@SernoMusic
Yes. The MoPho Keyboard has 4 parallel 16 step sequencers. Each one can drive one of the 4 oscillators (2 main osc, 2 sub-osc) or be used for automation of envelopes, lfo's etc. All 4 sequences run simultaneously and they can't be chained one after the other, so 16 steps is the maximum although this can be extended with creative use of the routing matrix and the clock divide + lfo settings.
DSI have a sound like no other, and I have their sound in my setup, a must have!
That all sounds so good…
I’m really digging on that yellow machine..
sounds gorgeous.
I like the Purcell quote at the end. A longtime fave yielding chordal pleasure from my minimal keyboard skills.
Great stuff Dave. I'm rather excited about getting my hands on one of these little beauties!
@DaveSmithInstruments Good stuff! Thank you!
that is cool, like that beginning sound
Just paired these 2 babies up and I'm a happy camper!!!
@danox574
The 1st 2 banks on the Tetra -are- the Prophet banks, which makes poly chaining easy right out of the box. The sub-oscillators simply aren't used on the Prophet patches. You can still turn them up on the Tetra if you want but only the Tetra voices would have that characteristic.
When you press Write on the Prophet, the sounds are automatically saved to the Tetra too if you're in poly chain.
Using split in poly chain, you get an extra 2 voices on each side of the split, or stack too.
those last chords were nice!!!
@DaveSmithInstruments
Figured that would be the case, but I could hope. :)
Thanks for the info regardless - still hoping to eventually get my hands on one of these.
great! thanks for the insight!
first i thought: so 70's, then i said: s0 90's. in a good way. sounds versatile, that's great!
@1980sCoverband
Yep, all functions go across both instruments when poly chained.
Unison on/off is in the Misc Parameters section. Once you navigate to it, Unison is instantly accessible with the turn of one knob for the remainder of the time you're editing that program. It's very easy to get to.
@DaveSmithInstruments tetra, you have a new lover
@MrBoxxed
Combo mode is a feature exclusive to the Tetra, so there are no Tetra/MoPho combo possibilities. The poly chain feature is for extending polyphony, meaning you can play up to 5 simultaneous notes when a Tetra and a MoPho Keyboard are poly chained. You can also control all parameters of the Tetra from the MoPho when in program mode.
god of the synthesizer
@nuttymad1
All the Tetra parameters are mapped to the MoPho for full control, with the exception of Multi and Combo (since the MoPho doesn't have these). However, you can still control each individual voice on the Tetra in Multi mode by changing to the appropriate MIDI channel on the MoPho Keyboard
It's simply not designed to do that. A multitude of MIDI patch bays exist that can be run stand-alone with no computer once they've been configured so you shouldn't have any trouble performing without one.
Happy to hear you're loving the sound!
@drum4life42
Poly chaining is for instruments with similar voice architectures to extend polyphony, or the maximum number of simultaneous notes that can be played. You can trigger the notes on the Evolver with the MoPho keyboard though. You can poly chain the MoPho to the Tetra and the Prophet, and you can poly chain any Evolver to another Evolver.
@archebeats
Poly chaining is for extending the number of simultaneous notes you can play. It needs to be done with another MoPho, a Tetra, or a Prophet 08.
You can however, send polyphonic note data from the MoPho Keyboard to any DAW for controlling soft-synths, etc.
@AlexisNembrode
Audio input is mono. All features can be accessed via the front panel. The keyboard version just gives you more immediate access and less menu diving than the desktop.
@djze90
Correct. The Prophet does not have analog feedback so you would only hear feedback on 1 voice. When poly chaining with the Prophet you would turn off feedback and the sub-oscillators on the MoPho to maintain consistency across all voices.
@TangleTwister
The oscillators are kept in tune by a calibration routine. They also have a self calibration routine which you can run at any time if you feel like they need it, although you should never really need to do this.
@dep1001
It's similar to the Pro One with more flexibility. The desktop says "Pro One II" on the circuit board. Same Curtis filter as the old SCI stuff. It has an extra envelope, more LFO's, better sequencer, more routing flexibility, the MoPho doesn't have VCO's. There is an "osc slop" parameter, which will allow osc drift like VCO's.
It won't be identical, but the sound is more or less there. Just turn up osc slop, limit your use of LFO's and the extra envelope, and you'll get pretty close
@ultimatenerd22
Absolutely. With the sub-oscillators, the tuned feedback, and wide range of modulation possibilities these synths can make some mean bass lines.
Absolutely.
It's available from SoundTower. UA-cam won't allow links in the comments so search for "SoundTower" and you'll find it.
@ChemicalMethod
Of course you can use the MoPho as a controller for other synths, but adding voices is for extending polyphony is to increase the maximum number of simultaneous notes played with the identical sound. This means you'd need to do it with our instruments to achieve the same sound on multiple notes.
@weaponEX
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, no harm in that. I will point out the MoPho and the Tetra are based on the Prophet 08 voice architecture. They can load and play every patch on the Prophet 08, including Super-sync Lead, and they will sound identical. Cheers.
@MrBoxxed
You asked the same question a month ago, and here is the reply: "Combo mode is a feature exclusive to the Tetra, so there are no Tetra/MoPho combo possibilities. The poly chain feature is for extending polyphony, meaning you can play up to 5 simultaneous notes when a Tetra and a MoPho Keyboard are poly chained. You can also control all parameters of the Tetra from the MoPho when in program mode."
@Comocks
The only MIDI is between the MoPho Keyboard and the Tetra for poly chaining- they're not hooked up to a computer. The outputs from each instrument are running to an analog mixer and the audio you're hearing was recorded from the unbalanced stereo output on the mixer.
@DaveSmithInstruments Would love to SEE a video of you explaining this hear how the Portamento sounds both polyphonically and in unison.
Thanks!
@Nillerbabsen
You need the same sounds on both machines. You can easily dump from either instrument using a single MIDI cable.
@09fod
Absolutely. Poly chaining works via MIDI.
@lukuntri
It starts/stops a sequence, plays a note that you've assigned to it, and it can be used for tap-tempo.
@velliosant
No. Polychaining is for extending polyphony (maximum # of simultaneous keys that can be played) between instruments of the same voice architecture. You can polychain Tetra with MoPho, Tetra, and Prophet. Evolver can polychain with any other Evolver.
5 is a magical number indeed! Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 who turn the music world around, courtesy of Sir. Dave Smith himself, not to mention the Memorymoog's five voices, as well.
@lukuntri
Yes, the audio signal path is 100% analog on the Tetra, the MoPho, and the Prophet 08.
@docBOSS1444
They have a regular line-level output, so you can hook them up to anything with a line-level input.
Yes. The Prophet can act as a controller for the Tetras even if they aren't poly chained. Since the Prophet parameters are mapped to the Tetra anyway you'll be able to change parameters on the Tetras when you turn knobs on the Prophet.
@009relic1
Yes, as well as the Prophet 08 patches. You can put the MoPho and Prophet 08 patches on the Tetra as well.
@trybtek
Yep! The MoPho Keyboard sends out CC and NRPN controller messages so it can be used purely as a controller as well.
@ChemicalMethod
The point of poly chaining is to create more playable notes of the same sound. You need a synth with the same voice architecture to take advantage of poly chaining.
You can play the Evolver from the MoPho Keyboard, but you can't poly chain with it. You can poly chain any Evolver to another Evolver though. Example: Mono Evolver Keyboard plays 1 note at a time. Poly chain to a Poly Evolver Rack (plays 4 notes at a time on its own), and you'll have 5 voices total together
@Robbinsffxi
Correct, the Prophet 08 does not have sub-oscillators. You'd want to turn the MoPho's sub-oscillators to 0 when poly chaining with a Prophet to match the voices.
@V19torrent
Yes. The MoPho hardware physically only has one voice (hence the namesake Mo no Pho nic), so if you play it alone it will remain monophonic. You can add more voices by poly chaining.
@BUZZDOG001
Our instruments are synthesizers, not samplers. This means all the sound is generated from within the instrument itself and you can't load external samples/loops into them. The beauty of the synthesizer is you can create almost any sound you can imagine, but you program it yourself rather than loading a sample.
@Biopharmer
You could, but technically poly chaining is for using the instruments as a poly synth for playing. It would be possible to edit the individual voices on the Tetra by setting it to multi mode and then changing the MoPho keyboard's MIDI channel to reflect each voice, but technically that isn't what poly chain is designed to do.
However, you could definitely sync 5 sequences between the 2 instruments if that's what you're after.
what a sounds! it sounds like technobrass.
I can't wait to get one of these babies and poly chain it to my Tetra :D
@mynmyself
That's exactly how the MoPho Keyboard is set up, and the purpose of this demonstration video. All parameters are mapped to the Tetra already, so once you plug in the MoPho Keyboard you don't ever have to touch the Tetra.
You need a stereo pair coming out of the Tetra and another stereo pair coming out of the Mopho Keyboard, so 2 stereo pairs total. These can go into 2 stereo pairs on a mixer or on an audio interface.
@danox574
No need to dump Prophet programs to the Tetra if they are the factory programs- the same programs are already on both instruments.
You can simply check the sub osc and feedback parameters on any patch to determine if they are on or not.
Any patch you send from the Prophet simply won't have those parameters turned on. You can also send any patch from the Tetra to the Prophet with the same result- the patch works fine, it just won't have feedback or sub osc.
Really nice one Dave! I have been asking for a hands on Mo'Pho for ages...sounds great! Like how you can chain them to make it poly. Now to get some of that hard to find cash to fund it lol
Nice demo, Dave! I recently bought a Tetra (which I love BTW) so I was looking forward to seeing how it worked polychained to the Mopho KB. I was wondering if you can access all the Tetra parameters from the Mopho KB? What about combo mode? Thanks!
great! Is it a simple switch to go back and forth? Changing the sending MIDI channel I suppose? Will there be feedback for those parameters that might not map 1:1 to knobs? For example setting sequences, etc.
I've kept coming back to this video for the past 3 or so years just to hear that chord sequence at 0:53... So cool! While I've figured out this(G Ebmaj7 C- D-), it sounds like the Ebmaj has a #11 on it which goes back to the Eb when released, and the C- has a minor 7th which also goes back to the Eb at the release, but none of those notes are being pressed... How would this be described in 'synthesis terms'...? Hoping to get this combo soon :)
A Tetra is finally on it's way to join my Mopho Keybard ! ! !
Correct. The sub-oscillators are contained in the physical hardware of the MoPho and Tetra. Purchasing a MoPho or a Tetra will not put sub-oscillators in your Prophet '08.
@AlexisNembrode
MoPho module does not have a power switch, it is the same as the Tetra in that way. It is not hazardous to the synth in long term use.
I wonder, can it keep multitimbrality on the MOpho Keyboard within the Tetra?
If you solo one instrument when poly chained, you will only get that instrument's audio when the voice allocation cycles back to it. 4 notes play on the Tetra and one note plays on the Mopho. Only 1 note out of every 5 notes comes from the Mopho.
You won't damage our instruments running your cables like that, you'll just lose stereo and panning. Any latency you're experiencing is coming from Ableton, not our hardware. Contact support if you have more tech questions.
@scott93257 I believe name Sequential came along from the fact that Mr. Smith started development of electronic instruments from sequencer modules. Anywho, the Sequential Circuits was such a great company name, not to say that Dave Smith Instruments is bad or anything, but Sequential Circuits has such a great ring to it and fantastic legacy.
@drum4life42
You can edit/access 99% of all parameters. You can't access the few things on the Tetra the MoPho doesn't have, like Combo mode or stack/split. Although technically not setup to control Multi mode, there's a work-around where it is possible use the MoPho Keyboard to program each voice individually on the Tetra though.
The sub-oscillators are still present on the Mopho, and the Prophet doesn't have any so no sub-oscillators will play from the Prophet. If poly chaining a Mopho to a Prophet you would typically turn off the sub-osc on the Mopho to match the Prophet voice.
i was gutted you stopped making the mopho and tetra..hope you make an updated version one day the world is crying out for a cheap desktop sequential product.
@DaveSmithInstruments gr8 i realy like this synth i just wish i could afford it : /
@cubdukat
You can poly chain up to 4 Tetras for 16 voice polyphony. You can only add 1 MoPho desktop since it doesn't have a poly chain out.
@DSI So if I have two banks of presets already on my P08, I can MIDI dump that to the Tetra and it will land in the first two banks, as long as the programs currently in the Tetra's first two banks don't have subosc settings, right? And then, I never need to touch the Tetra again. If I want subosc bass out of the tetra direct, I just plug in a different MIDI sender into the Tetra MIDI IN, select a program from Bank 3 or later, and my 128 Bank 1/2 presets I use with my P08 is untouched. Correct?
I've been using my Mopho + Tetra polychained for some time . Up until now I 've had Mopho presets on both of the machines. Yesterday I loaded the factory presets back to my Tetra and copied them over to Mopho and oddly enough ... they sound somehow better this way ??? Is there some real difference to these patches or am I just going crazy ?
+Petri Savolainen did u find out eventually?
If I use my Prophet '08 and add a Tetra via Poly Chain, are the suboscillators disabled? When I set a stored program on my Prophet '08, does the Poly Chain transmit a full set of parameters to the Tetra including setting turning off the Tetra's sub-oscillators to make sure that each voice is creating the same sound, or do I have to do a data dump from the P08 to the Tetra before? What happens with the poly chain of a single Tetra paired with a Prophet '08 when you are using a keyboard split?
Neat. Still wondering about whether I could use the Mopho I already have and the Evolver all together. I know the sounds are going to be different, but would a polychain work in that case if I had a Mopho and an Evolver attached, or is that going to hit some weird issue other than having to make sure the banks go together? Would the banks/sequences line up?
Great Vid! A couple of (pardon my ignorance) questions. can the Mopho keys output polyphonic midi to non-DSI modules? Is it possible to control other modules and run the internal sequencer of the Mopho simultaneously? Also, is there a way to program custom arps? I know that's a lot of questions,,, I'll be happy with any info. Thanks! Machine sounds great btw
Hi Misha- Please contact our dedicated support channel: support (at) dave smithinstruments dot com. Thanks!
Sure. The audio input is not part of poly chain, so in that case you would have a 5 voice poly synth and one voice (the Mopho Desktop) would have access to an audio input.
Thanks. So, I'm running 2 stereo pairs to my audio interface and I noticed when I just play the mopho (solo it by itself, w/o the tetra), there's sometimes a latency when I hit a key on the Mopho. Is that normal when polychaining? How's the "1" voice of the Mopho being processed when I run these 2 together via polychained?
right, but won't that effect how the prophet responds to incoming midi data while I'm tweaking either of the tetras? I'll be sending midi data from my master keyboard (a novation remote) and computer sequencer (Ableton Live) to all three on different channels. That's why I was thinking I'd need control over the prophet's send and recv midi channels independently,so I can continue to receive from the master kbd or computer on its channel, while tweaking the tetras on theirs.
nice...
Each synth runs to separate channels. You need 2 stereo pairs or 4 mono channels on your mixer.
I'm wondering Dave, are you running this all through digital MIDI or are your recording it with a microphone? It sounds great.
If I have 2 tetras and a prophet 08, would I be able to program them independently from the prophet's panel? I'd like to keep them independent (10 poly-timbral parts (4tetra+4tetra+2prophet), 16 total voices (8 tetra, 8 prophet)) , but be able to quickly tweak any voice/program from the prophet's pots.
@MrBoxxed
They don't. Poly chain is for extending polyphony, or the maximum number of simultaneous voices (keys) that can be pressed and its designed for playing chords. Combo mode is exclusive to the Tetra.
@DaveSmithInstruments Is it possible to edit each patch in a Tetra combo independantly with a poly-chained Mopho keyboard if I have the audio out set to quad mode?
I think I will buy the tetra! I have the Evolver, but I really want to have more voices!
Hey, how do you run the audio outputs to the mixer when combining a Tetra and Mopho keyboard? Do they need to be combined as a single stereo pair on the mixer or do they each run as stereo pairs on separate channels?
i'd like to see an example of the mopho x4 chained with 4 tetras as was mentioned in a recent video.
@iamKiluka
That would be the case if the Prophet had sub-oscillators. It does not, though, so if a MoPho is poly chained to a Prophet you would not use the sub-oscillators on the MoPho if you wanted the voice to match.
Can you explain more this : ?
" Although technically not setup to control Multi mode, there's a work-around where it is possible use the MoPho Keyboard to program each voice individually on the Tetra though. "
Thanks
matthias jouny If Tetra is in Multi mode it responds to 4 independent MIDI channels. You can set the Mopho Keyboard to the first MIDI channel, make edits to the Tetra's first voice using the Mopho Keyboard as a programmer. Then change the MIDI channel of the Mopho Keyboard to the second Tetra MIDI channel, program the second voice, change the Mopho Keyboard to the 3rd MIDI channel, and so on.
I have this keyboard and it is sweet. Is it possible to add more voices with modules other than dsi?
@DaveSmithInstruments what about an evolver? can i add polyphony with one of those, or does it have to be tetra or a prophet 08?
@schmember
We aren't going to make one. We tried, but it just wasn't going to be worth the build cost for our customers so we made the MoPho Keyboard instead which controls every parameter on the Tetra.
So, to connect the poly-chained mopho keys/Tetra to audio interface do you just run a stereo pair out from the mixer to a stereo pair on the interface?
Nice window of opportunity to get a Mopho KB (going used for under $500 US as of this post) and a new Tetra (now at $519 "or best offer") to have a 5 voice polysynth with keys and knobs.
I'm thinking about selling my Mopho module to get the Mopho keyboard and purchase a tetra as well. If I connect them both, how easy would it be to switch from the tetra back to the Mopho, or is it only one or the other? I would love to be able to switch back and forth without any trouble. Can anyone give me an answer?
hmmnn, I seem to only be able to set a single channel on the prophet 08 for send and receive. I assumed I'd want the prophet's local control off and then to assign a distinct channel to the prophet and each of the tetras. Then I'd switch which one I was editing by changing the send channel of the prophet. If send and receive channel are hard wired together, how do I edit one of the tetras without editing the prophet ?
Hey Dave,
When Poly-Chaining a the Mopho Keyboard to a Tetra, I assume that the Portamento is (now) Polyphonic?
Is there a dedicated UNISON switch (like on the P5) on the Mopho's front panel instantly switch from unison to poly mode?
@DaveSmithInstruments
what about an evolver? would i be able to add voices with that??
Not from the Mopho itself, the sub-oscillators are set on a per-patch basis. The easiest way to turn them "off" for poly chain is to dump your programs from the Prophet to the Mopho, that way no sub-osc info is present in the program to begin with, and the sub-osc's will already be "off" when the Mopho receives the Prophet program.
Also, I'm running 2 stereo pairs to my mixer and monitoring the mix via headphone jack on the mixer.
Sure, just as you say use different MIDI channels. The sequencer is controllable via the Prophet. The few parameters the Tetra has that the Prophet doesn't need to be adjusted on the Tetra itself, i.e. feedback andn sub-osc.