Prophet 5 Emulation

Prophet 5 Emulation

As you read through the AL-1 section of the Parameter Guide you’ll see references to “a famous five voice American synthesizer” which can only mean the Sequential Circuit Prophet 5. So how well does the AL-1 do? Actually pretty darn good. Documented below are the few areas where there are differences. I was able to re-create many of the original Prophet 5 programs. A few presented a challenge and I have to admit, by the time I got to the last bank I wanted to move on to another project, so they got left out.

Updated for the Nautilus

Oscillators
As you can see below, the waveforms of the oscillators are flipped around but the sync is flipped around as well, so if you’re copying an original P5 program keep this in mind.

 

OSC 1:
OSC 2:

PROPHET-5

Saw/Rectangle
Saw/Triangle/Rectangle

AL-1

Saw/Triangle/Rectangle
Saw/Rectangle

There are other differences, like the fact that on the P5 you can have Saw/Tri/Rect all on at the same time. That’s not possible with the AL-1. And the combination Saw/Tri is not available either. Still, the AL-1 allows you to blend two waveforms whereas these are mixed at 50/50 on the P5. There are also double and detuned saw waveforms on the AL-1 which don’t exist on the P5.

When trying to re-create the Prophet 5 programs from Arturia’s Prophet V, I found that the Edge parameter should be 0 or slightly negative.

Poly-Mod
While you can apply the filter envelope (or any EG) to Osc. 1/2 pitch, pulse width, and filter, you cannot modulate the filter or pulse width with either of the oscillators. It is possible to have osc. 1 modulate osc.2 (remember we’re flipped in comparison to the P5). Here’s a related quote from the manual: 

“This feature is similar to a classic five‐voice analog synthesizer’s “Osc B to Freq A” function, except that the depth can be up to eight times greater–16 octaves instead of 2.”

Filter
The AL-1 filter does not self-oscillate.

Envelope/LFO Values
Again, when trying to re-create the Arturia P5 programs I found the translation charts for EG (page 210 in the Parameter Guide) and LFO (page 216 in the Parameter Guide) to be very helpful. If you mouse over any control on the soft synth it will display the value in ms/Hz.

Program Listing

P5 11 Brass           
P5 12 LowStrings      
P5 13 MutedClav       
P5 14 Perc E Piano    
P5 15 Flutes          
P5 16 Harpsichord     
P5 17 Sync1           
P5 18 PercussiveOrgan 
P5 21 UniGlide        
P5 22 Harmonium       
P5 23 OrganWithRes    
P5 24 ToyPiano        
P5 25 TrumpetFlute    
P5 27 ReedOrgan       
P5 28 BrassInFifths   
P5 31 PipeOrganFlutes 
P5 32 SyncII          
P5 33 Electric Piano  
P5 34 HighStrings     
P5 35 OctaveSawteeth  
P5 36 ReleaseRepeat   
P5 37 DelayedHarmonic 
P5 41 PulseWidthMod   
P5 42 SlowSyncSweep   
P5 43 4thsWithRes     
P5 44 SweepingHarmonic
P5 45 SlowSync        
P5 47 SawtoothArp     
P5 48 ClangerousBells 

: Program 000
: Program 001
: Program 002
: Program 003
: Program 004
: Program 005
: Program 006
: Program 007
: Program 008
: Program 009
: Program 010
: Program 011
: Program 012
: Program 013
: Program 014
: Program 015
: Program 016
: Program 017
: Program 018
: Program 019
: Program 020
: Program 021
: Program 022
: Program 023
: Program 024
: Program 025
: Program 026
: Program 027
: Program 028