Dave Smith Instruments Prophet '08: Forte Piano

Published on Aug 21, 2016 Sacred Synthesis

"I wrote this little piece specifically to demonstrate the forte piano patch.

Only one comment on the sound. There is obviously a fair amount of reverb added to the forte piano patch, but there is also a delay effect. However, the delay is not an offboard effect, but from the Prophet '08's filter envelope. This creates an echoed plucking quality that is very acoustic sounding. It's absolutely key to this patch.

I really like this sound. It has beautiful nuances to it, depending on the keyboard register and the filter cut off frequency setting, which is adjusted by the modulation wheel. I expect to be using it quite a bit in the future. And it may be a rarely appreciated fact, but early forte pianos had only a five-octave keyboard, just like the Prophet '08. So there's plenty of music to be made on this instrument, and no room for excuses that the keyboard is too short.

The wind is produced by the second P'08 Keyboard. The whooshing was created by two LFOs modulating the filter at different rates - one with resonance and the other without it - and the volume of the wind was adjusted while I played by a foot pedal. It creeps back in here and there in the middle of the piece.

Instrumentation:
Prophet '08 Keyboard (2)
Prophet '08 Module

Effects:
Reverb from Lexicon MX300

Recorded live and directly to CD.

ALL MUSIC PROPERTY OF SACRED SYNTHESIS"