Glide – Dave Smith Instruments PROPHET 12 DESKTOP User Manual
Page 48
36 Glide
Dave Smith Instruments
Glide
Glide or portamento is a feature that has been present on synthesizers since at
least the early ‘70s. (Earlier modular synthesizers could achieve the same effect
through the use of a lag processor.) In monophonic synthesizers (or the Prophet
12 when u
niSon
is on), it simply causes the pitch of a note to glide up or down
from the pitch of the previously played note. When played polyphonically, the
Prophet 12 behaves in a similar fashion, except the pitch glides up or down from
the previous note played on that voice. For example, say C3 is played on voice
1 with g
lide
on. More notes are played and cycle through voices 2 through 12.
The next time voice 1 sounds, it’s playing F#4. The pitch will glide up from C3
to F#4.
Glide is turned on and off using the g
lide
switch, but the g
lide
a
mount
must
also be set in the Oscillators section. If g
lide
is on, but g
lide
a
mount
is set to
0 for all oscillators, g
lide
has no apparent effect. Glide Amount can be set to a
different value for each of the oscillators.
Tip:
To set g
lide
a
mount
for all oscillators simultaneously, press and briefly
hold any of the oscillator select buttons until all of them are lit. Repeatedly
press P
rev
and n
ext
P
aram
(Soft keys 2 & 3) until g
lide
is displayed. Press
and hold, H
old
: e
dit
a
ll
(Soft key 1) while adjusting one of the soft knobs.
Press any oscillator button to exit.
In addition to g
lide
a
mount
, there are four Glide modes—FixRate, FixRate A,
FixTime, and FixTime A—that determine how g
lide
behaves. Turn g
lide
on to
display and change the modes.
FixRate:
The time to transition between notes varies with the interval between
the notes; the greater the interval, the longer the transition time. The glide rate is
fixed.
FixRate A:
The same as FixRate, but glide is only applied when playing legato.
That is, glide only occurs when a note is held until the next note is played. This
effectively allows glide to be turned on and off from the keyboard.
FixTime:
Glide is set to a fixed time, regardless of the interval between notes.
FixTime A:
The same as FixTime, but glide only occurs when playing legato.