7 Essential Prologue Sound Design Tips

[@crime_wavcorp]

i've been collecting synths for ten years and i feel like an idiot for admitting it, but your tip about turning the sustain down changed my life.

[@teunpolderman1104]

Yeah same dude! I hadn’t really looked at it as making your sound (possibly) more static

[@hotfirecaster]

Thanks you very much!!! 6:08 You gave me here the help I needed! Merci beaucoup from Paris France.

[@Stakkeroid]

I think you have perfectly captured what this synth is about 👍

[@GGprods-o2x]

Ordered a prologue 16 today... Not sure why I ignored this synth for so long, gonna make this the only analogue synth in my set up moving forward. Will keep the gritty yamaha fm chips, a few handmade oddities, and a nice digital piano. But I think I'm finally done building the main stuff in the set up.

[@Sound_ology]

Awesome! Enjoy. It’s my only poly now, I have no desire for anything else. Be sure to get the Juno-60 chorus mentioned in the comments!

[@coolcolt2611]

Best video ive seen on sound design for this machine. Thank you

[@synthesist3003]

Great video!!! Thanks for taking the time for this tutorial. I love the prologue!!! I’ve had it for two years now and I’m still in love with it

[@ageshero]

Great video, hardly anyone dives in like this( and on a synth that there isn’t enough videos on)

[@willcooper8028]

Super helpful, thanks so much!

[@CatmanJimbo]

Really wish the init patch had velocity enabled by default! I may have to come up with my own init patch, then just a few hundred button presses to copy it over to all the empty ones lol. I'm coming up on a year with my Prologue 16 and can confirm every single one of these, great tips!

[@unusualnoise]

Killer video. Glad I found this. Your ear is 100.

[@erkydi]

great tips! i definitely agree and noticed quite some of those myself too!

[@mixn5919]

cool tips, thanks for sharing! tips 1 and 2 are things I had never considered doing before, will be experimenting with those more.

[@greg20152015]

Thanks for video and links!

[@AMFMtheband]

This vid is so good. Thank you!

[@Aegean-Star]

Do you have a video on how to select a patch and incorporate it into the SUB ON? thank you 🙏🏻

[@thelantern9075]

It’s interesting, people’s ear. I liked the first sound much more with less resonance. Great video. 👍

[@jameshulst993]

Wonderful channel thanks !

[@lordflatworm]

This is a great video. I’m at the point where I’m done messing with weird modulation and crazy patches. I just want to play piano except with huge, sonically rich synth sounds. I have a Prologue 16 on the way. The expression pedal is a really good tip. Thanks!

[@Sound_ology]

That's been pretty true to my path as well. I started playing synths before I got interested in piano, but they really gave me an appreciation for how nuanced and beautiful a piano really is.

[@sudbenzer6603]

nice one, thank you!

[@jimlutz1290]

Do you know of any Synth Shops that carry the great old models lile this KORG Prologue?

[@fatbobe1986]

EBay

[@fatbobe1986]

EBay- I picked an 8 voice for a steal

[@Aegean-Star]

Nice video🤗 How can I start from a basic sound on a Prologue? Many thanks

[@Sound_ology]

Thanks! Press EDIT MODE, then using the PROGRAM/VALUE knob, scroll to "FUNCTION". Press the first PROGRAM SORT/EDIT PAGE button, then using the PROGRAM/VALUE knob, scroll to make the screen say "Init Program Press WRITE." Then press the WRITE button. That will give you the most basic starting point.

[@Ciudadana_Cero]

Nice set of tips, thanks! Also, is it me, or you can't use the vibrato and the user's 80's chorus at the same time? thanks again, for your inspiring approach to sound design!

[@Sound_ology]

Yes, I think that is the case!

[@teunpolderman1104]

Really great video! I have mine for a little while now and there some great tips in this video. I was wondering though: what expression pedal are you using? I have tested (no joke) 5 different expression pedals on the Prologue and they pretty much all went from 0 to 100 withing the first movement of your feet. I don’t really understand why they did not add an ‘amount%’ just like there is for the Modwheel. Anyhow any tips would be greatly appteciated!

[@Sound_ology]

It’s probably the impedance of your pedal. You may be able to configure it within the pedal itself. I use an Ernie Ball VP Jr pedal, and I think they make two different ones, one that’s 25kOhms and one that’s 250kOhms. So 10x the resistance, which would mean it just goes from zero to tons of resistance super quickly. I think mine is the 25kOhm. Hope I don’t have this mixed up heh I can’t check it right now

[@teunpolderman1104]

Yes that could very well be the problem, thanks for the reply! The Ernie Ball VP Jr is a VOLUME pedal though right? And not expression? However you were controlling the filter with it and that requires expression. So only a little confused on that part. But thanks! ;)

[@Sound_ology]

@@teunpolderman1104 yes it is a volume pedal but as far as I know they’re the same thing. It’s just a knob with a sturdy covering so you can turn it with your foot

[@javiceres]

@@Sound_ology But volume pedals have a logarithmic taper potentiometer, expression pedals have lineal taper pot.

[@NealCaen]

Would you suggest I get a Prophet 08 as a first synth? Looking to get some usable simple textural sounds that i can use in easily in a mix as early candy or nice pads where the rest of the mix sits on.

[@Sound_ology]

I’m not a fan of any of the DSI filters of that era. Analog technology has come a long way since then, with more character at a lower cost being the new standard. For a first synth I’d recommend the simplest possible thing you can find, like a minilogue or prologue. Or a Take 5!! There are just so many wrong turns you can make with a p08, I really wouldn’t recommend it. You’ll want something that feels like you can’t go wrong no matter what you do, so a sketchy filter will be a buzzkill. The Take 5 is probably the best sounding option at that price point…if you can get past the look of it heh

[@Drumsdude123]

Thanks! What would you recommend - Prologue or Roland 106?

[@Sound_ology]

Prologue, easy. The keybed is much nicer than a vintage juno and the Junologue chorus for the prologue gets you as far into the juno 106 sound as you want. I used to own a Juno 6, and I've made a ton of indie rock that heavily relies on the juno sound, and the prologue is my choice. And of course the prologue has its own flavor too, which is all over modern indie records because of the minilogue series

[@jamesreed2888]

​@@Sound_ologywould you still recommend the prologue over the Juno X?

[@JimHast]

awesome

[@zyxyuv1650]

Many think this synth's architecture is basic because the 1 LFO kinda pushes it over the edge there. I wonder when Korg will release a Prologue XD? The combination of 1 LFO for a professional synth with functionality as deep as USER oscillators is a bit odd. We needed more basic modulation to coordinate some synthesis coherence between the MULTI and VCO side of things. I got this synth for the USER oscillators. I can create my own LFOs for the digital oscillators but they cannot communicate with the rest of the synth or any of the analog side. Other companies like Arturia made innovations to pack more into the synth interface like Cycling Envelopes that work as custom LFOs/envelopes. Korg could have done something, a second Cycling AR/LFO should have been the minimum for a pro synth like the Prologue. Even better would be a digital USER LFO that you can customize with code, and which can modulate various analog destinations in the synth. People try to say Prologue's limitations are due to "Japanese simplicity" or something but I'm not buying it, this one is an actual usability issue. Because with USER oscillators this is actually one of the most complex synths ever released, but it's a bit imbalanced.

[@KirklandWilliamsWorkout3000]

Cool

[@dodgingrain3695]

These are beginner tips, if someone has a prologue they probably are not a beginner.

[@mwmusic29]

Thanks for sharing - AWESOME tips!!