Pitch/mod wheels

[Sean Costello]

Geren W. Mortensen, Jr. wrote:

> I had an old Prophet 600 that the pitch and mod wheels were manually
> centered (there was a detent so you knew where center was).  That "feature"
> sometimes caused more than a little embarassment on stage!  <grin>

Most synths I have played (Korg Polysix, Prophet 5, most Moogs) have
pitch and mod wheels like this. For pitch, it is a nice feature if you
wish to transpose your keyboard up - great for people like me that are,
um, guitarists. For modulation, it is especially nice, especially if you
want vibrato to be present in longer passages. In fact, having the mod
wheel set at a certain point is the ONLY way to have modulation on a
Prophet 5, although I certainly wouldn't claim that this is a useful
feature. The Roland joystick just doesn't seem to be as powerful as a
performance tool, although it lends itself to a faster technique.

Sean Costello