STEINBERG/NATIVE INSTRUMENTS Pro-52

May 1, 2001 12:00 PM, By Randy Alberts

A notable upgrade to Steinberg/Native Instruments' previously released Pro-Five plug-in, Pro-52 makes a great case for going virtual the second time around. Among the improvements offered by the new Pro-52's toolbox are an easy-to-use, great-sounding effects section; a standalone mode; and the ability to process external audio signals. Now you can also name and number an extensive list of 512 patches per library, and anyone with a MIDI-fied Prophet-5 can send sound patches stored in its memory (system-exclusive data) right into the standalone version of Pro-52 for the ultimate in old-school authenticity.

Pro-52 provides a very impressive and accurate re-creation of the Prophet-5's warm strings, deep basses, piercing leads, and snappy bell tones. It includes enough sounds to play and tweak for years, and anyone with even a modicum of sonic adventurousness may want to consult a marriage or relationship counselor before getting too deep into its powerful yet easy-to-understand front panel. You can turn off the authentic pitch-mod wheel and keyboard display to save CPU resources. The developers even duplicated the Prophet-5's original A 440 tuning waveform. And though hardly organic, Pro-52's simulated wood casing doesn't look so bad onscreen.

Pro-52 is available for the Mac (requires at least a PowerPC 120, 32 MB of RAM, and Sound Manager) and PC (Pentium 133, 32 MB of RAM, and a sound card) running VST 2.0-compatible programs. As always, the more processing power the merrier when it comes to polyphony and running other effects plug-ins. With no other plug-ins opened, my G3 could play 22 voices in unison (mono) mode with Pro-52. That's 44 oscillators under one finger — talk about sick bass and lead lines! It's even better to keep the Voices window set to six notes per patch and run up to eight separate Pro-52s on separate MIDI channels to create Prophet-heavy soundscapes and melodies. Try layering a few detuned sounds on the same channel to really fatten up a rhythmic arpeggiator line. The aforementioned sys-ex capability is a mindblower for any longtime Prophet owner. You'll never look at music-making quite the same way once you've used Pro-52's front panel to process a vocal track or guitar part in Cubase VST/32's standalone mode, using Pro-52 as a VST insert effect patched into the channel mixer.

The well-written manual comes in English, German, and French and includes some “try this at home” tutorials that really show off what Pro-52 can do. Its glossary makes learning more about do-it-yourself synthesis a snap. Using the included MIDI Continuous Controller chart to tweak and twist Pro-52 from a real synth's controls is time well spent — you can avoid the hassles of tweaking the rather small onscreen equivalents. Simply dialing through the extensive library of included patches and adjusting a filter or envelope here or there provides hours of sonic satisfaction.

Randy Alberts is a musician, writer, and audio engineer exploring music and recording technology in his studio in Pacifica, California.

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