Zach Tenorio-Miller is the keyboard player and co-founder of Providence, RI art-pop trio, Arc Iris. Zach has collaborated with a wide array of artists including Kimbra, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, AC Newman (New Pornographers), Gene Ween, and long time collaborator and mentor, Jon Anderson (Yes).
We chatted with him about how he’s using the Prophet Rev2.
What made you choose the Prophet Rev2?
“The Prophet has always been my number one choice when it comes to analog polyphony. James Blake was the first artist that drew me to its sound, and once I realized what he was using, I wasn’t too surprised to find out that many of my favorite contemporary artists were already on board. The Prophet ’08 was my first choice because of how affordable was, and to my luck the Rev2 had come out right when I was in the market for a Prophet.”
How are you using it?
“I’ve been using the Rev2 for a number of different things. Most prominently, I use it as a writing tool. When I find the sound I’m looking for, I’ll improvise until I land on that special nugget of a song. Then from there I’ll collaborate with my musical partner in Arc Iris, Jocie Adams, and we’ll write a song together. The whole process is incredibly organic. I was chatting with Dave Smith about this very process,and came to the conclusion that there are countless songs that exist in the world that were all sparked from a beautiful sound that Dave was behind.“
What’s one of your favorite things about it?
“Well obviously the power of its sound. Put the Rev2 through a serious sound system and it’s jaw dropping how earth shattering it is! On top of that it’s so easy to use. You don’t have to be a wizard in synthesis to tweak presets to your liking.“
What does the Rev2 give you that other instruments don’t?
“I use a Nord Stage in my rig with Arc Iris, and though there are many things I love about it, it just doesn’t handle the analog synth sound like I’d want it to. The Rev2 is the real deal.”
Any interesting tricks or techniques you’d like to share?
“This reminds me of the first time I met Dave Smith when I was 14-years old. I was a part of the original School of Rock, and we were playing at the Music Player Live conference in NYC alongside Les Paul, John Mayer and some other heavy hitters. I visited Dave’s modest booth and started doing what any naive 14-year old keyboard player would do: pick preset, rip for two seconds, pick preset, rip for two seconds, repeat. Dave smiled and told me, “Slow down there buddy.” He encouraged me to be patient and to spend some time tweaking knobs to get a feel of what the capabilities of a synthesizer could really do. So my trick really isn’t specific to the Rev2 or even synthesizers, but to sound in general. The greatest thing Dave taught me was to take your time and relax and know that the sound you’re looking for is out there.“
LINKS
MORE ABOUT THE Prophet REV2
For more information, check out the Prophet Rev2 product page here.
Find your local dealer for pricing here.
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