New synth: DSI Sequential X

[cphollis]

Are you going to use that for live with the band Chuck? Or is it a nice toy for in the home studio?

 

Ahhh, I've been busted. Mostly as a fun toy to explore what a thoroughly modern synth can do with samples. If that goes well, yeah, I may end up dragging it on stage just to surprise people. Some of the posted demos are simply amazing to listen to.

[Lady Gaia]

Im glad my initial preview got someones attention here. The thread went quiet immediately, so I never did follow up with the full review Ive posted elsewhere! Ive included it below for those who are curious. Now I just need to find time to do more than explore raw capabilities!

 

Overview: Its About Time

 

Im an unabashed fan of digital synthesis. Of course that doesnt stop me from appreciating classic subtractive analog synthesis, and in particular I adore what a well-designed filter can do for a sound. Still, Ive been biding my time patiently for the last few decades, waiting for the purist fixation with the analog revival to move on to the stage where we see what modern digital and analog can do together.

 

Evidently the time is now.

 

Its great to see instruments like the Korg Prologue, Waldorf Quantum, and DSIs Sequential Prophet X taking a shot at creating a modern classic. I had spent quite a bit of time researching the first two, but when DSI made their announcement I placed a pre-order within hours. Roughly six weeks later, serial number 40 arrived, and Ive been enjoying exploring it ever since.

 

Theres no denying that its an expensive piece of kit, but the exquisite construction and feature set match the price. The highlights are clear enough:

• Voices consist of two DSP-sourced oscillators paired with two sampled instruments.
  
• 150GB of factory samples from 8Dio installed on the internal SSD, with room for another 50GB of third-party or (eventually) user-provided samples.
  
• Sixteen 24dB/octave analog low pass filters.
  
• Five-octave Fatar keybed with channel aftertouch.
  
• Modulation includes 4 LFOs, 4 envelopes, 28 sources in total routable to 88 destinations through 11 dedicated and 16 fully assignable slots.
  
• True stereo voicing by default, producing eight voices sourced from stereo samples and oscillators individually placed in the stereo image.
  
• Selectable 16-voice mode which reduces oscillators and samples to mono whether or not theyre routed through the filter. Each resulting voice can still be panned freely.
  

 

The true stereo signal path from beginning to end is a revelation. Theres so much subtle stereo imaging in many of the samples that they bring a lot of life individually. Still, the eight stereo voice limit can feel limiting, especially when stacking two layers or splitting the keyboard where each layer is reduced to 4-voice polyphony. The 16-voice mode is therefore a nice option to have a dedicated button for, lit when active. Better yet, the current state is saved when storing a preset.

 

Above All: Usability

 

One of the primary reasons I was looking for a new instrument was immediacy of interface. Having a dedicated array of controls and little or no menu diving was a huge draw, and the Prophet X does not disappoint in this regard.

 

The interface will be largely familiar to anyone who has used a DSI keyboard recently. Fifty six knobs and fifty buttons (many of which light to indicate status) provide direct access to a wide range of parameters. Its quick and easy to make changes, and while doing so one of the three OLED screen reflects whats going on immediately.

 

Effects and sample selection have their own dedicated screens next to the relevant controls, but everything else uses the larger central display. When a change is made (or a parameter is shown by holding or pressing the show button before touching a control) the display will show the affected parameter and additional related values that can be further manipulated with four soft knobs and four soft buttons. This is a great way to get to extra depth without menu diving: envelope looping or delay stages, configuring oscillators to run freely or reset on keypress, sample rate decimation and bit crushing are all available in this manner.

 

Its a joy to use, well thought out from start to finish, but it isnt as deep or as flexible as a classic workstation. More on that later.

 

8Dio Samples

 

Part of the early buzz regarding the Prophet X is attached to the origin of the factory samples. These are culled from 8Dios extensive collection and cover a lot of sonic territory. Theyre arranged in seventeen categories, each offering multiple keymaps:12 in Ambiance, 52 in Bass, 95 in Brass, 94 in Choir, 56 in Cinematic, 14 in Drums, 18 in Effects, 34 in Ethnic, 41 in Guitar, 66 in Keyboard, 33 in Percussion, another 74 specifically for Tonal Percussion, 39 in Piano, 97 in Strings, 37 in Synth, 35 in Solo Vox, and 61 in Winds. Whew. 841 keymaps in total with each mapping multiple samples across the keyboard, frequently with multiple samples per key selected by velocity range or rotated through in round-robin fashion on subsequent triggering to provide some natural variety. More than 200,000 individual samples at 48kHz, largely in stereo.

 

There is a staggering array of sound available as a result, but also a lot of overlap. 8Dio is known for their deep sampling approach and its on display here. Many takes were recorded from multiple microphone positions and so there are frequently two or more keymaps of the same sound taken from near and far microphones and, in the case of the piano, also from the players position. There are also multiple playing styles represented including short notes on many instruments and ensemble swells of orchestral staples. So theres good variety but perhaps not as much as you might think at first. The far samples tend to have a lot of ambiance baked in, and I would have traded all of them for something else entirely.

 

Some of the keymaps offer an array of different textures on different keys. For example, one has a Prophet VS waveform per key. Several others have an array of ambient textures. Still more have special effects or acoustic instrument miscellany like a trumpet fall or flute trill. These maps arent generally intended to be used as-is but in conjunction with Sample Stretch. Just hold down the key that triggers a sample you like, press the Sample Stretch button, and its now pitched across the entire keyboard.

 

Most of the samples are stellar with some disappointing exceptions. The pianos in particular were not to my taste. They tend toward dark, moody, muted recordings, especially at lower velocities. While theyre not going to cut through a mix they do blend in well with other sounds and honestly, thats really the whole point. All the sample material serves well when you combine it with synthetic sounds and apply modulation subtly or aggressively. Samples make fascinating sources for amplitude or frequency modulation of oscillators - and vice versa.

 

Sample looping can also be modulated, but while Ive heard some presets that do this to good effect I havent had much success. There are clever looping modes that ensure pitched samples stay in tune, or to take rhythmic content and set the loop length based on MIDI clock tempo. These work great, with adjustable cross fading at the loop point doing its job. Where things get unacceptably click-y is when Ive tried to modulate a short loop to create something akin to wavetable movement or granular synthesis. Perhaps there are other tricks to learn, or maybe I just need to feed it sample material intended specially for the purpose. Right now, though, all Ive got to work with are factory samples.

 

Thats because user sample support is due to arrive in December 2018. DSI has stated that the Prophet X firmware can already load new samples, but that it will take time to finish the Mac and PC software used to prepare keymaps from collections of raw samples. In the meantime, 8Dio is in the unique position of being able to offer aftermarket samples. They had originally planned to do so at launch but have pushed the two announced packs back to August. One nice touch is that in addition to four banks of factory presets (512 in total), and an equivalent number of user slots, there are another four add-on banks reserved for programs that showcase newly added sample content.

 

One incredibly pleasant surprise is just how fast everything loads. Each keymap can have a maximum of 1.5GB of associated samples, so a program with two layers can require as much as 6GB to be loaded into RAM from the internal SSD. In practice they load quickly enough that Ive never felt like I was waiting. Likewise, switching among keymaps while editing a program feels essentially instantaneous. Impressive, though Im sure in part its due to the fact that most keymaps are actually much smaller than the maximum.

 

Oscillators

 

The are two DSP derived oscillators per voice, and theyre doubtless a derivative of past DSI synthesizers that forgo analog oscillators like the Pro 2 and Prophet 12. Theyre limited to square, saw, sine, and supersaw shapes. Reviewing their output in an oscilloscope reveals a subtle second harmonic that doubtless counters what might otherwise be an aggressively digital sound. This additional harmonic on the sine and saw can be emphasized with a shaping parameter that can be modulated in real time. With the supersaw the second harmonic starts out prominent and the shaping appears to adjust how detuned it is. On the square wave the shaping parameter adjusts pulse width, and can erase the pulse completely at extremes.

 

Theres a selectable amount of slop as a dedicated control to allow the tuning of the oscillators to drift, along with a hard sync button. Additional parameters without dedicated controls switch between free-running and resetting when a voice is triggered, along with a selectable phase when oscillators are reset.

 

No white noise or sub-oscillators are present, but the sampled instruments are more than capable of filling this gap with a wide range of noise types, waves from the classic Prophet VS, even sampled ensembles of analog synthesizers playing conventional oscillator shapes.

 

Those Sweet Filters

 

The filters bring a wonderfully smooth, warm character to the Prophet X sound that is a clear defining characteristic. The lack of a 12dB/octave option is offset by the care that has been lavished on this single slope design. Resonance can be used to restore a little edge and can be driven to self-oscillation. Theres also a selectable (and modulatable) drive parameter that can add some overdrive grit. I found something to like about every aspect of the filter.

 

These are modern recreations of the classic SSM2044 immortalized in synthesizers ranging from the PPG Wave 2.3 to the Korg Monopoly, Polysix and Trident. The new SSI2144 has lower noise and other key improvement while retaining the sonic character of the original, in part because Dave Rossum is back to improve on his original design.

 

Theres a dedicated filter envelope and many more modulation options are available. The cutoff of the left and right channels can be modulated independently, for example, and applying modulation to drive or resonance opens up a lot of possibilities. Audio rate filter modulation leads to some extreme options Ive only begun to explore.

 

On a per-instrument basis sample keymaps can also bypass the filter entirely if desired.

 

Effects

 

The effects section is fairly basic, but perfectly capable of adding either character or ambiance. Each layer has two effects in series, selectable from a list that includes delays (BBD and clean stereo), Leslie simulation, reverbs (spring, room, hall, and super plate), chorus / phaser / flanger, as well as distortion and a high pass filter. Wet/dry mix and three other parameters are immediately available from the front panel and can be modulated.

 

The super plate reverb is an impressive standout, capable of long smooth tails, continuously adjustable dark or bright character. Paired with a percussive sound its easy to get lost here but its also something youre likely to turn off for recording. Defeating the effects is trivial, with two dedicated buttons that illuminate to show when each effect is active.

 

Not a Workstation

 

Yes, samples are a significant part of the instrument but no, this isnt your next workstation. For starters, its only bi-timbral. Each preset consists of two independent layers that can be played one at a time, split at a selectable key, or layered. When split or layered, half the instruments polyphony is allocated to a layer. That means a monophonic bass in a split configuration still limits the right hand part to four notes.

 

There is a global setting to enable Multi Mode where two layers are fully addressable on two distinct MIDI channels. This even allows program changes to load unrelated A and B layers rather than the usual pairing, but its a far cry from a sixteen channel multitimbral setup with dynamic voice allocation youd find in a classic workstation.

 

DSIs dedication to making an easy to approach instrument also limits the depth of editing available. Keymaps are pre-baked arrangements with key assignment and velocity mapping baked in. Theres no provision for reassigning samples to different keys, which would be handy for drums kits, nor can you mix-and-match samples from different keymaps to create velocity switching from a smooth bass to slapping techniques. Either its designed in, or it isnt.

 

The same kind of simplicity applies to all of the synthesis options at your disposal. Want to subtly reinforce your bass drum with a sine wave oscillator? Great! Hope you like it on your cymbals, too, because it applies to the entire layer. Likewise for filtering, which would have been wonderful to tweak per-drum. You can adjust keytracking, but thats the extent of your control.

 

So no, its not a workstation. Its a wonderfully immediate performance synthesizer, and if you approach it on those terms it isnt likely to disappoint.

 

Strengths and Weaknesses

 

Ive been pleasantly surprised by the array of fresh-feeling modern sounds packed into the Prophet X. Its easy to get around, seems to strike a healthy middle ground between purely experimental and usable when it comes to presets, and theres a lot of promise in expanded potential as new sound banks and user samples make their appearance. In short, its the blend of classic subtractive and sample-based synthesis Ive been waiting for.

 

Polyphony and programming depth can feel like constraints easily enough, but they can also be helpful by focusing on creative use of the tools that are present. The 512 factory presets explore a lot of territory without getting redundant. They also lean toward exuberant sonic territory with lots of modulation options. There are a few bread and butter sounds, but theyre in the distinct minority, overshadowed by showier fare.

 

If you have a chance to try the instrument out or purchase one, dont forget that every preset comes with a pre-programmed sequence using DSIs basic step sequencer. These can be a good way to hear what the sound designer had in mind. Presets that dont come up in stacked or split mode also have a layer B thats worth trying out. Most of them are interesting variations on the base sound.

 

Shout-Out re: Responsive Support

 

I had concerns initially about quirks with one of the display showing visual corruption, and also the response of rotary encoders used as soft knob above the central display which would frequently skip values.

 

Both were addressed with software updates in just a few days after I reported them to DSI support. I am beyond impressed and satisfied that Ill be treated equally well should any other problems arise with my purchase.

 

TL;DR

 

I like it a lot. Highly recommend for anyone who sees intriguing potential in hybrid digital / analog synthesis, but dont expect it to replace the rest of your gear.

[Lady Gaia]

Oh, and for anyone curious what just hacking around on the Prophet X in my first week or two sounded like, I posted a variety of demos on SoundCloud. Nothing polished, but it may be interesting regardless. I put some descriptive information with each so you get some idea of what I was illustrating.

[Theo Verelst]

 

To me, it's clear this instrument lacks the advanced tuning and preparation to be an interesting machine besides the obvious (limited) sample player + decent analog processing. This does NOT mean:

 

1) that the analog signal path necessarily is a HiFi signal path. many analog synths are far from free from harmonic distortion and sound interesting because of it. This one sounds neutral in 2 out of 3 main distortion types to my ears

 

2) at the analog audi output, there's the analogue filtered signal, which is a signal with a lot less "digital" mess, and to an extend "smooth". unfortunately, a 4 pole analog filter is *not* a sample reconstruction filter. Also, it doesn't prepare a signal for digital recording, unfortunately

 

3) acoustic preparation (for instance creating "tone") doesn't follow from the general design criteria. Clearly there is none when the synth patches aren't a) made by pros and b) the machine architecture allows it not. Only the latter I cannot exactly know.

 

T

 

[Markyboard]

Probably the best written and most well rounded review I've ever read on this forum. Thanks so much LG!

[linwood]

Marky....you need this for your collection.

 

http://retrofret.com/product.asp?ProductID=6535

[Radagast]

It's going to be interesting to compare this to the FGPA powered Waldorf Kyra when it comes out in 2019.

[Lady Gaia]

It's going to be interesting to compare this to the FGPA powered Waldorf Kyra when it comes out in 2019.

 

Theyre both interesting, but not very similar. The Kyra is entirely focused on single-cycle waves, not longer samples, and doesnt make use of analog filters.

 

Its still something Ill be keeping an eye on when more detail emerges next year at or leading up to NAMM. If the modeled filters sound decent and we get confirmation that wave table playback includes the ability to scan a table rather than use a fixed single-cycle waveform then it could be quite appealing. I also really like the architecture the creator described, with an upgradable personality module consisting of the front panel and sound engine plugging into a reusable chassis that provides power and all I/O.

[Markyboard]

Marky....you need this for your collection.

 

http://retrofret.com/product.asp?ProductID=6535

 

Damn...if only shipping were included

 

[linwood]

Bet the rhodes is killin'!

[Theo Verelst]

The lack of insight in musically interesting progress displayed in this thread is ugly and mind numbing.

 

TV

[Doerfler]

The lack of insight in musically interesting progress displayed in this thread is ugly and mind numbing.

 

TV

 

Most excellent post.

[Radagast]

The lack of insight in musically interesting progress displayed in this thread is ugly and mind numbing.

 

TV

 

Thank you, Yoda.

[Radagast]

It's going to be interesting to compare this to the FGPA powered Waldorf Kyra when it comes out in 2019.

 

Theyre both interesting, but not very similar. The Kyra is entirely focused on single-cycle waves, not longer samples, and doesnt make use of analog filters.

 

Its still something Ill be keeping an eye on when more detail emerges next year at or leading up to NAMM. If the modeled filters sound decent and we get confirmation that wave table playback includes the ability to scan a table rather than use a fixed single-cycle waveform then it could be quite appealing. I also really like the architecture the creator described, with an upgradable personality module consisting of the front panel and sound engine plugging into a reusable chassis that provides power and all I/O.

 

I'm thinking ahead with other possibilities for the FPGA to be updatable. There are a lot of oscillators in both boards.

[David Emm]

The lack of insight in musically interesting progress displayed in this thread is ugly and mind numbing.

TV

 

Oh no its not! I revel in esoteric populist clatter. That's part of the charm of synthesizers.

 

I also take puffed-up, GAS-y umbrage at your insinuation that the Prophet X doesn't represent musically interesting progress. Sometimes the greatest innovation resides with improved accessibility that streamlines both abstract and mechanical processes. Dave Smith has his finger on a Bob-Moog-like design pulse, with insightful variations to be had across his line. It makes sense that if he was going to design a neo-ROMpler, its sample side would come from a top-drawer sample house like 8Dio. He knew the synth called for a major palette of colors.

 

If you are buying a Prophet X for its pianos, you may have a personality disorder, yeesh. If you take it up to enhance (for ex.) your modest Eurorack, a DP and a pair of VAs, then IMO, you have the right kind of perspective. The only mind-numbing element is someone who buys a $4k powerhouse without a serious musical drive to get their money's worth. Oh well. Today's $4k trust-fund baby's purchase is next year's $2400 steal on reverb.com.

 

[Theo Verelst]

And sometimes is just the hype of groups of standard types of people trying to become hip in some corrupted way.

[Radagast]

And sometimes is just the hype of groups of standard types of people trying to become hip in some corrupted way.

 

Have you ever thought of writing a book? You could put all of your advanced wisdom in it to help the rest of rise to your level.

[Theo Verelst]

And why would I want to do that ? Are they going to be nice, open minded, easy going people then, who give credit to whom credit is due, or will they just continue to be wrongly abrasive and impossible ego trippers without any concern for musical quality or the sensitivities of normal human life ? I don't see the motivation here.

 

Back to the subject: I don't mind people thinking "OOHHH it's a Prophet with SAMPLES!!!", and stuff like that. It's like the discovery that everything from now on will be *different* because of, well, I don't know what, really, what motivates all those praise tirades. What does motivate them? Can't be the deepening of technical knowledge, an average 15 year old with musical interest won't find it hard to understand the main ines hopelessly iterated on here all the times. So what is it that motivates people to look for a certain glory so persistently and keep at the idea of "understanding" all this technology so vehemently ?

 

T

[Lady Gaia]

I'm thinking ahead with other possibilities for the FPGA to be updatable.

 

Likewise, Im looking forward to seeing what comes of the instrument but Im not expecting major revolution from the FPGA design. Its a great marketing bullet, but the front panel is still full of labeled knobs and buttons that impose some limits on how much they can do before it no longer feels intuitive or usable.

 

I suspect its also not the first instrument to make extensive use of FPGA as part of the design, but most of the time its not something a company leans so heavily on given that its just an implementation detail. As I understand it, the Kurzweil Forte SE also makes use of FPGA as a step toward getting away from the up front design cost of ASICs.

[Synthoid]

The lack of insight in musically interesting progress displayed in this thread is ugly and mind numbing.

 

TV

 

Thank you, Yoda.

 

 

 

 

[David Emm]

 

Theo asketh: "So what is it that motivates people to look for a certain glory so persistently and keep at the idea of "understanding" all this technology so vehemently?"

 

1) Because engaging in Music is a worthy endeavor that stands on its own as a higher order of both abstract creative progress and mechanical problem solving;

 

2) because in a chaotic world, having even the simple control of your sound shaping process can subtly aid you in maintaining your footing in many other arenas;

 

3) because GAS is, ultimately, good;

 

4) and because the pursuit of music modulates my tendency to see a dismaying number people as prime candidates for taxidermy.

 

[cphollis]

Well, to be honest, the youtube demos and Lady Gaga's extensive evaluation has sold me. A must-have board. New possibilities, and all that.

 

I'll let you know what I think in a few months.

[ElmerJFudd]

Hands on with the Prophet X

 

[video:youtube]

 

At sweetwater

[video:youtube]

 

Unboxing

 

[video:youtube]

 

 

 

[GovernorSilver]

I like the creativity of weinglas' unboxing video, and I love how he uses an actual glass of wine too.

 

[video:youtube]

[jefsco]

[video:youtube]

[ElmerJFudd]

Big Phat Review

 

[video:youtube]

[cphollis]

One of the best demo vids I've seen so far. He goes deeper than most in a number of areas, e.g. the mod matrix. It keeps looking better and better.

[Lady Gaia]

The true stereo voices really are a revelation and there's a lot to be said for the incredibly immediate approach to sound design. The mod matrix is only going to get better according to DSI, who have confirmed that internally they have an OS in development that adds additional mod destinations: bit hack and sample rate decimation.

[Nathanael_I]

One of the best demo vids I've seen so far. He goes deeper than most in a number of areas, e.g. the mod matrix. It keeps looking better and better.

 

Nick does great reviews. Very thorough.

[ElmerJFudd]

8dio "deep sampled" Dave Smith's personal Prophet T8 for the Prophet X/XL. $48 add on.

 

https://8dio.com/instrument/sequential-prophet-xxl-add-on-5-t8/

 

[video:youtube]