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Prophets and Prophecy


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Sorry about the title. I could not help it ;)

 

So, I regret selling my Prophet 6 synth over a year ago. I'm thinking about getting another one (too bad prices are higher now). However, I can't help but look at all the other analog and virtual analogue polysynths out there and want all of them.

 

If you could have only one modern (ie., available to purchase new, not the vintage ones) polysynth, what would you like?

 

I'm not really up-to-date on it, but it seems like Dave Smith/Sequential has nailed recreations of the vintage synths in the Prophet and Oberheim department. Is the vintage Roland sound (e.g., Juno 6, Jupiter 8, etc.) still only available from the vintage synths?

NS3C, Hammond XK5, Yamaha S7X, Sequential Prophet 6, Yamaha YC73, Roland Jupiter X

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As a former Prophet 6 (P6) owner too, I would suggest checking out the Novation Summit.

 

The Summit sounds different from the DSI/Sequential/Moog synths.

 

IMO, the Summit is more fun to program and play. It has that hard to make a "bad" sound vibe.

 

In fact, if I still owned the P6, I would have sold it and bought the Summit.

 

But, don't take my word for it. Take the Summit for a spin. :thu::cool:

PD

 

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return."--E. Ahbez "Nature Boy"

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At one point I had 5 of the Dave Smith polyphonic units and have since sold them all. Analog is nice but the Virus I had outdid them all. I've since also sold my Virus and the one poly VA in my collection to survive is the Roland System 8. I think the fact that I lived through and played full time on analog polyphonic keyboards in the 70's and 80's took away some of the idealism of analogs. Give me a really, really good VA that stays in tune and does not cost a fortune.

 

But that is me. If you want a Prophet 6 and regret selling yours, get one. I really think you play better on instruments you really enjoy. And I am not totally anti-analog. I still have a huge modular and just bought a Minibrute 2s a few weeks ago. Why? Because I wanted it.

This post edited for speling.

My Sweetwater Gear Exchange Page

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As a former Prophet 6 (P6) owner too, I would suggest checking out the Novation Summit.

 

The Summit sounds different from the DSI/Sequential/Moog synths.

 

IMO, the Summit is more fun to program and play. It has that hard to make a "bad" sound vibe.

 

In fact, if I still owned the P6, I would have sold it and bought the Summit.

 

But, don't take my word for it. Take the Summit for a spin. :thu::cool:

 

Thanks ProfD! I did not know about the Summit. I'm going to check it out. Thanks for the tip!

NS3C, Hammond XK5, Yamaha S7X, Sequential Prophet 6, Yamaha YC73, Roland Jupiter X

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Honestly, that's a pretty hard question. We're kind of at a peak of choices in my lifetime as a keyboardist. There are all kinds of interesting offerings from all manner of companies that in the lane of a dedicated synth. Analog, digital, hybrid, subtractive, wavetable, FM, etc. Budget obviously cuts down the list, but seriously, it's amazing right now. Just the Sequential line is enough to really make you think.
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Prophet 5 desktop is my choice. For me.

 

I have my rompler tones covered in my Korg M3, which still works for the most part but the touchscreen is no longer responsive. I also have my Roland MC-101 for Zencore tones.

 

I like Prophet 5 desktop because it doesn't take as much space as a keyboard, is surprisingly versatile (doesn't just do nostalgic sounds), and takes hardly any tweaking/patching effort to sound good. I know some peeps wish it had one more LFO or 5, more modulations sources and destinations, etc. - to me none of that matters as much as the sound.

 

What sealed the deal - for me - was going to Chuck Levins and finding the Prophet 5 (keyboard) sitting along side the Prophet 6, Prophet 12, Moog One, etc. I enjoyed trying and messing with all those boards. It was like "Well, hello there..." when I played the P5. I tried the others, then when I came back the the Prophet 5 to play it some, it was like it was to saying me "I knew you'd come back..."

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Prophet 5 desktop is my choice. For me.

 

It was like "Well, hello there..." when I played the P5. I tried the others, then when I came back the the Prophet 5 to play it some, it was like it was to saying me "I knew you'd come back..."

Brotha Gov, congrats in picking up that Prophet 5 desktop. :thu:

 

The Prophet 5 definitely has the fun to program and play vibe as well. It comes at a cost too. :D

 

As brotha Eric mentioned above, there are so many choices in synths nowadays.

 

One has to test drive the synths in order to have that Gov moment where it beckons thee to come hither and take me home. :laugh::cool:

PD

 

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return."--E. Ahbez "Nature Boy"

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Prophet 5 desktop is my choice. For me.

 

It was like "Well, hello there..." when I played the P5. I tried the others, then when I came back the the Prophet 5 to play it some, it was like it was to saying me "I knew you'd come back..."

Brotha Gov, congrats in picking up that Prophet 5 desktop. :thu:

 

The Prophet 5 definitely has the fun to program and play vibe as well. It comes at a cost too. :D

 

As brotha Eric mentioned above, there are so many choices in synths nowadays.

 

One has to test drive the synths in order to have that Gov moment where it beckons thee to come hither and take me home. :laugh::cool:

 

Oh man, it was practically purring the first time I laid hands on it. True story.

 

I'm gonna wait for someone else to buy a desktop P5 then put it up on sale used because they couldn't get it to sound exactly like a favorite sound on their favorite record from back in the early 80s.

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If you didn't mind the limitations of the P6 (4 octaves, single LFO, 6 voices), don't underestimate the Korg Prologue. The Prologue-8 gives you roughly comparable features, but with 8 voices and half the price. The Prologue-16 costs little more (still waaaay less than P5-P6-OB6-Rev3-PolyBrute etc) and gives you 5 octaves and 16 voices.

 

It has some disadvantages compared to the P6 (no aftertouch, no sequencer, single LP filter) but also some nice innovative features, most notably the programmable third oscillator.

Oh, and it sounds great.

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I had my eye on a Rev2 for a long time, but was unsure whether I wanted to pay more for the 16-voice version (though you can always buy the upgrade separately which is really cool). Then on a lark I contacted Sweetwater about a Summit as I thought it could be a bit more versatile (some FM, wave synthesis) but still get what I really liked about the Prophet sound. They gave me a really good deal and I have the Summit. I echo one description I heard of it, which is it's kind of a "hi fi Virus" (which I used to own).

 

I'm able to get enough of a prophet and Obie sound that works for me at least. Really impressed with the Summit, although most of the patches are far from the bread and butter sounds I am after.

 

My buddy ended up getting the Rev2 and loves it (as I know I would have as well). One big difference out of the gate--Novation has a really nice free (and browser-based) librarian for building banks and that also includes a lot of free ones from others (I'm using some of their patches). It also makes it dirt simple to apply firmware updates, no downloading to a flash drive etc. The Rev2 doesn't have anything like that, you need to get a 3rd party program. Mind you, not talking an editor, just a librarian. There is a cheap Summit editor out there but I haven't felt the need or desire to program on the computer with all the knobs there! :D

 

I think the key action is a little better on the Rev2; I've heard the effects on the Summit are very good for a keyboard. Novation as a company is known for great support and adding features to their keyboards so that's a nice plus. They've added additional waves for example.

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Is the vintage Roland sound (e.g., Juno 6, Jupiter 8, etc.) still only available from the vintage synths?

You have a number of modern options:

- Get the soft synths based on the "Analog Circuit Behaviour" tech. Jupiter-8, JUNO-106, JUNO-60, SH-101, JX-3P. From what I've heard most are nigh indistinguishable from the originals, maybe with the exception of the Jupiter.

- Get the System 8 that can run those in hardware.

- Get the soft synths based on the Zen-Core engine. These cut some corners in authenticity to enable higher polyphony, so they don't sound as close.

- Get the FANTOM or the Jupiter-X that can run those in hardware.

Life is subtractive.
Genres: Jazz, funk, pop, Christian worship, BebHop
Wishlist: 80s-ish (synth)pop, symph pop, prog rock, fusion, musical theatre
Gear: NS2 + JUNO-G. KingKORG. SP6 at church.

 

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Every emulative software synth is a Venn point between good coding (or not) and authenticity. I find the drum beat over it amusing.

 

There's

A) You got a chance to play a hardware Memorymoog through a proper stack, so you KNOW

B) The real thing is semi-rare and a bit fussy to maintain, so that 'KNOW' thing you have means

the soft versions are a very close pleasure when cranked up or

C) You've only seen a Memorymoog in pictures, so you grin and call it Good.

 

Why is it that I can snicker over the image of two newbies having a fistfight over whose Oberheim 8-Voice emulation is "better," Arturia's or Cherry Audio's? :D

 "I want to be an intellectual, but I don't have the brainpower.
  The absent-mindedness, I've got that licked."
        ~ John Cleese

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Is the vintage Roland sound (e.g., Juno 6, Jupiter 8, etc.) still only available from the vintage synths?

You have a number of modern options:

- Get the soft synths based on the "Analog Circuit Behaviour" tech. Jupiter-8, JUNO-106, JUNO-60, SH-101, JX-3P. From what I've heard most are nigh indistinguishable from the originals, maybe with the exception of the Jupiter.

- Get the System 8 that can run those in hardware.

- Get the soft synths based on the Zen-Core engine. These cut some corners in authenticity to enable higher polyphony, so they don't sound as close.

- Get the FANTOM or the Jupiter-X that can run those in hardware.

 

Honestly, I did not know much about the Roland plugout features of System 8. Thanks for the tips. I has certainly taken me down a YouTube video journey.

NS3C, Hammond XK5, Yamaha S7X, Sequential Prophet 6, Yamaha YC73, Roland Jupiter X

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As a former Prophet 6 (P6) owner too, I would suggest checking out the Novation Summit.

 

The Summit sounds different from the DSI/Sequential/Moog synths.

 

IMO, the Summit is more fun to program and play. It has that hard to make a "bad" sound vibe.

 

In fact, if I still owned the P6, I would have sold it and bought the Summit.

 

But, don't take my word for it. Take the Summit for a spin. :thu::cool:

 

I agree with ProfD. The Summit sounds different than a Sequential synth, and if were considering a P5 or P10, the Summit has more great features and costs a lot less. I still have my original P5 I bought back in 1981, and if I were still actively gigging AND had some $$$, I would get a Summit.

Yamaha Motif ES8, Alesis Ion, Prophet 5 Rev 3.2, 1979 Rhodes Mark 1 Suitcase 73 Piano, Arp Odyssey Md III, Roland R-70 Drum Machine, Digitech Vocalist Live Pro. Roland Boss Chorus Ensemble CE-1.

 

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Its the first commercial synth I can recall that offered physically modeled brass, reeds and strings in an accessible form. Josef Zawinul dug the otherworldly vibe quite a bit and showed it off well. You can massage PM in musical ways that are far from the simpler realms of analog. The Prophecy's odd little barrel of a pitch-bender was a fun twist, too.

 

I've been fortunate in having laid hands to several megasynths for a few minutes here and there, like the Prophet T-8. My musical friends have always had different gear than mine, so we got in a lot of cross-learning. I'd say that if you only got 5 hardware synths, period, one should be a Prophet (your pick), as one of the fundamental this-is-how-its-done instruments. I went there and loved it. Now, I have software versions of both that and two PM instruments. I can remember my first Prophecy dabbling, when PM was totally alien, yet some of the elastic feel of exploring it stuck. Every little Lego counts. :popcorn:

 "I want to be an intellectual, but I don't have the brainpower.
  The absent-mindedness, I've got that licked."
        ~ John Cleese

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Sorry for jumping on this thread title but because of it I have to ask...no mention (love or hate) of the Korg Prophecy?

I love mine and will never sell it. Nothing else like it out there for timbre and performance; yeah, you can get a MOSS board for other Korgs, but they don't play like the Proph. Big ups.

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

clicky!:  more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my bookmy music

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If you could have only one modern (ie., available to purchase new, not the vintage ones) polysynth, what would you like?

 

If you mean, if I could supplement my current rig with what's out there right now? Probably a PolyBrute.

 

If you mean, if I could only have ONE and all the others were forbidden? I'd go back to playing my Hydrasynth. The end.

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

clicky!:  more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my bookmy music

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I'm guessing the person who created these Prophet 5 patches and demos them in this video wasn't even born yet the last time the Prophet 5 was in production. This is what I mean by "surprising versatility". This guy is coming from a younger generation with different sensibilities for sound design than the older guys. So, not so much emphasis on 80s nostalgia in these patches.

 

[video:youtube]

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I'm guessing the person who created these Prophet 5 patches and demos them in this video wasn't even born yet the last time the Prophet 5 was in production. This is what I mean by "surprising versatility". This guy is coming from a younger generation with different sensibilities for sound design than the older guys.

Gov, there have always been those who approach synth programming either from a sound designer perspective (think background noise, film scoring, etc.) or from a musical perspective (songs) and those who fall somewhere in the middle.

 

We associate the Prophet 5 and other synths mainly with iconic sounds from recordings but there's been a ton of a non-musical synth work done for film and TV using the same tools. :cool:

PD

 

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return."--E. Ahbez "Nature Boy"

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I'm guessing the person who created these Prophet 5 patches and demos them in this video wasn't even born yet the last time the Prophet 5 was in production. This is what I mean by "surprising versatility". This guy is coming from a younger generation with different sensibilities for sound design than the older guys.

Gov, there have always been those who approach synth programming either from a sound designer perspective (think background noise, film scoring, etc.) or from a musical perspective (songs) and those who fall somewhere in the middle.

 

We associate the Prophet 5 and other synths mainly with iconic sounds from recordings but there's been a ton of a non-musical synth work done for film and TV using the same tools. :cool:

 

Sure, like the Prophet 10 sounds used in Terminator and Blade Runner. I'm not denying that cool sounds were made on Prophet 5/10 for iconic movies like that.

 

I'm just expressing my appreciation for this young person's patches, as demoed. I appreciate that he made the effort to create sounds from his generation rather than ours.... or older....

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>> I'm guessing the person who created these Prophet 5 patches and demos them in this video wasn't even born yet the last time the Prophet 5 was in production. This is what I mean by "surprising versatility". This guy is coming from a younger generation with different sensibilities for sound design than the older guys.

 

Hear, hear. He IS synthesizing at a higher level. You can easily smell the tech-beauty of Dave in it all. My first poly experience was a P-5 in a friend's small home studio. I probably have as much of that flavor in my head as I do everything else combined. I lost my LFO virginity to a Prophet-5. :blush:

 "I want to be an intellectual, but I don't have the brainpower.
  The absent-mindedness, I've got that licked."
        ~ John Cleese

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Gov, like you, I also appreciate the approach to sound design in both videos. They definitely don't need ROMplers considering the mileage they're getting out of their synths. :D:cool:

PD

 

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return."--E. Ahbez "Nature Boy"

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