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[desmond]

Sequential Prophet X.
Five octave, full-size keyboard...

Looks like two analog oscillators, and two sample playback oscillators...

Teaser vid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWjNFleS8e4

[Dave B]

As Chevytraveller commented elsewhere, I wonder if it will have wave sequencing? That would be stunningly brilliant.

And if it doesn't, then they can call the one that does the Prophet VX...

[The Elf]

Well it certainly looks the business. Very nice. Here's hoping they didn't forget aftertouch...

[Stickman0_3]

I'd certainly like to see a rack mount version of this, maybe in the same casing as the Dave Smith Prophet 12 rack?

[resistorman]

Nice! Tabletop too, please!

[Blott]

Well it certainly looks the business. Very nice. Here's hoping they didn't forget aftertouch...

Every Dave Smith synth to date has had aftertouch, so I can't see them dropping it on a new flagship synth.

They tease that it's hybrid. If by hybrid they mean a combination of DSP and analogue oscillators then this synth will definitely be on my shopping list.

Being able to add your own samples might be nice too, but in my experience with past instruments that offered this, it is something that is better in theory than it actually is in reality.

For me a high polyphony count (like the 16 voices on the Rev2) and a mixture of oscillator types would be perfect!

Keeping my fingers crossed.

[Dave B]

So specs are now starting to show up. Interesting stuff ....

* Sample import via a USB drive
* 4 LFOs
* 4 Envelopes
* 2 'instrument' (sample) sources and 2 oscillators
* sample looping controls on dedicated knobs - nice
* digital oscillators
* analogue filters
* it looks like there is a matrix for modulation source/destination - could be interesting
* 150Gb of samples with room for 50Gb of yours
* 8 voice stereo or 16 voice mono
* bi timbral

Which all seems great to me. The bad news is that it's list price is £3359. Ouch! That puts it head to head with the Waldorf Quantum in my book. So I'm not sure which I'd want.

[desmond]

The bad news is that it's list price is £3359. Ouch! That puts it head to head with the Waldorf Quantum in my book. So I'm not sure which I'd want.

Yeah, it was always going to be £3K+.

The Quantum is a lovely looking/designed thing but doesn't seem to do sounds you can't get elsewhere. Although I guess that's true for 95% of synths these days...

[Stephen Bennett]

This does look exactly what I've always wanted (though I'd have preferred a couple of analog oscillators too). I have a Nord Wave and would have loved that to have analog filters—this looks like a 'mega Wave' in many ways, assuming sample import happens.

5 octaves and wheels as well. Nice. The Quantum looks really nice too.

I wonder when Behringer will clone them?

Stephen

[Guido3]

I’m just waiting on a call back from the devil to see how much he will give me for my soul!!!

[Kwaidan]

* 150Gb of samples with room for 50Gb of yours

Which all seems great to me. The bad news is that it's list price is £3359. Ouch! That puts it head to head with the Waldorf Quantum in my book. So I'm not sure which I'd want.

you are paying more for the 150GB of samples by 8DIO than you are the synth itself. probably talking £2.5k for the samples alone onboard.

[Escapegoat]

you are paying more for the 150GB of samples by 8DIO than you are the synth itself.

Nonsense. The retail pricing you/I pay as an individual will be nothing like the licencing deal that Dave Smith got for hundreds (thousands?) of synths. Because there's an 8/16 voice limit on the Prophet X. That's a limit that a serious composer doesn't encounter on his/her computer with 8DIO sample libraries. So 8DIO have been able to sell the sample data to a new market at a lower per-sample price without unduly pi55ing off their existing clients.

And, AFAICS, the synth hardware is a P12+ with the additional leading-edge hardware that allows on-the-fly loading of large samples from the server-spec SSD. Did you see that video yet - it's not like waiting for a Kronos or Fantom to load a sample. Plus - there's all of the analogue VCF/VCA signal path.

You'll have to tell me where I can get a synth with that amount of processing power, control set and high-end hardware for £1000?

Please.

[Ben Asaro]

This looks super cool, fortunately I have no space for a dedicated keyboard synth of this size.

At this price point I would probably be more tempted by the OB6, or Deckard’s Dream.

Personally, I am still GASing over the Novation Peak ... something about the sound of that synth ticks a lot of boxes or me!

[The Elf]

Personally, I am still GASing over the Novation Peak ... something about the sound of that synth ticks a lot of boxes or me!

You and me both - but take a look at the Elektron Analog Keys - that is a fabulous synth that has really turned my head! I'm late to the party, but I'm glad I got there...

[BJG145]

...the Elektron Analog Keys - that is a fabulous synth that has really turned my head! I'm late to the party, but I'm glad I got there...

Huh?! Next week - Elf reviews the Elka Synthex...

[Dave B]

What??? Synths are polyphonic now?????

Why didn't anyone mention this????

[Dave B]

So, just back from a nice little excursion to my nearest synth store and they have the Prophet X in stock and on display. So I had a little play.

First, it's bigger in real life than the pictures suggest - deeper front to back by about another inch or so. I'd assumed it would be Pro12 sized. It's not.

The control knobs seem small but that's just my failing eyesight. I'd have liked them to be a bit firmer as well, but they aren't cheap and weedy feeling - just slightly lighter than I like.

The resonance on the filter deserves a mention. First off, resonance can introduce a 'nasal-ness' to the sound rather than an emphasis - this doesn't! It just seems to give a lovely push to the audio spectrum in a really clean way. And, secondly, it goes waaaaaaay up high as well. Not squelchy, but you can get a good 'ring' (which can track the keyboard) at well below 3/4 of full value. Any more and it's too much (for little old me). Wahey!!

It does feel like a pro synth - very smooth and nice to play with a keyboard that is comfortable to dig into. If I had paid the money for one, I wouldn't feel disappointed.

And here's the kicker. I kind of didn't want to like it. It's horribly expensive and the voice architecture seemed a little odd to me (samples and oscillator waveforms through the same filter? Surely not!). But my head started playing with it and was then kicked in the teeth my ears and my heart - this thing sounds gorgeous!! Everything you'd expect from a Prophet and more. It's smooth and silky but with a real power behind it and you just know it's straining to sound big and bad as well.

Cor!!

I'm currently sitting here with a cold compress hoping that the gear lust will subside. Luckily, I'm in the position of not having that much to fling at a synth 'just because' at the moment so my head is currently ruling. I suspect that my heart is only quiet as it is plotting something cunning ...

[Escapegoat]

Thanks for sharing.

Did you get very far into the sample tweaking aspects - ie. adjusting the start and end points using the knobs to find short cycles and make new tones that way? That's the most appealling bit for me.

[Dave B]

No - they were gearing up for video making today, so between that, and controlling my gear lust, I moved on quite quickly rather than dig in that deeply. Silly me!

[Escapegoat]

No worries. I've never really delved into the samplers I've had, although I've seen plenty of people take all sorts of sounds and turn them into polysynth patches, drums, etc.

I liked a lot of the 8DIO videos, even the ones which were mainly straight patches, but being able to dig right down into it so easily from a huge sample library and with so many knobs gets me all excited.

Was it priced at RRP - £3400ish?