If you love fairgrounds and green… Maybe…
Yeah, I don’t hate the look, it’s really the name I find really terrible, which is a silly reason to dislike something, I know.
I love the size. It’s perfect for my space and the keyboard split function is awesome. The keyboard looks like it would be a great edition to my studio as I don’t have anything that size.
I need to wrap my head around what the mod matrix entails. I have hated all synths I’ve owned with matrix designs (Microkorg, DSI Evolver desktop, etc), so I need to make sure that having non-visible parameters won’t bother me. Perhaps because it’s just modulation, it will be OK?
The other thing I’m not super keen on is the function that maintains the bass as resonance is turned up. I don’t mind it, but wish that it could be disengaged to be able to better recreate old Prophet sounds. Not a deal breaker though, I don’t think.
The effects seem OK, but at the end of the day a Prophet 5 has none, so you could just consider them a bonus really and turn them off if you don’t like them.
I really like the oscillators, filters, mostly one knob per function, two distortion circuits, arpeggiator and sequencer on board (although not sure how easy they are to use).
The other thing is that there is no way I could afford any other Prophet with a keyboard, and I think the integrated keyboard would suit this particular synth.
The yen is way too weak for me to consider a purchase anytime soon, which is good. I’m going to sit on the sidelines and enjoy my new Moog Grandmother, and keep watching videos to see what people do with them. By the time I’m ready to buy, I’ll know if this will do me or I’d rather have a Prophet 6 desktop or something else.
Have you seen this video? The Rev2 gets some hate online for its DCOs, but these sounds are amazing. I asked the designer if he thought the Take 5 could get a similar vibe and he said yeah.
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Loved the Rev2. Sounded brilliant and was so flexible. I have mild regret over selling it. Sold it for accessibility reasons, and to fund some other stuff, not because of sound. The one downside relative to this 70s/80s discussion, IMO, is the HPF being a digital effect rather than an analog filter - so you lose an effect slot. In practice it was a reasonable trade-off.
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It’s super straightforward to apply modulation. You just press source assign and twiddle the knob you want as source and do the same thing for destination.
I haven’t used the matrix so far.
Is it by default. I thought it’s only with turned up filter drive…
I guess this is a welcome feature for most users. I read so many complains about ladder filters using bass with high resonance 
The effects are pretty nice imo. I never use dry synth sounds, so for me reverb and delay are a nice addition. The drive fx can get quite dirty. It can also thicken sounds quite nicely. The highpass filter can also be useful…
I have seen this and all his other videos. Super nice patches, especially for boc fans. But the fact that he does these great patches also on deepmind, peak or microkorg shows that it’s more his skills rather than the synth. He could do these with any subtractive synth most likely, including the T5 for sure
Btw congrats on your grandmother. Almost buying it since it came out 
such a nice thing
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Sweet. That’s great to know!
At least that’s what I heard in a review video. Maybe the reviewer was wrong? That would be good.
Totally. Skills trump features for sure. The only polysynth I’ve owned is a Juno 106, which I sold to a friend when I moved. I actually liked it quite a bit, and definitely think I’ll need the most straight forward polysynth possible to get the most out of it, as my skills are pretty rudimentary at best.
Cheers, man. I am in love with it. My perfect synth in so many ways. It’s just a joy to use. I’m hoping to do some recordings soon, so will post some stuff up when I get around to it.
Fair point. Especially because on the Take 5 the second effects slot is only reverb, and that first slot has a lot of sound shaping stuff like ring mod and not just pure effects, so it limits it a bit. I have a lot of really good external effects because I play guitar, so not having a delay or something is not the end of the world for me.
It sounds pretty amazing for sure! Not interested in any other Prophets now?
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Very much so, but my wallet isn’t. I struggled with the screen so I’m ruling out the Take 5.
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I completely understand that. Even the Take 5’s are crazy expensive here in Japan at the moment.
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Seems a good thread for this
The Repro product page has some decent introduction videos by Dan Worrall to get you started.
Select Repro-1 or Repro-5 toward the top of the page, then scroll down to Videos.
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That’s great. Thanks!
I’m a bit of a synth aesthete and I wasn’t to impressed with the similar looking Pro3 when it came out (mixer style knobs etc etc) but trust me, you get past that pretty quickly once you start playing and programming. It’s like a Tardis is of a synth and it sounds fantastic imo. FX are deffo useable but the reverb takes some tweaking when first engaged and doesn’t sound great with the default settings dialled in imo but again, once you get the setting you like you’re away! Complete convert to the point I ended up getting a Pro3 some time later. I don’t mind admitting I got the T5 with the idea of moving up to the P5 and thinking the T5 was like a mini P5. I don’t think that’s the case as there’s too much divergence between them (mod matrix, different chipset, fx etc) but it’s no bad thing. The T5 has its own sounds and there’s nothing wrong with that. I agree with others who say it’s a bit of a modern classic already.
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Thanks, good to hear another person happy with it. Most knowledgeable people I’ve talked to online about it have said they love it, so it really does sound like a winner.
I watched that Microkorg video last night. Holy hell. That was my first gear purchase when it first came out and I was not getting anything like that out of it. Haha. I see what you mean about his skill basically meaning not to use that as a benchmark for a particular piece of gear. The Microkorg demo is actually so good I might just put that on to tune out to on my train commute into the office this morning. Haha.
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Yes and no, I would say. Looking at the Rev 2 patches, there‘s lots of stuff that could and can be replicated on synths that are a lot cheaper and easier. What makes them impressive is that there can be a lot happening at times, but in a musical and under the hood way - unlike many presets that synths ship with that have a lot of crazily modulated patches, which are totally useless for actually making music. But then again, some of them make good use of the four LFOs and modulation options of Rev2. And some of the easier ones just make use of the fact that Rev2 already makes pretty basic sounds sound pretty majestic since it’s just a powerful sounding synth. But I agree that it’s maybe more helpful to find out how sounds you like are made than looking for a specific synth. More and more, I feel like you can get a lot of comparable results out of any analog synth if you just know a few basics. So I feel your journey to find that out rather than just buying listing synths is a good idea.
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Totally. The Grandmother is proving to be both a fantastic instrument and learning tool, albeit a gateway drug for someone that never bonded with synths in the past. Feeling a bit like a junkie chasing a high at the moment (“If this is this good, what else is there?”). Lol. On the bright side, I’ve had so many bad experiences with synths that I know what I don’t like, and now one amazing experience, so it should be easier to dial in on what I like (one would hope).
The one thing I still haven’t learned is whether I’m only really interested in this kind of old school semimodular mono synth (meaning something like the ARP2600 would be the best other option for me) or whether there is some polysynth out there that I would also love (which is why I’m eyeing Prophets).
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I feel you. Maybe you should just go visit a music store, play a Prophet and find out? Or you buy a used one and just fuck around with it, used prices are totally stable for DSI stuff. But maybe you should first enjoy your Grandma and get to know it, why bother thinking about polys again, as long as it is not lack of polyphony that holds you back?
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These are all very good points, especially the last two. Gonna do just that.
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Seems like almost any synth running through a Genloss II or even a Strymon Deco will scratch that itch.
As far as cool older polysynths go I cant help but think the Korg Poly Six, MonoPoly, or even a Poly 61 all get those classic kind of polysynth sounds.
I’d even say a Poly800 sounds pretty classic for a way cheaper price.
There’s definitely something special about the older stuff vs new, you can really hear the electricity running through those things.
The only thing with older synths is they tend to be fragile and need repairs.
Definitely some bargains out there though.
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I had a go on the Prophet 5 rev 4 recently and it really blew me away with the sound quality. Just amazing raw tones. it was by far my favorite out of all the DSI ones I tried - Obx8, prophet 6, prophet rev2, ob6, etc
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the PolySix is the most “vintage” sounding poly I’ve ever played. there’s something very special about it that really speaks to me.
I disagree a bit on the vintage synth fragility point. they’re actually quite robust! they’re mostly beefy, bulky and heavy as hell. they were made to last, in general. except for some of the ones built with a large amount of plastic casing. internally… yeah it can be a different story. generally if they’ve been serviced recently, they should be good for some time. there are exceptions and you need to do your research on the individual synth to see what to watch out for, and make sure such things have been repaired prior to purchasing it. like the PolySix battery, for example.
bargains…? they’re getting harder and harder to come by these days. there are some vintage synths that haven’t gone up much in cost in the past decade though. like the Yamaha CS monos. poly synths are another story… Juno 60/106/PolySix used to always be the “poor man’s poly” but now one of those in good shape that’s been serviced and cared for properly is too much. you might as well buy a Prophet 5 Rev4 at that point.
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is anybody heeeere? :') just got my dw6000 from first reading about it here.
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