Sequential resumes Prophet-5

The Lounge Other Gear
#695

I think if the sound of the OB6 filter is not absolutely calling your name, I’d go for a P5 (or P6). Both - or all three - are fantastic instruments.

I had the OB6 for about a year but my own inexperience and inability to fit it into my songs made me sell it. Totally depends on the context and what you’re looking for but for my ”needs” I find the Prophets more versatile. I still absolutely love the OB-6 sound but like I said, just didn’t fit in what I was doing at the time.

After selling the OB-6 I’ve been fairly happy with the u-he Repro VST but I think a Prophet is in the cards for me at some point.

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#696

I have both. I’d keep the P5 if I had to let one of the two go. it’s just so much easier to get a great sound out of it, for me. I have this same experience with the Korg Polysix or the Juno 106. it’s just all sweet spot, basically. you come up with an interesting patch idea and it’s almost done before you start, and sounding terrific. the OB6 isn’t like this for me. it has a large sweet spot and I think what it does well it does really well. but for me that’s more mid-range melodies (due to the filter) and less textures or leads.

I think this could totally differ from person to person though. they’re pretty different synths in that one of their main sound shaping tools (the filter) is totally different. as @tomfs said, the P6 is probably a better comparison. and on paper, a better buy as well. I can’t comment on whether or not it would have the same effect on me as the P5 as I’ve never played one. I’m guessing it wouldn’t be 100% the same though. I think the P5 just has that right balance of simplicity, excellent sound, and perfect range for all the controls, that it’s really hard to make it sound bad.

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#697

Also the P5 has a 5-octave keyboard which for some people are important (if you are not going for the module, that is)

#698

P5 vs OB6 eh?

I was fortunate enough be able to go to a shop that had P5, OB6, P6, Moog One, and I forgot what other analog poly… all in the same room.

My choice would be P5. That’s the one that kept calling me back, in that room of analog polys.

None of those analog polys sound terrible, by any means - Jexus’ harsh comments on the OB6 notwithstanding. :smiley: They all sound great.

It’s just that the P5’s sound had an extra something else. It’s not “warmth” - they’re all freaking “warm” as analogs. Some extra secret sauce in the sound. Hard core sound designer types find it limited - not much modulation options and stuff compared to, say Pro 3. To me, that doesn’t matter.

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#699

I went for the p5 instead of the ob6 in the end simply because of availability because ob6 is not available…
But I’m thinking it may have been luck to force me to get the pt5…
First impressions are it does sound beefy, and love the simplicity of it

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#700

Sequential now has 5 voice expansion card for the P5, to essentially turn it into a P10. And they have added bi-timbral, stack and split capability with the new OS.

Sequential has announced two major enhancements for the Prophet-5 and Prophet-10 Rev 4 synthesizers. The first is an easy-to-install voice expansion card for the Prophet-5 that expands its polyphony to 10 voices, enabling it to benefit from the second enhancement — a new OS that adds bi-timbral, stack and split capability to 10-voice Prophet-5 and Prophet-10 synths.

With a ten-voice instrument and the new 2.0 OS, players can stack two different programs together for more powerful, complex sounds. Each program is allocated 5 voices of polyphony, allowing 5-note bi-timbral operation. Alternatively, players can split the keyboard into two separate performance zones, each with a different program. This allows for bi-timbral performance of bass and leads, or bass and pads, for example.

To use the new stack/split feature, Prophet-10/expanded Prophet-5 owners will need to upgrade to version 2.0 of the operating system. The OS upgrade is provided free of charge to Prophet owners and is available on Sequential’s website. The Prophet-5 voice expansion card is available directly from Sequential and includes instructions for installation.

“We’re excited to bring stack and split capability to 10-voice Prophets,” said Sequential founder Dave Smith. “It gives even more musical versatility to an already awesome-sounding instrument. Musicians are going to love the sound design possibilities of bi-timbral stacks. And players will be able to make good use of splits in live performance.”

Sequential’s CEO, David Gibbons had this to say about the enhancements: “There’s nothing more satisfying than making a legendary instrument even better than its original incarnation. Turning the Prophet-10 or an expanded Prophet-5 into a bi-timbral synth takes it to new places as an expressive instrument. That’s always been Sequential’s first priority: Putting great-sounding, expressive musical tools into the hands of musicians.”

The Prophet-5 and Prophet-10 Rev 4 reintroduced the music world to Sequential’s most famous and beloved instrument: the Prophet-5. The instruments revisit a landmark era in American analog synthesizer design and are an authentic and authoritative return to roots for the company.

Faithful to the original, the instruments feature five voices with two multi-waveform analog oscillators, resonant analog low-pass filters and amplifiers, and a filter and amplifier envelope per voice. Modulation is provided by a multi-waveshape LFO and Poly Mod, a ground-breaking modulation scheme for its time that allowed the filter envelope and oscillator B to be routed to a variety of destinations including filter cutoff frequency, oscillator A frequency, and oscillator A pulse width.

The Prophet-5 voice expansion card has a US MAP of $899 and is available directly from Sequential. It is compatible with both keyboard and desktop models of the Prophet-5.

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Superbooth 21
Superbooth 21
#701

Thanks to the expansion card, Prophet 5 owners will also be able to play this Bach piece (though it might be interesting to analyze if he actually used more than 5 voices at once at any point in the piece).

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#702

but does it come with a nameplate that says “Prophet 10”…? :thinking:

they make no mention of it on the details, sales or installation pages. would be awesome to see. regardless, really exciting! I’m not 100% sure I need it polyphony-wise, but it’d be really cool to have it for the bi-timbral option.

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#703

Unless my math is wrong, a P5 Deskop plus expansion card is about $99 more than the cost of a P10 Desktop.

Still, this opens up a nice option for those of us who are not so sure we need more than the 5 voices of the P5.

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#704

I feel like this is the normal route: you save more by buying it all up front. you pay more by expanding later, but it’s good to have the option. the Rev 2 8-voice is $1649, 16-voice is $2149. the 8 voice expansion is $599. so you’re losing $100 there by expanding later.

so, I guess in relation… given that this voice expansion is $300 more than the Rev2 expansion, it’s good they didn’t charge even more for it. in other words, that the “expand later penalty” isn’t $150 or $200.

#705

Yeah, I’d rather pay for the 5-voice up front, with the option of buying the expansion card, than pay up front for the 10 voice and gradually realize I never use more than 5 voices.

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#706

right. or if it’s a question of having to put it on a credit card and pay for it over time to afford the 10 voice. versus if you can afford the 5 voice outright, expand later and give the extra $100 to Sequential instead of your bank! :rofl:

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#707

Matt Johnson’s demo of the stacked / split functionality https://youtu.be/3wnpMaXvTIY

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#708

Unless I don’t need the extra 5 voices

I never forget that I have other polysynths in my stable when considering things like this

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#709

F*** I love that synth!

#710

The lack of this was the one reason I didn’t get it months ago; mainly Split. The shops open in 1 minute and I was ready to pounce on the first one available. BUT, it’s still mono out :thinking:. I’m going to back off and spend the day considering if I’m okay with both sounds coming out mixed, specifically where I’d want each sound going through a different effect. Especially where you want a modulating effect on just one of the sounds :sob: First world problems.

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#711

weird that they don’t allow you to save patch B of the stack, and force you to first save patch B on it’s own and then reload that back up into the stack to be saved as a completed patch… unnecessarily annoying but I’m sure it’s something they can patch up pun intended.

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#712

When i had stack mode on my Rev 2 i never used it much as i didnt know what would work. Matt says its just trial and error and messing around till you get something that works.

#713

whatever It is you ought to be able to simply save that whole patch, not just half of it unless you’ve previously saved layer B.

#714

I just stacked 2 hours with my prophet 10…wow…
Sounds so raw, intimate, characterful…
This prophet is a beast, and mono is the real thing!

I instantly wished I was able to control both stacked layers at the same time “control all style” sadly this doesn’t seem to be directly doable :sweat_smile:

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