If you got it like that… I can only afford one of these that say prophet on them… I guess I’m not worthy of more then one prophet in my life to bring the gospel.
I would probably choose take 5 for mobile prophet if i had the money. I wrap my prophet 10 in a packing blanket when traveling to the studio and just play a minilogue out live.
I don’t have both, but I wouldn’t take my prophet on the road…
My biggest problem with take 5 is the fm on it is digitally controlled and I’m really big into analog fm… both the prophet 5 and 6 fm sound amazing, and the take 5 sounds like a moog from 2005… really a big difference… if not for that I would consider it. I love the form factor and the price!!
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So you’re telling me, that if I do FM on the Take 5, it turns into a Slim Phatty?
Ladder filter cheat code unlocked! 
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Did anyone try these free patches? They sound almost too good to be true, like the piano and guitar 
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not yet but been meaning to, thanks for the reminder
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Please report back when you do! Really interested to know your thoughts after trying them out.
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im pretty sure you cant get better analog fm outside of eurorack than the implementation on the t5
it’s like a 2 osc version of the p12 except with vcos. you can use osc2 to osc1 fm it in the mod matrix, you can stack modulations including fm, the lfos are audio rate, now the looping envelopes are audio rate. i suppose if the lfos are digital and the vcos are calibrated digitally, it makes it more precise or something? but they arent dcos and when you fm them, you’re using an analog vco to modulate another analog vco. and filter fm with the filter drive is pretty great, also analog
have you owned one and weren’t happy with the fm? what did you notice about the digital control that you didn’t like? i’ve never felt like the t5 was “too digital”. despite whatever is going on with the vca’s. it’s much more organic and rich than the fm you’d get on a peak or even the p12. i haven’t owned a p5 or p6 but i have owned a rev2 and i can’t imagine those audio mod functions being more satisfying or useful for sound design than the take-5. you can modulate morphing osc shape with osc2 as well, including sine waves. osc2 to either fine tune (of hard synced osc 1, especially) for either osc or coarse freq of either osc, osc2 to panning, osc2 to filter drive, osc2 to “vintage”/slop, osc2 to any of the digital effects params/(looping)envelope stages/master overdrive. i’ve never seen that on an analog poly
also, sorry this is an old comment but im just seeing it and it blew my mind. these are genuine questions though and i do sometimes wonder how the audio mod works on the older prophets
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On the take five the audio fm signal is digital signal that is actually modulating the oscillator, this is an older technology that was used in like the sub37 and older synth’s that has a different sound and range then pure analog fm of oscillators, and you can hear a difference. P6 and P5 both have full analog fm where actual cv is modulating the oscillator. I’m not trying to knock the t5, it is an amazing synth for what it cost, but the fm is one place the price really shows it is hitting a budget, when p6 came out back in 2016, it was actually rare for a synth like this to have real fm… Most didn’t and used a digital conversion for it, which most would be happy with. I’m just picky about it, I love, love, love fm, and yes on the prophet 12 it is obviously digital too, although it’s is running at a higher bit depth then the take five.
Rev 2 doesn’t have any fm, although you can fake it using the filter.
i understand you’re not trying to knock it. i just never heard this before. the rev2 has filter “audio mod” i think it’s called? i guess that’s different from the poly mod on the ones you mention.
so when the front panel of the Take-5 says FM 2>1, it’s not using oscillator 2 to modulate oscillator 1? and when you use osc2 in the mod source, it’s not actually osc2 which is modulating the source? I think im missing a big part of how fm works in analog synths and this one particular. are you saying that there’s a process where there is a digital signal that emulates the parameters of oscillator 2, and that’s actually what is modulating the carrier?
I guess i dont actually care because i find it very useful and musical, its one of my favorite parts of the take5 but I dont get it. i was always confused about the vca in the take-5 but that definitely doesnt bother me, apart from not being able to us amplitude modulation properly
does anyone know where i can find actual documentation of what’s going on inside the take-5 or is that all confidential information? the website and manual obviously dont explain the differences between the analog and digital components at all. im not doubting you, im just wondering how you found this out. you could just hear it, and that tipped you off or is this stated somewhere?
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That is the most important thing, that you enjoy it.
As far as the architecture goes, I think it was discussed on GS, if you want to comb through that thread. If I remember correctly (I may be wrong), The VCA of the Take 5 and everything after is digital. As far as the FM goes, this is from Sequential’s website “…and front-panel access to analog FM”, so it would seem as if the FM is analog.
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i just dont see how it couldn’t be. it doesnt change how much i enjoy or use it, it’s just very interesting to me. but thanks for the tip. i will check it out. i need to remember that those forums exist
*ah, here we go:
“From what I’ve read in this thread, and judging from the mod matrix and FM features and how they work, each voice has two ADC channels assigned to it: one for osc 2, and one post filter. There are also DAC channels to feed CVs for pitch, pulse width, mix levels (which also handle the waveform blend), filter cutoff, resonance and drive (if drive is CV controlled). Assuming the white/pink noise is digital, there is also a DAC channel feeding noise into the filter (probably shared across all the voices). The digitized Osc 2 signal is used for 2->1 FM as well as the Osc 2 filter bypass, and is also available as a mod source in the matrix. The filter output ADC provides the signal into the digital amp section (in lieu of a voice VCA), and the filter output is also available as a mod source.”
i guess that’s not definitive but i guess it makes sense that analogue signals are converted for specific operations that require mod matrix control and whatnot and digital signals are converted to be fed into analogue components. interesting either way
i wonder if something like the Analog Four does the same thing for it’s sequencer/p-lock controlled fm. but since i use the lfos for a lot of that audio rate modulation on the 4 anyway, i guess it doesn’t really make a difference there either
now that i think of it, digital fm over analog vcos is pretty cool too. if that were listed as a selling point on a new yamaha, i’d buy that instantly
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Yeah, I don’t go over there too much either. The one good thing about GS is that there a couple of Sequential employees that are somewhat active on the threads.
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Beyond the comparison, holy hell this guy nailed the 1980s aesthetic.
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It is still analog fm, all the cv signals are converted to digital and converted back. This is different then poly mod where the modulation never leave the voice card, it is never converted to a digital signal. Besides it sounding different, I know this because I asked sequential this very question.
None of it matters really, if you like it then right on, don’t get hung up on details because each synth has many many differences both good and bad, pointless to compare stats…
Like I said most analog polys work like the take five, it is not really bad. Also, take five is doing the fm at very fast rates.
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Funny how commenters asked him about reverb, when the built-in release/hold has such long release time that you can introduce a reverb-like ambiance without any FX - if you wanted to.
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Noticing an extreme drop in volume for some patches when Velocity is set to AMP.
What could I be missing here? I shouldn’t need to set a velocity curve so I get broader dynamic range right?
I’d check but I’m in the middle of a move, won’t be able to touch baby until jan9th 