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Picked this up the end of July after much research on modern analog synthesizers. It's a Dave Smith Instruments Prophet 08 analog polysynth.
That's the Prophet on the top tier. Below it is a Fatar 88-key midi controller.
Dave Smith was a key engineer at Sequential Circuits back in the late 70's and 80's. Sequential's Prophet 5 was an incredibly popular synth, as it was one of the first polysynths with patch memory storage (you couldn't save presets on old analog synths). It was used by the likes of Genesis, the Cars, INXS, Eurythmics, Duran Duran, etc. Sequential closed its doors in 1987. Dave later went to work for Korg before forming his own company.
The Prophet 08 has a sound similar to the Prophet 5, thanks to its utilization of Curtis analog chips, similar to the Prophet 5.
For those unfamiliar with analog synths, some information will be useful. Analog synths come in two flavors; monophonic and polyphonic. Monophonic means only one note can be played at a time (no chords). Polyphonic means multiple notes can be sounded simultaneously to form chords. On polyphonic synths, a single note is called a "voice". Therefore, a polysynth that can play a miximum of 8 notes at one time is said to have 8 voices. The Prophet 08 has 8 voices. The Prophet 5 had 5 voices.
Don't confuse "voice" with "preset sound". they are different things. Again, a voice basically means a single note.
Each voice on an analog synth will typically have either 2 or 3 oscillators. The Prophet has 2 oscillators per voice. An oscillator is basically a tone generator.
The waveform of each oscillator gives the voice its tonal characteristic. Typical waveforms are sawtooth, triangle, and square.
When creating a preset sound, you can use one or two waveforms for the sound. If using the same waveform, you typically detune them slightly from one another to fatten the sound. Or, you can use different waveforms, i.e., one sawtooth and one triangle and blend them for the sound you are seeking.
The sound you create using the two oscillators is shared across each voice (i.e., you cant create a different preset sound for each of the 8 voices simultaneously).
The Prophet 08 has a total of 16 oscillators (2 oscillators per each of the 8 voices). When running the synth in poly mode, each voice gets 2 oscillators. When running the synth in mono mode, the one available voice gets all 16 oscillators, which makes for a very rich, fat (phat, if you will) sound.
The Prophet 08 can run in a number of different configurations:
1) Full keyboard, one preset sound across all keys, polyphonic mode, 8 voices, 2 oscillators per voice.
1) Full keyboard, one preset sound across all keys, monophonic mode, 1 voices, 16 oscillators for the voice.
2) Split keyboard, one preset sound for the left half, a different preset sound for the right half. Each half has 4 voices, 2 oscillators each. However, you can opt to run each half of the split in mono or poly mode. A popular configuration is to run the bass keys in mono mode for fat bass sounds (8 oscillators for the one bass voice), while running the treble keys in poly mode for chords (4 available voices, 2 oscillators per voice).
3) "Layer "mode where two 4-voice preset sounds are stacked on top of each other, allowing a unique combinations of sounds. This allows you play play a maximum of 4 voices at once, with 4 oscillators per voice (2 oscillators for each preset sound).
Sound-wise, think late 70s, early 80's Rush (Moving Pictures and Signals Era), Van Halen (1984 era), Styx (pretty much all of their 70's and early 80s stuff). Rush, Van Halen, and Styx used Oberheim synths back in the day, but the Prophet sounds similar, as Oberheims used the same Curtis analog chips as the Prophet does.
This is not a "modeling" synth; no dog barks, hand claps, or piano sounds. Just good ol' synthesizer sounds.
To create a sound on an analog synth, you start with your oscillators, and customize the sound by adjusting up to three "envelopes", which control the attack, decay, sustain, and release of the note volume, filter volume, and pitch. The most common envelope is the note volume (also called Amp as it controls the amplifier for the note). Attack means how fast the note starts when you press the key (immediate, like an organ, or a slow swell). Decay is how fast the note falls down to the sustain level after you hit the note. Sustain controls the volume of the note while the key is being held. Release is how long it takes for the note to trail off after the key is released.
The aforementioned filter is a control that lets you control the harmonic content of the note. It doesn't change the pitch, but adjusts the levels of the harmonics in the note. You know that awesome opening note from Tom Sawyer? That is a filter sweep, meaning that the harmonic content is being adjusted over time. The filter envelope is used to adjust the sweep.
There are a number of other adjustments as well, such as the LFOs, or Low Frequency Oscillators. These are different oscillators than the ones used to give a voice its sound. The LFOs are used to give a voice vibrato. The LFOs can also be mapped to perform other function, such as volume, filter control, and more. The Prophet 08 has 4 LFOs, each of which can control a different tonal aspect of the voice's sound.
All in all, there's 50 some knobs and about 20 switches to tweak your sound. Your creations can be stored in one of 256 locations.
I've been bringing the Prophet to band practice, and we use it on Orgy, Nine Inch Nails, The Cars, Linkin Park, etc. We've also been messing around with Subdivisions by Rush, and I connected a piano sound module via MIDI to it last night and we worked on "Love is a Long Road" by Tom Petty.
I've messed around with keyboards for the past 15 years, but only now have I been serious about learning and practicing. It is quite sobering to start a new instrument, and be whisked back to the days of "uh, I don't know how to play a C#m7". I have to figure new chords out note for note right now.
I just picked up a Fishman Chorus pedal to fatten the sound up a bit more. Fishmans are popular among keyboardists, as they do a good job of not coloring the original tone since they are designed for acoustic guitars.
So... are there any other synth enthusiasts on the board?
- E.
That's the Prophet on the top tier. Below it is a Fatar 88-key midi controller.
Dave Smith was a key engineer at Sequential Circuits back in the late 70's and 80's. Sequential's Prophet 5 was an incredibly popular synth, as it was one of the first polysynths with patch memory storage (you couldn't save presets on old analog synths). It was used by the likes of Genesis, the Cars, INXS, Eurythmics, Duran Duran, etc. Sequential closed its doors in 1987. Dave later went to work for Korg before forming his own company.
The Prophet 08 has a sound similar to the Prophet 5, thanks to its utilization of Curtis analog chips, similar to the Prophet 5.
For those unfamiliar with analog synths, some information will be useful. Analog synths come in two flavors; monophonic and polyphonic. Monophonic means only one note can be played at a time (no chords). Polyphonic means multiple notes can be sounded simultaneously to form chords. On polyphonic synths, a single note is called a "voice". Therefore, a polysynth that can play a miximum of 8 notes at one time is said to have 8 voices. The Prophet 08 has 8 voices. The Prophet 5 had 5 voices.
Don't confuse "voice" with "preset sound". they are different things. Again, a voice basically means a single note.
Each voice on an analog synth will typically have either 2 or 3 oscillators. The Prophet has 2 oscillators per voice. An oscillator is basically a tone generator.
The waveform of each oscillator gives the voice its tonal characteristic. Typical waveforms are sawtooth, triangle, and square.
When creating a preset sound, you can use one or two waveforms for the sound. If using the same waveform, you typically detune them slightly from one another to fatten the sound. Or, you can use different waveforms, i.e., one sawtooth and one triangle and blend them for the sound you are seeking.
The sound you create using the two oscillators is shared across each voice (i.e., you cant create a different preset sound for each of the 8 voices simultaneously).
The Prophet 08 has a total of 16 oscillators (2 oscillators per each of the 8 voices). When running the synth in poly mode, each voice gets 2 oscillators. When running the synth in mono mode, the one available voice gets all 16 oscillators, which makes for a very rich, fat (phat, if you will) sound.
The Prophet 08 can run in a number of different configurations:
1) Full keyboard, one preset sound across all keys, polyphonic mode, 8 voices, 2 oscillators per voice.
1) Full keyboard, one preset sound across all keys, monophonic mode, 1 voices, 16 oscillators for the voice.
2) Split keyboard, one preset sound for the left half, a different preset sound for the right half. Each half has 4 voices, 2 oscillators each. However, you can opt to run each half of the split in mono or poly mode. A popular configuration is to run the bass keys in mono mode for fat bass sounds (8 oscillators for the one bass voice), while running the treble keys in poly mode for chords (4 available voices, 2 oscillators per voice).
3) "Layer "mode where two 4-voice preset sounds are stacked on top of each other, allowing a unique combinations of sounds. This allows you play play a maximum of 4 voices at once, with 4 oscillators per voice (2 oscillators for each preset sound).
Sound-wise, think late 70s, early 80's Rush (Moving Pictures and Signals Era), Van Halen (1984 era), Styx (pretty much all of their 70's and early 80s stuff). Rush, Van Halen, and Styx used Oberheim synths back in the day, but the Prophet sounds similar, as Oberheims used the same Curtis analog chips as the Prophet does.
This is not a "modeling" synth; no dog barks, hand claps, or piano sounds. Just good ol' synthesizer sounds.
To create a sound on an analog synth, you start with your oscillators, and customize the sound by adjusting up to three "envelopes", which control the attack, decay, sustain, and release of the note volume, filter volume, and pitch. The most common envelope is the note volume (also called Amp as it controls the amplifier for the note). Attack means how fast the note starts when you press the key (immediate, like an organ, or a slow swell). Decay is how fast the note falls down to the sustain level after you hit the note. Sustain controls the volume of the note while the key is being held. Release is how long it takes for the note to trail off after the key is released.
The aforementioned filter is a control that lets you control the harmonic content of the note. It doesn't change the pitch, but adjusts the levels of the harmonics in the note. You know that awesome opening note from Tom Sawyer? That is a filter sweep, meaning that the harmonic content is being adjusted over time. The filter envelope is used to adjust the sweep.
There are a number of other adjustments as well, such as the LFOs, or Low Frequency Oscillators. These are different oscillators than the ones used to give a voice its sound. The LFOs are used to give a voice vibrato. The LFOs can also be mapped to perform other function, such as volume, filter control, and more. The Prophet 08 has 4 LFOs, each of which can control a different tonal aspect of the voice's sound.
All in all, there's 50 some knobs and about 20 switches to tweak your sound. Your creations can be stored in one of 256 locations.
I've been bringing the Prophet to band practice, and we use it on Orgy, Nine Inch Nails, The Cars, Linkin Park, etc. We've also been messing around with Subdivisions by Rush, and I connected a piano sound module via MIDI to it last night and we worked on "Love is a Long Road" by Tom Petty.
I've messed around with keyboards for the past 15 years, but only now have I been serious about learning and practicing. It is quite sobering to start a new instrument, and be whisked back to the days of "uh, I don't know how to play a C#m7". I have to figure new chords out note for note right now.
I just picked up a Fishman Chorus pedal to fatten the sound up a bit more. Fishmans are popular among keyboardists, as they do a good job of not coloring the original tone since they are designed for acoustic guitars.
So... are there any other synth enthusiasts on the board?
- E.
I wish I did play keys though. Congrats on the Prophet!
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