I recently bought a TVP.
Here's my impression.
What I think misses from most reviews/opinions on synths on the web, is where the reviewer is coming from - sound/music wise. This is important. If someone thinks Herbie Hancock is the *hit and goes on to strongly recommend some synth, I'd probably think twice before rushing out buying it.
Me, I love "cold" classic synth music. Like Kraftwerk, John Carpenter, early Depeche Mode, Yazoo etc. I've been staring a lot at the Jupiter-8's, Prophet-5's etc. on Ebay, but they're really expensive (hey, I know the TVP is also expensive, but not 6-8000 dollars expensive).
So when the Prophet-6 was announced, I got it straight away. And then I came across some TVP videos on Youtube. I couldn't put my finger on it, but the TVP sounded exactly like my dream synth. The sound was just so ballsy and right. I love the fact that it does not have a digital effects section. That's one of my main pet peeves about the Prophet-6. It's just so unnecessary. I have all the external effects I need.
So the sound's covered. What else? The looks are stunning. And the stereo with two SEMS panned hard left and right is amazing as well.
One thing I really needed adjusting to, is that the TVP is not programmable. At first I thought it would take a long time adjusting. But actually, what I found was that I got a much more immediate experience. On the Prophet 6 it can get kinda confusing with all the presets at your disposal, especially without names. With no programmability you're kinda forced into working more immediate, record it straight away if you made a great sound, and then move on.
What's not so amazing is the wood cheeks. Kinda wimpy, if you ask me. Seems like some cheap wood with black paint.
The sequencer is a story all of it's own. As it stands now, I find it hard to use. I might not be right about this, but I really get the impression this sequencer is a one-man invention. It has some quirks that I feel would've been ironed out with some proper QA.
To make a sequence you have to turn each of the 16 cv knobs in succession. And if you've made a synth sound with no sustain, turning one of the 16 sequencer knobs you don't know what note you're landing on, until you step forward and then back (the note get's played when you return to it). I've asked Tom Oberheim about this, asking him if he can please enable note input via the keyboard. He says its in the works.
I'll try making a video at some point.