Yes, it's almost a piece of cake to make decent sounds with the Prophet 12, but it did take the old stereo treatment to get it to an acceptable point. As is, I found it rather lifeless, just as I had found the Prophet '08 lifeless years ago. So, I used the two pair of output jacks to create a stereo signal, and that brought it to life, although it also obviously reduced it to a six-voice instrument. It was worth it, though.
Most surprising of all, I found the Character section not to be useful in creating the sorts of patches I use. This is contrary to what I've read from others over and over again. Allegedly, Girth and Air were essential in creating pads with any degree of warmth and old school character. By no means. In the pads I was designing - in which warmth and prettiness were foremost - I found the section to work much like an EQ, with Decimation, Drive, and Hack adding much as the terms imply. Sorry, not for me. I could certainly see how the whole Character section could be used in creating very different types of sounds, but I preferred to leave everything at "0," as I did in the above recording.
If I were to buy a Prophet 12, it would be only with the intention of pairing it with a P12 Module, in the usual way. But with this arrangement, I have to say, it would be a superb synthesizer.
The real issue for me is, which will be the better instrument, the Prophet 12 or the Poly Evolver Keyboard? I think everyone who wants to speak about DSI synthesizers as if they know something should be required first to play for a few hours an eight-voice Poly Evolver Keyboard with good programs. Among the whole line-up, I still say that the PEK is the exceptional instrument - so much so that I find myself always trying to emulate its strengths on other synthesizers. For me, that's the only test the Prophet 12 must pass: could it fill a PEK's spot? There's just nothing like a Poly Evolver. That's why the question - Will Dave ever issue a PEK II? - remains a question on this forum. I realize the standard reply is always that the P12 is that PEK II, but I have to call that claim debatable. The problem is, with DSI, Dave started out very very strong.