It's been about a year since I dove in and purchased my P12 and I remember asking many of the same questions myself before I eventually decided to take the plunge. Now that a year has passed I must say that I'm very glad that I chose to purchase this synth.
My musical interests are fairly diverse and perhaps this is one reason why having the P12 has been the right fit for me. Currently, I'm working on a solo electronica project as well as playing piano in a jazz duo and a five piece jazz/rock band. I also recently got to work with a couple of other bands playing in a variety of styles from cacophonous free jazz to funk and soul. I don't mention all of this to toot my own horn here (no pun intended), but to say that in all of these projects the P12 has found a place in the music.
When I first got my Prophet I focused mostly on crafting solo pieces at home. At one point our band had a gig where we intended to do an entire set of improvised electronic music that featured our bass player on modular synth. I thought it was a perfect opportunity to get the P12 out of the home try it out at a gig. The group was pretty enthusiastic about its sound and so the next week I started bringing it to to practice sessions. More and more it's become a regular part of our set.
It's also worth saying that the P12 is my primary synth. The only other hardware synth I own is a Novation Ultranova - which was my first synth and I still use regularly. I'm not particularly interested in the esoteric debates about digital vs analog or whether this synth is more suited to this style of sound than another. I don't have lot of money to spend on instruments (though I'd happily collect a few more if I could
) and what I'm looking for is a versatile, professional quality instrument that sounds good to my ears. The P12 checks all of these boxes for me. For everyone that claims it can or can't create a certain sound there's sure to be someone that disagrees. I will say that for pretty much I every musical role I've needed it for I've been able to coax the sound I wanted from it. Big basses; funky leads; rich, evolving pads; weird glitchy mayhem; etc.. Can other synths do the same or better for certain roles? Probably. But for me the P12 has done these jobs quite well. To put it simply; I enjoy listening to the sounds this thing makes.
Really quickly, I wanted to touch on the question about the musical usefulness of the tuned feedback. I've used it on a few patches either at a static setting or with gentle modulation to get some edgy, slightly dissonant sounds. I'm by no means an expert on all the ways it could be used, but that feature really comes into it's own for me when performing live. During intense moments in improvised sections of songs the wild, almost out of control tones that can be pried from the synth with the feedback controls can really push the music into a chaotic territory that raises hairs. Those two knobs get a lot of action some nights
.
What I'm trying to offer here is less of an in depth technical review -- for that I'd check out Sound on Sound's review, but rather to share the more difficult to quantify impressions that come from getting to know an instrument. To sum it all up I'd say that my appreciation of the Prophet 12 has only increased with playing it. The people I've been playing with have really appreciated it's sound. It's a cool feeling getting to know an instrument and I'm psyched that I've had the opportunity to play a wide variety of music with this synth and I look forward to incorporating it into future projects.
-Adam
http://madebyrobotsmusic.com
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