I own the Prophet X for a week now and I’m very impressed by the UI, the build quality and most important, the sound! I won’t write a review here, because I mostly agree with the findings of Lady Gaia. I do want to mention that I was a bit underwhelmed by the presets. Although they give a good impression about the sonic territories of this beast, I simply don’t like the sounds of the presets or they won’t fit into my music. But when making my own sounds I simply fell in love.
Yes, it is very expensive! Of course, it is possible to get the same sound quality (or maybe better) with software synths/samplers like Kontakt and Omnisphere. But, how beautiful these engines sound, it never feels like a real instrument. The Prophet does! Maybe it is possible with the latest incarnation of Omnisphere, where they build in the hardware integration, but personally, I hate computers when making music. I’m a software engineer and after spending a whole day behind my screen it is quite liberating to make music with a hardware synth.
I already own the Prophet 12 Desktop, so the PX does feel very familiar. The oscillators sound very much the same, but the filters make them sound very different. I love the new filter of the PX, but I also do like the Curtis filter, it is just a different flavor. Nevertheless, the sweet spot of the PX is much bigger then the P12. It took me some time to find the strengths of the P12, which is not the case with the PX.
When comparing the two synths there are some things I want to share…
What I like about the PX probably the most is the stereo signal path. Even when only using the oscillators, the fact you can use them in stereo gives so much more dept and space into the sound. No fake stereo with the help of effects will give the same results. For me, the weakness of the P12 is mostly the mono signal path.
Of course, I like to have the sample instruments which gives so much extra depth to the sounds. I tend to use the sample instruments as extra synth oscillators and not to mimic the real thing. The VS samples are incredible useful in that respect. For workstation sounds I use the Kurzweil Forte.
What I like about the P12 is the fact you have more control about the velocity. With the PX it is just on/off, although with the expense of a modulation slot you can do the same. I prefer the pot button, instead of a switch. So yes, I lose some modulation slots when I do want to control the velocity amounts. The P12 has dedicated FM and AM (soft?) buttons, so again, no loss of modulation slots. I also like the HP filter (with resonance), I really miss it on the PX. To have it available in the effects section is simply not the same.
The UI has some quirkiness, funny enough, the P12 Desktop is much clearer in that respect.
I won’t mention them here but will report them to DSI support directly.
To conclude... I’m very happy with this instrument. It is very inspiring and gives a lot of joy!
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