Isn't the whole add-on approach to synthesis contrary to the philosophy Dave Smith has promoted for years? He's often criticized the use of synthesizers to merely imitate traditional instruments.
I can’t imagine using the Prophet X just to play back samples of other instruments unchanged, whether the origin is acoustic or synthesized. The whole appeal of the beast to me is having access to a wide array of raw aural textures that I can re-shape to my whim using a variety of means at my disposal. That’s what the filter, audio rate modulation, and other tools are there for.
It’s a matter of being able to carve something new out of found material, like a sculptor with a block of marble or granite, working with the shape and texture of what you have to fashion something new.
And now this add-on business, with the use of a synthesizer to imitate other iconic synthesizers? It's a shocking reversal.
I’m baffled by the parade of sampled synthesizer presets, too. What made more sense to me is adding variety to the palette of raw samples with material that is waiting to be shaped into something. The classic sawtooth wave is the perfect example. Presented raw, it’s not particularly appealing, but take a filter to it and suddenly you find there’s a wealth of harmonics to cut away and in ways that evolve over time. There are things you can’t do with a single low pass filter, though, and that’s where I’ve found it invaluable to have a variety of subtly different sawtooth waves from other synths - not because I’m trying to recreate their sound, but because it gives me variety.
The filter I’m using to reshape these core oscillator is likely very different from the original design, so I’m exploring new territory with just one sampled oscillator. Layer a second one from a different synth altogether, and carve into the sum of these waves, and I’m definitely somewhere unique. Now add organic sounds to the palette: the sound of surf instead of white noise, or capture the unique attack of a bow hitting strings captured in stereo for some subtle binaural cues, and blend that into a synthesized wave and I’m taking the core concept of the Roland D50 into new territory, too. It’s not limited to recreation but works well for exploration.
If you look at the factory samples of the Prophet X you see much more of this mindset, and I would expect that’s where Dave had more influence. Presumably 8Dio is making their own decisions when it comes to Add On content now, and it’s much less diverse than what was hinted at by the ad copy posted when the instrument was revealed. That’s their prerogative, of course, but it isn’t what I was looking forward to the most.