What lead you to DSI synths, and where did you come from?

[Lushr]

Such an interesting question, and probably helpful to DSI in their development of future products.

I first walked into a local synth store about 10 years ago with the intention of buying a moog voyager. But this place had EVERYTHING so I tried it all,
I hated the Roland SH101, it sounded like a mosquito.
I tried the DSI mophos, but they felt cold and brassy
I tried the moog voyager and found it had no sequencer or arp. (Nothing did back then!)
I bought the little Phatty stage 2. I felt it was meaty and warm. I would not buy the boxed red back one, only the store display one which sounded better to me.

The staff thought I was crazy. But atleast I had my arpeggiator!

Over the years this store has let me try things side by side, and I've ended up not buying a lot of things I was sure I'd want.

Then the prophet 6 came along. I loved Daves presentation at NAMM, the layout made sense (much better than the little Phatty) and I loved that it had slop, sequencer, arp, the lot!

I tried the prophet 5 in store and was duly impressed, this was the first DSI that sounded analogue to my ears. When I compared the prophet 6 I was impressed.

Once I got the money together I had the choice or prophet 6 over ob-6.

In the end I went with the more familiar sounds of the prophet 6

These in the end were the reasons:

• analogue pathways
• arpeggiator
• sequencer
• separate resonant hi and low pass filters
• digital effects if needed
• great layout of the interface
• no menu diving
• fantastic sound design in the patches

That's why I finally went DSI, also my dad died so I had the money to consider it for the first time in a long time.

[tumble2k]

I'm enjoying reading all of these synth stories!

I have always had the tendency to try to "get the most bang for the buck," which has caused me to make many bad decisions. I bought my first synth in college (1986): a Yamaha FB-01 four operator FM synth with no ability to edit sounds from the front panel. I soon (1987) traded it in for a Yamaha TX-81Z, which was a slightly better four operator FM synth. Still sucked, so I bought some digital effects, and the entire sound still sucked and I never played it. Later I sold it all off.

Years later (1996) I bought an Ensoniq MR-76. Again I could not edit sounds from the front panel. But the sounds were very good and the sequencer was awesome. I played it all of the time, and I'd still have this keyboard if it had not been stolen (2005). To replace it I went fully computer with a Novation X-Station 49 and Logic Pro 7. Never used it. Didn't like the sound of the X-Station or the soft synths. Having to boot up a computer to play music really took away a lot.

In the mean time (2013) I was traveling a lot so I bought a Teenage Engineering OP-1. This is a lot of fun, and I keep it near the bed in case I can't sleep at night. With the OP-1 I started enjoying the sound design part of synthesis. Next I built a Mutable Instruments Ambika, which sounded nice but the UI was very frustrating, especially coming from the very well-designed OP-1.

A year ago I made another bad decision and bought a Yamaha MOXF 6. Nice sounding keyboard, but the user interface made no sense. I played it for a while and then got bored. I remembered that back in my college days I bought the FB-01 because I couldn't afford a Sequential synth, so I sold both the Ambika and the Yamaha to get a DSI Prophet '08.

I think the main reason I chose the Prophet '08 is the price and the fully analog signal path because I have never owned a synth like that before.

I'm with MartinM. I intend to keep this keyboard for the rest of my life. If I get another synth it will be a Prophet 12, probably in module form so I can travel with it.

[Lushr]

I have always had the tendency to try to "get the most bang for the buck," which has caused me to make many bad decisions.

Amen to that! My first synth was a poly 61 secondhand for $300 but my luck ran dry after that. (Only just put it up for sale this week, my prophet fi ally helped me let go.

As for the prophet being my synth for life, I was going to say the same thing, except someone suggested I do a knob wobble test and I don't think the prophet 6 will last half as long as my korg polysix which is solid as a rock.... I take care of my equipment but I can t see my polysix having lasted 30 plus years of the knobs were that wobbly.

I suppose we shall see!

[Manbird]

I started as an SCI kid before becoming a DSI adult! My first synth was a Pro One, bought when I was 15. A few years later I traded a DX-7 for a Prophet 5 (rev 2), which the music store was more than happy to part with. In fact, they felt so bad for the trade (Are you SURE you want this dusty old thing?), they threw in a used Roland TR-707! Sadly, I couldn't afford to repair the P5 when it finally died and I sold it for parts. One of the great regrets if my life. Anyway, I'm now a proud Prophet 6 owner. Love it. It's in Berlin where I live and I'm back in California where I'm from. Thankfully, my girlfriend here has a P5, so I'm in-between the best of both worlds. Before I left Berlin I recorded loads of P6 tracks for the album I'm making, and it's fascinating to add P5 to those same songs now. I find it easier to conjure immediate, suited sounds on the P5 - the 6 is fussier for me, filter-wise - but having the two instruments on the same album is thrilling. They play well together. Oh, and I traded my first Pro One for a Micromoog, but then traded that Micromoog for a second Pro One, which I still have. (And I bought my second Micromoog not long back.) No more trading and no more selling for parts!

[proteus-ix]

I started really learning more about synths just over a year ago.  Previously I had been learning drums, but since I'm in an apartment I couldn't play acoustic, and it was bumming me out to only play my electronic kit because when I would go for lessons I just got so much more out of the acoustic.  Prior to that, I grew up with a piano in the house, had learned to play Star Wars as a kid (1981ish), later on played trombone and coronet in middle school band, ditched that for art class and skateboarding, was exposed to so much music through Thrasher Magazine and their Skate Rock compilations, taught myself guitar in 8th grade, took lessons for a few years, pinch-hit on bass for a few bands (I had a knack for it because I was always more into grooves than leads), then got bored with "normal" instruments as I devled more into industrial and around '93 more experimental stuff (COIL, Hafler Trio, Merzbow, Illusion of Safety etc).  I never really knew anyone who made that kind of music, or where to begin, and I was a poor philosophy student, so... fast forward 15 years of tech sales, a marriage and divorce, and now I finally have some money and can do what I want with it! 

So summer before last I Googled "Skinny Puppy synths", and it was all downhill from there.   

Ironically, I now realize that a huge part of SP's sound has much less to do with synths proper and much more to do with samples, processed percussion and Oghr's crazy vocals.  But in the meantime I discovered that another of my favorites, Lassigue Bendthaus / Atom / Senor Coconut / Uwe Schmidt, used an Oberheim Matrix 1000 on his "Matter" album, so I started searching for OB sounds.

Then later an online friend (Earmonkey Music) put up a Youtube vid of his OB-6, and I surfed that to the Prophet 6/OB6 comparison video.  I put it on in the background while I did other stuff, and literally EVERY time a sound made me stop what I was doing to see which one it was, it was the OB6 (I later discovered that is one of Steve Albini's studio tricks; no doubt I am the next Steve Albini).  I got lucky with a nice commission check, and here I am. 

[Telstar]

Chvrches.

[chysn]

Chvrches.

I know, right?!

[Chimponaut]

Got a Christmas present called the Sound Gizmo in 1980. Still have it. Bought my first synth in 1986 with paper route money. Casio CZ-3000. (Long gone) Then I grabbed a used Minimoog in 1987 for $100.00. Still have it but it needs some cosmetic love. Fast forward through many synths and samplers to today. I run a small project studio catering to the Hiphop and R&B markets.

Current Hardware Synths:
OB-6 Desktop, Sub 37, Minimoog (Original), Nordlead2, MS-2000, Triton Le

Current Soft Synths:
Nuendo with Nek, Zebra2, Ace, SH-2, MS-20, Monoploy, Monark, Sem V.

The Arturia Sem V is what lead me here. That synth sounds pretty good for a softy and it introduced me to the Sem Filter. Had designs on a Sem Pro and then the OB-6 hit the shelves.

[LoboLives]

Horror soundtracks from the 80s. Mostly John Carpenter's use or both the Prophet 5 and Prophet 10 plus a plethora of other composers and soundtracks (Maniac, Day Of The Dead, Creepshow, The Boogeyman etc). I have a Kurzweil 2600XS as well as a Roland FA-08 and eventually I made the decision to get a Moog Sub 37 which I still use. It was one of the hardest decisions which Prophet to get. While I admired the ability to do splits and layers and five octaves I realizes that a lot of the composers I loved worked with limitations and I felt that through limitations it challenged me to be more creative so I got a Prophet 6. This is when the Canadian dollar was really low so it cost me over $4k CDN due to the exchange rate but it has become my favorite piece of music gear. I've set about to try to create some patches from soundtracks I love and I'll be getting a Youtube video together showcasing these in the near future.

I am excited to see what DSI comes up with next because to be honest, other than the Tempest I haven't really been too blown away by their other gear. I'm more interested in an Oberheim Two Voice Pro over an OB6 for example. I hope that Dave actually steps away from the analog realm and maybe tries to do a modern Prophet VS synth or an FM based synth..I know he did the Poly Evolver in the past but it would be nice to see him do something different again....because other than a modern Prophet with dual keyboards (ala Prophet 10) or something along the lines of an ARP Quadra, I don't really know how much more he can do in the analog realm.

[eXode]

I come from a pure computer background, with no musical training. I was introduced to Jean Michel Jarre, Vangelis, and Kitaro by an older relative when I was young, and their music is ultimately what sparked my love for synthesizers.

I started my journey with ProTracker on the Amiga A500, and later transitioned to Fast Tracker II on the PC, which in turn led me to realtime software synthesizers, as they became more available (shareware, etc). I have learned synthesizers completely from just trial and error, putting the pieces together in my inquisitive mind.

Propellerheads Reason was brought to my attention and I clicked with it's hardware rack paradigm. It has been my main program since 2004. It was during this time that I somehow learned of DSI and the mono evolver desktop.

Next to the evolver I've also owned the tetra and the PEK. I liked them very much but couldn't fit them into my software environment, since Reason didn't offer audio recording or MIDI sequencing at the time. The PEK in particular had to go because I was bitten by the modular bug at the time, and needed cash to get more modules.

Reason has since then gotten both audio recording and MIDI out, and this have had me looking at hardware again.

I'm waiting to see what NAMM will bring, but the OB 6 and the Prophet 08 are both hot candidates for me.

AXS, I believe it had another name then, was one of the early realtime softsynths (for DOS!) that I became acquainted with.

[eXode]

Perhaps worth mentioning as well is that I've done my fair share of patch programming. I've offered two banks of patches for the Tetra (also converted to P'08 and MoPho) on the old dsiforum site. The Tetra banks were posted on this forum as well.

I've also done factory presets for various software plugins, including u-he ACE, Synapse Audio The Legend, Sonic Charge Echobode, as well as factory presets for various Rack Extensions (Rack Extensions are propellerheads plugin format for the Reason platform that was introduced a couple of years ago).

[Mr Kay]

I'm a guitar & bass player, mostly playing in coldwave bands, so I was very likely to be interested by synths.

My first synth was a Korg MS-2000, a very funny synth, but I was frustrated by it's 4 voices polyphony, then I bought a Nord Rack 2X, and that's what led me to the Prophet sounds.

A few years later, I tried a PEK in a store and I was blown away, but I didn't buy it because 4 voices only. Tried a Prohet'08 later, not very convinced as it was a kinda stripped down PEK, then came the P'12 which fitted perfectly for my need : enough voices, 61 keys, splittable, powerfull, and, last but not least, as FUN to use as my MS 

[bluetinstar]

My first synthesiser was a Sequential Circuits Pro One that I bought in 1981/2. And now some 35 years later, I have just bought a DSI Pro 2.  I have also added an Arturia Drumbrute to my sound making arsenal, and this seems to 'play nicely' with the Pro 2.
For the last few years I have been using 'softies' (Spectrasonics, Native Instruments, etc) in my recordings, so it is like a breath of fresh air to start incorporating some real Analogue (? Hybrid ?) noises into my compositions again !

[megamarkd]

Got my first DSI synth in 2003, a first run Evolver desktop.  It's taken me 13yrs to order the upgrade chip, but I really never was too fussed about not have the MIDI CC's or being able to send the sequencer notes out.  I also own a Tetra.
I found out about the Evolver via the Waldorf user email forum (amazing forum, I miss it still...).  I owned (and still do) a Microwave XTk and a Pulse at that stage.  I took to the Evolver easily due to it's matrix interface being the same as used on the Pulse.
My first synth was a "broken" MS-20 in 1988.  I paid $12.50 for it and "fixed" it (I made a basic patch) in the first 5min.  Since the I have gathered a fairly large collection of gear ranging from more Waldorf synth, a few more Korg boxes, a drummachine or five (the Roland ones have all broken though), some samplers and many sequencers.
Sometimes I make a noise that is musical...

[Shambler]

I've always been into romplers or so I thought, then I realised that most of the time I'd select a piano patch and load up a few soft synths on top.

I was using Zebra2/Diva/Alchemy more than my actual hardware synth.

I love the sound of Diva and realised that what made it great is that it tries to emulate a zero delay filter...what if I bought a keyboard which had digital oscillators but a real analogue filter?!

So here I am now with a Prophet 12 and loving the fact that my hardware synth will now be a major part of my compositions rather than just selecting a piano on it which I can replace with EW Pianos or other anyway

[chysn]

I love the sound of Diva and realised that what made it great is that it tries to emulate a zero delay filter...what if I bought a keyboard which had digital oscillators but a real analogue filter?!

What's a zero delay filter?

[DavidDever]

I love the sound of Diva and realised that what made it great is that it tries to emulate a zero delay filter...what if I bought a keyboard which had digital oscillators but a real analogue filter?!

What's a zero delay filter?

https://www.xils-lab.com/pages/Zero-Delay-Feedback-Filters.html

[Shambler]

I love the sound of Diva and realised that what made it great is that it tries to emulate a zero delay filter...what if I bought a keyboard which had digital oscillators but a real analogue filter?!

What's a zero delay filter?

https://www.xils-lab.com/pages/Zero-Delay-Feedback-Filters.html

Thanks David, from that link 'Oversampling a lot to reduce the delay to a ridiculous time, predictive algorithms, or going a other way, which might seen as preferable for multiple reasons, the most important one being the very heavy CPU cost involved by most of the other solutions.'

DIVA sounds great because it uses predictive algorithms which constantly predict and refine the prediction in real-time but sometimes this comes at an extremely high CPU cost.
My quad core i7 struggles on some sounds so it's nice to be able to get similar and in some cases better sound by pairing DIVA up with a P12.

[PINKP5GUY]

I'm a guitarist by nature, and I began my journey as an electronic technician when a friend told me about job opportunities at Sequential Circuits in 1981. I worked as the Lead Technician for seven years. Only a handful of people know the experience of having a job where you get to test, play and repair synthesizers for a living. I built my own P5 and can visualize waveshapes in my mind from the constant reinforcement of viewing an oscilloscope for those years on the bench. More importantly I've maintained my friendship with the folks from SCI. I saw Dave and Andrew at NAMM and congratulated them for the success of DSI. The booth was very popular, a good sign that tactile synthesis is vital to the modern musician/ composer.

[Oekoumene]

The tempest. Superlative transient control, analog signal path, mod matrix. Will eventually get around the p6 and ob6, love that analog sound!