The New Sequential Prophet-5 and Prophet-10

[Christopher]

... it also creates a bigger problem for sound designers that are working with a Prophet-10.  They are either faced with making everything a 5 voice patch, or left guessing what a 8-voice P10 patch behaves like when played on a P5 and that just seems like an unnecessary nightmare for me.

I can see your point. But the perspective of a sound designer who creates patches for other people is just one of many possible use cases.

I am thinking about this more from the perspective of somebody who wants to create their own patches to perform them live. Obviously, I wouldn't want to change any global settings between songs on stage. That just isn't practical.
So if it were a global setting, I'd probably set it once and then leave it indefinitely. In other words, for somebody like me, having this as a global setting wouldn't really be any different than just making a purchase decision to get either the P5 or P10.

[LPF83]

... it also creates a bigger problem for sound designers that are working with a Prophet-10.  They are either faced with making everything a 5 voice patch, or left guessing what a 8-voice P10 patch behaves like when played on a P5 and that just seems like an unnecessary nightmare for me.

I can see your point. But the perspective of a sound designer who creates patches for other people is just one of many possible use cases.

I am thinking about this more from the perspective of somebody who wants to create their own patches to perform them live. Obviously, I wouldn't want to change any global settings between songs on stage. That just isn't practical.
So if it were a global setting, I'd probably set it once and then leave it indefinitely. In other words, for somebody like me, having this as a global setting wouldn't really be any different than just making a purchase decision to get either the P5 or P10.

I can see the gigging perspective, but for live gigs, the extra distortion / volume fluctuation or other potential issues from too many lingering notes (as well as the note stealing from not having enough) isn't usually as big of a deal as it is in the mix...  Ancillary noise sources like people singing along or whatever that are perfectly acceptable live on stage would be considered a tragedy if they occurred during mixing.   So, because of the high tolerance for imperfection while playing live, the need to worry about 5 vs 10 voices isn't as prominent.

[DaveP6guy]

Time for a little flashback. Spot the differences:

Rev1


Rev2


Rev3


Rev4

Every one of them gorgeous. One of the Rev4s on YouTube looks a bit like that rev1. That rev 3 has lovely wood grain too.

[DaveP6guy]

Prophet 5 or Prophet 10?  That's the question many folks here will wonder.   With only an $800 difference for twice the voices, it's a bargain right?  Maybe.

What I would recommend to anyone is to try a soft synth with adjustable voice count, and do some extensive playing with the types of sounds you plan to work with.  I did this using Repro5 by U-He with pad sounds with long release times.

Without question, the right answer for me was "5 voices wins".   The issue is when I put it on 8 voices, one or two notes tend to hang around a little too long on chord changes, which leads to a slightly muddy off key sound.  This would be even worse on a true analog with looser tuning.   With 5 voices the note stealing actually improved the sound of the playing by making sure the least relevant note always fell out of the queue.  This is also the same limitation most vintage music made with a Prophet was subject to.

Your mileage may vary, but I highly recommend doing some experimentation before deciding.

Actually the 6 voices of the P6/OB-6 are ideal for my playing style, but it wouldn't be an authentic Prophet-5 with a sixth note!   More voices may be better for your particular needs, but sometimes less is more.  Now if someone tells me the P10 is going to have user-defined voice counts as a feature, then I'm all in on a P10.  Otherwise it will be a P5 for me.

That's why I love the Prophet-6 and OB-6.  You can have fairly long release tails especially from a moderate to low sustain level and you hear just the right number if old notes lingering. Same with the arpeggiator that allows the last 6 voice releases to be heard. It creates so many beautiful added notes and chords into an arpeggios but allows the harmonies to flow xin to each other gorgeously. In that way, I'm glad they are not 8 voices. There's a particular way that these two instruments can be used that pleases me immensely. I prefer 6 voices to 5 definitely  but if I had a new 5/10 I would have the P10. Especially if you can either 1. Have a simple 5 voice mode or 2. Have a user definable mo if voices or 3. Stack two lots of 5 in dual mode but the 3rd is not really necessary for me because I'm into less is more. I love single oscillator sounds on the OB6 for instance.

[Sacred Synthesis]

This is one more reason I'm excited about re-issues.  I love the appearances of these vintage instruments.  When did we stop appreciating rich grainy glossy wood and start preferring hard cold plastic and metal?  There are so many synthesizers I'd like to try, and might even enjoy playing, but a severe modernist poverty of aesthetics leads me elsewhere.  I simply will not make music on an ugly instrument.  Generally, DSI/Sequential designs are excellent, but I'd like to see even more wood in future instruments. 

[LoboLives]

Marcus V Warner doing a nice Prophet 6/Prophet 5 comparison.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24flDzB9nBI

[Shaw]

When did we stop appreciating rich grainy glossy wood and start preferring hard cold plastic and metal?

1983 with the Yamaha DX-7... after the success of which, Yamaha, Roland and Korg flooded the markets with synthesizers in plastic and metal cases.

[Sacred Synthesis]

I was kinda being rhetorical, but I'm sure you're right.  That was just about the time when I got out of synthesis, until the significant year of 2008.  I left with the wood and returned with it.

[Shaw]

I was kinda being rhetorical, but I'm sure you're right.  That was just about the time when I got out of synthesis, until the significant year of 2008.  I left with the wood and returned with it.

“I left with the wood and returned with it.”
— I’m sure somewhere in the world, there is an adult video by that name.

On a more serious note, my pre-order for a Prophet 5 is in with Sweetwater.

Anyone with some grilled crow, I’m happy to eat it.  But the order is placed with the full intention of snagging a module when they become available to create a stereo, bitimbral pair.

Also, because I only room for a certain number of synths and something must go... somewhat ironically, when this rotation happens, my only two digital synths with both have the Prophet name on them: 12 and X.

[Sacred Synthesis]

That's a good plan, in my opinion.  Congratulations on the two.

[LoboLives]

It is kind of odd seeing requests for things like LFO sync. I thought people buying this didn’t need fancy modern features?

[A Thousand Eyes]

Meh, the only thing I'll really miss is the ability to apply a negative envelope amount.

[Shaw]

Has anyone else pre-ordered?  And if so, what date are you expecting?

[ddp]

i ordered a Prophet-10 through Sweetwater, second week of October is what they told me.

[Shaw]

i ordered a Prophet-10 through Sweetwater, second week of October is what they told me.

You are toward the front of the line.  I was told mid-November for my P5 order.  That’s what I get for waffling...

[ddp]

It was coached in a little, you know, I ordered my Moog One through them too.

[Christopher]

Meh, the only thing I'll really miss is the ability to apply a negative envelope amount.

It may sound odd, but to me the lack of negative envelope amount is actually quite appealing. That's because it means that the full travel of that knob is availlable to give fine and precise control over the modulation amount. My main pet peeve with the P6 is that dialing in the right filter envelope amount can sometimes be incredibly fiddly.

[Paul Dither]

Size comparison:

[Shaw]

Size comparison:

Big knobs.... I’m a fan!

[Christopher]

Big knobs.... I’m a fan!

+1!