Thoughts of those who have had Prophet X a while

Thoughts of those who have had Prophet X a while
« on: October 09, 2020, 02:16:26 PM »
I have been thinking about the Prophet X for quite a while now, but now that it's been out a while I was wondering what people's thoughts were on it?

Has it inspired you to create things above and beyond what you would get from a 'normal' (sic) synth?

What are people's genuine feelings about support in regards samples etc? I looked through the packs 8DIO have done since release and it seems to be samples of other synths and a piano - which seem like really uninspired choices to me, but perhaps there are other sources I am not aware of?

Finally how has putting your own samples in the machine been like? Is it straightforward / intuitive, any major limitations?

Apologies these are quite generic questions, but looking forward to hearing people's thoughts!

LoboLives

Re: Thoughts of those who have had Prophet X a while
« Reply #1 on: October 09, 2020, 03:36:58 PM »
It’s been an absolute game changer for me. So much so I’ve decided to purchase a Prophet XL to accompany my Prophet X.

I’ve loaded sounds from Fairlight, Synclavier, DX7, D50, Emulator II, Ensoniq SQ1, PPG Wave sounds (all from Cyborg Studio) sounds like harp glissandos, waterphone effects, gongs and cymbal Effects, weather and nature sounds like wind and rain, forest ambience, Swamp ambience, film dialogue, serial killer interviews, Godzilla monster roars, Predator heat vision sound effects, army battle sound effects, it’s been an absolute breeze to do using Sample Robot Pro.

I can’t wait to start sampling Orchestral VSTs into it like East West Hollywood Brass.

I haven’t even made a dent in the memory.

LPF83

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Re: Thoughts of those who have had Prophet X a while
« Reply #2 on: October 09, 2020, 04:39:01 PM »
I can’t wait to start sampling Orchestral VSTs into it like East West Hollywood Brass.

Even though this is way out of my genre, it sounds like a lot of fun.  Isn't just the VST for that like $900 though?
Prophet 10, OB-X8m, Prophet 6, OB-6, 3rd Wave, Prophet 12m, Prophet Rev2-16, Toraiz AS-1, Pro 2, Virus TI2, Moog SlimPhatty, Hydrasynth desktop, Korg Minilogue XDm, Roland JP-8080, Roland System-8, Roland SPD-SX SE / Octapad, Maschine, Cubase/Ableton/Akai MPC

LoboLives

Re: Thoughts of those who have had Prophet X a while
« Reply #3 on: October 09, 2020, 05:07:06 PM »
I can’t wait to start sampling Orchestral VSTs into it like East West Hollywood Brass.

Even though this is way out of my genre, it sounds like a lot of fun.  Isn't just the VST for that like $900 though?

As a composer...to be able to have those sounds ready to go in a hardware synth is a godsend but yes EastWest is fairly expensive.
« Last Edit: October 09, 2020, 05:24:13 PM by LoboLives »

LPF83

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Re: Thoughts of those who have had Prophet X a while
« Reply #4 on: October 09, 2020, 05:57:27 PM »
I can’t wait to start sampling Orchestral VSTs into it like East West Hollywood Brass.

Even though this is way out of my genre, it sounds like a lot of fun.  Isn't just the VST for that like $900 though?

As a composer...to be able to have those sounds ready to go in a hardware synth is a godsend but yes EastWest is fairly expensive.

I can definitely see that, for film work etc. 

My earliest exposure to samplers was the S10, the least expensive sampling option I could find at the time (in late 80s I paid $250 used from a dealer who had one on consignment).  Very limited compared to today's gear, put proprietary slow-loading floppy disks into the drive to load 12 bit samples, or sample from your own source. 

Fun to see Espen re-explore it:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIP9Yy6HEsE

Even though a low-end intro to sampling (hey I was a teenager at the time), it was fascinating and sounded remarkably good relative to VSTs of today (Espen notes this about the low end a couple of times in the vid).

Prophet 10, OB-X8m, Prophet 6, OB-6, 3rd Wave, Prophet 12m, Prophet Rev2-16, Toraiz AS-1, Pro 2, Virus TI2, Moog SlimPhatty, Hydrasynth desktop, Korg Minilogue XDm, Roland JP-8080, Roland System-8, Roland SPD-SX SE / Octapad, Maschine, Cubase/Ableton/Akai MPC

Re: Thoughts of those who have had Prophet X a while
« Reply #5 on: October 10, 2020, 05:25:01 AM »
The Prophet X and I was off to a rought start. I bought one, but it died minutes after I turned it on. So I returned it and then had to wait several months for a new production run. And then the new unit I finally received was also faulty and I had to replace the motherboard. A mix of bad luck and less than stellar QA from Sequential, I guess, but with some frustration mitigated by excellent technical support. I now have still have a (probably irrational) lack of trust in the PX and therefore use it as a studio synth only.

It sounds amazingly good, though. Just about everything I create on it inspires me. Even simple patches that would be boring on my other gear somehow sounds lovely on the PX. I don't know what is going on, but I like it a lot. :)

I'm not at all impressed by 8DIO. In my opinion their sample packs have been boring and expensive for what they offer. Personally I don't get the synth samples-thing at all. It is the kind of sounds the PX already is good at without samples. Also, afaik they never finished the sample import software they promised (which doesn't matter since LadyGaia made an excellent tool instead). I haven't really paid attention to what the status is there, so I might be wrong, but if they still haven't delivered what they said they were going to make, that feels downright dishonest to me.

Re: Thoughts of those who have had Prophet X a while
« Reply #6 on: October 10, 2020, 12:02:37 PM »
My PXL has been the center of my studio rig since day 1. I've done my own extensive sampling and loaded it all in. Never bothered with the 8DIO stuff. The sound could never be called vanilla.


Re: Thoughts of those who have had Prophet X a while
« Reply #7 on: April 14, 2021, 02:40:38 PM »
The Prophet X and I was off to a rought start. I bought one, but it died minutes after I turned it on. So I returned it and then had to wait several months for a new production run. And then the new unit I finally received was also faulty and I had to replace the motherboard. A mix of bad luck and less than stellar QA from Sequential, I guess, but with some frustration mitigated by excellent technical support. I now have still have a (probably irrational) lack of trust in the PX and therefore use it as a studio synth only.

It sounds amazingly good, though. Just about everything I create on it inspires me. Even simple patches that would be boring on my other gear somehow sounds lovely on the PX. I don't know what is going on, but I like it a lot. :)

I'm not at all impressed by 8DIO. In my opinion their sample packs have been boring and expensive for what they offer. Personally I don't get the synth samples-thing at all. It is the kind of sounds the PX already is good at without samples. Also, afaik they never finished the sample import software they promised (which doesn't matter since LadyGaia made an excellent tool instead). I haven't really paid attention to what the status is there, so I might be wrong, but if they still haven't delivered what they said they were going to make, that feels downright dishonest to me.

Interesting - thanks for this. I am also not a fan of the synth sampling thing, and I don't get why 8Dio's Prophet X packs are all synths.. especially as they seem to have some really interesting packs available for Kontakt. And also agree about them not seeming to deliver what they were planning to. I do wonder if the Prophet X just hasn't sold as expected, so perhaps not worth their investment? That would make sense to me, as they're certainly not a massive company!

I guess the thing I don't get is that they have the samples there, and they release stuff for Kontakt.. why not simply make a Prophet X version too? I wonder if it's technically difficult.. but then again it seems people are loading their own samples all the time!

Re: Thoughts of those who have had Prophet X a while
« Reply #8 on: April 14, 2021, 02:43:29 PM »
It’s been an absolute game changer for me. So much so I’ve decided to purchase a Prophet XL to accompany my Prophet X.

I’ve loaded sounds from Fairlight, Synclavier, DX7, D50, Emulator II, Ensoniq SQ1, PPG Wave sounds (all from Cyborg Studio) sounds like harp glissandos, waterphone effects, gongs and cymbal Effects, weather and nature sounds like wind and rain, forest ambience, Swamp ambience, film dialogue, serial killer interviews, Godzilla monster roars, Predator heat vision sound effects, army battle sound effects, it’s been an absolute breeze to do using Sample Robot Pro.

I can’t wait to start sampling Orchestral VSTs into it like East West Hollywood Brass.

I haven’t even made a dent in the memory.

This sounds like the kind of thing I want to do too..did you ever have any luck with the East West stuff, and if so was it easy / hard to do? I ask because I have East West pianos (never heard a better sampled piano than the Steinway on that pack) but it does require on of those iLook dongle things to enable it to work.

Also apologies all for the very late response here, I asked these questions  months ago - but thanks for the answers!

Re: Thoughts of those who have had Prophet X a while
« Reply #9 on: April 16, 2021, 12:14:22 PM »
I must confess to not having gotten as deep into the PX as I would have wanted to by now (but my work life has been absolutely crazy), but I love the PX and the sound I get out of it. I don't think the presets really show it off in a good light - at least not for what I was looking for, and I have said before, it took me ages to find some examples of the PX on the internet that made me go "wow", and then the tough choice was Prophet 12 or PX as I found both on sale for a bargain price. I decided on the PX in the end and am really pleased with it. I just need to spend more time with it.
Regards
Derek

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Prophet X, Yamaha Montage 7, SY99, TG77, EX5R, AN1x, FS1r, Motif Rack ES (with PLG150-AN and PLG150-VL), Korg Kronos X61, Nord G2 Engine, and way too many VSTis!

Re: Thoughts of those who have had Prophet X a while
« Reply #10 on: April 22, 2021, 05:47:42 AM »
I have had my Prophet X for nearly 2 years, it replaced my Nord Wave. It is a brilliant synth and it is capable of anything that you throw at it, and so much more. My only disappointment is the 8DIO add ons, the samples are fine, but its the presets which come with the add ons which are poor.

It would be nice to have External SSD support for the Prophet X. But I have asked, they have looked into it, and it looks like it won't be happening. And that is a shame.

But all in all it is an amazing synth, and I have just bought an Arturia PolyBrute to accompany it.

Both are brilliant, and the palette of sound I have at my disposal is incredible.

If anyone is on the fence about getting a Prophet X. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Russ