Vintage Prophet5 VS Prophet 5 Rev4

[seqpro3]

For those of you that have a vintage prophet5 and the prophet5 rev 4 how  do you think the prophet 5 rev4 compares?
Thanks

[HockeBocke]

I have a Prophet-5 Rev.2 (1978) and a Prophet-10 Rev.4
Both looks great and sounds amazing in their own ways ....

P-5 has tuning issues with temperature fluctuations and OSC drifting in almost organic ways ..  Inspiring and annoying 
P-10 is more stable (after 5 minutes) and that's much better in long studio sessions when there's no need to press TUNE button and loose your current settings, for example ...

P-5 keybed is "floppy" and trigger at different hights (old J-wires are bent differently, and sometimes they break = no sound )
P-10 keybed is smooth and firm, altough a bit hard to press for aftertouch .... (Wich I don't use much anyway)

P-5 has only 40 memory "slots"
P-10 has 200  (+ 200 factory.)

P-10 has options that the P-5 lacks : Split, Stack mode, Velocity, Aftertouch, Vintage knob (I wish they upgrade it so you can choose "OSC drifting and / OR filter drifting" independently  ... )

That said, I'll never sell any of them 


Cheers !

[Polydata]

I have a rev 3.2 from 1981 and owned a rev 4 module for a period of time and even designed some sound banks for it. The rev 4 sound is definitely right in the ballpark of the prophet-5 sound, but is also different from a vintage rev 3, because the circuits and parts aren't identical - only the same can be the same. One big sonic difference to me is the new ones have more bass. The rev 3 prophet-5 sound is that classic sort of translucent, mid-rangey sound. I could tell them apart 9 times out of 10 in Alex Ball's blind test YouTube video, I only couldn't tell with a super high resonance patch. There's also the thru-hole construction and easy to obtain parts which make the old ones easily repairable, which is why they're still able to work great over 40 years later.

When people say things about vintage synths being unreliable, having tuning problems etc, it's almost always because they haven't been properly serviced and calibrated. The tuning on my rev 3.2 is absolutely rock solid, I never have to press "Tune" after it's warmed-up, and the Pratt-Reed keyboard is even, quiet and works wonderfully.

Having said that, the rev 4 is an awesome sounding instrument which I thought sounded great from the first time I played it, and for sure one of, if not the best current production synth you can buy (I haven't played an OB-X8 yet). The construction of the knobs and general outer feel is also fantastic.

[seqpro3]

That’s cool you have a vintage  synth. Thier something special. They don’t make them like that anymore.

[seqpro3]

I have a Prophet-5 Rev.2 (1978) and a Prophet-10 Rev.4
Both looks great and sounds amazing in their own ways ....

P-5 has tuning issues with temperature fluctuations and OSC drifting in almost organic ways ..  Inspiring and annoying 
P-10 is more stable (after 5 minutes) and that's much better in long studio sessions when there's no need to press TUNE button and loose your current settings, for example ...

P-5 keybed is "floppy" and trigger at different hights (old J-wires are bent differently, and sometimes they break = no sound )
P-10 keybed is smooth and firm, altough a bit hard to press for aftertouch .... (Wich I don't use much anyway)

P-5 has only 40 memory "slots"
P-10 has 200  (+ 200 factory.)

P-10 has options that the P-5 lacks : Split, Stack mode, Velocity, Aftertouch, Vintage knob (I wish they upgrade it so you can choose "OSC drifting and / OR filter drifting" independently  ... )

That said, I'll never sell any of them 


Cheers !

 I thought about the prophet 10 but decided to get the OBX8 instead since I wanted stereo outs.

[seqpro3]

I have a Prophet-5 Rev.2 (1978) and a Prophet-10 Rev.4
Both looks great and sounds amazing in their own ways ....

P-5 has tuning issues with temperature fluctuations and OSC drifting in almost organic ways ..  Inspiring and annoying 
P-10 is more stable (after 5 minutes) and that's much better in long studio sessions when there's no need to press TUNE button and loose your current settings, for example ...

P-5 keybed is "floppy" and trigger at different hights (old J-wires are bent differently, and sometimes they break = no sound )
P-10 keybed is smooth and firm, altough a bit hard to press for aftertouch .... (Wich I don't use much anyway)

P-5 has only 40 memory "slots"
P-10 has 200  (+ 200 factory.)

P-10 has options that the P-5 lacks : Split, Stack mode, Velocity, Aftertouch, Vintage knob (I wish they upgrade it so you can choose "OSC drifting and / OR filter drifting" independently  ... )

That said, I'll never sell any of them 


Cheers !

My Moog Voyager drifts as well but it has the sound.