Prophet 5 rev 4 vs OB-X8

[LPF83]

Hi there, i wanted to ask to the owners of those two synths what they love about them and what they use them for. i mean, the musical contex in which you use those synths. For example: i think that P10 is godly for deep house.

I'd like to know too where do you think that the differences are, sonically speaking. For sure they share the same sonic territory in some areas but i'd rather focus in the differences than on the similarities of the two

I think the feedback you get on this is going to vary quite a bit, so keep in mind this is one man's perspective that's focusing only on the differences... as you noted, they can cover similar sonic territory in a lot of cases.

One strength I find of the P10 is that it has a characteristic that can sound a lot like acoustic instruments, for example a guitar or a saxophone.  There is probably nothing that really sounds like a sax except a sax, but the Rev 4 can hit these certain combinations of tone which bring some of the best tonal elements of the sax into the sound.  Most of my synths cannot sound like Robert Smith of The Cure playing guitar, but my P10 can.

A strength of the OB-X8 is that you almost have to be trying to not find a sweet spot.  The oscillators just naturally seem to interact with each other in a way that you just never get tired of hearing.  I think of it as more of a "synthy sounding" synth, that excels at making itself known that it's a synth and not an acoustic instrument. 

Some have described the Rev4 as more punchy and the OB-X8 as smoother, and I would agree with that overall.  I love them both but definitely find myself reaching for each for separate use cases.

[ticccc]

Thanks a lot for the answer. I totally agree with you about the organic sound of the p10, i saw a vid on youtube of a guy doing emulation of e-painos and acoustic instruments with it and the sound was so good. Even just the basic raw triangle wave of the P10 is good 

 I love them both but definitely find myself reaching for each for separate use cases.

Can i ask you what are those cases? I'm trying to understand when the owners of those two look for them and to archieve what.
I'd like to get when and why you pick one rather than the other. Maybe for leads do you go directly to ob and for bass you go p10, i don't know (I know it's really subjective but feedback from users + demos is the only way to get an idea of the synth without trying it).

For Example, in my taste, Pads on the Obie are unbeaten. I truly believe that that synth could be a total winner in electronic music. Even tho p10 can layer sounds SO good. i doubt that obx8 can do that too.

[LPF83]

Thanks a lot for the answer. I totally agree with you about the organic sound of the p10, i saw a vid on youtube of a guy doing emulation of e-painos and acoustic instruments with it and the sound was so good. Even just the basic raw triangle wave of the P10 is good 

 I love them both but definitely find myself reaching for each for separate use cases.

Can i ask you what are those cases? I'm trying to understand when the owners of those two look for them and to archieve what.
I'd like to get when and why you pick one rather than the other. Maybe for leads do you go directly to ob and for bass you go p10, i don't know (I know it's really subjective but feedback from users + demos is the only way to get an idea of the synth without trying it).

Hope it doesn't seem like I'm trying to be difficult with the answer, but for me it is not even close to as simple as choosing between bass or lead sounds.  The most "all encompassing" answer to that is kind of what I said before, if I want to start with a natural sound I might reach for the P10 first and if I want synth sound I might reach for the OB-X8 first, but even that isn't really an answer that paints a full picture.  Sometimes I just pick one of my synths to start a musical idea on..  maybe that starts with a pad or keys sound, maybe it starts with a bassline.  And then I reach for other synths to start filling out that musical idea with parts that haven't been created yet.  I will say that in my opinion 4 pole filters tend to work a little better for some types of bass (shorter punchier ones) and IMHO the P10 probably has the edge in that category.. OB-X8 can do nice bass but I wouldn't call it it's strength.  But honestly the P10 usually isn't my bass synth either, I tend to prefer the envelopes of the AS-1 or even the P6 for that.  But yeah the P10 can sound a lot like a Minimoog if you're into that, or it can do those tight Pro One sounding basses..

I gave an example earlier about guitar sounds..  sometimes I like to use the P10 for composition just for that kind of sound.  But if I want a pad that sounds really smooth yet full of life and a sense of self contained emotional conveyance (think something like old Roxy Music) then I would tend to reach for the OB-X8 first.

When I want to do a keyboard split I take the OB-X8 over the P10 immediately just because of the user interface for doing that, something that's nice to have on the Rev 4 but it is sort of bolt-on functionality that doesn't have the immediacy of the OB-X8.  Some things are nicer with a screen and dedicated buttons.

For Example, in my taste, Pads on the Obie are unbeaten. I truly believe that that synth could be a total winner in electronic music. Even tho p10 can layer sounds SO good. i doubt that obx8 can do that too.

The P10 has a really powerful sound, and I use poly unison all the time even though I don't layer 2 patches on it as much...  I wouldn't under estimate stacks on the OB-X8 though, they can be quite a treat

[Analog Prophet]

Hi there, i wanted to ask to the owners of those two synths what they love about them and what they use them for. i mean, the musical contex in which you use those synths. For example: i think that P10 is godly for deep house.

I'd like to know too where do you think that the differences are, sonically speaking. For sure they share the same sonic territory in some areas but i'd rather focus in the differences than on the similarities of the two

I use booth for ambient music. I agree the P5/10 is the one of them more suitable to deep house. The P5/10 is more punchy and dont take that Mucha space in a mix. The OB-X8 has more possibilities regarding features and is in general thicker.

And yes there are many similarities but also many areas where they differ, especially the OB-X8 that has more timbres and mod effects to bring to the table.

[LPF83]

Another difference I might highlight between the two synths:

The P10, being mono, loves to be run through a stereo chorus pedal.  I currently have my P10 output going through a chain that has 3 (potential) chorus pedals on it... by potential I mean I have a Strymon Mobius on it, but that could be flanging or other types of modulation.. but also has some of the best sounding chorus options.. the other two are Boss chorus pedals (and I typically only have one type of chorus at a time).

The OB-X8, at least for the sounds I typically use it for, really don't need outboard chorus unless you want it for a change in color.  By default it sounds kind of naturally chorused, and sometimes that sound coming straight from the oscillators themselves is nice to have.  I do have a Boss Dimension C pedal on the OB-X8 currently and depending on the sound sometimes I do opt to enable it.

So perhaps that implies that the P10 is tonally more versatile, in the sense that if you want FX you're forced to take a dry signal and decide what you want to do with it.  Oberheim synths kind of decide for you that they are going to sound like an Oberheim even in the dry signal, and that is never a bad thing.

[g3o2]

Personally, I find the P10 to sound more organic, probably because it sounds generally darker. I also suspect it to be more versatile when it comes to sound texture, suggesting a bigger variety of sounds. The OB-X8 can go with any sound temperature from warm to cold and its main speciality is brightness and fizziness. When you compare both synths in mono output mode, the P10 actually seems to sound bigger and the overlap then also becomes more apparent. So maybe the OB-X8 wants to be played in stereo but this does not mean that the Prophet being confined to mono would sound weak.

[LPF83]

Personally, I find the P10 to sound more organic, probably because it sounds generally darker. I also suspect it to be more versatile when it comes to sound texture, suggesting a bigger variety of sounds. The OB-X8 can go with any sound temperature from warm to cold and its main speciality is brightness and fizziness. When you compare both synths in mono output mode, the P10 actually seems to sound bigger and the overlap then also becomes more apparent. So maybe the OB-X8 wants to be played in stereo but this does not mean that the Prophet being confined to mono would sound weak.

I would add to that, the P10 never sounds weak -- if anything it's the hottest signal on a poly synth (hot meaning signal gain) I've ever encountered.  I find myself usually having to dial back the "oomph" on the P10 while dialing it up on most of my other synths. 

I'm always curious what is meant when I hear the word "organic" as it applies to synths?  (not to imply there is a right or wrong answer to that, as was explored in this thread)
 https://forum.sequential.com/index.php/topic,5673.msg55071.html#msg55071. 

But it definitely seems like a term that means different things to different people.  I too would classify the P10 as sounding more organic in the sense that the timbres it seems to want to produce naturally, when not coaxed to do something else, tend to remind me more of  the sonic interactions between acoustic instruments and the physical world, but I'm curious if that's how your ears here it too?  I totally agree the OB-X8 tends to be brighter and fizzier, though fizziness is a definite characteristic of a 2-pole filter, and to be honest I use the 2-pole modes on the OB-X8 even though it has a 4-pole, because I think 2-pole fizz is a classic Oberheim trait and 4-pole is more of a Sequential trait... and the 4-pole filter on the OB-X8 does not dazzle me like the 2-pole does, or give me what I want from a 4-pole like my Prophet synths do.

This is a really interesting topic IMHO

[chysn]

I’m not sure what “organic” means, either, in terms of sound. Organic is carbon-based, and carbon is a super-versatile element capable of a great many different forms, from flesh to diamond, with interactions all over the map. “Organic” is apt.

My word for the Prophet 5 tone is “confident.” It says, “I’m here, I’m of substance, I’m real.”

[Manbird]

Wait, have we hit the “organic” vs “synthetic” spot on the map?

I don’t know if this is an appropriate subject for the forum, but in my first days as a drinker of mushroom tea, I had two back to back visions. The first was of a gigantic H.R. Giger-esque carbon structure, 20,000 years in the future. This structure was music itself. Completely cold and lifeless, yet alive.
The second vision, one night later, had me in a 1970’s apartment in university town Davis, California. Everything was done up in cheap yellow and brown (I said it was the 70’s!) and the music I heard was entirely run through a Realistic (Radio Shack/Tandy) “reverb” unit, one of those cheap-sounding BBD echo things. The music was, like in the previous vision, a pure form, not of genre/style, just sound… and the sound was cheap analog echo with maybe a hint of drum machine! Organic? Yeah. And pretty hysterical, at the time!

[LPF83]

I’m not sure what “organic” means, either, in terms of sound. Organic is carbon-based, and carbon is a super-versatile element capable of a great many different forms, from flesh to diamond, with interactions all over the map. “Organic” is apt.

That may be why that word always leaves me guessing what it may mean in the context of synth discussions.

[LPF83]

Wait, have we hit the “organic” vs “synthetic” spot on the map?

I don’t know if this is an appropriate subject for the forum, but in my first days as a drinker of mushroom tea, I had two back to back visions. The first was of a gigantic H.R. Giger-esque carbon structure, 20,000 years in the future. This structure was music itself. Completely cold and lifeless, yet alive.
The second vision, one night later, had me in a 1970’s apartment in university town Davis, California. Everything was done up in cheap yellow and brown (I said it was the 70’s!) and the music I heard was entirely run through a Realistic (Radio Shack/Tandy) “reverb” unit, one of those cheap-sounding BBD echo things. The music was, like in the previous vision, a pure form, not of genre/style, just sound… and the sound was cheap analog echo with maybe a hint of drum machine! Organic? Yeah. And pretty hysterical, at the time!

Strangely, this makes me wonder if you have any of this tea you could share?

[seqpro3]

I think they’re both great. If I had to choose one though I would go with the OBX8. The stereo outs and the panning ability are why I chose it over the Prophet 10 Rev 4.

[ticccc]

Thanks for the replies, they helped me a lot to clarify my mind. I was unsure about wich buy and i’ll go with the OBX8 module. A curious thing: here in Europe the price of it is about 4000 euros, but i was checking on ebay and i saw more than one verified seller in the U.S.A. selling it for about 3200 dollars. I’m thinking about buying it directly from there.

(I’ll try to get my hands on a p10 module as well in the future, i think those two make a perfect team)

[g3o2]

I'm always curious what is meant when I hear the word "organic" as it applies to synths?  (not to imply there is a right or wrong answer to that, as was explored in this thread)

But it definitely seems like a term that means different things to different people.  I too would classify the P10 as sounding more organic in the sense that the timbres it seems to want to produce naturally, when not coaxed to do something else, tend to remind me more of  the sonic interactions between acoustic instruments and the physical world, but I'm curious if that's how your ears here it too?

Pesticide-free is certainly not a requirement for my synths, yet. I also don’t need to play them in line with the moon phases, although maybe I should try this out.

By organic, I mean “subtlety unpredictable”. I guess it comes close to your comparison with acoustic instruments. The very first preset in both instruments may be worth a comparison, in mono if you want to. Not bad at all on the OB-X8 and I could play this one for hours. Nevertheless, there is something to that Prophet tone that makes this preset even more inspiring to play.

[seqpro3]

I have the OBX8. I like that it has stereo outs and panning. It has the patches of the OBX,OBXA, OB8 and the different filter types. I used to have a OBXA many years ago. The OBX8 is a great synth. It has the modern enhancements , midi,velocity,aftertouch and the fatar synth action The Prophet 5 rev 4 is a great synth as well.  8 voice polyphony works well for the jazz chord voicings I use. I prefer stereo outs and 8 voice polyphony to 5 voice polyphony and mono audio outs.
The Prophet 5 rev4 would suffice for traditional 2/5/1s and quartal harmony and half diminished to altered dominant jazz chord voices . The prophet 5 rev 4 isn’t as expensive as the OBX8. It’s polyphony is more sparse and sits in a mix different since it’s not in stereo as is the OBX8.they both are great 👍 and have different features and price points.

[HockeBocke]

Thanks for the replies, they helped me a lot to clarify my mind. I was unsure about wich buy and i’ll go with the OBX8 module. A curious thing: here in Europe the price of it is about 4000 euros, but i was checking on ebay and i saw more than one verified seller in the U.S.A. selling it for about 3200 dollars. I’m thinking about buying it directly from there.

(I’ll try to get my hands on a p10 module as well in the future, i think those two make a perfect team)

Dont forget about import taxes, fees and shipping cost when buying stuff from outside EU ....   
And how about warranty if there's an issue with the synth?

Cheers !

[waxdoctor]

I have a question for you Oberheim and Prophet experts, please.

I like very much the sound of the synth coming in (at least for my ears the first time) at 0:57, it's a kind of brassy sound.

https://youtu.be/PwGu5XhaB9Y?si=9WOWMrPxlG8TBpYV

Do you think it's the Prophet 5 or the Oberheim?

(The credits of this record say there is a Prophet 5 and an Oberheim 8 voice (EVS) involved.)

Thanks!

 

[waxdoctor]

I have a question for you Oberheim and Prophet experts, please.

I like very much the sound of the synth coming in (at least for my ears the first time) at 0:57, it's a kind of brassy sound.

https://youtu.be/PwGu5XhaB9Y?si=9WOWMrPxlG8TBpYV

Do you think it's the Prophet 5 or the Oberheim?

(The credits of this record say there is a Prophet 5 and an Oberheim 8 voice (EVS) involved.)

Thanks!

The reason I'm asking (here) is that I want to program it on my Prophet 5 rev4 and I'm stuck.
I'm still a "beginner" or just too limited in my understanding to do this.
But maybe it's the SEM filter (also in the OB-X8) if it was originally programmed on an Oberheim EVS and I have to go down the OB-X-8 route...

[hoodoo_ray]

Not sure if it’s my ears, or the fact I’m only listening through a phone, but that sounds like an electric piano to me with some chorus and phaser going on

Edit - ok I think I hear the sound you mean. It’s quite low in the mix, could be actual horns tbh. If it is a synth it’s difficult to tell without isolation. Btw both synths are capable of horn like sounds.. do you have any other examples of the kind of sounds you’re after by any chance?

[g3o2]

My guess would be a Prophet 5.