Behringer Pro 800 versus Prophet 10

[Saxfiend]

Hi -

I have 10 days left to keep or return my P10 module.

How does the 1/6 the price Behringer Pro 800 compare?

It can't do stacks & splits, but otherwise, what's the verdict?

Thank you!

- Jeff Newton

(mainly a saxophonist...)

[Analog Prophet]

Hi -

I have 10 days left to keep or return my P10 module.

How does the 1/6 the price Behringer Pro 800 compare?

It can't do stacks & splits, but otherwise, what's the verdict?

Thank you!

- Jeff Newton

(mainly a saxophonist...)

They are different beasts but still in same direction. If it’s just the P5/10 signature character of sound you’re looking for, than go for the P5/10. If it’s a great analog polysynth, than nothing else gives more value for the money than the Pro 800.

[Saxfiend]

Hi -

I have 10 days left to keep or return my P10 module.

How does the 1/6 the price Behringer Pro 800 compare?

It can't do stacks & splits, but otherwise, what's the verdict?

Thank you!

- Jeff Newton

(mainly a saxophonist...)

They are different beasts but still in same direction. If it’s just the P5/10 signature character of sound you’re looking for, than go for the P5/10. If it’s a great analog polysynth, than nothing else gives more value for the money than the Pro 800.

Thank you.  The Pro 800 is supposed to " clone" the P5/10, so if it's successful at this, would not the sound signature be identical?  TO me the main thing the P10 (Rev 4...) has going for it over the much more feature-laden Rev 2 (I a-b'd in a store) is an "aliveness" or "organic" character in the sound, much like a saxophone tone - it breathes.  Does the Pro 800 do this?  And to be clear:  The Pro 800 cannot stack and split, am I correct? 

Of course money has to be a factor at this price ratio.  It's about 6x.  And I've just bought a new tenor sax with an alto on the way soon.  Those are a lot more money, actually....

I'm also not clear on the MIDI implementation in the Pro 800.  A feature not found on the P5/10?

Thank you for your insight!

[deflep44]

Hi -

I have 10 days left to keep or return my P10 module.

How does the 1/6 the price Behringer Pro 800 compare?

It can't do stacks & splits, but otherwise, what's the verdict?

Thank you!

- Jeff Newton

(mainly a saxophonist...)

They are different beasts but still in same direction. If it’s just the P5/10 signature character of sound you’re looking for, than go for the P5/10. If it’s a great analog polysynth, than nothing else gives more value for the money than the Pro 800.

Thank you.  The Pro 800 is supposed to " clone" the P5/10, so if it's successful at this, would not the sound signature be identical?  TO me the main thing the P10 (Rev 4...) has going for it over the much more feature-laden Rev 2 (I a-b'd in a store) is an "aliveness" or "organic" character in the sound, much like a saxophone tone - it breathes.  Does the Pro 800 do this?  And to be clear:  The Pro 800 cannot stack and split, am I correct? 

Of course money has to be a factor at this price ratio.  It's about 6x.  And I've just bought a new tenor sax with an alto on the way soon.  Those are a lot more money, actually....

I'm also not clear on the MIDI implementation in the Pro 800.  A feature not found on the P5/10?

Thank you for your insight!

The Pro 800 is not a clone of the Prophet 5. It's a clone of the later affordable model Prophet 600. Still Curtis chips but different oscillator, filter, VCA chips and envelopes. So a prophet 600 is in the general character ballpark of prophet sound (just like you could say a prophet rev 2, Prophet 6 are etc.) but by no means identical to a prophet 5.

[Analog Prophet]

If synth is not your main instrument I would suggest to go for the Pro 800.

To me, as keyboard player with special passion for analog synths, the Prophet 5 is what I’ve dreamed about as younger but couldn’t afford and now many years later had a second chance to achieve. It surely hasn’t made me disappointed.

[LPF83]

TO me the main thing the P10 (Rev 4...) has going for it over the much more feature-laden Rev 2 (I a-b'd in a store) is an "aliveness" or "organic" character in the sound, much like a saxophone tone - it breathes. 

This is something I noticed about the Rev 4 that I think is unlike any other analog synth I've played.. with certain settings, the timbre can really remind one of a sax.  It also seems to find tones that sound like other acoustic instruments more readily than other synths.. in addition to the range of synthetic sounds it can do.

[Saxfiend]

The Pro 800 is not a clone of the Prophet 5. It's a clone of the later affordable model Prophet 600. Still Curtis chips but different oscillator, filter, VCA chips and envelopes. So a prophet 600 is in the general character ballpark of prophet sound (just like you could say a prophet rev 2, Prophet 6 are etc.) but by no means identical to a prophet 5.

Thank you, lots of moving parts!  I suppose all of them impart a sonic signature...  I'll have to watch a 600 versus 5/10 video comparison is there is one.

[Saxfiend]

They are different beasts but still in same direction. If it’s just the P5/10 signature character of sound you’re looking for, than go for the P5/10. If it’s a great analog polysynth, than nothing else gives more value for the money than the Pro 800.

Thank you.  The Pro 800 is supposed to " clone" the P5/10, so if it's successful at this, would not the sound signature be identical?  TO me the main thing the P10 (Rev 4...) has going for it over the much more feature-laden Rev 2 (I a-b'd in a store) is an "aliveness" or "organic" character in the sound, much like a saxophone tone - it breathes.  Does the Pro 800 do this?  And to be clear:  The Pro 800 cannot stack and split, am I correct? 

Of course money has to be a factor at this price ratio.  It's about 6x.  And I've just bought a new tenor sax with an alto on the way soon.  Those are a lot more money, actually....

I'm also not clear on the MIDI implementation in the Pro 800.  A feature not found on the P5/10?

Thank you for your insight!
[/quote]

The Pro 800 is not a clone of the Prophet 5. It's a clone of the later affordable model Prophet 600. Still Curtis chips but different oscillator, filter, VCA chips and envelopes. So a prophet 600 is in the general character ballpark of prophet sound (just like you could say a prophet rev 2, Prophet 6 are etc.) but by no means identical to a prophet 5.
[/quote]

[Saxfiend]

TO me the main thing the P10 (Rev 4...) has going for it over the much more feature-laden Rev 2 (I a-b'd in a store) is an "aliveness" or "organic" character in the sound, much like a saxophone tone - it breathes. 

This is something I noticed about the Rev 4 that I think is unlike any other analog synth I've played.. with certain settings, the timbre can really remind one of a sax.  It also seems to find tones that sound like other acoustic instruments more readily than other synths.. in addition to the range of synthetic sounds it can do.

That's what I like about it.  Do you think the Pro 800 can do the same thing?

[LPF83]

That's what I like about it.  Do you think the Pro 800 can do the same thing?

The Pro 800 as someone mentioned, was designed to "reasonably imitate" (i.e. not be the exact same product as) the Prophet 600 at a much lower price point.  I have never even played a P600 in person so I'm not sure if it has the same saxophone ability/characteristic.  The Prophet 6 and Prophet Rev 2, which I do own, IMHO do not quite have that "acoustic instrument tone" that I think we're both talking about.  I adore them both, but I've never heard anything from them that really had that saxophone sound.  The OB-X8 is also amazing at brass sounds, but so far from mine, I haven't heard that very specific sax timbre out of it (might be I haven't spent enough time with it, and I also haven't listened to it strictly through mono and the sax is a mono instrument .

So basically I would not expect Behringer look-alikes to be able to reproduce very specific characteristics of the synths they imitate, and in this case the P800 isn't even imitating the P5/10.  The other side of the coin is the P800 is so staggeringly inexpensive you could probably find out by buying one and selling it if you don't like it on Reverb for minimal loss as a cost effective way to find out.

Starsky Carr just released a second video about the P800 that may be worth watching.  It seems to me it falls short of being a clone of the P600, much less meets the standard of the P10.  For the price they are asking, it's probably a good value; but admittedly I don't like the company and already have what I need in terms of the Prophet sound so the P800 is not for me.

[Analog Prophet]

If it’s a specific “saxophone sound” of the P5 (I don’t know what that is, I don’t associate the P5 with saxophone timbre) I would consider Behringer Pro-1 that is a clone of Pro One. Sequential Pro One is a monophonic version Prophet of Prophet 5, not the Prophet 600, and a sax is monophonic. The price tag is even lower than Pro 800.

[LPF83]

If it’s a specific “saxophone sound” of the P5 (I don’t know what that is, I don’t associate the P5 with saxophone timbre)

If he is referring to the sound I think he is, it is in my opinion a combination of the timbre that can gets produced by the Rossum filter in a very specific sweet spot, in conjunction with the specific harmonics produced by the oscillators that just kind of sounds like it's coming through a reed.  I've only stumbled across it a few times, almost by accident, so I don't think it's a feature that the P5/10 is regularly known for, other than being generally well-regarded for synthetic reed and brass instrument type sounds.

[Earlsfield]

Pro 800 is a Behringer's attempt to knock off Prophet 600. I had P 600 in my studio 12 years ago, for almost a year, and I loved it.
That being said, NOTHING comes close to Prophet 10 sound.
On top of the behemoth oscillators and lush filters, we got new features like Stack/Split, Poly-unison, q compensation, velocity and aftertouch amount per patch... All this gives you one of the most seminal synths in the history, with both filters found in older revisions, plus all these new features.
While Pro 800 is decent sounding from what I hear online, if you want a Prophet, keep it. There is no clone, direct or indirect, that can sound like it. The only synth that sounded like my Prophet 10 was Prophet 5 REV3 I had ten years ago or so. I had Prophet 600, 08, 12, Poly Evolver and now I have REV2, OB6, and none of these synths can sound like P5/10. Sure, there are patches that can be similar, just like there are patches P10 can't do (compared to REV2 specifically, due to the different architecture). REV2 is made to be a workhorse and modulation monster, Prophet 5/10 is immediate power and sound that cannot be matched.