Prophet X Discontinued


Re: Prophet X Discontinued
« Reply #1 on: March 29, 2024, 10:08:38 PM »
I knew it. Soon as the Focusrite takeover happened.

Re: Prophet X Discontinued
« Reply #2 on: March 29, 2024, 10:10:04 PM »
Has to be the shortest lifespan of a Sequential product thus far.

Re: Prophet X Discontinued
« Reply #3 on: March 30, 2024, 01:57:53 AM »
Very sad indeed - what a fantastic machine. Have hoped for a last firmware update, because that seemed to be the logic for recent years for Sequential: bug fixing at the beginning of the product live cycle, feature update in between and one last bug fixing/feature update at the end (like with the Prophet 12 or Pro-2)...

This will become a sought after synth with rising prices - like the Prophet VS.
« Last Edit: March 30, 2024, 02:01:12 AM by Stue007 »
DSI Prophet REV 2, Prophet X

Re: Prophet X Discontinued
« Reply #4 on: March 30, 2024, 02:42:54 AM »
I knew it. Soon as the Focusrite takeover happened.
Not really. The takeover wasn’t exactly yesterday (April 2021). Also, it appears to be due to certain components being no longer available. This does happen. A company I do freelance for had a CoDec discontinued last year so it meant that after nine years of production, they had to discontinue the product and redesign it for an updated version.
« Last Edit: March 30, 2024, 02:45:56 AM by Quatschmacher »

Re: Prophet X Discontinued
« Reply #5 on: March 30, 2024, 12:05:59 PM »
I knew it. Soon as the Focusrite takeover happened.
Not really. The takeover wasn’t exactly yesterday (April 2021). Also, it appears to be due to certain components being no longer available. This does happen. A company I do freelance for had a CoDec discontinued last year so it meant that after nine years of production, they had to discontinue the product and redesign it for an updated version.

For me I think it’s more to do with Focusrite making Sequential exclusively analog only synths while things like sampling, Wavetable, FM, drum machines etc will be delegated to their Novation brand. 

Re: Prophet X Discontinued
« Reply #6 on: March 30, 2024, 12:30:41 PM »
Or perhaps someone knows something and we are going to see a revamp of something like a new Emulator by Rossum. Prophet 5/10 reissue, Oberheim OBX8, And even Groove Synthesis’s 3rd Wave handling the PPG/Prophet VS territory, maybe there’s something down the pipeline.

Even a dedicated Novation sampling keyboard would be excellent. As sad as I am about the Prophet X becoming abandonware (come on....no MPE update?) and cast off, it many ways it might lead to something else. Before the Prophet X, dedicated Polyphonic sample synths weren’t really a popular thing...now we have Akai doing keyboard instruments, 1010 doing dedicated Polyphonic samplers like the Tangerine nano box, Sonicware doing the Lo Fi 12, Torso doing the S4, Roland adding polyphony to their SP404 MKII, I’m actually shocked Elektron haven’t done a Polyphonic sampler yet.

Long story short, I’m hopeful. Sequential always seemed to be ahead of the curve. The Tempest sort of led the way for things like the Analog Rytm, Korg Drumlogue And others, the Prophet 12 was criticized for its use of digital oscillators and now we are seeing people praising FPGA and digital oscillators in things like the Summit, the Prophet 6 and OB6 brought back VCOs into Polyphonic synths, then Prologue and others came in. Even the REV2’s 8 voice/16 voice concept was adopted by thins like the Prologue and Moog One.

So we shall see what the future holds.

LPF83

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Re: Prophet X Discontinued
« Reply #7 on: March 30, 2024, 05:45:11 PM »
A 6 year manufacturing run for a synth isn't really that short compared to many popular vintage synths.  I think the Jupiter 8 had about a 4 year run, the original Prophet 5 run was about 6 years. 

The longest production run for a synth I'm aware of (also recently discontinued) was the Access Virus. From the original to the TI2 which is mostly the same synth as original with minor tweaks or more powerful processors, was probably a 25 year run which is pretty phenomenal all things considered, but I think this was only possible because the analog market disappeared through the 90s and 2000s.  Never happened before and will likely never happen again.

Parts availability issues are what they are, at some point parts costs go up for niche products and the sales numbers for older products (especially in music technology) may not justify the parts increase.  If a product isn't selling well the support commitment could become overwhelming and require business decisions based on a spreadsheet instead of the heart.

But, one door closes and another one opens.

A little birdie told me to expect something intersting from Groove Synthesis soon.  When they introduced the 3rd Wave, they did alude to possible feature upgrades to potentially include sampling, AI, etc. The audio input and on board tools creation of wave tables from audio sources seems to lend itself well to that.

From Sequential I'd love to see a proper reissue of the Pro One, with MIDI and better build quality but preserving the original sound.  For the Oberheim product line, there's a lot they could do there but honestly if we look at the UI of the Xpander today, would that same UI be popular?  I don't know.

But one way or the other I'm looking forward to seeing Sequential/Oberheim's next product.
Prophet 10, OB-X8m, Prophet 6, OB-6, 3rd Wave, Prophet 12m, Prophet Rev2-16, Toraiz AS-1, Pro 2, Korg Polysix, Roland JP-8080, Roland System-8, Virus TI2, Moog SlimPhatty, Hydrasynth desktop, Roland SPD-SX SE / Octapad, Maschine, Cubase/Ableton/Akai MPC

Re: Prophet X Discontinued
« Reply #8 on: March 30, 2024, 07:58:11 PM »
Sampling would be awesome to incorporate on the 3rd Wave. Not sure I could justify the price tag (about $7K in Canada) but it’s rhe same price as an OBX8 and I know which I would get out of the two.

Re: Prophet X Discontinued
« Reply #9 on: March 31, 2024, 02:39:54 AM »
I knew it. Soon as the Focusrite takeover happened.
Not really. The takeover wasn’t exactly yesterday (April 2021). Also, it appears to be due to certain components being no longer available. This does happen. A company I do freelance for had a CoDec discontinued last year so it meant that after nine years of production, they had to discontinue the product and redesign it for an updated version.

For me I think it’s more to do with Focusrite making Sequential exclusively analog only synths while things like sampling, Wavetable, FM, drum machines etc will be delegated to their Novation brand.

Is there any evidence for this?

LPF83

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  • 1520
Re: Prophet X Discontinued
« Reply #10 on: March 31, 2024, 04:53:14 AM »
Sampling would be awesome to incorporate on the 3rd Wave. Not sure I could justify the price tag (about $7K in Canada) but it’s rhe same price as an OBX8 and I know which I would get out of the two.

Deals can be had on the 3rd wave desktop module here in the US if one is willing to shop around and / or negotiatate / wait for the right deal.  It's still very immediate even with fewer knobs, and I wanted the module so I could use it with my compact setup as well as potentially using it with alternative MPE controllers in the future.

It's a powerhouse of a synth to be sure.  But at the same time there is something irreplaceable about the sound of my OBX8 and I couldn't consider it a replacement for that.  When I think of the 3rd Wave I think of here's what would happen if a PPG (for the wavetables) and a Jupiter 8 (for the analog waveforms) had a baby.  But then there is THAT Oberheim sound that is often duplicated but rarely achieved in the authentic sense until the OBX8 came out.

It's also possible GS is planning to release a different product altogether, though... I guess time will tell.
« Last Edit: March 31, 2024, 04:55:40 AM by LPF83 »
Prophet 10, OB-X8m, Prophet 6, OB-6, 3rd Wave, Prophet 12m, Prophet Rev2-16, Toraiz AS-1, Pro 2, Korg Polysix, Roland JP-8080, Roland System-8, Virus TI2, Moog SlimPhatty, Hydrasynth desktop, Roland SPD-SX SE / Octapad, Maschine, Cubase/Ableton/Akai MPC

Re: Prophet X Discontinued
« Reply #11 on: March 31, 2024, 05:44:10 AM »
I knew it. Soon as the Focusrite takeover happened.

I do not think we can be so certain of that.

The PX had a six year production run, which is not bad these days, and the same length of time that the original Prophet 5 was on the market 1978-1984 according to KEYFAX.

The seminal DX7 had a four year run, Korg M1 was six years, Wavestation four years, Roland Jupiter 8 four years, D50 3 Years, JD800 3 years, etc.

All things come to an end. The thing with the most longevity I have ever seen on the Market is my trusty old Roland FC300 MIDI Foot controller. I bought mine in 2008, and you can still buy them new today, so on the market for at least 16 years.

All things come to an end production wise, but the PX remains an amazing synth - just like my 30 year old SY99, 25 year old Yamahas: AN1x, FS1r, EX5R

And Sequential have promised ongoing support. The one comment I did put on their Facebook page is that before retiring it, it would be good for the outstanding bugs to be fixed.

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: Prophet X Discontinued
« Reply #12 on: March 31, 2024, 06:43:11 AM »

And Sequential have promised ongoing support. The one comment I did put on their Facebook page is that before retiring it, it would be good for the outstanding bugs to be fixed.

+1
Prophet X, Prophet 6, Nord Electro 5D 73, Korg Wavestate, NDLR, Arturia Matrixbrute, Waldorf Iridium, BARP 2600, Eurorack and altogether too many guitars.

Re: Prophet X Discontinued
« Reply #13 on: March 31, 2024, 11:56:04 AM »
I knew it. Soon as the Focusrite takeover happened.
Not really. The takeover wasn’t exactly yesterday (April 2021). Also, it appears to be due to certain components being no longer available. This does happen. A company I do freelance for had a CoDec discontinued last year so it meant that after nine years of production, they had to discontinue the product and redesign it for an updated version.

For me I think it’s more to do with Focusrite making Sequential exclusively analog only synths while things like sampling, Wavetable, FM, drum machines etc will be delegated to their Novation brand.

Is there any evidence for this?

Other than Sequential only doing VCO based synths since the takeover (Take 5, Trigon 6), no.  Just a gut feeling and it would make sense business wise from Focusrite’s point of view. Let’s say the team at Sequential want to do another drum machine or a Wavetable synth....would that cut into Novation’s Circuit products and their Summit product? Would it be better to just have that kind of project delegated under the Novation banner? Same if Novation wanted to do an analog synth...would it not make more sense to have Sequential do it?

Re: Prophet X Discontinued
« Reply #14 on: April 02, 2024, 03:35:35 AM »
Sequential should gift the PX firm-/soft-ware to the community so Lady GAIA can make it into the machine it was always meant to be.

I can dream.

Re: Prophet X Discontinued
« Reply #15 on: April 03, 2024, 12:10:39 AM »
I knew it. Soon as the Focusrite takeover happened.
Not really. The takeover wasn’t exactly yesterday (April 2021). Also, it appears to be due to certain components being no longer available. This does happen. A company I do freelance for had a CoDec discontinued last year so it meant that after nine years of production, they had to discontinue the product and redesign it for an updated version.

For me I think it’s more to do with Focusrite making Sequential exclusively analog only synths while things like sampling, Wavetable, FM, drum machines etc will be delegated to their Novation brand.

Is there any evidence for this?

Other than Sequential only doing VCO based synths since the takeover (Take 5, Trigon 6), no.  Just a gut feeling and it would make sense business wise from Focusrite’s point of view. Let’s say the team at Sequential want to do another drum machine or a Wavetable synth....would that cut into Novation’s Circuit products and their Summit product? Would it be better to just have that kind of project delegated under the Novation banner? Same if Novation wanted to do an analog synth...would it not make more sense to have Sequential do it?

I guess unless you have a person on the inside, you can only guess at business models/strategies. As an owner of both the Summit and PX, I would say they are very different synths at different price points. Maybe the PX was not the seller that Sequential wanted it to be? I mean this sub forum is not exactly overflowing with users is it?

Personally I have a slice of Sequential hardware, with no plans to replace it, so the fact that it is discontinued, does not really bother me so much. Touch wood it has been 100% reliable so far, so it is support that matters to me.

All opinions are valid of course, just stating it from my personal perspective
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: Prophet X Discontinued
« Reply #16 on: April 03, 2024, 10:31:13 AM »
Sequential should gift the PX firm-/soft-ware to the community so Lady GAIA can make it into the machine it was always meant to be.

Sadly, even if they were inclined to do so I suspect the agreement with 8dio mandates strict control over the mechanisms used to safeguard their content.  The best I could realistically hope for is an offer to act in a contract role to address a handful of asks – and even that is probably best done with development boards rather than production hardware, so it's not something I could easily do remotely.

Quote
I can dream.

True for both of us!

Re: Prophet X Discontinued
« Reply #17 on: April 03, 2024, 10:45:53 AM »

Sadly, even if they were inclined to do so I suspect the agreement with 8dio mandates strict control over the mechanisms used to safeguard their content.  The best I could realistically hope for is an offer to act in a contract role to address a handful of asks – and even that is probably best done with development boards rather than production hardware, so it's not something I could easily do remotely.



I'm sure you're right—but deleting all of the 8DIO content would be my first task!

Maybe a LLM will in the future be able to retro-hack the firm & software.  :)

Stephen

Re: Prophet X Discontinued
« Reply #18 on: April 04, 2024, 03:33:42 AM »
Sequential should gift the PX firm-/soft-ware to the community so Lady GAIA can make it into the machine it was always meant to be.

I can dream.
+1
I could see that as long as they offer support for it, then making it open source (or some version of this) could be a nightmare.
That said, I am expecting firmware update (bug fixes at least) as part of this support. Am I unreasonable?
Prophet X, Korg Modwave, Wavestate, Novation Summit, Microfreak, B2600, Akai Force, Skulpt, Uno Pro, Polyend Tracker, Ableton Live and some modular

Re: Prophet X Discontinued
« Reply #19 on: May 22, 2024, 10:12:56 AM »
I knew it. Soon as the Focusrite takeover happened.
Not really. The takeover wasn’t exactly yesterday (April 2021). Also, it appears to be due to certain components being no longer available. This does happen. A company I do freelance for had a CoDec discontinued last year so it meant that after nine years of production, they had to discontinue the product and redesign it for an updated version.
In my opinion, it seems that Focusrite is focusing on producing Sequential synths exclusively in analog, while leaving sampling, Wavetable, FM synthesis, drum machines, and similar technologies to their Novation brand.