Start saving your money – Dave Smith Instruments has announced that it’s now shipping the new Prophet 08 monster analog synth.

The Prophet ’08 is an eight-voice synthesizer with a 100% analog signal path. While the Prophet ’08’s overall sonic character will be familiar to anyone who knows Dave’s work from the ’70s and ’80s, it is much more than just a vintage reissue with a few new bells and whistles.

It includes features not found in original prophets, like velocity sensitivity and aftertouch. Add to that performance features like an arpeggiator, gated step sequencer, and the ability to split and layer sounds. The modulation possibilities are much deeper than anything Sequential ever produced, making it capable of producing sounds the “classics” simply could not. According to DSI, the Prophet ’08 is the product of evolution, not nostalgia.

Features

• Two analog oscillators per voice.
• Classic Curtis analog low-pass filters.
• Extensive modulation routing capabilities.
• Four-on-four splits and layers with separate stereo outputs for each layer.
• Arpeggiator, gated 16 x 4 step sequencer, and LFOs all syncable.
• 5-octave keyboard with semi-weighted action, velocity, and aftertouch.
• Spring-loaded pitch wheel and assignable mod wheel
• 256 fully editable Programs (2 banks of 128) with 2 Layers (2 separate sounds) in each Program.
• 16 x 4 gated step sequencer
• Arpeggiator
• 2 digitally controlled analog oscillators (DCOs) per voice with selectable sawtooth, triangle, saw/triangle mix, and pulse waves (with pulse-width modulation), and hard sync.
• White noise generator
• 1 Analog Curtis low-pass filter per voice, selectable 2- and 4-pole operation (self-resonating in 4-pole mode).
• 3 Envelope Generators: filter, VCA, and assignable (four-stage ADSR + delay); Envelope 3 can loop.
• 4 LFOs
• Glide (portamento): separate rates per oscillator.
• Analog VCAs

Ins and Outs

• MIDI In, Out, Thru, and Poly Chain
• Main stereo audio output: 1/4″ unbalanced
• Output B stereo audio output: 1/4″ unbalanced
• Sustain pedal input: accepts normally on or normally off momentary footswitch.
• Pedal/CV input: responds to expression pedals or control voltages ranging from 0 to 5 VDC (protected against higher or negative voltages).
• Headphone output: 1/4″ stereo phone jack.

You can preview the sound of the Prophet ’08 below. More demos are available at the DSI site. The Prophet ’08 keyboard has an MSRP of $2,199.00, and is currently shipping. You can get more details from the Prophet ’08 operations manual (pdf).