Prophet 12 Video Overview With Dave Smith

This video, via Dave Smith Instruments, features Dave Smith himself discussing and demonstrating the features of his lastest synth design, the Prophet 12.

About The Prophet 12

At twelve voices, the Prophet 12 boasts the greatest polyphony of any instrument designed by Dave Smith.

Each voice features four oscillators capable of generating classic and complex waveforms, a sub-oscillator, resonant analog low-pass and high-pass filters, and analog VCAs. The new Character section adds a variety of wave shaping and sound sculpting options, like Drive, Hack, Decimation, Girth, and Air.

Additional features include a tuned feedback path, a four-tap stereo delay per voice, expanded arpeggiator functionality, deep modulation capabilities, and bi-timbral operation. The LFOs, delay, and arpeggiator can all be synced, either to the internal clock or an external MIDI clock. Two programmable position- and pressure-sensitive touch sliders take the performance controls beyond the standard pitch and mod wheels.

See the DSI site for more info.

42 thoughts on “Prophet 12 Video Overview With Dave Smith”

    1. Well, Korg has made an EXACT copy of one of their own synths that was made 35 years ago, and it seems to be a lot of people who thinks that is awesome.

      This one at least tries to do something new.

  2. Curiously i have not heard anything remotedly musical coming out of the instrument in any of the demos so far. Only how many oscilators it has, and voices etc. Show us the money (ie, the sound), please!

            1. No just a guy who understands the number of oscillators, features, voices, modulation destinations, ect are what make musical potential in an instrument. If you know your stuff, you can hear the sounds from the demos and combine that with the knowledge of the features and get a good idea of the sound/what you would do with it. You shouldn’t need someone to make a preset to know what a synth can do.

              1. So any synth with more oscilators per voice and otherwise same architecture (but not specifically identical components) than a yamaha cs80 or a minimoog for example will sound better if I understand your argument correctly. This is not so, IMO since components often matter equally or more than architecture. And I do make my own patches fyi. But i also ask maufacturers to show me what an expensive piece of equipment can do before buying. And also in order to keep exchanges of opinion civilised I leave other pople’s life choices and other ad hominems completely out of the discussion.

                1. That’s not my argument. For example knowing that nearly anything on the front panel can be a modulation destination lets me know that I may be able to route the sample rate reducer and the hack to LFOs. I know what that could sound like and I know I couldn’t do that with the hack on my Polyevolver or the crush on animoog. But if I had only heard recreations of vangelis patches and evolving texture sounds I wouldn’t be thinking about what this instrument allows me to do, but what someone who uses it differently from me would do. I’d rather see that the slop knob can be cranked to extreme levels because on the Evolver there were only five settings. That’s a new possibility. I’d rather see phase and slew were added to the lfo because they were features that were missed on the Polyevolver. All these details should tell you what you’d do with it. Considering the last video had more presets in them, these nuts and bolts demos are what we needed to see/hear at this point. My point is the architecture is what makes the sound and informs how an instrument will work for you. You’d use a mini moog differently than a prophet 5. What would i use this arcitecture for is the question. So why is it better to know what sounds someone with different tastes than you came up with. Look at the pro guitar shop demos for examples of people demoing great boutique pedals that can do interesting things reduced to another way to dirty up a Metallica riff. These deep feature demos are a lot more important than hearing some presets.

                  1. Danny gets it. The demo was brilliant for showing the nuts and bolts for patch construction, not just trying to dazzle with presets. If you don’t relish the idea of deep programming, this is not the synth for you. The single oscillator sounds, filters, feedback and distortion components all sound great. When combined into full patches – look out. I’ve never seen so many people try so hard to diss a synth they haven’t played. Wow! I think Mr. Smith has earned the benefit of the doubt. I’m excited to be getting mine in the first batch.

    3. It’s not a rompler, I’d advise you stay with your cracked vst’s and leave this beast to people who like to design their own sounds instead of hearing presets!!! Only a moron buys a 3 grand synth based on a youtube quality demo 🙂

      It’s a dream machine, just like my Ti2 but in a different way. The hybrid nature means it goes places the Virus doesn’t for example the envelopes don’t take up DSP power. Mine sits above my Ti2 and both get used daily.

      Go to a store and try one instead of asking to be spoon fed.

  4. Let the thumbs down begin…i have already preordered one of these and this demo has me nervous…i have a nord lead, plenty of analog filters to run it through including ds ones and bit crushing plugins…im not wowed after this demo. This may end up a victim of over expectation.

  5. Any one else notice the huge used price drop in poly evolver kb’s.? For half the price of a p12 its tempting…anyone else on the same page as me?

    2. The only thing is, the Poly Evolver is (I believe) only four voices… I’d go for a prophet 08 just because I need that extra polyphony

  6. I mean, $1k more gets you a Solaris – 96khz, more mod matrixing, more wavetables, and user samples. I was initially wowed by the P12 but am “yeahing” a lot more on the negative comments and underwhelming previews.

  7. I really liked this overview. This synth is going to be a monster.
    I would like to hear some more percussion sounds in the next video.

  8. I don’t think people should judge this too harshly based on this video, I thought the stock demos of the tempest where just as un inspiring musically and look how awesome that is. This synth is really a practial dream for a poly synth. He’s right, analog oscillators are waaay too limited without a modular. and with the ease of polyphony its a no brainer. everyone seems to feel if its not analog and not a virus or a nord it can’t be worth more than 2 grand. But DSI didn’t just give us another digital polysynth, he gave us an awesome hybrid monster poly that has the best application for digital (oscillators and modulation) and analog everything else. The Prophet 12 probably will be this decades andromeda.

  9. No matter how many features any monster synth has, instead of showing those features, nowadays you HAVE to make at least one same old Moog lead and one very ordinary Jupiter pad in EVERY demo to make sure, that synthesizer “specialists” in forums feel safe and don’t suddenly forget some of the sounds in previous demos.

    You can make 7 billion different sounds with this synth, and you don’t like them all.
    (I love my Moog and Jupiters)

  10. Here are my thoughts as a 23 year old synth loving fool who cant afford awesome gear and is about to graduate.

    First off i want to say that this product demo was very well planned out and i think anyone reviewing products should spend time to plan out their demos like this was. put some damn time into it people! you are trying to sell stuff here!

    anyway

    I have bought things like the alesis micron, i have old junk (still awesome though, not slamming it) from the 80’s like the yamaha pss 270 a vague shadow of the DX7, and budget other instruments that attract people who have less than $300 to spend on a nice synth. A good push for motivation to get me through engineering school was the hope that one day i could afford a fine instrument like this. I was wowed at the solid build of this thing, the wooden end cheeks, and the way he gripped those knobs and that they didnt jiggle. if you have ever been the victim of using the alesis micron you know the main encoder almost rips off every time you use it. I really like the fact that DSI incorporates digital oscillators for a good reason, and to give me variety. i like the FM option and the character options! I like how simple the routing is for the modulation options.

    I would like to own something like this with a full keyboard one day and take formal keyboard lessons to really get to know the synthesizer.

    I’ll still be a Korg fan, because they are really fun products and innovative, but i would like classy friend like this in my synth lab one day…. as long as it isn’t a moog! the way they try to pitch products to me makes me feel like a tool for their ego.

    I am more or less unbiased to 99% of the gear out there, I just thought this thing was well made… might be a different story after using it! ha.

  11. Still the best new synth 2013. Much more “bottom end” than the Nord Lead 4. I sold my NL3 for this one to get.
    I wish Ensoniq were still on the plan presenting a new easy to use quality sampler like the ASR-10 for some sample mania with built in FX. Thats the only thing i miss……

  12. I have high hopes for this synth. When he talked about the accuracy and the phase lock of the digital oscillators I went “Yeah, that’s the problem right there.” But then he introduced a way to get rid of the tight pase lock of the oscillators by just turning a knob within easy reach. That, in my mind, is awesome: An instrument that can be very, very precise and perhaps downright sterile, but that can just as well get you anything from mild beating to massive detune. This fact alone plus the wavetables, I really like. I am not so sure about the filters. Have not been really tempted by ans DSI offering so far. But I am a firm believer in building polyphonic synths with digital oscillators, digital envelopes and modulation sources and analog amplification/mixing and filtering and I hope that more companies will try their hand at such hybrid polyphonic instruments.

  14. The oscillator section is a lot like Korgs MS2000. Basic wave shapes with a couple of controls on each e.g when set to sine..some type of cross mod. When set to square..controls pw. Then the wave table options. Pretty much the same, but I’m sure it sounds better.

    1. Like the classic Prophet VS?

      If you’re going to diss the work of one of the greatest synth designers working, try to be more clever about it.

  16. Just curious. Have any of the people who are disliking this synth ever played one? Guessing the answer is no. I played one several times at NAMM and am greeting one ASAP.

    This demo video was intended to show you the synthesis possibilities of the instrument. He went through all the ways that you can shape the sound. And there are a lot of ways. That is the point.

    This was not a demonstration of the presets. I have to tell you that all of the usual suspects are there. Your floaty pads, screaming leads and fat bass. Plus this can do things that other synths, like a P5 for example, could never dream of doing. So the oscillators are digital. So what? There is a parameter to make them drift just like like a “real analog” oscillator does. No one is ever going to be able to tell the difference.

    I find it so perplexing that people get on a site like this and denounce something that they have never laid their hands on. Especially when one of the frequent complaints here, and elsewhere, is that no one is doing anything NEW in synthesis. Then here comes good old Dave trying to do something new and he gets tarred and feathered before he has even released the GD’d thing.

  17. I really want to love this thing. The features are fantastic. But, there seems to be a little something missing in the actual sound. A bit thin, maybe? I remember thinking the same thing when I played a Prophet ’08 for the first time.

  18. I’d love one of these but I’d have to save a little for it, and because I also have poor self control, I’d probably end up buying those three new Korg boxes and that Novation as well.
    It’s a good job that there’s nowhere locally that I could demo one, or I’d end up defaulting on my mortgage.

  19. He’s a genius, I’m sure it’ll be a fine addition for anyones studio; he doesn’t build sh*t things.
    The JD800 has a detune slider for the oscillators (pitch random) too, and it works well IMO
    (when the keyboard isn’t bleeding it’s own epoxy down its’shirt, that is..)
    The NL4 does seem impressive though, I must admit, I’d have to have commune properly
    with both to know for sure which one strikes the chord, and which has best shaped
    booty.

  20. I think most people are missing the point. A P-12 is not in the same league as a King Korg or a TB-303 clone. You buy an instrument like that because it takes your breath away. I don’t mean casual Gear Lust, either. At this level, a synth is the same as a piano: totally subjective for each player. Its detailed enough to do that where a more cheap-&-cheerful synth would have a lesser impact. The Prophet-12 is Dave’s Solaris. Its easy to be dazzled by the great gear- the last 2 NAMM shows have been surreal- but when you drop $3-5k on a synth, its because you have something to say that requires THAT VOICE. Its the opposite end of debate over the filters. I once owned 2 Prophet-600s and had the pleasure of playing a T-8 for a brief while, so IMO as a person who started on piano, I’d say the P-12 is mature enough to be called a piano in synth’s clothing. Many other tools are inspiring, but at this level, its a waste if you don’t marry them. I’m not kidding, either. That’s the only way to bring out the real power of an instrument that belongs on the deck of a starship. I wouldn’t even turn a P-12 *on* until my second cup of coffee.

  21. Let the people that either don’t like the synth or don’t understand the point of the video dislike what they want to dislike. As a fan of the synth, and someone who doesn’t like to pay retail, I find such a reaction encouraging. It means I’ll be able to pick an almost brand new P12 up for a bit of a discount.

    It’s human nature to think something different is desired, when in fact the familiar is what is desired. Mass marketing has demonstrated this notion time and again. That said, to each their own. I, personally, am excited about this synth, and I’m excited to see what people do with it.

  22. i have a poly evolver and I thought it going to be a 12 voice sort of up date type synth, but it sounds (from the demo) different in a good way. i like the added functionality with the touch sliders and the new assignment programming for modulation. it also has a display and nobs like the tempest which is great.

    i will reserve judgment on the sound, lets hope it fulfils expectation.

    could digital oscillators be making a come back ; )

  23. i don’t think that the new DSI instruments sounds very good, they’re all too brittle and exposed sounding for my ears. I own a few older SCI synths designed by Dave Smith as well as some of the new things, and NONE of his new synths sound anywhere as good as the older ones. I like the Tempest because of how it functions, but have sold all of the other new Dave Smith synths I’ve had because they just sound like

    For less than half the price of this new synth you can buy a second hand Prophet 600, which is a truly wonderful sounding instrument.

  25. Looks impressive but why oh why did it not have the cool and inspirational 16×4 sequencer built in which is a great feature in most of his previous synths.

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