At the 2020 NAMM Show, pioneering synth manufacturer Sequential is introducing the Pro 3 SE – a special edition of its new Pro 3 synthesizer.
The Pro 3 synthesizer is the latest generation of the company’s Pro 1 monophonic synthesizer. The original Pro 1, introduced in 1981, is revered as one of the most important monophonic synths of its time. The Pro 3 expands on the original’s capabilities in many ways, with a more powerful synth engine, better build quality, a more capable sequencer, duophonic operation, effects and more.
The Pro 3 SE is Sequential’s Special Edition version of the new synth. It features a multi-angle tilt-up panel and full premium-grade walnut trim.
The Pro 3 SE features the same sound engine as the standard edition Pro 3: three oscillators, three vintage filters, three LFOs, four loopable envelopes, a massive 32-slot mod matrix, and a 16 x 16 x 4 sequencer. In addition, it features dual digital effects and four control voltage ins and outs.
Sequential describes the Pro 3 SE as ‘a hybrid of solid, old-school analog synthesis paired with versatile digital technology’.
Its two voltage controlled oscillators provide warmth and presence while its third wavetable oscillator provides digital edge and grit. With 32 tables of 16 waves each and wave morphing, the tonal possibilities are immense. Tuned feedback with grunge, and analog distortion deliver industrial-grade nastiness on demand.
Features:
- Two analog, voltage-controlled oscillators
- One DSP-based digital oscillator
- Analog oscillators produce three classic wave shapes: (triangle, saw, pulse) with variable shape modulation/pulse width on each
- Digital oscillator produce 32 digital wavetables of 16 waves each with wave morphing, plus classic wave shapes (sine, triangle, saw, variable-width pulse) and super saw
- Digital oscillator 3 can function as an LFO for complex wavetable-based modulation
- White noise generator
- Hard sync, per-oscillator Glide, Oscillator Slop
- 3-voice paraphonic mode with individually-gated envelopes per oscillator
- Three classic filter types
- Filter 1 is a 4-pole, 24 dB per-octave, Prophet-6 low-pass filter
- Filter 2 is a classic, 4-pole, 24 dB per-octave, transistor ladder filter with optional resonance compensation
- Filter 3 is a 2-pole, 12 db per-octave, OB-6 state-variable filter. It can be continuously varied between low-pass, notch, and high-pass operation, with an optional band-pass mode.
- Three syncable LFOs with phase offset and slew per LFO
- Five waveshapes: triangle, saw, reverse saw, square, and S&H
- Four ADSR envelopes with delay (Filter, VCA, and two Auxiliary envelopes)
- Envelopes freely assignable to multiple modulation destinations
- All envelopes can repeat/loop
- Tuned feedback with Grunge for extra-aggressive tonal destruction
- Programmable analog distortion
Pricing and Availability
The Sequential Pro 3 SE is available to preorder now, with a street price of $2,099 USD.
It’s got one less of everything the pro 2 had so I’m happy!
Except analog oscillators. It’s got two more of those. Compared to a whopping zero, and as a Pro 2 owner / proponent, boy does the P2’s digital oscillators sound thinny tin tin.
There’s a more comprehensive list of advantages / disadvantages on Reddit. Quite foolish to think they’d released an arbitrarily worse instrument.
Luckily you have external in and cv control I can have the best of both worlds, and I have never had any problems getting warm out of it with the analog filters. Also less keys!
I’d rather buy one synth with everything more than I want or could ever dig into than have to Frankenstein a synth because it lacks analog oscillators, and they’re low res digital, not even FPGA. Reminds me of the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz.
FPGA doesn’t imply anything other than SEU unreliability and NRE cost sensitivity. It’s merely a design platform.
Other than that, I didn’t know this was monophonic from the previous post. The 3 octave keyboard makes that obvious now. I like the multimodal filter though – love notch filtering.
Saw,triangle and pulse wave forms are so yawn, how many analogue synth are there now, I want them to take it to 5 of everything, shark chips or fpga makes no difference really. The pro 2 was just hard for some people to handle.
hahaha. exactly!
I may have missed it.
What is the patch memory capability of this Pro 3 synth?
The Pro2 was something like 1024 patches? DSI/Sequential is generally very generous with patch memory. Comes with presets but everything can be overwritten.
Very Sweet! kind of want one, the standard edition, because i will NOT pay over 500€ extra for some wood and a hinge!