Synthesist Julian Pollack, aka J3PO, shared this video demo of a variety of patches he created for the new Sequential Prophet-5 synthesizer.
Here’s what he has to say about it:
“In this video, you will hear a bunch of sounds I created for the Prophet 5. Some are included factory, while others will appear in a sound bank I will release in due time.
It is important to note that the Prophet 5 reissue, like the original, does NOT contain any onboard effects. In this video, I used combinations of chorus, delay, and reverb and other FX to create the best ambience for the recording. I used the Strymon trifecta: Mobius (modulation), Timeline (delay), and Big Sky (reverb).
Some folks may ask, “don’t you miss having onboard FX?” The answer: not at all. Like all of the great vintage synthesizers, all the weight and effort was put into the synthesizer components. To me, it’s almost better to have your signal processing separate. Then you have the best of both worlds.
The Prophet 5 reissue (or “Rev 4”) has been built to the same specs as the original, with a few subtle additions for stability, patch memory, and extended features. For all intents and purposes, this IS the original Prophet 5, but built in 2020.
I can tell you, it is a gorgeous instrument. The way it sounds, the way it feels, the way it looks, the nostalgia…everything!”
The demo features a pre-production prototype of the new Prophet-5. For details and official audio demos, see the Sequential site.
WOW. it sounds amazing. under very capable hands.
It’s unfortunate this was made with over $1,000 of Strymon pedals (which are wonderful – nothing against Strymon) rather than showcasing the raw sound. Fortunately others have posted videos that don’t use four figures of sweeteners and thankfully the P5.R4 sounds delicious even without them.
He could have played a Stylophone through those Strymon effects and it would have sounded impressive too.
That’s a deceptive demo IMO.
‘deceptive demo’ lfmao
It could only be deceptive if to someone that can’t read. J3PO clearly states:
“It is important to note that the Prophet 5 reissue, like the original, does NOT contain any onboard effects. In this video, I used combinations of chorus, delay, and reverb and other FX to create the best ambience for the recording. I used the Strymon trifecta: Mobius (modulation), Timeline (delay), and Big Sky (reverb).”
Literally everyone who buys a Prophet 5 or Prophet 10 is going to pair it with top-of-the-line effects.
J3PO is demoing what he thinks are great-sounding combinations, and anyone interested in one of these synths is going to be interested in his demo.
What does that show you? How good the Strymon effects are, not how good the synth sounds.
Like I said, it’s deceptive. A Prophet 5 was cool 40 years ago, not so much now with all the more interesting new synths. If you want to live in the past, be my guest.
I wish i could like in the past (or the future) but then it will become the present very quickly.
It’s the traveling that is fun.
if you’re wondering how good it sounds, fx or not, it’s not a mystery—it’s a prophet 5. the sound has been around for a long time now, and for sure, it’s earned a highly-regarded status
and no matter if it was cool 40 years ago or 4 months ago. musical relevance is determined by originality of use, not age or newness.
the prophet 5 will be interesting far into the future, and the innovations of other synths i think are only a complement to the kinds of sounds the P5 can make.
Meh, the Behringer DeepMind 12 sounds better, has over double the voices, and is nearly 1/5th the price, with far more programming possibilities.
good one! 🙂
Julian, that’s excellent work. It takes me back to my first Prophet, which I was blessed to run through a Roland tape echo. You’ve really showcased the unique ROUND sound of the thing.
Sounds like a Prophet 6.
I’m definitely not in the cheap clones camp, but why is this so expensive?
Couldn’t they make it for Prophet6, OB6, Rev2 price?
I mean it is not much more under the hood then any of those and now the 5 voice version goes for the same as Prophet X?
I think one of the points of a remake is to also make it reasonably accessible.
Sounds great though…
Probably best DSI sound I heard since maybe the Pro2 or Pro3…
One reason for the price is the wooden case.
Two filters per voice, quality build, These kind of reissues from Moog have been in the same range. Also Dave smith having a hand in it puts a premium on it.
Dave smith tried to be very attractive in the past as far as pricing and what’s you get. So i guess there is a reason for that. We don’t really know what’s under the hood and the building cost, some of the parts can be really expensive.
Will there be an aftermarket voice-expansion for the P5?
Nice work.One reason for the price is the wooden case.
Bugger the wooden box it’s in.
I’ve got plenty of keyboard (and knobby) MIDI controllers and would prefer this in a simple table-top/box version… more-or-less a VST-plugin in a box.
Contemporary manufacturing technology can make things more cheaply than decades ago, includong refreshed versions of the VCO & VCF as well.
The high price is more because of the sentimental factor, not the production cost :-/
Nobody even seen its gut’s yet. It’s not like you know the total “BOM” and labor factors of today.
You can only guess.
i would like to see inside too…the same through-hole PCBs? i doubt it….i think its probably a small surface mount board in the corner and the rest of the wooden box empty. If its the same circut i guess thats all that matters but id still like to see what im getting for that price inside….hopefully someone can open one up soon in a vid
The voice board is sized to fit into a desktop format case, like the other Sequential synths. The notion that we should pay more because a board is hand soldered by a 20 year-old “expert” or pay more because a circuit board is 8 times as large as necessary is insane.
Development and manufacturing costs account for a lot of the price of a synth. If you anticipate that a device will only sell 1000 units, you have to amortize that cost over a relatively small production run.
And, no, through-hole parts are not used exclusively. Through hole is expensive to assemble and requires dozens of jigs for automated wave soldering. Punching thousands of holes through a PCB also restricts circuit routing — modern BGA microcontrollers often require us to use 6 layer boards for clean routing, and drilling holes through six layers can really make a mess.